Cheryl Wheeler

When she was tiny, Cheryl Wheeler picked up her first stringed instrument ” a toy ukulele. She never looked back. Born in Maryland, Wheeler built a following in the Washington, DC area before branching out to the New England folk music scene, where she met Jonathan Edwards who went on to produce her first full-length album. A Dan Seals cover of her song “Addicted” reached the tops of the country charts and Wheeler began carving out a reputation as a writer of strong, enduring songs (Suzy Bogguss, Bette Midler, Maura O’Connell, Linda Thompson and Juice Newton have all covered Wheeler material). As strong as Wheeler’s songwriting skills are, it’s safe to say her talent as a performer has cemented her sizable fan base. Alongside challenging songs about love and God, Wheeler also sings numbers such as the “Potato Song” ” repeating the word potato and sung to the tune of the “Mexican Hat Dance.” She is not shy about her strong political leanings and she often uses elements of her own life in her music. Her work is finely crafted and songs are not rushed, leading her to assemble rich collections of her music that are full of meaning and emotion. Wheeler’s latest CD, Defying Gravity, comes six years after 1999’s live album, Sylvia Hotel. Both CDs were released by Rounder’s Philo imprint.