An evolving project, currently centered around a trio of two guitars, one violin and a blending of voices, Birchwood Coupe has electric and acoustic versions of its original upbeat music about living with passion.
After only two years, we are booking all over Northern Vermont, expanding more recently into New England, including shows at top clubs in Philadelphia and New york City, culminating at the famous Bitter End. Additional musicians are often joining in to ensure our motto of "No Two Shows Alike!"
No matter the scale of the stage or the size of the audience, the blend of voices and instruments through a sophisticated sound system is a thrill that inspires more music, the dance between us exquisite enough to suffer all the pushes, shoves and embraces inherent in uniting separate egos and talents. The fun of it all is the key and we are most certainly enjoying that.
I started playing guitar as a project in 6th grade to get our class into focus. While my family begged me to go into another room, I was so out of tune, I stuck with it (for some unknown reason) and it has been a companion these many years. My first song was putting a sister's poem to music on a lark, but my Mom liked it, so I experimented more. All through college and my life in Oregon, songs would insinuate themselves into my life out of thin air or an emotion that had been swirling on a particular day.
In those years, I played solo and duo dates pretty regularly, forming a wonderful alliance with Bob Conte, my college roomate (what a great match), and in Oregon with Bill Bartels (eventually a son-in-law--even better match!). But then for twenty years, distractions laid my case in the corner, barely ever opened and the piano keys very dusty.
Today, I am playing to make up for that lost time. New songs have appeared as if channeled through me, a burst of creation that staggers my heart. I have written 1/3 as many in one year as in the previous 30. What began as an effort simply to record the songs on the computer for posterity has grown into a project to make a polished CD..slowly but surely.
Multi-tracking all the parts on my computer challenged me to find musicians to play it live, so Birchwood Coupe has formed, an evolving project, currently centered around a trio of two guitars, one violin and a blending of voices that adds a beautiful depth I had imagined, but never really thought would be heard aloud. Booking all over Northern Vermont, we have also ventured several times to stages in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Connecticut, culminating several times with shows at the famous Bitter End in New York City.
No matter the scale of the stage or the size of the audience, the blend of voices and instruments through a sophisticated sound system is a thrill that inspires more music, the dance between us exquisite enough to suffer all the pushes, shoves and embraces inherent in uniting separate egos and talents. The fun of it all is the key and we are most certainly enjoying that.
Here's to more...
Live at New York City's Bitter End
Music Samples Rough Cuts on Myspace Click on the picture
These songs are the first takes on recording, trying out multiple voices and instrumentations. They have been made at home on my computer in preparation for studio work planned for the near future
In this age of thinking abundantly, I have learned that if we do not offer the opportunity, some gifts that might be available are never received. I therefore humbly offer this button for anyone to contribute financially to the sustainability of these projects and speculations.
