She Wrote the Tunes: Vintage Women Songwriters

The image of the 1920s and 30s Tin-Pan-Alley tunesmith rarely wears a dress, but tonight Patricia Hammond and Matt Redman will have you humming some of the most catchy, lyrical and memorable melodies written during the golden age of popular song…and all of them written by women.

Patricia’s mellifluous voice will transport you to another era, and Matt will play accordion, banjo, ukulele, his Gibson L4 guitar and, of course, the grand piano to evoke the authentic sounds from the years these wonderful songs were written.

“What a Difference a Day Makes,” “I’ll Never Smile Again,” “Ramona,” “You Oughta Be in Pictures,” “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” and so, so many more by the great ladies of songwriting will be showcased with the vividness and authenticity they deserve.

Patricia and Matt will share the stories behind the songs, and talk about the fascinating stories of their creators.

Canadian-born singer Patricia Hammond and Yorkshire-born multi-instrumentalist Matt Redman have performed together since 2010, when Patricia invited Matt, still in college, to arrange and direct a track for inclusion in Sony’s “Down Memory Lane” compilation CD. Since then, their lively, unique performances and rigorous research have been praised by Dame Emma Kirkby, Sir Michael Parkinson, the BBC, the Telegraph and Opera Today.

Together they have performed at Canada’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, the German Embassy in Paris, and the Bundestag in Berlin on the occasion of the centenary of the ending of the First World War, live on several networks and in front of Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.

Since March 2020, they have performed over 500 songs for their genre-busting YouTube series, “Living Room Requests”, which has featured music from across 11 centuries: Hildegard of Bingen to Billie Eilish.