Biography

CONTACT INFO:
Troubadours of Divine Bliss
Aim Me Smiley and Renee Ananda
troubadoursofdivinebliss@gmail.com
502 608-1587

Click here to go to Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music Page

"Music that could melt a stone statue." BBC Radio Liverpool

Voted "Best Folk Band" by Offbeat Magazine in New Orleans, LA, and Leo Weekly in Louisville, KY

Voted "Best Singer-Songwriter" by Louisville Music Awards

"Here at WRUW-FM we’ve been lovin’ those Troubadours for a long time—having Aim Me and Renee on as LIVE in-studio guests and spinning their awesome catalog of CDs" -James E. Guyette WRUW, Cleveland

"Louisville mainstays Aim Me and Renee of The Troubadours of Divine Bliss have been making music together for 25 years! They’ve garnered a lot of support over that time with their positive messages of hope and love in their songs."- Laura Shine, WFPK, Louisville


"...touches the depths of the human heart' -Soulstream Radio


Sacred Letters of Surrender
Release Date: 2010

If you wrote a letter of surrender, if you waved a white flag- to what and to who would you give way?

'Sacred Letters of Surrender' is a collection of songs that sing of yielding to love, hope, change, imprisonment, and the sacred. The styles range from Americana, Bluegrass, FolkPop, Folk, Blues, and Gypsy with accordion, guitar, violin, mandolin, cello, bass, drums, tampura, and those harmonies that create a third voice.

This recording, most notably, holds songs that tell stories and is unafraid to travel any road the heart can go. 'Bowling Green,KY' is based on letters sent to Aim Me by her brother while he was in jail.

'53 Years' is the story of Renee's grandparents. Each song pleads it's longing and willingness to succumb to something bigger.

"They are the embodiment of a new generation of Folk Artists who have taken the genre to the next level...with a 21st Century Creative Edge" Michigan Blissfest Organizer

The album features master musicians perfectly enhancing each song on cello, violin, electric guitar, bass, and drums and, of course, the signature accordion, guitar, and heavenly harmonies.


MUSICIANS:
Aim Me Smiley:vocals, acoustic guitar
Renee Ananda: vocals, accordion, piano
Sarah Bielish: cello
Randy Brewer: mandolin
Steph Dlugon: violin
Doris Dupe: drums, percussion
Big Mac: bass

Wild Darling(5:15)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Aim Me wrote this love song for Renee as a surprise.
It is a love that has passion, commitment, salvation. A love that roots and grows and delights and listens and dances.

2. Chantepleure (6:55)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

French for crying while laughing...this is a song that is a prayer. It's a cry to feel until your cup is filled and you can truly feel your pain. It is poetry mingling with music.

3. What If (5:40)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Written while sitting above the gypsy caves in Seville, Spain over-looking the town. You hear it in the music. We were listening to flamenco echoing out of the window of a house nearby. It is a question we often ask but seldom answer.

4.Ramanama (06:40)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

When reading a biography about Gandhi, we discovered that “ramanama” was his first word for God. Again, on the porch on a gorgeous day, feeling the exhale of unloading the road after weeks of touring, this song poured through as secret prayer.

5. Over the Rainbow (4:52)

Songwriters: Written by Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI
Written by Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg

This is another soundcheck song. We were playing a show at Molly Malone’s near Cincinnati and during soundcheck IZ’s version of Somewhere came on and we started playing with it. What joy to play and sing it! The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland have played pivotal roles in Aim Me’s life so it makes perfect sense that this song would be a part of the soundtrack to our lives.

6. 53 Years (5:31)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Renee’s grandparents kept a black and white photo of them, smiling in front of a Model T dressed to the nines. It was ripped down the middle somewhere along the way with the words “you dirty rotten” written on it, then put back together and placed lovingly in the frame. This is their story of loving through over 5 decades of triumph and tragedy and still putting the pieces back together with love.

7. L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore (5:01)

Songwriters: Jean Ritchie

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Aim Me’s family has a long legacy of working for the L&N Railroad so it has a special place in her heart. This song was written by American treasure Jean Ritchie.

8. Bowling Green, Kentucky (5:04)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

The lyrics were written by Aim Me’s brother while he was serving time in Woodford County, Kentucky. He sent the words in letters during their correspondence. The music was meant to harken to the bluegrass legacy of this area and humanize folks who are incarcerated.

9. Waterfall (5:06)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

This song tells a very intimate story of what pours out when a relationship falls...falls apart. It captures the crumbling of a heart when it foundation falters. It expresses the deep emotion of a fairytale not coming true.

10. Wildfire of Roses (5:41)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Learning to love, ever learning to love ourselves, this is the one journey.
Let there be more love songs to the self.
Let us fall in love with ourselves and let true love of the soul spread like a wildfire of roses across every heart.

11. Bird Called Hope (5:44)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Inspired by the phenomenal poet Emily Dickinson
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all”
Hope is there on the lid of a dreamer’s eye in every moment and it comes to us as a choice.

12. Root (4:58)

Songwriters: Renee Ananda & Aim Me Smiley

Publisher: Troubadours of Divine Bliss Music, BMI

Rumi’s poetry, translation by Coleman Barks
We read a lot of Rumi, our greatest teacher. When we read this poem, “The Root of the Root of your Self” we heard the soulful moan of that plea in the rhythm of the words. Just reading it aloud, the music is heard.

TROUBADOURS OF DIVINE BLISS BIOGRAPHY
Troubadours of Divine Bliss, Renee Ananda, and Aim Me Smiley have been best friends since their teens when they met at a holy-roller church outside of Louisville, KY. Despite Aim Me's dad kicking Renee's dad- the pastor- out of the church, the girls remained friends and over a decade later, fell in love. They dreamed of traveling the world making music together-singing songs about following your heart, freeing your dreams, and finding your bliss. So they moved to New Orleans armed with an accordion, a guitar, and harmonies "smooth as KY Bourbon" and became street performers calling themselves Troubadours of Divine Bliss.

Since then, they have spent two decades touring full time all over America, Canada, Scandinavia, and Europe. Their style has broken the shackles of genre and their nine recordings attest to that.

The one running thread through their music is the remarkable harmonies and uplifting message.

The troubadours are musicians, ministers, activists, writers, life coaches, retreat leaders, homesteaders, and founders of Mighty Kindness. They live in southern Indiana in the Hoosier National Forest and tour internationally year-round sharing their songs of love.

Bliss appeared: FIMU Intl Music Fest France, Blissfest MI, Troubadour London, Alaska Women's Fest, Living Room NYC, BBC Radio, WKSU Cabin Fever Fest, El Principal Spain, Mojo Copenhagen, Southern Womyn Fest FL, RiverRoots Festival, Murat Theatre, Eddie's Attic