MJ Bishop is an acoustic solo artist out of Seattle. Her music is described as folk Americana with attitude; lyric-driven melancholy that’s gutsy, introspective, organic, emotive, acoustic, and laced with twang. A modern-day Patsy Cline whose voice has been seasoned to Americana perfection. Pull of the Moon, MJ's long-awaited third album (set for release in late May 2008), sees her rolling up her sleeves and plunging into the grittiness that is Americana, through the sweet, familiar melodies of folk. The added trim around the edges reveals her deep roots in country, jazz, rock and pop. On these 12 tracks, MJ’s unwavering smoky vocals start from the dirt in the crawl space, climb the stairs to the kitchen, the bedrooms, the attic, and finally blast through the roof. She takes you on a journey starting with the evocative opener “Up North” (about her small home town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula), weaving a story around the life of a guitar, life’s pushes and pulls, love, loss, heartache, freedom from the nine-to-five job, and the appeal of the open road. You will be conflicted by the lyrics as they first lure you with the promise of good times before abruptly dropping you into a chasm of loneliness and heartache.

MJ is set to tour Summer 2008 (Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina) to share and promote her new CD. Producing a pretty big sound armed with only a single guitar and her vocal chords, MJ’s songs leave you humming well after the last note is sung. Personally connecting with the audience is important to MJ, and her charm, musicianship and professionalism shine during her performances. Entertaining runs in the family and she claims to be addicted to the stage. MJ has performed steadily since 1998 in and around Seattle, and has also taken her music to Oregon, Idaho, Texas, California, Montana, Michigan and Florida. She has shared the stage with many Northwest musicians, including The Starlings, Christy McWilson, The Paperboys (Canada), ThorNton Creek, Moe Provencher, Nancy K. Dillon, Eva Tree, Matt Price, and Brandi Carlile.

Combining deep roots in acoustic music with a maturing country sensibility, MJ creates a genre that is, in many ways, her own. She has been compared to k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris, Natalie Merchant, Kim Richey, Dar Williams, Rory Block, Indigo Girls, Cowboy Junkies. Her influences include Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, k.d. lang, Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams. http://www.mjbishopband.com http://www.myspace.com/mjbishopband Bishop grew up in a small town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Her exposure to music began with piano at age 10, and she moved on to play trumpet in grade school and high school. Music at home included jazz standards, Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, and every family celebration included singing (lots of harmonizing!) and playing into the wee hours of the morning. Although Bishop left the trumpet after high school, she continued singing and playing keyboards in groups ranging from classic rock to pop, R&B and jazz. She eventually came full circle to perform folk and alternative country, as she picked up the guitar in 1998 and began writing her own tunes. The last 10 years have been busy for Bishop as she assembled a band, maintained a full performance schedule, began touring as a solo act, and continued songwriting. In 2003, she joined local Americana group ThorNton Creek, expanding her instrument repertoire to include mandolin and accordion. Bishop has worked steadily at her composition and guitar skills since 1998. She released her debut CD Hometown Address in 2001, and followed up with Feel Good (2003). MJ's song, Leave The Light On (Feel Good), was featured on Seattle's radio station, The Mountain (103.7 FM), Sunday Brunch program. She is currently working with Moe Provencher and Doug Haire at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle recording her third disc, Pull of the Moon. In addition to performing her own songs, MJ sprinkles a bit of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Buck Owens, Patty Griffin, Nancy Sinatra and Judy Garland tunes into her repertoire.