Some views from behind the scenes....who we are, how we came together and where we go from here...
From Eleanore..., Paul..., Both Of Us...
And a few words from Mikail..our partner and friend
e
From Eleanore...
As a California baby, sung to sleep by the sea every night... I had a very loving, very large, and very spiritual caretaker who sang gospel from one end of the house to the other from dawn to dusk..... no influence at all on my vocal style, unfortunately (could be those Irish genes I have....) but the greatest influence of all being that music and song (and the sea) all make one FEEL.

I danced. I didn't dream of singing to anyone but my baby girl and my canine companions.... EVER. Dancing was much safer..... so I didn't open my mouth to sing in public until the age of 25, when on a dare I stepped on stage and accompanied a dear friend. (and nearly immediately passed out...)

.....Did the band thing, the chick singer playing keyboards and percussion.... and a vocal trio with 2 dear woman friends and then - I heard Paul.....
Walking down the stairs to the local open mic one Monday night— where many a band, relationship and musical collaboration was conceived— I heard an angel singing..... singing about the fury and about the fire and when I peeked in I saw that he was only a baby with far too much hair, how could he possibly know what he was singing about, but WHERE in the hell did that song come from??? And that VOICE. I fell in love, immediately... but the extent of our relationship for the next few years was my secretly lusting after his creative muse, while he in turn would only ask me to buy a shot of brandy to put in is coffee, for he was underage.....

Our creative paths met, our voices fit like gloves, like second skins... the rest fell in to place as preordained destiny does. We were in fun dance bands together and only pursued the acoustic duo thing further because so many people loved the sound and the feel..... and that was at least 18 years ago...

Me.... (our Diva friend is making me do this) .... a proud mother of an incredible young woman, lover of an incredible man, singer, a colorist of words, a keeper of the animals...... I am a person much more at home in the company of the creatures than of human beings, my horse's barn is my sanctuary, my church.......(and judging from the amount of manure I shovel and how many kisses I must deliver to my mare daily, I go to church a lot!!!) I enjoy getting dirty, bruising my knees like a little kid, rolling around with the dogs, working in the garden .... traveling to far away places..... ..... hunting for seashells on warm sands that are caressed by balmy winds and quiet waters - filling up on the peace found where all of the elements meet.....Music is holy ground for me..... the stage, a charged place which challenges me to maintain integrity so that I may, however I can, try to put heart and light into our troubled world, through sound. It is the place that I can hope to try to make SOME kind of difference. Hopefully, Paul & I encourage people who listen to us, to FEEL.. something, anything..... but to at least feel. I know that the songs Paul writes are songs of great strength and heart, so it's not at all hard for me to feel good about what we do. I am a harmony/intuitive singer...... this is what I do best and I am very happy with that. Back to influences??? Besides Evelyn Wagner, who shook my soul early on, I'd say I only have influences in the sense that there is and has been all kinds of music which moves me deeply.... the group, Oregon, holds a very special place within, around which all else musically influential revolves. I enjoy any good singing and any good song that touches me inside.
Return To Top
P
From Paul...
My first memory of music is singing in an all boy choir (not a boy band!) in Michigan when I was 7... my first paying gig, although it was only enough money to get some candy or baseball cards at Kresge's Five & Dime once or twice a week. I did the choir thing for a long time however, and got to travel through Europe with an English choral group while I was going to boarding school there. When I was 16 I discovered an old guitar in my sister's closet and that, as they say, was that. Several fateful twists later I turned up in Nevada City, Ca. and found one of the most vibrant music scenes anywhere. Eleanore and I were working in different bands then, but soon found ourselves singing together in a group called 'Matinee Forever' that played original 'world beat' music on the club circuit of Northern CA. We soon gravitated to performing as a duo, doing ballad based songs that let us focus more on what we were realizing was a really special vocal blend. I still enjoy playing in bands (i.e. LOUD!) and have spent the last 7 years in a Grateful Dead cover band called the DeadBeats. We've recently started putting original material into the sets and are doing pretty well with that. There's a whole other world of music lovers out there that revel in the 'jam band' approach to musical improvisation and it appeals to my sense of balance to have an outlet for disorganization since the work I do with Eleanore, being close harmony, is certainly not that. I've been a teacher's aide, a woodworker and a carpenter but music is the only thing that keeps me coming back day after day.

Songwriting is for me the approaching horizon, a long freefall into figuring out little bits of life's mysteries, whether worldly or personal. I suppose love, understanding and common ground turn up a lot in my writing because I think they're like essential crops and need to be planted repeatedly— because we need them.
Return To Top
B
From Both of Us...
We recorded our first album, 'Game of Dances' in the unlikely setting of a friend's storage shed, using a 4 track cassette machine and a beat up, stage scarred Shure SM58 microphone with virtually no idea of what we were doing—probably a blessing, since we most likely would have stopped right then and there had we known just how ridiculous that was!

After 'Game of Dances' and realizing that we wanted to continue recording,we began accumulating a rag tag collection of studio gear in a spare room in our home. The next 3 CD's were born in that upstairs sanctuary; tracked (in the spaces between the low flying fire bombers, basketball practice nextdoor, barking dogs and teenager's telephone calls) on a Fostex 8 track and then boxed up and taken to Mikail Graham's 'The Other Studio' for extra tracks and final mixing. Before our 5th album, 'Calling on Love', we built a small building which now houses an actual studio. We've gradually gotten into the world of digital recording, a sometimes baffling sea of information that reminds us, in the face of countless bells and whistles, to trust our ears and keep on singing!
We occasionally have the good fortune to perform with some of the musicians who have contributed to our studio recordings, including Mikail (guitars, atmospherics, keyboards.... and accordian!), Nina Gerber (guitar), Rich Stanmyre (bass) and Dave Smith (keyboards). Another fellow musician we've been blessed to work with is Steve Fowler (flute). Last spring we released a Live CD, some of which featured our ensemble work with Mikail, Rich and Dave.
.....While we generally record and perform as a duo, it is necessary to make mention of the important role our old friend Mikail Graham (http://www.kvmr.org/personalities/m_graham.html, and http://www.rogerhodgson.com/Pages/mikinterview(2).htm ) has played in our ongoing musical journey. He is our partner. He has worked with us continuously from our 1st recording to the present, lending us his inspiration, guidance and vast knowledge of the studio. That, coupled with his creative collaboration with us over the years, has helped to create some truly beautiful recordings. An incredible multi-instrumentalist, having recorded and performed with both Terry Riley and Roger Hodgson (formerly of Supertramp), he plays with us from time to time, helping to color our live music with some of the depth he adds to our recordings........
M Return To Top
From Mikail...
"I've had the pleasure to know Paul and Eleanore for more years than I need to mention. And in all that time there has been a consistent ingredient in our longstanding relationship, one which has carried us through the maze of growing up together, and of being able to keep turning our new records time after time for all of you to enjoy, and that one thing is something I'd call faith. Faith that what we are offering you with these CD's is the result of both love and conflict, full of grace and beauty, and truly the best we could do each and every time one of these new children are born. If you are new to Paul and Eleanore's music then just put on any of their records and in an instant you will know where their hearts are coming from, and where their souls are headed. If you are an old fan then stick around as the best is yet to come."
Return To Top
February 2001