Singer/songwriter Annie Gallup specializes in the contemporary folk genre. Hailing from Seattle, WA, Gallup taught herself how to play guitar as a teenager, influenced by the likes of Doc Watson, Mississippi John Hurt, and Dave Van Ronk, as she honed her fingerpicking playing style. She soon began penning her own compositions, equally influenced by musicians (Paul Simon), as well as authors (Margaret Atwood, Joan Didion), as she began performing locally in front of crowds in 1988. The first songs of Gallup's to appear on CD were on such multi-artist compilations as Whirled Records' Acoustic Sampler and Victory Music's A Victory for Kids in the early '90s. Beginning in 1994, Gallup issued full-length solo recordings on a regular basis, including 1994's Cause and Effect on her own label, Flying Hair, before signing with the 1-800 Prime label in New York, and issuing 1996's Backbone, 1998's Courage My Love, 1999's Steady Steady Yes, and 2001's Swerve. Gallup tours constantly (sometimes spending up to ten months on the road), and has received several songwriting awards over the years, including the Telluride Troubadour Contest (Telluride, CO, 1994), was a finalist at the Columbia Music Festival (Spokane, WA, 1992), and earned an honorable mention at the Napa Valley Music Festival (Napa, CA, 1993). ~ Greg Prato, Rovi