Musical Performance: Alathea

Story.Song.Community

Fri 8:40 PM | Main Side
Sat 12 PM | Café

Rooted in the Appalachian Mountains, the duo Alathea (Mandee Radford Langely and Cristi Johnson) create and perform original and traditional music in what they call Front-Porch-style, using eclectic instruments (including banjo, dulcimer, harmonica, washboard), thick modern harmonies, and engaging storytelling of life on the road, with children, as women trying to figure out what faith looks like, taking cues from nature, being mothers, and meeting neighbors along the way. Winners of numerous acoustic music and songwriting awards — including the 2011 We Are Listening International Singer/Songwriter competition and Best Group/Duo at the International Acoustic Music Awards (2010) — Alathea takes stories from their own lives and weaves them into music that’s instantly relatable. Perhaps such relevance is because the music is born from community. Their approach has taken Alathea around the country and across the world playing concerts, festivals, and special events each year that include NPR’s Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, Pennsylvania’s acclaimed Musikfest, Bristol’s Rhythm and Roots Reunion, as well as performances in Europe and Asia. Alathea’s recent partnership with Appalachia Service Project (ASP) serves to celebrate and spread the news of ASP’s work to help eradicate substandard housing in the Appalachian mountains where Mandee and Cristi live with their families. Alathea’s latest full-length recording of traditional hymns, “His Eye Is On the Sparrow,” was selected by Coverfolk as one on the Best Traditional Folk Albums of 2017.

LISTEN Session #266