Before Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick became the highly respected and successful singers, songwriters, and bluegrass bandleaders they are today, they were founding members of the groundbreaking northern California band the Good Ol’ Persons. Although Laurie remained in that group for only a short while before moving on to lead her own bands, she and Kathy forged a lifelong personal and professional friendship that endures to this day. They recorded a collaborative album, Together, in 1991, for Kaleidoscope Records, on which they performed their wonderful interpretation of the venerable “Little Annie,” learned from Vern & Ray. Laurie and Kathy wrote in the liner notes, “This album is respectfully dedicated to Vern Williams and Ray Park, early sources of inspiration for both of us.”
In 2014 Laurie and Kathy have published a new tribute album entitled “Laurie and Kathy Sings the songs of Vern and Ray” , in which the two perform music exclusively drawn from the repertoires of those early mentors, is the latest coming-together of this multi-talented twosome. It is long overdue. (all above by Randy Pitts, from the album liner notes.)
We’re thrilled to have invited both bands to Joe Val this year, to make this special duet treat possible.
photo by Irene Young
