Laurelyn Dossett

Say “yes”

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:01:58 +0000

Photo by Andrew Rein

One could never accuse me of being overly linear about my musical career.

But if I were to have one guiding principle it would be this: When people who do good work ask you to work with them, say “yes.”

That is what I said 5 years ago when Preston Lane asked if I might want to write some songs for a play, that he had not yet written, based on an epic poem I’d never read. The result was Brother Wolf, an Appalachian version of Beowulf.

Since that first “yes” we have written 4 plays-with-music together – Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star, Bloody Blackbeard, and the upcoming world premiere of Providence Gap.

It might seem that writing songs for plays would be confining, but it turns out those constraints of time, place and story end up taking my songwriting to places I would not have gone to otherwise.

And while Preston is a single-minded visionary, he is also a generous collaborator. Triad Stage is a courageous supporter of our new works — it’s almost unheard of in regional theatre. I don’t think North Carolinians realize how fortunate they are to have Triad Stage, but I know how lucky I am.

Laurelyn Dossett and Scott Manring, by Andrew Rein

Speaking of luck, our next play, Providence Gap, is all about luck, chance, providence – and love. It opens June 6th and we are having a blast working on it.

In the meantime Preston and I will head up to Minnesota on February 13 to see Brother Wolf at St. Olaf College; we’ll have a little talk-back with the audience afterward.

If you happen to be in the Minneapolis area, say yes, and come on over.

Needed: One compact kitchen table

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:28:43 +0000

Me, Alice and Diana

We’ve been half-joking about bringing a kitchen table to the Redbird Round shows. I feel comfortable with these ladies on stage, like I’m sitting with them in my own home kitchen. It almost seems unnatural to have a microphone where the table should be.

And that’s exactly the kind of experience we’re trying to create: An intimate setting to hear these songs and the stories behind them. A relaxed format, without a setlist, allows us to respond to each other, song to song, writer to writer, woman to woman. Some story Alice shares, or phrase Diana sings can bring up some long forgotten memory, which probably started around a kitchen table somewhere.

Thanks to all who came out to the shows this last week. We’re looking forward to heading northeast in January and February to cut through this dismal winter gray like a bunch of redbirds.

Come see us. I’ll post more dates to redbirdround.com as soon as they’re available.

Redbird Round

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:56:43 +0000

You all know I love a good songwriter’s round. So last summer when I first met Diana Jones and heard her original songs in the Appalachian style, I knew I had one for the round. As a long-time fan of Alice Gerrard’s work, I also knew she would complete the circle.

The three of us will be taking this short concert series on the road, cutting through the winter’s dismal gray like a bunch of red birds, singing songs and sharing stories. I look forward to seeing what comes of this.

Hope to see you all there. Meantime, you can visit redbirdround.com for more information.

7:30 pm Wednesday, December 9
EMFfringe at Triad Stage, Greensboro, NC.
Tickets: $20. Order online.

Noon, Friday, December 11
Live on WUNC’s The State of Things

8 pm Friday, December 11
House Concert and Potluck Dinner at the Clemens’ house, Cornelius, NC.
Dinner at 6 pm. Music at 8 pm. Advance payment necessary to confirm seating.
Tickets $20 adults; $12 students. Call Bethli at (704) 892-4914, or email emiescher@bellsouth.net

7:30 pm Saturday, December 12
The ArtsCenter’s new performance space at University Mall, Carrboro, NC.
Tickets $15; Friend $13. Order online.

7 pm Sunday, December 13
The Poplar Knight Spot, Aberdeen, NC
Tickets $15 presale, $18 at the door. Order online.

Singing for the lands you love; Steep Canyon Rangers and Polecat Creek Friday night

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:43:57 +0000

photo by Keith Mcadoo

Friday Oct. 16 is The Piedmont Land Conservancy  Land Jam at the Carolina Theatre with Steep Canyon Rangers and Polecat Creek.

Your $20 ticket will be working to ensure that the Piedmont has clean air, clean drinking water and strong soil for vegetable and plant production for years to come.

Since 1990, the PLC has been working to permanently protect more than 138 of the Piedmont’s special places encompassing nearly 16,000 acres. Through the protection of these lands, the PLC helps ensure the people who live and visit this region have clean drinking water, access to locally grown food, outdoor recreational opportunities, and scenic views.

And Friday night, we’re singing and playing to literally save the places we all love.

Steep Canyon Rangers

We’re honored to play a part, and to share the stage with Asheville’s Steep Canyon Rangers. The group is fresh off a sold out tour with Steve Martin’s bluegrass project, The Crow. It’s good to have traditional bluegrass back where it belongs. Home.

The Piedmont Land Conservancy Land Jam
Carolina Theatre
8 pm Friday Oct. 16
Tickets are available online
Or, you can call the Piedmont Land Conservancy at 336-691-0088

Oh to live on, Yellow Mountain

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:33:44 +0000

Land Trust Alliance

You wouldn’t know it by this picture …

But you know it by the picture below … Despite driving rain and gusting winds, friends of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy put on a great party. Gigs like that will make you glad you know a few songs. And yes, Yellow Mountain is as close to heaven as I’ll ever get.

This is why we do it.

Working on a few ideas …

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:19:42 +0000

Print by D e b b i e

And burning the midnight energy efficient bulbs. Meantime, hope to see you all here, or there.

Friday, July 24, 2009
Appalachian Summer Festival
staged readings of “Providence Gap”
latest collaboration with Preston Lane
Boone, NC

August 2 - 8
Laurelyn teaching songwriting
Augusta Heritage Center
Elkins, WV

A new voice in Appalachia

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:33:00 +0000

I first heard Diana Jones at the Station Inn last fall and was immediately fascinated by her songs, her voice — and she put on a captivating show in a very calm and unassuming way. We were introduced by our mutual friend John Lilly and immediately found common ground in songwriting. She is a remarkable woman and such a talent, check out her story in the New York Times.

‘Better Times Will Come’ (Proper Records), her unvarnished new album, marks both the culmination of this process and the arrival of a fresh and distinctive voice. The music on the record is built around the familiar fiddles, mandolins and harmonies of rural Appalachia, and yet there’s no regionalism to speak of in Ms. Jones’s supple, loamy alto. She sings of the hard times, murderous urges and chilling loneliness that haunt the old Anglo-Celtic ballads but, with one exception, sets her plain-spoken narratives resolutely in the present. She approaches the mountain-ballad tradition not as a curiosity or antique but as a renewable vernacular that’s just as capable of speaking to the human condition now as it was 80 years ago.

Boots and skirts Sunday in the park

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:13:28 +0000

It’s been a few years and a few records since Abigail Seymour took this picture for Polecat Creek. And this Sunday, Kari and I both have two new solo albums to sing about this year in addition to the new Polecat record, Ordinary Seasons.

Listen for tunes off Kari’s new record and a new compilation from me.

Hope to see you Sunday in park.

And, if you’re anywhere near a radio Friday night, listen to Kari on WUNC’s Back Porch Music.

Sunday May 31, 3:30 - 5:00
with Polecat Creek
Center City Park, Greensboro, NC

A Prairie Home Companion May 9 in Durham NC

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:15:05 +0000

If I could do it all over again, I would. And then again. And again. You get the idea, here.

Click below to listen to the performance from the Durham Performing Arts Center, in Durham, North Carolina. With special guests, Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group, Kari and myself as Polecat Creek, and old-time string band Big Medicine.

Thank you, Mr. Keillor

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:22:22 +0000

Soon as the audio archive posts on A Prairie Home Companion Web site, I’ll link it here. In the meantime, thank you to the folks who listened, laughed and clapped in all the right places. And special thanks to the other fine bands who performed on the pre-Mother’s Day show: Robin & Linda Williams, and Big Medicine.

For now, getting ready to leave radio land and head for the coast. Next week begins the Blue Skies, Golden Sands tour with the North Carolina Symphony.

This unique performance, led by a narrator, takes you through North Carolina’s long history with serenading the sand and skies. From early Native American flute songs, to folk songs caught by coastal song catchers, and, finally to the R&B influenced sound that eventually lured thousands of kids beach-side to shag to Beach Music.

Hope to see you there.

May 19 - 23
Laurelyn touring with NC Symphony
Blue Skies Golden Sands series
see website for locations and dates