LITTLE WINDOWS creates a mix of Appalachian and Irish music, and traditionally-based originals, with a special focus placed on unaccompanied ballads. They also explore the spiriitual nature of song and harmonic sound.
Mark Weems and Julee Glaub tour together nationally and abroad with a focus on the art of the pure voice with tight harmonies in traditional songs. Instrumentation includes guitar, fiddle, banjo, flute, piano and bodhrán. In addition to performing concerts, they also teach workshops and music camps around the country and have developed their own traditional singing camp called Camp Little Windows. Mark has been steeped in the Old Time Tradition for years while Julee has done the same in the Traditional Irish realm. Together they bring a beautiful blend of both traditions with a unique harmonic sound that is rare and often beckons the response from audience members, "I've never heard anything like it!" or that "there is a kind of lovely magic that weaves in and out of their music and settles into the audience whenever they perform." Though they have both made several recordings with other bands as well as solo projects, Julee and Mark's first recording together, Just Beyond Me, was submitted for a Grammy in the traditional folk category and has been featured on NPR's Thistle and Shamrock.
JULEE GLAUB, a native of North Carolina, studied literature and music at Wake Forest University, before following her longstanding interest in Irish culture to work with the poor in Dublin. Her meaningful experiences with the people of Ireland led her to a keener interest in the culture and in particular to their traditional music. For nearly seven years, she continued her work in Dublin while sitting at the feet of master players and singers and absorbing everything. She credits the combination of material from the Traditional Music Archive, from older singers, and her experiences in working with poor and working people in Dublin, as her major inspirations to her ballad singing.
Upon returning home, she became involved in the Irish music scene here in the States and has quickly become recognized as a leasing interpreter of irish songs in America. She lived in the Northeast for seven years in order to be closer to the heartbeat of Irish music in America. Her first CD, Fields Faraway (2001), included members of the band Séad whom she still performs with from time to time...Brian Conway, Brendan Dolan, and Jerry O'Sullivan. More recently she has expanded her interest to include traditional North Carolina music and in 2004 released her second CD, Blue Waltz, a collection which explores the connections between Irish and Appalachian music and has been highlighted on Fiona Ritchie's Thistle and Shamrock. The project was produced by Vermonter Pete Sutherland and highlights irish guitarist, Dáithí Sporule. Julee recently returned to North Carolina to be closer to her roots and to join two worlds that are deeply connected and part of her own soul as well. She is currently touring in a duo with Mark Weems, called Little Windows.
In 2005, Mark Weems and Julee realized quickly that the harmonic blending of their vocal tones was quite unique. They perform and teach both nationally and abroad.
Julee's approach to music downplays the entertainment aspect of music, incorporates her view of nature and human experience, and focuses on the spiritual and emotional wealth that traditional music has to offer to the world
MARK WEEMS hails from North Carolina and plays guitar, old- time banjo, fiddle, and piano, but is best known as a singer and composer. Thoroughly steeped in the Appalachian musical tradition, his special interest lies in re-interpreting the un- accompanied traditional ballads of North Carolina and Virginia for a modern audience. His music has been highlighted on NPR's Thistle and Shamrock, and he has recorded and/ or performed with Tony Ellis (Bill Monroe), Alice Gerrard (Hazel and Alice), Carl Jones (Norman Blake), Daithi Sproule (Altan), and Joe Adams (Johnny Paycheck). he has taught master classes at the Irish Arts week in New York, at the Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina, and the Alaska Traditional Music Camp, among others. A UPS driver for seven years, he now tours professionally with Julee Glaub as the duet Little Windows.
In 2000, he helped form the popular Stillhouse Bottom Band, a group that has done a lot to rejuvenate old-time string band music in the Carolina piedmont area by means of their musical diversity, creativity, high energy, and entertaining stage performances. www.stillhousebottomband.com
In 2004, Mark and Alice Gerrard discovered their mutual interest in traditional country music and the Weems-Gerrard Band was born. Their 2005 recording, Foolish Lover's Waltz, contains several classic honky-tonk songs as well as seven new hard-edged harmony duet originals penned by Mark and Alice.
In 2005, Mark and Julee realized quickly that the harmonic blending of their vocal tones was quite unique. Together they tour nationally and abroad as the duet Little Windows, performing a mesmerizing blend of traditional Irish, Scottish, and Appalachian song with a special focus on unaccompanied ballads. Their first recording together, released in 2006, Just Beyond Me, was submitted for a Grammy in the traditional folk category, and has been featured on NPR’s Thistle and Shamrock. They also teach at music camps around the country and have started their own traditional singing camps called Camp Little Windows. www.littlewindows.net " Marks' elegant singing brings us closer to the ballad style that carried these old songs through the generations. He has connected with this lost tradition and recovered new beauty from it." -John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers)
Mark continues his love of Honky-Tonk music in his new country band – Mark Weems and the Cave Dwellers. This fun loving group plays Hank, Merle, and lots of new originals by Mark and features piano, steel, fiddle, guitar, bass and drums.
LITTLE WINDOWS CREED
Little Windows has a unique approach to traditional music. Both of us have discovered the deeply personal and communal value of traditional song. We believe in the spiritual and emotional wealth of the songs, and how their proper presentation can positively affect both ourselves and others who hear them. We therefore try to deliberately downplay the purely entertainment value of music and try to draw the focus away from ourselves toward the beauty and magic of the songs' haunting melodies and lyrics. We like to present our material using one microphone in order to best synchronize our vocal expression. We also like to play in the dim light of candles rather than blaring performance lights in order to provide a space where the audience can enter into the magic of these simple heartfelt songs. We believe that music in general and particularly the human voice is spiritual, almost sacramental in nature. For those unaware of the human depth of traditional song, our hope is to open up little windows into this timeless, spiritual, mythical land.
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Admission: $18 ($15 members)
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7:00 pm
Templar's Hall, Old Poway Park
14134 Midland RD
Poway, CA