February 2016

We just got the great news this morning that our new CD, Feels Like Home is nominated for three WYCE Jammies Awards! This recording is so special to us because it was the first time we ever recorded at home. We felt like it was the closest to hearing what we sound like in our living room, or our backyard, that we've ever been able to produce in a recording. It means so much to us to be included in the great lists of Michigan Artists who've been nominated for Jammies this year!

Our thanks go out to all who nominated and voted for us for...
Best Blues CD 
Song of the Year (Thirteen Question Method)
Best Engineered CD (Glenn Brown)

March 2015

NEW CD!!

New CEWe are just about to put the finishing touches on our new CD, Feels Like Home. It's been a long-time dream of ours to record at home, and we're happy to say that this CD was recorded entirely at our house. We got a lot of help with the equipment choices and set up, learning the software and engineering processes, and our thanks go out to Dennis Wieland, Alan Finkbeiner, John Churchville, Glenn Brown, Jim Roll and Geoff Michael. This just would not have happened without their guidance. As we head to the studio for the final mixing and mastering, we're asking if you'd like to pre-order the CD, to help us get through these final expenses. We'll be releasing it at the end of April, so you won't have long to wait! Please check the drop down menu on the PayPal button, there's some options to choose from. 

Level One: $15 - CD
Level Two: $25 - CD, plus digital download with Bonus Tracks
Level Three: $50 - CD, plus digital download with Bonus Tracks, plus guitar tabs of your choice of three songs from the recording
Level Four: $80 - CD, plus one hour guitar lesson in Ann Arbor or via Skype
Level Five: $125 - CD, plus tabs for all of the guitars on the recording
Level Six: $500 - CD, plus we will come play a house concert for you and your friends (within 250 miles of Ann Arbor)
Level Seven: $1000 - CD plus we will come play a house concert for you and your friends (between 250 and 700 miles of Ann Arbor)

Make a Selection

October 2013

What a fantastic night we had sharing the bill with Brooks Williams! He was fantastic on and off stage, we hit it off so well that we've decided to do some more shows together. Look for us Oct 2014!

July 2013

After some serious driving, we got home early in the morning on the day of Top of the Park....This photo is from the end of a magical night, Madcat on harnomica, Josh Davis on bass and guitar, John Churchville on drums and tabla. At one point in the night we were playing Kassie Jones with John on tabla and an impromptu group of Bollywood Dancers showed up and started dancing!

June 2013

We're off and headed on a crazy criss cross of a road trip. First off we'll go and spend some time with our dear friend and guitar player extraordinaire Eleanor Ellis in DC. While there we have a show and a guitar workshop at Archie Edward's Barbershop. Love that place.
Next stop, we'll be in Cleveland, OH, to play at one of our old favorites, Wilberts. We both have strong memories of playing there in their old location, opening up for Robert Lockwood Jr., James Cotton, and so many others. We even went on a date night, Ann Arbor to Cleveland! to hear Robert Lockwood play when we first got together. Then it's back home to Ann Arbor to play with madcat at the Summer Festival, Top of the Park, then off again to Columbus to do a double bill with blues duo, Front Porch Revival at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza. Then, back home to play Top of the Park again, this time just the two of us. All of this in ten days! Did someone say, Five Hour Energy?

August 2012

Just got back from Hollerfest. Man that cabin is the most favorite place to play in this world. When you walk in, you gotta get yourself re-oriented, cause there's some kinda spirit in that place. We shot some video there last fall, and when I looked at it, there was a blue light swirling all around the frame. Sheesh. Time to start counting down to next year.

March 2012

What a wonderful time at Caffe Lena's last night. It's been years since we've been there, and I'd forgotten how much history is in that building. You can feel Elizabeth Cotton, Dave Van Ronk, Spider John Koerner, young John Hammond and Rory Block through the floorboards of the stage. Took us back to those early days of Homespun Tapes, and learning about this music that we've loved now for 40 years! Makes a person feel inspired.

January, 2012

Good news, or Great news!!
In 2010, we were sitting around talking about what we wanted to do for our 20th anniversary, coming up in 2011. The first idea in our house is always to buy new guitars! But, we'd each have to buy one for each other, then we'd covet each others guitars..., too much money, scrap that idea.

One thing we've always wanted to do, is record an acoustic album of the music we've played for years around the house, just the two of us. Decision made. We went in the studio, recorded two days worth of songs, and mixed the ones we thought came out the best. We loved the CD. It sounded like what our neighbors hear when we're playing in the back yard or on the front porch. We named it Four Hand Blues, because that's what it was, our four hands, playing our favorite music. Happy as can be. Or so we thought.

Then Ann Arbor favorite radio station hosts Linda Yohn, Michael Jewett and Wendy Wright of WEMU started playing it every day. Its an awesome feeling to hear your record when you turn on the radio. It's awesome to feel so loved and supported by radio hosts whose opinions you value so much. Getting happier by the minute!

But then, the big surprise! Four Hand Blues was nominated for two Jammie awards, BEST TRADITIONAL ALBUM, and BEST BLUES ALBUM. And, Shari was nominated for BEST FEMALE ARTIST! Words pale when we try to tell you what this means to us. But we hope that our words will do justice when we try to express our heartfelt thanks to all the people who've shared the CD with their friends, come to our shows, played it on their radio shows, sent us the nicest comments, booked us at their venues, nominated us, and supported us in all the different ways that support comes. You never truly realize how much or how deeply your kindness affects us. We thank you and we thank you again.

June, 2011

Yesterday we were driving west on I-80, returning from a party on the farm where Dave grew up, celebrating his Dad’s 90th birthday. I was pretty down about the state of things in general, plus seeing so many of our relatives aging had gotten me feeling like we weren’t that far from 90 ourselves. And it wasn’t a rosy picture. Plus, we’d been listening to the news on the radio, which left me feeling like my baby boy was all grown up into a world that I wasn’t hoping for.

Dave started searching the radio dial, and hit on some folk music show. We lost it before we got to the segment where they identified themselves, so we never found out what station it was, or who the artist was. But it was heartfelt music, acoustic guitar, played beautifully. Songs that were true and real.

Pretty much instantly, I was out of my slump, and remembering what I love about life. I looked at the highway, and instead of whining about the 5 hours we had left to drive, I found myself soaring in the remembrance of highways I’ve been on; times I’d driven this road back from east coast tours, highways in the south, highways in the west. I started thinking about the ‘younger’ set of folk musicians who are delighting me these days, making me know that folk and roots music lives on, and is well stewarded, and safe from the erosion of time. I felt good, and young…and happy.

As musicians, Dave and I learned our craft and began the journey of getting gigs, and better gigs. Managers and booking agents came and went. Bands changed and bands broke up. But, the one thing that has stayed true for both of us, is that love of music we tumbled upon in our early teens. It strikes me when I least expect it, and fills me with utter awe and hope. As we launch this website, and with the release of our first record together, I hope there will be times when our music lifts you, the way those songs on that radio show did for me yesterday.