Claudia Russell + Bruce Kaplan

Press Photos

“Claudia and Bruce were the Highlight of our season! Excellent songwriting, singing and musicianship ...and the nicest people you'll ever meet. Claudia and Bruce have an engaging and captivating stage presence, with stories and humor that add meaning to every song. The audience was overwhelmed and appreciative. Highly Recommended!!! Host them if you are a venue. See them if you like good music and an entertaining concert” - Andy Grannita

— Happy Hen Barn, Yakima WA

A really brief bio:

California singer/songwriter Claudia Russell and her trusty sidekick Bruce Kaplan traverse a wide Americana landscape, stopping at wondrous musical landmarks along the way, tipping their hat to string bands, blues divas, jazz cats, Village folkies, Bakersfield cowboys and Laurel Canyon troubadours. Driven by Claudia’s expressive voice and distinctive guitar style, it all comes together beautifully.

Russell has a knack for crafting tightly written songs that carry you to the sweet spots of life. Kaplan’s melodic accompaniment, on mandolin and electric guitar, is spot-on. All of this is served up with a generous helping of homespun humor and shaggy dog stories, making for a heartfelt and humorous evening of deeply engaging music. And audiences and critics have taken notice.

Claudia and Bruce are also members of two part-time pop up bands: Words + Music with Laurie Lewis and Don Henry and Paper Birds with Katie dahl, Rich Higdon, and when the planets align, Eric Lewis.

For a full length bio, please see the About page.

Sample Tracks

1

Weakness 3:53

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2

Lovers Tree 3:03

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3

All Our Luck Is Changing 4:19

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4

Land of Plenty 4:15

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5

Pirate Girls 4:42

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6

The World Is What We Make It 2:52

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7

My Old Brooklyn Deli 2:38

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8

So You'll Believe 3:45

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9

I Can't Stand the Rain 3:24

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10

You Are The Light 3:28

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11

I Thought I Knew - Claudia Russell + Bruce Kaplan 2:55

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12

Lately I'm Thinking About You 4:43

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13

Miss Fortune 4:03

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14

Stars 3:46

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15

Slow 2:39

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16

Lost 3:25

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Sample Video

Partial list of venues played

Claudia and Bruce have played more than 200 venues including Club Passim, Freight & Salvage, McCabe's, The Turning Point, The Point, Folk Stage, The Tanner Amphitheater, Two Way Street, Black Hawk Folk Festival, New Bedford Folk Festival, The Happy Hen Barn, Russ and Julie's House Concerts, Live on Amaranta, Fishstock, Woodwalk Gallery, Charlotte's Web, The Haggin Museum, The Northern Sky Amphitheater, The Gould Theater, The Auburn Theater, The Gilroy Barn, Happy Hill Farm, Barking Legs Theater, The Boston Folk Festival, the Coffee Gallery, Stone Soup, Linden Tree Coffee House, Creston House Concerts, Folk Stage Chicago, Acoustic Renaissance, Two Way Street Coffeehouse, Progressive Voices, Silverton Folk Festival, Occidental Center for the Arts, the Chataqua, Point Richmond Acoustic, Chelsea House, The Boat House, The Alibi Room, Noble Park, Point Arena Theater, American River Folk Festival, Groovefest, Wisconsin Singer Songwriter Series.

Media and accolades

Media: Featured on All Things Considered. Rave reviews from American Songwriter: “a masterpiece,” and Sing Out: “a great live performer.” Features in Boston Herald, SF Chronicle, Milwaukee Journal.

Accolades include 2x Kerrville New Folk Finalist, WUMB Artist of the Year, Best Musician in East Bay Express Reader's poll, Winner West Coast Songwriters contest, 2nd Place Songwriter Serenade, 2nd Prize, Park City Songwriters Contest.

Sound requirements

We travel with a few basic sound reinforcements items. For a house concert, we often play acoustically. The simple way to amplify Claudia and Bruce is with their Ear Trumpet mic, which picks up both voices and all acoustic instruments, plus a Shure SM57 to mic Bruce's very small electric guitar amp. AC power is required for Bruce's amp and guitar effects pedal. The Ear Trumpet requires a mic stand and 48v phantom power. We can bring all of the above. Or, for a more typical mic set up, they require 2 vocal mics with boom stands, two instrument mics (one AKG 1000 fpr mandolin and one SM 57 for the amp) plus two DIs for each of Claudia's two guitars. Monitors are welcome at moderate volumes.

House concerts generally do not require much sound reinforcement, and we can often bring our own small system.