9/28 - Author & Expert Forager Connie Green and Award-Winning Australian Country Music Artist Luke Webb

Author Connie Green

From the local hills to the land downunder...we hunted the forest for that deliciously elusive family of funghi known as mushrooms with expert forager Connie Green, co-author of The Wild Table, then we enjoyed a melodic lift from across the big pond with award-winning Australian country music artist Luke Webb.

Connie Green has been foraging mushrooms, berries, greens and other wild foods for thirty years. As the founder of one of the first and one of the largest wild foods businesses in the U.S., Connie has sold ingredients to most of the top chefs in California and around the country including Thomas Keller, Daniel Patterson, Patricia Unterman, Traci des Jardins, Gary Danko, Jeremiah Tower, Judy Rodgers, Bradley Ogden, Julian Serrano, Cindy Pawlcyn, and many more. Owner and “head huntress” of Wine Forest, she has been featured in the French Laundry Cookbook (Artisan 1999), Bouchon (Artisan 2004), and Terra, Cooking from the heart of Napa Valley (Ten Speed Press 2000) as well as others. Television-show appearances include National Geographic, Great Chefs of Napa Valley, multiple appearances on Michael Chiarello’s cooking shows, Ciao Italia, and others. She’s appeared in numerous magazines including a feature in Martha Stewart Living, Via, San Francisco Magazine, as well as newspaper articles from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times.

Luke Webb with wife Stephanie Tsai-Webb

Singer/songwriter Luke Webb has a unique background, which has helped shape his musicality and songwriting and led him to winning Australia's Telstra Road to Tamworth songwriter category for 2010.  He was born in Papua New Guinea and then travelled the globe with his family, living in Connecticut, New Zealand and North Carolina before permanently relocating to Australia when he was 12.  Raised in a musical family (his father is a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music), Luke experimented with punk music before being presented with a banjo from his parents at age 18, which cemented his obsession with the country genre.  Luke’s North Carolina roots reveal themselves in his unique musical style, some songs infused with a strong southern feel, whilst others show hints of blues and folk - but they all share the same base of strong lyrics about people or places he knows and loves.  A former 'Triple J Unearthed Artist', Luke is a passionate musician who has funded the production of two independent recordings “Whistling in the Dark” and “River that Runs So Deep,” which have received rave reviews and increased his solid fan base.  Often likened to his idol Neil Young, with a talent for transporting you into his musical realm of infectious lyrics and rich vocal delivery – Luke Webb represents one of Australian country music’s best new talents.



Luke Webb in his Telstra Road to Tamworth performance



 A former 'Triple J Unearthed Artist', Luke is a passionate musician who has funded the production of two independent recordings “Whistling in the Dark” and “River that Runs So Deep,” which have received rave reviews and increased his solid fan base.  Often likened to his idol Neil Young, with a talent for transporting you into his musical realm of infectious lyrics and rich vocal delivery – Luke Webb represents one of Australian country music’s best new talents.

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