Picker's Supply Presents

Fredericksburg Songwriters' Showcase 
A Monthly Concert Series Featuring Original Acoustic Music

Friday, November 27,  1998, 8 pm

This Month's Songwriter/Performers ...

 
Stuart Whitford
 Kelly Armor and David Sturtevant
 

Picker's Supply Concert hall 
902 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, VA (entrance in alley around back) 
Admission $6.00

Call (540) 898-0611 for
information.
About the songwriters
Stuart Whiford | Kelly Armor & David Sturtevant
Stuart Whitford is a computer software analyst with a lifelong  interest in music who is returning to songwriting and performing  publicly after a 15 year absence.  Stuart began playing trumpet in band  in elementary school and guitar at home in high school.  While attending college in Colorado in the late 60s, Stuart was introduced to  finger-style guitar and the songs of Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby,  Stills, and Nash, and Joni Mitchell.  Through the 70s and early 80s,  Stuart sang and played guitar, Dobro, and mandolin in various folk,  folk-rock, bluegrass, and newgrass bands in North Carolina, Southern  California, Florida, and East Tennessee, culminating in a three year  stint with Our Gang, the unofficial house band of the legendary Down  Home Pickin Parlor in Johnson City, Tennessee -  a band which also  featured guitarists Stephen Sheehan (who went on to play with the Judds  and Randy Travis) and Roger Rasnake (who’s songs have been recorded  by Alison Krause and Jason Carter).  Stuart has always been a fan of  good songwriters - from Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Rickie Lee  Jones to Norman Blake, Guy Clark, and Townes van Zant.  In the past two years, Stuart’s tinkering with words and music has come together to produce a surprising debut CD of music from the heart that reflects many of the influences on his life - musical, cultural, geographical,  and personal.  Some quotes:  Dobro Master Jerry Douglas says: “This album took me by surprise. . . . My hat's off to [Stuart].  This  is a wonderful record, something to be proud of.  Maybe next time I'll  be invited to play, too.  Good luck, Stuart.”  Front Porch String Band bassist Missy Raines says: ”I really love Stuart Whitford's music . . . [it] goes directly to the  heart, it's gentle on the soul . . .  [P]laying Stuart's music with all  of these great and sensitive musicians made the experience magical."  songwriter.  Kate Campbell says: “It’s truly one of the best independent projects I’ve heard - the songwriting, playing, & recording are all wonderful! I felt it was from the heart.”  The  Free Lance-Star says (Aug. 27, 1998): “. . . an impressive debut . . . Vertical Land is a keeper . . .   The surprising debut album by Fredericksburg’s Stuart Whitford . . . is the best effort by an unsigned local artist in 1998.”  WETS-FM Program Director Phil Leonard says: “Stuart Whitford's Vertical Land is a straight up musical delight . .  . a set of tunes and lyrics that invite the listener to be a part of a wonderful musical journey.  The CD will be placed amongst the most favored in many people's collections.”  Songwriter Pat White says: “Congratulations on an excellent album!  I’ve been going back to it often.  Great players, singers - including yourself - and amazing  songs.”

For the past five years Kelly Armor and David 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 2-1/2 years in Kenya and Tanzania. There she  lived with native people and collected 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 a 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 Sturtevant's first release, Spring Day, received national radio  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.  This is their second appearance at the Fredericksburg Songwriters’ Showcase where they are one of Bob Gramann’s favorite acts.
 

Stuart Whiford | Kelly Armor & David Sturtevant


What's next!

Want more Info?

For more information call (540) 898-0611 or send e-mail to Bob Gramann at showcase@bobgramann.com.

Past Shows

Links to other Songwriters Showcase Web pages

Sites on the WWW with links to Federicksburg Songwriter's Showcase (Thanks!)

URL for this page: http://www.mwc.edu/ernie/songwrite.html
Last Time I changed anything on this page: Sunday, November 15, 1998
Page put together (with info & pics from Bob) by Ernest Ackermann.
 

Send rants/rave to above mentioned Ackermann at ernie@mwc.edu

 
 

FROM the fortune list ...

Expletive deleted. - Submission of Recorded Presidential Conversations to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives by President Richard M. Nixon 30 Apr. 1974, app. 1, p. 2