Links to Favorite Shtuff

Poetry Books and More

WFUV Radio-click on their Artist Links page and you will find almost any folk/pop/intriguing artist you might be looking for. This is NYC's folk radio station, and I've gotten to play live on this station on my own and with my band Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches.

Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches focuses on Betina’s originals, along with elements of 1920's, New Orleans, blues and bluegrass.

Hot Jazz Jumpers is exactly that - hot jazz of the 1920's! Featuring Betina Hershey on vocals, Nick Russo on guitar, and a variety of top notch NYC musicians..

Beat by Beat Press has published many of the musicals that Denver Casado and I have written together.

Nick Russo, my husband, is a wonderful guitarist and banjo player who plays traditional & dixie land jazz with such notables as Dandy Wellington, Vince Giordano and the Night Hawks, R&B and blues with the legendary Victor Jones, and many others. He also plays all of my songs and washes my dishes when he isn't rushing to a gig. We were married on October 20th, 2007 and have twins who always make us laugh and question.

Shawn Hershey, my brother, is an amazing swing dancer and jazz trumpet player. We've performed & taught swing dancing as far off as Tokyo, Japan and as close as NYC. I've recently gotten to sing in his "Fried Bananas" swing band, and also debut in the Hershey Russo Soul and Blues Band which he conceived of, and which performed for Boston blues dancers. I love getting to do gigs with him! There's nothing better than working together as a family!

Denver Casado is an incredibly talented young composer who I met in September, 2004 in the BMI Musical Theater Workshop. We have writen 4 childrens musicals together which have premiered in Forest Hills with the Garden Players Musical Theater Kids, Finding the Wonder which was accepted into the BAD Musical Theater Festival, and various cabaret songs including "Sure I've Got the Belly" which appeared in The Mother of All Cabarets, a cabaret put on by 3 pregnant women.

Eddie Guttman is another wonderful composer that I've been writing with. We met when I was in my senior year of college and he was the music director of one of the shows. We began writing together back then but didn't get serious until this year when I decided I really wanted to focus on my musical theater writing and write with musical collaborators. Eddie's music is haunting and fresh. We wrote an hour long children's musical, Finding Home, that premiered in May, 2005 at The Community House in The Gardens, Forest Hills.