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Old folkies approaching 30? The Grace
sisters' rich musical heritage began in the Missouri living-room
jams of parents Paul and Win Grace. The Grace parents were
professionals on the folk music circuit, and Leela and Ellie joined
in at a very young age. "A lot of people want to define what they do
musically; the music industry encourages that. But we've grown up
crossing lines. We love traditional and old-time music, rock, pop,
activist music, Celtic, progressive. We're in that community," said
Leela. The sisters not only harmonize, but complement. Ellie plays
mandolin, guitar, and fiddle; Leela plays banjo and guitar. Both
sing, write, and incorporate dance as percussive rhythm. Appalachian
clogging is infused with tap, hip-hop, flamenco, Irish step dance,
and more when the women dance in performance.
The sisters began touring independently from
their parents in 1997, releasing a
self-titled debut in 2003,
produced by Pete Sutherland. Now Ellie lives in Asheville, North
Carolina, and Leela has moved to Portland, Oregon. They've recently
been promoting their new CD,
Where the Waters
Run, on the road. Years of touring give the sisters a
unique perspective: As teens, they were in the midst of a powerful
scene, but lacked peers; then about 10 years ago, they began to
notice an influx of young people joining the folk and old-time
scene. The women see the inclusion of political music as a cycle
that's making a comeback, this time including gay rights. "Another
thing: The scene was more inclusive musically when we were younger,"
said Leela. "Now there's endless argument about definition."
The women agree on a broad definition, from old time to Indigo
Girls. They are excited about folk moving into the cultural
foreground. "Lori McKenna is one of my favorites," said Ellie. "A
woman singing a heartfelt song with guitar or piano -- and the
general public is connecting. They're ready for folk music! It's
coming to the popular realm; you hear it on TV and movie
soundtracks. Real people and real music are putting their hearts out
there."
Leela and Ellie also tour separately and with others, teach, and are
DIY artists. While business tasks take time away from creative
aspects, they see no other practical way to proceed, and have found
that dilemma common among the Folk Alliance community. Ultimately
funding was the biggest reason for waiting five years to make a new
CD.
Recording was a happy accident. Family and
friends gathered in the Grace family’s hometown of Columbia,
Missouri, for Leela’s birthday, and presented her with a new guitar
and some recording time. Ellie went along to the recording studio,
and they surprised themselves with six new songs at the two-day
session. The project was completed over the next year, finding
hometown musicians of national caliber, “adding magic to the music,”
said Ellie. This time the sisters wrote most of the songs, produced
the album, and played the lead tracks – all significant signs of
growth. Leela recalled, “We’d grown up recording, but it was stand
in a circle, play, get a good take, and fix it from there. In 2003,
we couldn’t do it ourselves. Pete Sutherland taught us. We learned
from him how to communicate ideas about production and how to make
them happen.”
“Ellie and I have very different approaches, a sort of sibling
disharmony! I’m seeking interesting arrangements, and Ellie is
focused on communicating the emotion of a song,” Leela said. That
emotion is often love. “When I write about a specific personal
experience, something about the way I write it causes people to
relate to and identify with that. I wrote a song for Ellie’s
college graduation (both sisters were home-schooled and graduated
summa cum laude from Columbia College) and people called to ask
if they could use ‘Never Forgotten’ at a funeral. . . and at an
event for prisoner’s families!”
Ellie added, “Love is universal. It gives people something strong
and powerful to connect to and be moved by, something important to
believe in to make a change in the world.”
The strong listener reaction to “Morning Grace” was surprising to
its writer, Leela: “When my partner and I first met, I’d get an
e-mail in the morning saying, ‘Morning, Grace!’ and I started
thinking about it being interpreted as a prayer of thanksgiving. For
me it described a specific experience of new love. People connect
with this because it takes them to a time when they felt that way,
or still do: ‘Tears like a blessing, love like the light/I touch
you like a prayer every single night!/ I don’t know who to thank
every single day/ I sing a little song and say a little grace.’
For both of us, love is what life is about, defined in a personal
way and in a political way.”
Ellie mused, “We may be angry or frustrated, especially in the
political arena, but when we express this in our writing it comes
out positive and pro-active.”
“America the land of the free, you’ve forgotten we’re your blood/
But we will join together one by one/ Until a drop becomes a flood”
are the lyrics from a folksong (“Until a Drop Becomes a Flood”)
by the sisters worthy of Pete Seeger. They attended a Washington
peace rally in the spring of 2002, “ . . .with half a million
others,” said Leela. “This groundswell was reported on a back page
as 30,000. Then it started to become unpatriotic to oppose the
war. There was an atmosphere of intense fear, a suggestion that you
were aiding the enemy if you spoke out or didn’t agree. We want to
remind people the U.S.A. was founded on dissent!”
“We’re trying to take back the empowerment,” Ellie contributed. “If
we join together one by one, that is really how change might
happen!” The sisters had fears, too, about playing political
content, but the song has been well received.
“Sharing with the audience, community, is important,” said Leela.
“It’s a conversation with us! Our music seems serious, emotional,
passionate. But onstage we banter with the audience and each other,
getting silly.”
“When the audience responds,” Ellie said, “that’s what we love! We
connect to the acceptance and the social consciousness. We have a
desire to bring about positive change in the world, make it a better
place.” The Grace girls are making music that empowers others, a
sign of true maturity.
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