Sandy started playing music when she was old enough to
lift the lid on the piano and pick out tunes by ear. In 1996, she started
playing upright bass. She's been playing professionally since 1998.
In the spring of 1994, she wrote her first song. In the fall of 1994,
she was a finalist in the Walnut Valley Songwriters / Composers' Showcase
with her second song, "Cabin on the Prairie." She was a finalist
again in 1997 with "Apache Plume." She also co-wrote a collection
of scary songs for children, with Patrick
Bone ,
a Scholastic Book author. In the summer of 2008, she co-taught a songwriting
course, "Hook Rhyme and Singer," with Christy
Wessler at Swallow Hill. Her songs are featured on Colorado
Sandstorm Music. 
Sandy played bass in a number of bands and for a number of performers.
She was the "bass wench" of the Colorado Renaissance Festival
from 1999 through 2004. She "retired" to concentrate on
her songwriting.
Her first CD of original songs is "I
Wanted to Fly." She wrote
half the songs and co-wrote the other half with
Ernie Martinez
,
J.J. Fraser
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and B. J. Suter
.
Four of the songs were included in
Colorado Bluegrass Music
Society
compilation CDs. One was a Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival New
Songs contest alternate. Several are getting airplay on KDNK, KOLT FM,
WGOE, KVMR. WVOF-FM, WRSU-FM, KRCC, KOTS, Erin Radio, Heartland Public
Radio HPR2: The Western Channel, Boy Radio Stations, and Boston Pete
station 4. Both the CD and the song "Already
Gone" made the Top Ten charts in the May-June 2010 issue
of Rope Burns, the trade publication for Western music. In October,
2010, the CD was a finalist for best Collaborative Album and "Already
Gone" was a finalist for best song by the Western Music
Association.
Her new CD,"Bring 'Em Home," includes some of her Cowboy poetry and cowritten songs. Her co-writers include Floyd Beard, Al "Doc" Mehl , Ernie Martinez , Tom Munch, Terry Nash , John P. Nelson, and Dave
Schaper .
Other cowriters include Dan Navarro , Steve Jones , Jon
Chandler , Lynn Kopelke , and John Swayne.
Sandy retired from performing, but came out for the Colorado Sandstorm Productions' Rooftop Concert in Monument CO, on Sept 5, 2021, which featured Dan Navarro
(see more) and the Colorado Sandstorm Concert (featuring Dan Navarro with opening act J.J.
Fraser and The Pynedrops) in Monument CO on June 17, 2022. In July, 2022, a recording of line and a poem, which she wrote, was included in "Depression Is...," on NeurOnFire by Melinda Writes / Melinda A. Smith .
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Book Signing
Tattered Cover
Colorado Springs
Nov 2 2022 |
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Sandy's short story, Damn the Dream, was chosen for inclusion in the 2022 Pikes Peak Writers Anthology Dream. Publication date: March 31, 2022. Writers submitted almost 200 stories and poems; 27 were selected. |
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Swallow Hill Music Association
Denver CO
June 22, 2019 |
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(photo by Stacy McClure) |

(photo by Ann Schmechel) |
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Cimarron Cowboy Muisc and Poetry Gathering
Cimarron NM
August 26-27, 2016
(photoa by Bill
Patterson) |
with Washtub Jerry and Randy Huston > > > |
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WMA Colorado Showcase
Florissant
August 8, 2016
(photoa by Bill
Patterson)
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with Steve Pierce and Bob
Cooke
2 Penguins Tap and Grill,
Nov. 21, 2015
(photo by Monica Lobser) |
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WMA Colorado Chapter Showcase
Florissant, CO, August 8, 2015 |
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Pikes Peak Cowboy Gathering
ProRodeo Hall of Fame
Colorado Springs CO
July 9, 2015
with Ernie Martinez |
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with Ernie Martinez and Mary Gifford at the
WMA Colorado Chapter Showcase
Greeley, CO, April 18, 2015 (photos by Susie Knight)
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Western Music Association Festival, Nov 14 & 15, 2014, Albuquerque NM |

with Ernie Martinez
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back row, 3rd from left, with the Cowboy Poetry Jackpot Novice Division |
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Angel Concept Fundraiser, Oct 5, 2014

with Lynn Eschbach, Diane Wilson, Monica Lobser
(photos by Reggie Ruth Barrett) |
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Western Music Association Colorado Chapter Showcase
Gold Bar Room Theater, Imperial Hotel
Cripple Creek. Sept 28, 2014
(photos by Valerie Beard) |
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Songwriters Night July 14, 2011 |
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with Al "Doc" Mehl, and Bill
Barwick
(photo by Bill
Patterson) |
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Colorado Cowboy Gathering, Jan 22, 2011 |
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(photo by Bill Patterson) |
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(photos by Reggie Ruth Barrett) |
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House Concert at Pickin'
on Tennyson, January 20, 2011

Bob Turner, John Fisher, Sandy Reay, Steve Jones |
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Acoustic Music Revival |
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< Songwriters Showcase, May
30, 2009 |
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Saturday Concert Series, July
28, 2009 > |
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Rocky Mountain Jewgrass
at the Tempe Center for the Arts, January 11, 2009
(photo by John and Peta Jacobs) |

Rocky Mountain Jewgrass
Acoustic Alley, April 11, 2009
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Rocky Mountain Jewgrass at Swallow Hill November, 2008

(photo by Reggie Ruth Barrett) |
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Old Pearl Street Summerfest,
July 12, 2008, with Rocky Mountain Jewgrass |
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the New Canyon Ratz:
Wade Krause, Sandy Reay, Mark Merryman,
Mark
Mortensen, Jeff Ingram
Fat Frog, July 11, 2008
(photo by Kim Davison) |
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with the Shadow Mountain String Band: Bill, Sandy, Mike, Ron, B.J.
Jan. 2008, Victorian Dance Caribbean Cruise, Carnival Conquest |
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Jeff Graves, Bob Cooke and a crazed percussionist!
(photo by Sandy Culter) |

with Jeff Graves, Jay Graham, Owain Graham
at Pogue Mahone's, Oct 13, 2007
(photo by Joanne DiBenedetto) |
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with Ernie Martinez, Bob Turner and Steve Pierce
at the Swallow Hill Folk Festival
September, 2007
(photos by Reggie Ruth Barrett)
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with Ernie Martinez,
Christy Wessler and Rick McGregor
at the Swallow Hill Folk Festival
September, 2007
(photos by Marge McGregor)
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with Jeff Ingram at Three Kings Tavern
April 1, 2007
(photo by Mike Quaintance) |

with Bob Turner and Steve Pierce
at Three Kings Tavern, April 1, 2007
(photos by Mike Quaintance) |
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Pogue Mahone's
March 31, 2007
(photo by Mike Quaintance) |
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with Company Q at Canon Rose, Feb, 2007 |
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The Canyon Ratz
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Swallow Hill Volunteer, Jan. 2006
(photo by Reggie Ruth Barrett) |
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At Swallow Hill, December, 2005
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At Plantation House At Mooredale, October,
2005
(photo by Mike Quaintance) |
(photo by Kim Davison) |
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Benefit Oct 2, 2005
(photos
by Kim Davison)

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The Canyon
Ratz and Michi Regier |
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Red Molly with B.J.
Suter, Michi Regier and Bill Farmer at Swallow Hill Folk Festival, August, 2005
(Article from "The Hub"; Note: band is incorrectly identified
in the photo caption.) |
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The Canyon Ratz with Michi Regier at
Swallow Hill
Mark
Mortensen (left) and Mark Merryman (right)
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The Canyon Ratz with Michi Regier at
Las Hadas
(photo by Kim Davison) |
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After the Renaissance Festival, at Acoustic Music Revival |

WhoYaSay?
with Bill Farmer and B.J.
Suter |
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Djypsy
Grass with Michi Regier&
Gary Michaels |

at Celtic Isles Pub with Steve Pierce and Terry
Dalton
(photos by Kim Davison) |
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with Ernie Martinez and Annie Phillips |
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