Seven-time San Diego Music Award nominee Gayle Skidmore has written over 2000 songs since she began songwriting at the age of 8. A born songwriter, her natural ability and innate passion for music made her music career unavoidable. Gayle Skidmore won Best Pop in the 2015 San Diego Music awards and best folk song for "Rag Doll" in the 2015 Akademia Music Awards. Her latest album and coloring book, “Sleeping Bear,” won Best Pop Album in the 2014 San Diego Music Awards. She won Best Singer-Songwriter in the 2013 San Diego Music Awards, and her song "Paper Box" was featured on HBO's show "Looking."
Classically trained on the piano from the age of 4, Gayle Skidmore also plays at least 20 other instruments, including the mountain dulcimer, banjo, folk harp and balalaika. Her attention to detail and involvement in every step of the creative process, from producing her records to creating the artwork for her albums, show that she is completely dedicated to her craft. In August 2013, Gayle released her second full-length album and coloring book, "Sleeping Bear," on Raincoat Records. Mastered by Grammy winner Gavin Lurssen, this album was written entirely by Gayle Skidmore and features a 10 piece string section. This album followed her first 7” vinyl release, “Zombie Heart,” put out by her sponsor, Ninkasi Brewing Co. In 2014 her cover of “Lola” by The Kinks, a collaboration with Brandon O’Connell of Singing Serpent, was placed on a national commercial. She has co-written ads for Facebook, Target and many others. She was featured on Time Warner Cable’s SoCal Beat and was named one of the San Diego Union Tribune’s Faces to Watch in 2014. Gayle Skidmore just finished tracking her 20th independent release at Ninkasi Brewing's studio in Eugene, OR in Fall 2015 with James Book of The Flys, and legendary studio Rancho de la Luna.
Gayle Skidmore’s love of whimsy, poetry and magic are evidenced by the sets she creates for her stages, which have included a curtain of origami cranes and a giant octopus holding a teacup. She has opened for the likes of Jason Mraz, Lisa Loeb, Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, Sam Phillips, Grant-Lee Phillips, Coeur d’Pirate, and many others. She has recorded with such artists as The Softlightes, Bushwalla, Jason Mraz and Tyrone Wells, and branched out into several genres including electronic swing, indie rock, and classical music. Germany’s most prominent newspaper, the Seuddeutsche Zeitung, named her “Die Schutzpatronin der Gartenzwerge,” the Patron Saint of Garden Dwarves, in an interview promoting her tour of Europe. She has also toured nationwide in the US, UK, Asia and Europe, and was a Sunset Sessions artist in 2012.
Gayle Skidmore finds endless inspiration in the whirlwind of life. She has never experienced writer’s block, and she is always experimenting with new formats. When she isn’t busy learning a new instrument, singing, painting, or writing lyrics and melodies, she composes parts for her cellist and violinist. She enjoys baking cookies and making origami for her fans.
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…shrink me down again