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Bill & Kate Isles Bio(Word)

Bill Isles Bio (Word)

Bill Isles (b. 11/2/1951, Duluth, MN USA) returned to performing after a twenty-five year hiatus in February of 2000. Since that time, he has become one of the most highly-respected singer/songwriters in the Minnesota acoustic scene and has begun to get national and international attention.

His songs are down-to-earth poetic reflections of life experiences and often explore adventurous metaphorical worlds. These worlds vary greatly in scope and texture such as the differences between the clever honky-tonk ambiguity of "The Hole in Our Town" and the enchanting feel of "Sistine Chapel", both from his 2003 release "The Threshold". Each of his compositions provides a spectrum of interpretation opportunities, as well, as demonstrated by "Sistine Chapel". At first, you might conclude that the song is a first-person account of  Michelangelo’s first visit to scope out the project at the Sistine Chapel, but you start to realize that, perhaps, this is also an artist’s perception of entering the “chapel” of his/her audience. Then, again, it also hints at the intimate interaction of lovers. It is this multi-layering that has drawn fans to listen over and over again, and to describe his live performances as "mesmerizing".

His love of life and command of language has strong roots in his childhood, but his urgency to tell these stories comes from an experience in 1993 when, with just enough warning to drive himself to the hospital, his heart stopped beating. He arrived with just ten minutes to spare. After being defibrillated, and before the doctors had time to detect and open a blocked artery in his heart, he made a commitment to himself that, if he survived, he would begin to write again. Those paddles restarted his heart in more ways than one…

Highlights …

2001 - Winner of the 2001 Minnesota Folk Festival New Folk Songwriting Contest

2002 – Nominee for the 2002 Minnesota Music Awards Song of the Year for “I Can’t Take You Home” a duet with Becky Schlegel (From “Weightless” 2001)

2003 – Nominee for the 2003 Minnesota Music Awards Acoustic/Folk Recording of the Year for “The Threshold” (June, 2003)

2004 - Semi-Finalist in Budweiser True Music Band Contest. (The only solo act in an original field of 25 bands).

2004 - Finalist in the KRCL (Salt Lake City, UT) songwriting contest.

2004 - Song "Big Girl Now" placed on national compilation CD "Before Their Time"

He has shared the stage with the likes of April Verch, Buddy Mondlock, Carol Elliott, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, Lynn Miles, Vance Gilbert, Christine Lavin, Rod Picott, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart., David Francey, Sloan Wainwright, Claudia Schmidt, Carrie Newcomer, Pete Morton, Jennifer Daniels, Karen Mal, David Stoddard, Michael Johnson, The Arrogant Worms, Monroe Crossing, Becky Schlegel…

Recordings:
“Weightless”, December, 2001;
"The Threshold”,  June, 2003;
"The Calling", November, 2004;
"The Shores of My Hometown" (featuring Canadian fiddle master, April Verch), October 2006.
"The Calling" includes the popular song, "Hobos in the Roundhouse", which tells the first person account of his paternal grandfather, who, when working as a railroad roundhouse night foreman on Minnesota's Iron Range, risked his job by letting hobos sleep indoors when he was on the midnight shift. Isles' maternal grandfather was the benevolent CEO of the Coolerator Corporation.