In the late 70’s Adroit Records president Jim Tract traveled from his home in L.A. to Woodstock N.Y. to meet up with and produce his favorite band, Wire & Wood at Bearsville Studios. The bands front man, who eventually went on to be a highly successful songwriter, was a young Craig Bickhardt. All this time later, Tract & Bickhardt met in a studio once again, this time in Nashville, and this time to record one of Craig’s  #1 hit songs, “In Between Dances,” which Pam Tillis had taken to the top of the charts.

Craig Bickhardt’s big break came in 1982 when he was chosen to write and sing two songs for Robert Duvall's Academy Award winning film "Ten- der Mercies.”  In the wake of that film’s success, Bickhardt made his move to Nashville where his songs found their way onto platinum and Grammy winning CDs by legends such as Ray Charles, B. B. King, Martina McBride, Pam Tillis, The Judds, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, and others.  Bickhardt is a tunesmith with a truly thoroughbred discography.
 
Along with his friends and collaborators Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch and Don Schlitz, Bickhardt was one of the original Writers In The Round at The Bluebird Café.  He went on to have three hits as an artist when he joined Schuyler and Knobloch to make their SKB CD No Easy Horses for MTM Records, which yielded his chart topper "Givers And Takers".   In 2006 Bickhardt made the bold move to leave Nashville and return to the concert stage and to his roots in eastern Pennsylvania.  Since his move he has shared the stage with Kathy Mattea, Judy Collins, Billy Joe Shaver, Livingston Taylor, and Janis Ian among others.  His performance at the 2008 Philadelphia Folk Festival prompted the concert’s promoter Jesse Lundy to say, “Craig Bickhardt stands among the giants of songwriting. His main stage show at this year's Philly Folk Festival was absolutely outstanding.”

Adroit Records is proud and privileged to have a writer of Craig’s caliber under its banner, as well as grateful for the opportunity to bring such an outstanding song back into the spotlight, but this time, only as the writer can deliver it.  “This is the kind of thing that makes Adroit unique,” said producer Tract. “To have a relationship with an artist that goes so far back, and then to have him on the label now, is satisfying on many different levels. This is also yet another example of what happens when a great artist, with great material, goes into the studio with great players. The vocal you hear on the record is actually Craig’s scratch vocal from the tracking session. When we listened to it back, it was obvious that this live vocal could not be topped. It was the only vocal we recorded, which is pretty much unheard of!”


To purchase this exclusive recording of “In Between Dances” click here.

To learn more about Craig Bickhardt please visit http://www.craigbickhardt.com