LITTLE WINDOWS Mark Weems and Julee Glaub (Traditional lAppalachian and Irish Songs and Tunes) A mix of Appalachian, Irish, Old-Time Gospel and traditionally based originals, with a special focus placed on unaccompanied ballads. They perform nationally and internationally with a focus on the art of the pure voice with tight harmonies in traditional songs. Instrumentation includes guitar, bass, fiddle, banjo, flute, piano, mountain dulcimer and bodhrán. 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!” Though they have both made several recordings with other bands as well as solo projects, Julee and Mark released their first recording together in February 2006, Just Beyond Me, which went on to get submitted for a grammy. It carries a strong Appalachian theme with some Old Time gospel songs as well as two songs composed by Mark Weems himself. Many of the songs are unaccompanied and highlight Mark and Julee’s vocals. Special guests include Carl Jones from North Carolina, Pete Sutherland from Vermont, and Mark’s father even joins them for an old North Carolina mountain hymn. 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. For those unaware of the human depth of traditional song, our hope is to open up little windows into this timeless, spiritual, mythical land. www.littlewindows.net Quotes: "Since the string band revival of the '70s, the old time genre has occupied itself primarily with the dance tune repertoire. Little Windows, the North Carolina duo of Julee Glaub and Mark Weems, puts the whispered moments back into the old time landscape. In place of yee-haw instrumentals, they offer songs of sweet quietude, lulling space, and lonesome places. Both are lovely singers, with haunting harmonies that draw us deep inside the old ballads. Their music is achingly honest, as sweeping, secluded, and darkly pretty as the far places from which the songs first came." - The Boston Globe "Through these little windows that Julee and Mark have carefully arranged for us, we hear music at its best, as it was meant to be sung and played: spare,intense, eloquent and, always, stunningly beautiful. Open the window and listen." -- Si Kahn "With Little Windows, Julee and Mark weave the golden threads of their voices into the fabric of a lovely collection of ballads." -- Tony Ellis "Every once in a great while magic happens when a new group is formed. Little Windows' debut CD is stunningly beautiful and one of the best recordings I've heard in years. They are talented multi-instrumentalists but it's their stunning vocals and breathtaking, goosebump-inducing harmonies that set them and this disc apart from others. At times their voices sounded like one and I almost couldn't believe my ears. The sound was clear, crisp, vibrant and unusually intimate and intense. This is a vocal lover's dream come true. Gentle accompaniment with guitar, banjo, piano and fiddle was sometimes used but the music never overshadowed their voices...a very highly recommended must-buy. (Yes, it really is that good!)" -- Rambles.NET “Talk about synergy! When Julee and Mark perform they create something special.... a sound that is all their own. With their tight, luscious harmonies they deliver songs with a poignancy that reaches deep." --Lillie Morris, Broadstrokes Gallery Concert Series, Augusta, GA For more information on Mark and Julee, visit: www.juleeglaub.com www.stillhousebottomband.com www.weemsgerrard.com Irish, mountain music duo returns to Chapel Hill tonight Rebecca Bailey, The Herald-Sun (Chapel Hill, N.C.) During an interview last year on Clare FM radio in Ireland, Julee Glaub and Mark Weems put their foreheads together -- as they sometimes do when singing a capella "to really hear each other" -- and sang an old-time Appalachian song. Announcer Cormac McConnell loved it. "He thought that's how people sing in the mountains of North Carolina," recalled Glaub. "Later that week, we ran into folks who had heard the show. They asked, 'Are yus gonna put your foreheads together and sing us an awl song?' " Glaub and Weems, as the duo "Little Windows," have taken their music across Ireland and the eastern U.S. Tonight they're back home to play traditional Irish and Appalachian music at the Open Eye Café, where their brand new CD "Just Beyond Me" will be available for the first time in North Carolina. After graduating from Wake Forest, Glaub worked for seven years in Dublin with single mothers, children and street people. She didn't move to Ireland looking for Irish music -- instead, she said, "traditional Irish songs found me." Because music and stories are an important part of the daily routine in Ireland, "It's common to go to a house for dinner and end up singing and playing music." The weather on the Emerald Isle contributes to that cultural tradition. "My first winter in Ireland, I went out and bought a guitar to make it through the dark cold days," said Glaub, "and I started to learn the traditional songs." Her teachers were older singers, particularly in the west of Ireland; and she found additional material in the Dublin Music Archives. Learning the songs, said Glaub, meant learning the people. "There was always time for a tea and a chat. I learned how to appreciate timelessness in Ireland." She also learned to play the Irish drum called the bodhran; today, she plays flute and guitar as well. But when she traveled through Ireland last year performing with Weems, who adds banjo, fiddle, guitar, piano, and mountain dulcimer to the instrumental mix, Glaub was sobered by certain changes: "The Ireland I knew in the '90s has changed so much," she said. "I was saddened to find it more difficult to come across a traditional music session, and to see a fast-paced Ireland that drank tea in paper cups on the go." Seeing traditional Ireland "getting a bit lost in the success of Ireland" left Glaub more determined, she said, "to discover songs that are not being sung, and sing them and teach them." In addition to performing, Glaub teaches traditional singing both privately and publicly, in workshops throughout the states and abroad; she also has created a teaching program for lower- and middle-school children. Just over a year ago, Glaub met duet partner Weems at the Mt. Airy Fiddlers Convention. Said Weems, "She likes to tell people she fell in love with a voice she heard in the darkness and followed the sound until she found me singing." Weems is part of an extended family of musicians, including the Weems String Band players who recorded in the late 1920s. On the new CD's hymn "Palms of Victory," Weems' father Kelly added a bass vocal harmony, recorded at Jerry Brown's Chapel Hill studio. Weems' old style string band music was warmly received in Ireland, where, said Glaub, he was pronounced "the real TING." And while Weems has two other very popular bands -- the Stillhouse Bottom Band (playing at the Arts Center March 17) and the Weems-Gerrard band -- he calls his work with Glaub "the most personally rewarding musical expression I've been a part of." "Unlike the current trend in most acoustic music," he said, "our instrumental playing is still sparse and tasteful, always conscious of [a song's] delivery needs, which often leads us to sing a capella. Somehow, the combination of our two voices, in spite of the sparse approach, seems to affect people in a much deeper way than anything I've ever done before." The two still put their foreheads together while singing to feel the intense vibrations created by their close harmony. "It's metaphysical, supernatural. Sometimes it scares me," said Weems. "Singing with Julee is a spiritual experience for me."