"I guess what I want people to know is that, for me, it's about the
                   songs, each different, each a well-thought-out message, each a labor of
                   love," says Bernice Lewis. And in her tender evocations of the heart, in
                   her explorations of the struggling soul, and in her tales highlighting the
                   victories and defeats of everyday life, Bernice Lewis has more than earned
                   her stellar reputation as a songwriter's songwriter. Carving her niche in
                   the new-folk idiom while drawing on traditional folk, blues, pop, country,
                   jazz and world-beat influences, Lewis's carefully-honed songcraft and
                   musicianship and her strikingly heartfelt vocals have made her a favorite
                   of fans from Berkeley to Boston and everywhere in between.
                   
                   A fixture on the coffeehouse circuit, contemporary-folk radio, and at the
                   major folk festivals, Lewis -- who studied vocal improvisation with Bobby
                   McFerrin and guitar technique with Alex DeGrassi and Guy van Duser -- has
                   been a featured performer on National Public Radio's "Mountain Stage"
                   program and a finalist in the 1987 New Folk Songwriting Contest at the
                   prestigious Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival. Her new ballad, "Bridges That
                   Hold," was included in the PBS-TV "Lifelines" documentary starring Peter,
                   Paul and Mary.
                   
                   H ailed variously as "a rising star" by the Washington Post and "in the
                   forefront of her generation of singer-songwriters" by SingOut! magazine,
                   Lewis has garnered the greatest acclaim of her career for her most recent
                   album, "Isle of Spirit" (Sanctuary/Blue Bhikku). "Ambitious....her best
                   album to date," said the Boston Phoenix. "Wonderful songs....an instant
                   classic," declared Alan Rowoth, moderator of the Internet's influential
                   Folk_Music Digest. "A musical and lyrical tour de force that should propel
                   Lewis to the uppermost ranks of the new-folk crowd," proclaimed the
                   Berkshire Eagle about "Isle of Spirit,'' which was produced by Adam
                   Rothberg, best known for his work on Dar Williams's much-acclaimed debut,
                   "The Honesty Room."
                   
                   F or the last 10 years, Lewis -- a native of Boston -- has been based in
                   the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. For most of that time home
                   was a wildlife sanctuary, whose influence is felt in songs like "When the
                   Rivers Had No Names" and "Bridges That Hold." Lewis now lives in
                   Williamstown, Mass., where she is an adjunct member of the faculty at
                   Williams College. Lewis is also on the faculty at the Omega Institute in
                   Rhinebeck, N.Y., where she teaches songwriting, singing and yoga.
                    
                   Lewis has been said to "elevate the experiences of everyday life to an art
                   form." She sings from a woman's perspective with wit and eloquence in
                   distinctive, powerful vocals that have been described as "utterly and
                   uniquely her own."  With attention equally divided among matters of the
                   earth, matters of the soul and matters of the heart, Lewis has staked out
                   as her territory the sum of contemporary existence, and by giving so
                   generously of herself she helps illuminate the lives of others. As one
                   critic wrote, "Lewis has assembled a deep repertoire of diverse and
                   occasionally profound songs with which she will undoubtedly be moving,
                   entertaining and delighting audiences for years to come."