Dede Wyland

Dede Wyland’s pure and compelling voice has enchanted audiences around the globe, and her driving rhythm guitar has powered the sound of many a bluegrass band including the popular Tony Trischka & Skyline and ’Grass, Food & Lodging. As a teacher, she uses her profound knowledge of the human voice and her inspiring and supportive manner to help amateurs and professionals alike realize their vocal potential. Bluegrass Unlimited, in a January 2001 feature article, said that Dede’s “gifts of vocal virtuosity, musical expression, and sheer positive force of personality have made her a valued presence in modern acoustic music.” She is often described as “a singer’s singer.”

Best known for her 8 year stint with Tony Trischka & Skyline, one of the leading progressive bluegrass bands of the 1980s, Dede got her start in her native Wisconsin. In the 70’s she honed her bluegrass skills by playing throughout the Midwest and Central states with a number of groups, including ’Grass, Food & Lodging, a young Milwaukee-based band with a large and devoted regional following. During her many years as a touring musician Dede graced the stage of America’s most prestigious bluegrass and acoustic music festivals, and has performed in Canada, Australia, France, England, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Sicily, Italy, Scandinavia and Japan. Radio listeners have heard Dede on the nationally broadcast shows A Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage, and on Chicago's The Flea Market. Her national television appearances include two installments of The Nashville Network's Fire On The Mountain. Throughout the 1980s Dede was a perennial nominee in the annual awards poll of the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPGMA).

Since moving to Maryland in 1990, Dede has become one of the most sought-after vocal instructors in the Washington, DC, area. In addition to her full schedule of private lessons, she has taken her expertise to workshops and music camps from Tucson, Arizona, to Somerset, England. Her recordings and concert performances with the cream of Washington’s bluegrass players earned her the Washington Area Music Association’s “Wammie” awards for 1999 (Female Bluegrass Vocalist) and 2004 (Bluegrass Vocalist).

SELECTED LIVE PERFORMANCES

Strawberry Music Festival, Yosemite, CA
Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride, CO
Kerrville Bluegrass Festival, Kerrville, TX
Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, Ancramdale, NY
Escoheag Music Festival, Escoheag, RI
Walnut Valley Music Festival, Winfield, KS
Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA
The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
The Bottom Line, New York, NY
McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA
Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL
The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA