Railway Cafe Presents: Cosy Sheridan

Cosy Sheridan has been called “a buddhist monk in a twelve-step program trapped in the body of a singer-songwriter” and also one of the era’s finest and most thoughtful songwriters. Her music regularly tops the folk radio charts. Her 2025 release, The Breathing Room, debuted at #3 on folk radio. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and The Cowgirl Hall of Fame, as well as coffeehouses, festivals and concerts throughout the country: “an unapologetically tuneful writer with sticky lyrics,” wrote Sing Out Magazine. She is also a consummate entertainer: “frank, feisty, sublimely and devilishly funny,” said The Cornell Folksong Society. Backed by the rhythms and harmonies of her bass player Charlie Koch, she is a top shelf guitar player. She often plays in open tunings and with more than one capo on her guitar. She has a distinctive percussive right hand technique. She was a guitar student of both the renowned Eric Schoenberg and master fingerstyle player Guy Van Duser. Cosy first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at The Kerrville Folk Festival and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and also released her critically acclaimed CD Quietly Led. “You can’t make it into double digits, and continue touring for twenty or so years, unless you know what you’re doing, and do it well,” wrote The Chicago Examiner. She is the founder and director of the Moab Folk Camp in Moab, Utah. She teaches workshops in songwriting, guitar and performance all over the country. She and her husband live in Harrisville, New Hampshire.