Karl Werne's single release, "It's Christmas" is a thoughtful exploration of the Holiday season, balancing between the joyous, magical feeling of celebration in the air and the cynical view of greed, manipulation and commercialism that can often go with it. Karl calls on his madrigal choir experience to create an instant classic Christmas song ... that quickly takes a left turn to illustrate the disharmony of a world at odds and its warped treatment of such a revered holiday. This reflection helps to refocus and strengthen the purity of intention and, by the end of the song, becomes a beautiful and uplifting anthem which glorifies peace and the simple act of kindness. "The bells do not care who you love, they ring because you do ..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Karl Werne has been entertaining the Hampton Roads area of Virginia since he was 16. Eight years with The Lewis McGehee Group and four years with his own Instant Karma have made him a local favorite. A highlight of that time was performing in the opening act for Bruce Hornsby's grammy winning "The Way It Is" tour. In 1995, Karl teamed up with saxophonist, Eddie Williams, a partnership that would prove to have a profound impact. Now playing acoustic guitar, this new exploration of improvisation and creativity would shape a unique sound later complimented by some of the area's finest musicians, including electric guitarist Curtis Eley, TR3 drummer Dan Martier, jazz professor John Toomey on piano and Scott Slay from Big Virginia Sky on mandolin. Also during these years, a powerful three-part-harmony trio of singer/songwriters, armed with positive lyrics and diverse backgrounds came together as a traveling band known as Elaine, Lambert & Karl. After enjoying immediate success with a debut CD and a tour with friend and mentor Keb' Mo', they settled on an official band name of "BiG WiDE GRiN". BWG is now working on their 4th CD and continues touring as a duo, occasionally teaming up with singer/songwriter/producer and friend Tom Prasada-Rao. Karl's original songwriting won him first place for online voting ('Monkey Do') and first place in the finals ('Flow') of the Fishman National Songwriting Competition held in Atlanta, GA in 2011. He won VEER Magazine's award for Best Music Video in 2013 with a video of his song 'Love & Fear'. Karl's new all original CD, "This Little Notebook", has been a long time in the making. The project features performances by many of his friends and musical heroes, including Tim Reynolds from the Dave Matthews Band, and his own TR3, which is Tim Reynolds' trio featuring Dan Martier & Mick Vaughn.