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Fort Worth-based singer-songwriter René West writes lyric-driven story songs filled with people from all walks of life. With her aggressive rhythm guitar style and raspy voice, Fort Worth Weekly described her as “a singer in the truest since of the word” capable of “going from a plaintive cry to an earth-shattering wail.” Perry Stewart at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram described her as “enticingly eclectic.”
West’s creative spirit and sense of adventure manifested early. Born in Wichita, Kansas, the rebellious teenager with a penchant for hitchhiking discovered an America populated with characters that now appear in her songs.
When she was a kid, her great grandmother used to sing her old folk songs like “Down in the Valley” and “Molly Malone.” Her father loved Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. West also benefited from the variety of music on FM radio and a neighbor who stacked recordings from floor to ceiling in every room. Today, her influences include songwriters from Townes Van Zandt, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Steve Earle to Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Lucinda Williams, and PJ Harvey.
West is also a visual artist and a senior lecturer at The University of Texas at Arlington where she teaches photography and digital imaging. She has exhibited in museums and galleries all over the United States. In 2005, Brooklyn Museum of Art curator Marilyn Kushner selected several of her images for a survey of Southern printmakers at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Artistically, West is interested in merging technology and history: digital imaging and historical processes, modern gadgets and historical ephemera. She refers to her images as visual poems. When asked about working in more than one discipline, she says, “regardless of the medium. I consider myself a storyteller. Working with words, music, and art just offers more possibilities for communication.”
As a songwriter, West was voted best female vocalist in the 2002 Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards and was a 2007 & 06 semi-finalist in the B.W. Stevenson songwriting competition at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas. She has opened shows for Fred Eaglesmith, Ruthie Foster, Otis Gibbs, Susan Gibson, and Buddy Mondlock and has performed live on 88.7 KTCU, 89.3 KNON, and on the Humble Time Radio Show. She also has been a featured performer for the Fort Worth Songwriter’s Association and Texas-based Girls n Guitars.