Gift Of Age

Terrific singer, amazing songwriter, and darned good guitar player, Ann Reed has had devoted fans lining up at the box office for more than a quarter-century. If you had to pinpoint when all this started, you could look back to when Ann was 12, growing up in a suburb of Minneapolis. She borrowed her brother\'s guitar (the one he bought with the $40 their grandmother had given him to buy a suit) and taught herself to play. The die was cast. Since then, there have been 17 albums, countless concerts, festival dates at world-renowned venues such as Bumbershoot and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and television and radio appearances, including Good Morning America, A Prairie Home Companion, and Minnesota Public Radio\'s Morning Show, where she occasionally fills in as co-host. Ann combines her artistry with community involvement. She donates about 25% of her time to the support of nonprofit groups that primarily benefit women and children. It all boils down to this: Ann loves what she does. And the people who hear her music love what she does. Ann Reed — with the rich alto, the smooth guitar licks, the great songs, the sly wit — is having the time of her life.