Elizabeth LaPrelle (Special Event)

Elizabeth LaPrelle has been performing Appalachian ballads and old-time songs since she was eleven. Her magnificent voice, her respect for the songs, and her authentic mountain sound and style brought her to the attention of first Ginny Hawker and then Sheila Kay Adams. FSGW first presented her when she was but a high-school student, and we were impressed back then! She's now a college student at the College of William and Mary, and she's gotten even better. She's performed on A Prairie Home Companion and toured America as part of the Crooked Road tour put together by the National Council for the Traditional Arts.Raised in Rural Retreat, Virginia, Elizabeth attended old time fiddlers' conventions and sang harmonies with her family, who taught her traditional singing styles and encouraged her to sing their own favorite American folk music. She will be performing the next afternoon at the Takoma Park Folk Festival, but this is a chance to hear even more of her impressive singing and get to know her in the intimate setting of a house concert. She'll be travelling (and singing a bit) with her mother, Sandy LaPrelle.Elizabeth will be performing the next afternoon at the Takoma Park Folk Festival, but this is a chance to hear even more of her impressive singing and get to know her in the intimate setting of a house concert. She'll be travelling (and singing a bit) with her mother, Sandy LaPrelle.Sandy LaPrelle grew up singing the traditional songs her mother and father sang to her at home. As a counselor at summer camp she sang and taught others to sing folk songs around the campfire, and of course sang to her own kids at home. In the late 1980s Sandy performed early music with the Solstice Assembly out of Chapel Hill, NC. Now that her daughter Elizabeth is performing regularly, Sandy provides harmony vocals for the family duets. You'll want to contact Rita Ferrara or Bill Day by phone at 301.946.2161 or by e-mail and reserve a seat in their rumpus room in Wheaton, Md., for this event.

Because this event may get notice in the press in conjunction with Elizabeth's Takoma Park Folk Festival appearance, it might get crowded. Even the regulars might want to give Rita or Bill a ring and have a spot saved for them.