MEET ALICE

Alice Osborn, of Raleigh, North Carolina, is a singer, songwriter, author, editor, documentarian of history, music instructor, and so much more. Alice writes and performs neo-folk Americana style originals and covers with upbeat tempos, poignant lyrics, catchy melodies, and powerful vocals. Her acoustic originals are often influenced by rock, country, and folk music.

Much of Alice’s work focuses on the Donner Party’s ill-fated journey westward in 1846 and recounts their travels and travails as they journey cross-country in covered wagons to California, which, at the time, still belonged to Mexico. These emigrants were ordinary people wishing to make a better life for themselves and their families and they got swept up in a terrible tale of tragedy and loss that tested the limits of their human existence.

Her most recent CD project, Skirts In The Snow: Beyond the Tragedy of the Donner Party, features 12 original songs written from the women of the Donner Party’s point of view and their struggles. She has also developed a living history performance of the Donner Party featuring her original songs.

Additionally, Alice is currently writing a post-tragedy Donner Party novel featuring the tragic leader of the Forlorn Hope, William H. Eddy, orphaned sisters Georgia and Eliza Donner, original Donner Party co-leader James Reed, and Nellie Eddy Anderson, William H. Eddy’s only surviving daughter.

Always creating, Alice also has one previously recorded full-length album: Searching for Paradise and EP, Old Derelicts; she is the author of four books of poetry—the most recent is Heroes without Capes—teaches songwriting and music lessons in guitar, violin, and banjo. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the NC Writers’ Network and is the President of the NC Songwriters Co-op.

Educated at Virginia Tech (B.S. in finance) and NC State (M.A. in English rhetoric/composition) and originally from the Washington D.C. area, Alice lives in Raleigh with her family and six loud birds that she uses for melodic inspiration. When not writing or playing music, she loves to investigate pop culture on Wikipedia, shave seconds off her one-mile time, and search the continent for the perfect craft beer.

MORE ABOUT ALICE

Alice Osborn is a Raleigh-based singer-songwriter and educator who grew up in the Washington, D.C. area where in elementary school her music teacher, Mrs. Thorton, introduced her to the magic of folk, classical, country, spirituals, pop, and rock n’ roll—that changed her life. Mrs. Thorton incorporated history and stories—the making of folk tradition—into Alice’s world.

For almost two decades, Alice has worked as a professional editor, creative writing workshop instructor, and book coach. Although she loved to shepherd captivating stories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry out into the world, and turn writers into authors, today she is concentrating on writing her novel and developing new songs and melodies.

From Alice: “I am a poet and naturally gravitate to stories of people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. I feel moved to write and sing about them so that their lives and their deeds will not be forgotten. Although I am in all of my songs, all of my original music is about other narrators who are going through a crisis and must become their best selves in order to get through it. Currently, I’m working on songs that are about how much California has inspired me as an artist. I’m a lifelong learner and am always curious about my world. As a child, I was taught not to be nosy and ask questions, but I let that notion go! Asking questions is how you show other people that you are interested in who they are and what journey they are on. It is how you build connection and community.

Musically, I’m influenced by pop music, as well as traditional tunes from bluegrass, Celtic/Scottish, and old-time folk music. Although acoustic guitar is my main instrument, I also play fiddle, banjo, and piano. Educated at both Virginia Tech (BS in Finance) and NC State (MA in Rhetoric/Composition), I have published four books of poetry and I am currently working on a historical novel set in Northern California that is a follow-up to the Donner Party tragedy of 1846-47.”