Singing about faith, love and loss, San Francisco songwriter Deborah Crooks is an intimate and edgy artist whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant. Widely published as an essayist and journalist, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing, world travel and study of Ashtanga yoga and Buddhism while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. The Santa Cruz native released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003, tunes from which were included on compilation CDs (RockerGirl & Mosquito Media). 2005 saw new collaborations with B.Z. Lewis, resulting in the tracks “You Are Home” (featured on the Java with Jahvalin Indie Artist CD 2005 [Los Angeles] and the Indie Music for Life), “The More I Know” (2005) and “All This Love,” (2006). She released a full-length CD “Adding Water to the Ashes” in late 2008, which has since garnered radio airplay & positive reviews.

An active member of the San Francisco songwriting and arts community, Deborah has co-hosted the local chapter of Songsalive!, participated in the ongoing Bay Area Song Collective and co-written with many other artists, frequently collaborating in the studio and onstage throughout California and nationally. Deborah has showcased at the 2006 Millenium Music Conference, the 2005 RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, and was a featured performer at the 2007 Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest. She’s also appeared at the Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC, Arlene’s Grocery in New York and the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. She recently recorded a 5-song CD with Alex Walsh, dubbed The Crooks/Walsh Blues Project, released in September, 2009, the same month she toured the Northwest on the “Indie Abundance™ Music, Money & Mindfulness Tour” with two other Bay Area artists.