Sara Grey and Kieron Means (Special Event)

Music from Both Sides of the Atlantic from a Truly TransAtlantic FamilyIt's been a year of concerts by families at FSGW, and we've got one where everybody keeps crossing the ocean: the mother and son combination of Sara Grey and Kieron Means.Sara Grey started out in in New Hampshire, has lived all over the U.S. and the U.K. and currently calls Scotland her home. Once you have heard her, you will never forget her. She has a certain quality of voice that compels you to give her your undivided attention. Her voice is both powerful and sweet with a distinctive and lovely tremolo. It is a voice well suited to native American ballads and ballads of Ireland and Scotland.As a youngster in North Carolina she first heard a lot of mountain music and her love for the old time banjo music and songs developed from this experience. She has carried this interest into her adult life studying folklore and collecting and performing music from the various areas in which she has lived.She has always been interested in the migration of songs across the Atlantic; it was as a result of a collecting trip to Scotland in 1970 that she moved to the U.K. She has been working closely with other traditional singers from Scotland and Ireland to look at the movement of Celtic songs and how they change. Kieron Means is the son of Sara Grey and music journalist Andrew Means. He was born in the United States and grew up in Britain gaining a great love of the music of both traditions as well as the contemporary scene. He has become a performer of traditional songs from the U.S. and from the U.K. and many of the contemporary songs he sings he has written himself.Kieron is a singer primarily of traditional songs but also of contemporary songs and guitar player of great merit. He has a great rapport with an audience and has an exceptional professionalism for a young performer. His voice is as smooth as silk, rich and mellow and he sings to his audience not in spite of them.Dennis and Judy Cook invite you to their home in Laurel, Md. to hear this family from both sides of the pond. Please contact the Cooks by phone or e-mail to reserve a space. Reservations will be held until 7:50 pm.