Hilary Hawke - NYC banjoist & vocalist, composer, and banjo coach

NEW RELEASE

BIO

Hilary Hawke is completely engaging on stage with a warmth and energy that pulls an audience into the show. With 20 years of performing experience, she is most known for her creative and versatile, banjo playing in the North American old-time and bluegrass styles but also for breaking new ground in her current projects as a songwriter and arranger in the contemporary classical world as well as an instrumentalist/vocalist.

Based out of NYC for the past 18 years, and originally from upstate, NY, Hilary has been playing her own original music with brilliant guitarist, Ross Martin and up and coming fiddler Camie Howes. She debuted her first mostly instrumental album last year called “Lilygild” with guitarist, Reed Stutz (Molsky’s Mountain Drifters) and also wrote a whole album of neo-classical music called “Open the Doors” with pianist and synthesist Ola & Claude Aldous.  “I decided that I wasn’t going to try to fit into a box, but bring the music I felt inside my head and fingers into the world”.   Hilary is currently playing festivals and shows with her own music as well as playing with the great fiddler, Eileen Ivers in a cross-over Irish and Americana band called the Brigideens.

Hilary is currently the electric/acoustic guitar and banjo sub for the 2024 Tony award winning Illinoise on Broadway running until August 10th. She also arranged the banjo music for the 2023 Tony nominated show, The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s, and taught the music to Oscar Isaac and understudies. Hilary was the original banjoist for the Tony award winning revival of Oklahoma! on Broadway, and performed in Steve Martin’s production of Bright Star on Broadway as well as many other theatre productions and with bands around the country. She also manages to keep a full private studio of students.

Hilary is the producer, engineer and host of the podcast, Banjo Chat that is quickly growing in popularity and has an emphasis on banjo players that are of a high level, but also inspiring and playing original material.

Hilary has played at Greyfox bluegrass festival, the Dubai World Expo, Austin City Limits, the Philadelphia Folk Fest, and the Folk Music Society of NY to name a few.

For booking and inquiries contact: hilaryhawkebookings@gmail.com

Hilary Hawke - NYC based multi-instrumentalist & vocalist

ALBUMS

Hilary Hawke - NYC based Banjoist & vocalist, banjo coach and podcast host

  • “Hilary is reintroducing the roots of folk to new generations while developing new standards with her original material”.

    -No Depression

  • "Embracing a worldly view of folk music, Hilary draws from, as well as expands upon, the traditional tunes of the northwest Appalachian region."

    —The Bluegrass Situation

  • “Her music is entirely irony-free, joyously authentic, and refreshingly marked with her own creative chops."

    — The New Yorker

  • "Extraordinary banjo playing gifts and a wondrous voice that seem to lift old lyrics and bring an often overwhelming feminism to the old timey genre."

    — Americana UK