MCTA: Singer-Songwriters Antje Duvekot and Ellis Paul

Mountain City Traditional Arts

Singer-Songwriters Antje Duvekot and Ellis Paul Will Perform at Mountain City Traditional Arts

Frostburg State University’s Mountain City Traditional Arts will host world-renowned singer-songwriters Antje Duvekot and Ellis Paul on Saturday, June 1, at 4 p.m. at 25 E. Main St. in Frostburg. The live entertainment is open to the public through general admission with a suggested donation of $15.

Originally born in Germany and transplanted to the U.S .as a young teen, Duvekot began to hone her observational skills through a lens of biculturalism when she picked up a guitar during that move. Some years later, the confessional folk of Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco gave her license to share her observations, no matter how personal, in her first emerging songs. She has never let go of that tenet of vulnerability.

“Duvekot has gotten hotter, faster than any local songwriter in recent memory. Her songs feel at once fresh-faced and firmly rooted, driven by the whispery sensuality of her voice,” reported The Boston Globe. “She believes in the redemptive power of the shared secret and is utterly unafraid to mine the darkest corners of her life for songs that turn fear into resilience and isolation into community.”

Duvekot has extensive touring experience. She is a compelling live performer and has been invited to play top festivals, such as the Newport Folk Festival, Mountain Stage, Philadelphia, Kerrville Festivals and others. Internationally, she’s headlined the Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland and the Tonder Festival in Denmark. Duvekot has won some of the top songwriting awards, including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and the Best New Folk Award at Kerrville. In one of the nation’s top music markets, she won the Boston Music Award for Outstanding Folk Act. Duvekot has also appeared on various NPR programs.

Though some may refer to Paul as a folk singer, he is more a singular storyteller, a musician whose words reach out from inside and yet express the feelings, thoughts and sensibilities to which most people can relate. The exhilaration of the open road. A celebration of heroes. The hope for redemption. Descriptions of those things that are both near and dear. The sharing of love – intimate, passionate and enduring.

His music has been shared through commercials, documentaries, TV shows and in the soundtracks of several blockbuster films, among them three by the Farrelly Brothers – “Hall Pass,” “Me, Myself and Irene” and “Shallow Hal.”

“Some artists document their lives through their music. Others chronicle their times. It’s a rare artist who can do both, telling their own story through songs that also encapsulate the essence of people and places who have helped define their era overall. Woody Guthrie comes to mind, and so does Bob Dylan. Bruce Springsteen certainly as well,” said Lee Zimmerman, a writer/reviewer for American Songwriter and other publications. “Yet few others, for whatever genius they may possess, can relate their own history to the history experienced by those who find that common bond, be it in a coming of age, living through the same realities or sharing similar experiences. Ellis Paul is one of those gifted singer/songwriters.”

MCTA is a program of FSU and the Maryland Traditions Program of the State Arts Council.

For more information, call 301-687-8040.

Music