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| Armor & Sturtevant | Laurie Rose Griffith & Peter Mealy |
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| Armor & Sturtevant | Laurie Rose Griffith & Peter Mealy |
For the past 5 years, Armor and Sturtevant have been playing a hybrid of East African traditional, American old-timey, and their own original music on a plethora of instruments at folk festivals, concerts, coffeehouses, churches, and schools. They come by their unique sound honestly. Kelly Armor studied flute and composition at Yale before spending 2½ years in Kenya and Tanzania. There, she lived with native people and collected their songs, folklore, and instruments. David Sturtevant grew up listening to and accompanying the fiddle playing of his father. Dave's songs reflect his old-time roots and his lifetime of living along the Great Lakes. In 1993, he was finalist in the Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Contest. His songs have been covered by John Kirk, Dan Duggan, Neil &Leandra, and Sue Trainor.
Armor and Strutevant's first release, Spring Day, received national
airplay and garnered live
interviews and performances on major public radio stations across the
U.S. Their latest
recording, You Dance Like You Drive, is currently enjoying airplay.
In only two years Laurie Rose Griffith and Peter Mealy have become an extremely popular and sought after act on the acoustic circuit. They have perfomed at the Phildelphia Folk Festival and the 1996 Olympics with over 200 festival and club dates in between. Their CD, Tocoi Light, was voted Best Debut Album of 1996 by the Washington Area Music Association, and was nominated in seven other categories for WAMMY awards. They have also appeared on several compilation CDs, including the Hungry For Music Benefit album and the Takoma Park Folk Festival compilation.
Their success is a result of two talented solo artists joining forces to bring out the best in each other's art.
Laurie Rose Griffith is one of those rare singers who can get right to the heart of every song she sings, World Folk Music Association's, Dick Cerri says, "It's easy to fall in love when you hear her sing." Supported by her strong guitar work and gifted with a keen discerning ear for compelling material, Laurie's rich soprano delivers a powerhouse of emotion every time she performs.
Peter Mealy is guitarist's guitarist. He posseses a bottomless bag of guitar tricks and a stylistic range that encompasses jam, classical, celtic, rock and ragtime. He is a noted songwriter with over a dozen awards to his credit, including a first place prize in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest. Peter's songs brought the duo to the Kerrville Folk Festival as finalists in the prestigious New Folk Competition. An advocate for original music, Peter was the founder of the Fredericksburg Songwriters' Showcase.
Laurie and Peter have broken ground on their second CD and will be performing songs from it at this month's showcase.
What's up next --
The November Showcase (November 28) features Gaye Adegbalola and Hot Soup!
(Sue Trainor, Sue Ribaudo, and Christina Muir.)
For more information call (540) 898-0611 or send e-mail to Bob Gramann at bobgramann@interserf.net.
Bob Gramman
122 Laurel Avenue
Fredericksburg VA 22408
Send
rants/rave to above mentioned Ackermann at ernie@mwc.edu
FROM the fortune list ...
Men for the sake of getting a living, forget to live. Margaret Fuller