Hannah Spiro has been singing and strumming at Washington, D.C. area coffeehouses since she was 13. Now, at 18, she is a fixture in the D.C. music scene. Hannah performs at numerous shows and showcases, frequently as the headlined act. Her musicianship and songwriting are also on display in her 2006 CD, "Last Lights on in Town". "Last Lights" earned Hannah a Washington Area Music Award nomination in the category of Contemporary-Folk. "In Touch," the first song on that CD, was a Finalist in the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Songwriters' Contest and received an Honorable Mention in the 2007 Singer Songwriter Awards and in the 11th Cooch Music Amateur Songwriting Contest. Hannah's second CD, "Exhale Your Blues", is set to come out in February 2009. Hannah's sound is a combination of folk and pop, reminiscent of such other singer-songwriters as Natalie Merchant and Suzanne Vega. Hannah's songs express a range of feelings and a variety of themes, while conveying her irrepressible energy. She is accomplished in belly dancing, the fine arts, and the theatre - having served, for example, as an assistant belly dance instructor and having had numerous lead roles on the stage. She has worked for two summers as an Intern for the House Judiciary Committee, where she has been able to further the progressive politics reflected in some of her lyrics. Now, she is in her freshman year at the University of Maryland in College Park, where she is majoring in Philosophy and Jewish Studies. To witness one of Hannah's live performances is to see a combination of freshness, enthusiasm and natural gifts that is truly rare. Those who think that Washington, D.C. never produces anything new and exciting have obviously never heard Hannah sing.