Atwater & Donnelly

While traditional music artists often focus on one genre, Atwater & Donnelly have cut a broad swath within their initiatives to conserve older designs and music. A mainstay in New Britain, the few performs ocean shanties, Shaker hymns, British and Appalachian folk music, and Celtic music. “Their harmonies, punctuated by Aubrey Atwater’s effective soprano and Elwood Donnelly’s solid tenor,” composed Stephen Ide in Music Hound Folk, “are delicious and meticulously crafted….” The selection of musical equipment the group utilizes — dulcimer, banjo, spoons, harmonica, and bone fragments — further increases the eclectic character from the music. Atwater (b. Sept 22, 1963) and Donnelly (b. January 30, 1950) fulfilled while functioning as volunteers on the Rock Soup Coffee Home in Providence in 1987. Very quickly, the couple shaped Atwater & Donnelly, and in 1989, they wedded. Atwater started her romance with music when she “tapped out” “Right here We Move ‘Circular the Mulberry Bush” at age five. Seven many years of traditional piano lessons implemented until, toward the finish of her high-school years, she started playing well-known folk songs with an classical guitar. Atwater went to Brown College or university, where she researched French, mindset, and background while also executing at rallies and regional coffeehouses. Donnelly’s trip toward traditional music also got a circuitous route. He began his music profession at 15, signing up for a rock-band known as the Lovely Issues (1965-1967) and afterwards, in the middle-’80s, signing up for the Kesar Music group to try out traditional Cambodian music. In 1988 Atwater & Donnelly released their first record, Like & Labor, an attempt that included Irish, British, and Scottish materials. The record also highlighted a recording from the initial song the few had sung in public areas, Tyger Hutchings’ “A Calling-On Tune.” Atwater & Donnelly implemented with Culled through the Backyard in 1991, an record focused on Atwater’s stepfather and including traditional standbys like “John Barleycorn” and “Early One Morning.” Atwater released Basic Sentences, her initial solo record, in 1992, and implemented it with Daily Developing, a children’s record, in 1999. In the meantime, she continued to utilize Donnelly on some albums, including Just like the Willow Tree and Where in fact the Wild Birds Perform Whistle. In 2002 Atwater & Donnelly released AND I’m Going House, recorded at Rock Soup as well as the Blackstone River Theater in Cumberland, RI. “The documenting is an excellent introduction with their adoring re-creations of great traditional tracks,” observed Tom Druckenmiller in Sing Out!, “along with some modern choices from Jean Ritchie, Mike Combination, and Ralph Stanley.” In 2004, Atwater & Donnelly released The Blackest Crow on Rabbit Isle, the duo’s 8th discharge. “Atwater & Donnelly should be complimented, for whatever the foundation of the materials, they make the music and songs their particular,” had written Druckenmiller. “They present the music basically, and true with their souls. Done well!” Furthermore to documenting and executing, Aubrey Atwater offers created three books of poetry (By Our Words: The Poetry of Three Decades, BE CAUTIOUS, Don’t Walk Barefoot on My Kitchen Ground, and do not Bother the Phoebe). The few has also became a member of with Cathy Clasper-Torch to create the Atwater-Donnelly Trio.