Artists:Valeria C. Wisecracker & Cindy Hackney

Valeria C. Wisecracker is a Comic. Acoustic and Eclectic Performer. Irreverent but relevant. Well grounded but high strung. An earthy alto. The original “Miami Mother Folker.” Singer/songwriter and guitar/banjo slinger. 2-Time Florida Old Time State Singing Champion. Founding member of Miami's longest running Public Radio comedy show, PANDEMONIUM. Somewhere in between Annie Oakley and Ethel Merman.

A regular at Florida Folk festivals, concert clubs and the occasional funky watering hole, Val brings a rich background of professional experience to her music and messages.

She has shared the stage with JOHN HARTFORD, JOHN McCUTCHEON, CHRISTINE LAVIN, MICHAEL JOHNSON, ERIC ANDERSON, MICHAEL SMITH, STILL ON THE HILL and many others.

Valerie fronted Miami's original folk spoof band Jabberwocky for over 20 years. She has recorded her song “Rusty Banjo” with legendary fiddler VASSAR CLEMENTS. Her radio, TV and stage credits include musical performances with Pulitzer prize winner Dave Barry as well as solo banjo on one of PBS's highest-ever rated shows with Dick Clark.

A South Florida fixture and long time Keys resident, Val offers a humorous perspective on life in the Sunshine state -- songs about its government, guests and environment. Ditties like “The Dirty Little Rat That Ate Orlando.” Tunes that come from her own unique perspective.

Cindy “Sawgrass” Hackney likes to tell it like it is. Rather she likes to sing it as it is. The 47-year old, with guitar in hand, sings about the environment and how essential it is to save what natural areas are left in Southwest Florida. She even writes her own music and lyrics and has a new CD out, with song titles such as “Golf Course Blues”, and “Stop Runnin’ My Florida Home into the Ground.” “Money still controls what’s going to happen in Southwest Florida but maybe, just maybe, hurricanes and high gas prices will control the growth here,” she says, adding that she dislikes the concept of wildlife in zoos and in isolated areas “because diversity is such a beautiful thing.”

Hackney, as a member of Friends of the Big Cypress, helps conduct swamp walks and trail cleanups. She is also active in the eco-tour business with half-day or six- or seven-day trips such a kayaking or hiking in the Everglades or trips to the Kissimmee River, the headwaters of the Everglades region. She conducts tours through Elderhostel, the over-55 tourist organization and through hotels where business conferences are held. And the guitar goes right along with her.

She performs at Earth Day celebrations, at famed local photographer Clyde Butcher’s get-togethers and at Big Cypress Basin symposiums.

As ‘parents’ to two cats and three dogs, she and her native Floridian husband George live out in Golden Gate Estates..