About Me
An eclectic professional musician since the 1970s, Cathy DeWitt has shared the stage and the airwaves with Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Garrison Keillor, jazz pianists Rob Bargad and Dave Frischberg, Afro-Cuban percussionist Bobby Sanabria, and more. She is a jazz vocalist and pianist, bluegrass guitarist and folksinger/songwriter, the leader of the all-female folk/bluegrass band Patchwork as well as the jazz/classic rock variety band MoonDancer. As a New Thought musician she has appeared with authors Marianne Williams, Bernie Seigel, Larry Dossey, and Alan Cohen.
She is a nationally published writer, concert producer, and bandleader for jazz quartet Moon-Dancer and female folk/bluegrass band Patchwork, a favorite on the Florida festival circuit. As a jazz vocalist she has sung with many great musicians throughout the mainland states, London, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. She has played cruise ships on the Caribbean and the River Thames, sung at Dizzy’s in New York and the Virgin Grande Hotel in St. Thomas.
In 1995 she found an unexpected setting for her musical versatility in the renowned Shands/UF Health Arts in Medicine program at the University of Florida. From piano playing in the hospital lobby to elevator singalongs, from hallway concerts to bedside harp in the ICUs, Cathy uses music to transform the hospital environment and the patient experience.
She trains and mentors other hospital musicians, and gives workshops on music and healing throughout the country. Her consultant clients include Vanderbilt University, San Diego Hospice, Tidewater Arts, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and the Royal Hospital in London.
Along with several individual songwriting awards, including two from the 2006 Unisong International Songwriting Contest, she is the winner of a Fetzer Grant, a Florida Arts Council Individual Artist Grant, the 2005 National League of Penwomen Branch Award for Music; and a finalist in the Video category of the Posi Awards in 2013.
Cathy DeWitt was destined to be a musician. Before she was born her father Bruce led his own band in New Orleans, often opening for Louis Armstrong at Pete Fountain’s place. From her father’s Dixieland trumpet and stride piano to the Rachmaninoff and Chopin pieces her brother Peter, a prodigy pianist, played on the grand piano, music filled her house and helped create the eclectic performer she is today.
My Interests
I’ve been a Unity music director and New Thought musician for 30 years, and Unity is my spiritual home. I’ve also been the Musician in Residence for UF Health’s Arts in Medicine program for that same time period, playing for many patient populations in the hospital, and am constantly amazed by the healing power of music. I love walking in the woods, kayaking, snorkeling, swimming and sailing, and am passionate about preserving Florida’s beautiful springs.
My Audio
My Video
My Links
http://www.unity.fm/program/HealingJourneyshttp://artsinmedicine.ufhealth.org/about/whos-who/cathy-dewitt/
www.thetraveler.us
www.patchwork.us
