When Hill was eight years old, her longshoreman father came home from Boston one weekend and asked each of his kids what instrument they?d like to play. Hill immediately answered, “The banjo!” Looking back, she said, “I don?t know where my pull to the banjo came from. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, the only banjo I?d ever heard or seen was on ‘Hee-Haw’.”

Hill sang with her family at community events in the small village where she grew up, picked up guitar at age 12, began writing songs as a teen, and sang her ?rst paying gig as backup for her brothers? rock-n-roll band from behind the curtain in a smoky bar, before she was old enough to legally be there. Since then she has performed from Antarctica to Alaska, with warmer stops in between.

The inspiration for Hill’s songs comes from the rich experiences of a large colorful family and wandering spirit that has taken her to remote corners of the globe. Her moving original lyrics weave stories of her hardscrabble youth, teenage runaway years, working class upbringing, love, loss, and the human yearning for transformation.

Hill said, “Music provides a place where I can safely explore emotions and challenges me to ?nd ways to connect the stories that are in my bones to others.”

Hill works as a river geologist, holds a journeyman electrician?s license, and helps her partner farm and garden on their 80-acre spread in Jay.

Tickets are $8 and seating is limited. For more information, call 207-293-2674 or email viennaunionhall@gmail.com.


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