Appalachian Music and Crankies!
ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT and ELIZABETH LAPRELLE are based in Southwest Virginia. They met, coming at traditional Appalachian music from different directions. Anna was in a touring old-time band. Elizabeth was singing ballads in far-away states. They came together to create a different kind of show: one that used theater and stories to show people what they love about old tunes and ballads. They also knew that keeping the music in the mountains--playing in their communities, playing for schools--was part of the job. With that, they set about making crankies, and learning stories, and trading songs and tunes.
THEIR SHOW: A captivating variety show of fiddle and banjo music, ballads and close harmonies, storytelling, flatfoot dancing and intricate puppets they create-- shadow puppets & 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).
Anna, a New Englander 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 (first singing for FSGW back when she was still a high school student!), and has taught Appalachian ballads and unaccompanied singing at music camps and workshops.
Anna and Elizabeth will also do a crankie workshop at Seeker's Church the afternoon of their concert from 4 to 6 pm.
The concert will be held at the Seeker?s Church, 276 Carroll Street, NW
in Washington, DC, just across the street from the Takoma station on Metro?s Red Line.
Concert: $15 FSGW members, $20 general public ? Workshop: $15 FSGW members, $20 general public Combination (workshop plus concert): $25 FSGW members, $30 general public
For further information about the concert, contact Marty Summerour at 703.981.2217 or msummerour@cox.net. For more information about the performers, and crankies, visit http://www.annaandelizabeth.com/.
