Two duets: two ladies from the Appalachian old-time tradition, and two gents from the Irish tradition. We met this fall, and spent the weekend singing. This spring they are excited to be traveling together, to bring you a show of Appalachian ballads, Irish songs, fiddle and banjo tunes, bouzouki & guitar, stories, and illustrated scrolling crankies.
at the Acoustic Artisans Sessions
594 Congress St, Portland, $10
for reservations: acousticartisans@gmail.com
ANNA & ELIZABETH (Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth Laprelle) live in Southwest Virginia; they weave traditional Appalachian music—ballads, fiddle tunes and harmonies—with storytelling, shadow puppetry & scrolling illustrations called crankies. They have shared their show, to great acclaim, across the US, including the High Museum of Modern art in Atlanta, to the Seattle Folk Festival, and the Lexington Opera House (KY).
our website: www.annaandelizabeth.com
Anna & Elizabeth are at the heart of what we all call “traditional”…. I am so impressed with not only their talent, but also their commitment to keeping it real and digging below the surface. They represent not only what they do, but the people they learned it from. — Ginny Hawker
THE MURPHY BEDS (Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O’Leary) present traditional Irish ballads & songs, in close harmonies and deft instrumental arrangements. They have just released their first album as a duo.www.murphybedsmusic.com
Jefferson is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in New York. He currently tours with Anais Mitchell, in support of Child Ballads, a much-anticipated collection of reworked English folk songs, carefully re-imagined to reflect an American sensibility, as well as a deep respect for the tradition. Advance of its release, the record is already garnering rave reviews in the UK press. Other collaborators include Tashina Clarridge, Laura Cortese, and Session Americana.
Eamon developed an interest in Irish music while growing up in Dublin, through his friendship with the Mayock family, noted traditional musicians originally from County Mayo. When he moved to New York City in 1992, he met guitarist John Doyle and fiddle player Patrick Ourceau, among others, and has since become a fixture in the city’s thriving Irish music scene. Eamon has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, performing with many of Irish music’s great players, including Paddy Keenan, Mick Moloney, Tommy Peoples, Susan McKeown and flute player Emer Mayock. He has taught at numerous music programs including the Augusta Heritage Center, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, and the Alaska Irish Music Camp.
Anna, a Vermont native who moved south to immerse herself in Appalachian music, has apprenticed with the masters of the Kentucky fiddle tradition: Bruce Greene, John Harrod and Paul David Smith, as well as banjo players Lee Sexton and Earl Thomas. She was a fellowship recipient at Berea College to do research into the lives of female fiddlers in Kentucky, and is in the process of filming a documentary about the Kentucky Clodhoppers, a central Kentucky stringband. She recently produced a compilation album of young traditional musicians The New Young Fogies, with Joseph DeJarnette; has taught at fiddle camps throughout the southeast, and is currently faculty coordinator of the Cowan Music School, Kentucky’s only traditional music school.
Elizabeth is a young ballad singer and banjo player from Rural Retreat, Virginia, whose heartfelt and powerful singing has won her prizes at regional fiddlers conventions since the age of eleven. She has recorded three solo albums, and her singing has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and Prairie Home Companion. She has sung for audiences across the country, and has taught Appalachian ballads and unaccompanied singing at music camps and workshops.