Arts and Entertainment Briefs

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First Friday StoryNight

Anne Rutherford and Norm Brecke of Portland, Oregon will present “Fool’s Paradise: tales from a blissfully twisted point of view,” during First Friday StoryNight, 7 to 9 p.m. April 5 at Friends’ Meetinghouse, 1841 Sheridan St.

During the presentation, Rutherford and Brecke will speak of famous and not-so-famous iconoclasts and relate folktales, according to a news release.

Hosted by the Quimper Storytelling Guild, the program also includes a set of shorts stories told by a diverse range of tellers who sign up upon arrival, and a closing story-song connected to the evening’s theme, by emcee Perry Spring.

Rutherford is a four-time winner of first place at the Northwest Folklife Festival Liar’s Contest in Seattle. She was the 2016 Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center in Tennessee, and a 2018 featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival. Her CD, “The Habit of Joy,” won the 2015 Storytelling World Award.

Rutherford grew up in Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River, in a house with a graveyard on one side and a cow pasture on the other, according to the news release.

Before becoming a full-time professional storyteller, Brecke was an award-winning teacher who told stories daily in his classroom and taught storytelling skills to students after school, according to the news release. He was a featured teller at the 2012 Powellswood, 2017 Art of the Story, and 2018 Stone Soup storytelling festivals.

Brecke often accompanies himself on guitar, ukulele, banjo, or jaw harp.

‘Gossamer Strings’ in the Woods

Gossamer Strings will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 6 during the “Concerts in the Woods,” series at the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center, 923 Hazel Point Road, in Coyle.

The Gossamer Strings are an old-time folk music duo consisting of Kyle McGonegle and Liat Tova Lis that performs on guitar, banjo and mandolin, according to a news release.

“This is the third year that we have invited Gossamer Strings back to Coyle because we love their music so much,” said Norm Johnson, series founder and organizer. “They have just the right ingredients for an old-time string duo sound with banjo and guitar plus beautiful vocal harmonies.

Johnson made a point of reminding fans of the series that daylight-saving time and warmer weather means concerts will now be held Saturday evenings.

Entry to the all ages show is by donation.

Complimentary cookies and coffee will be served at intermission.

For more, call 360-765-3449.

Doubling down on The Lowest Pair

Performing as “The Lowest Pair”, folk musicians Palmer T. Lee and Kendl Winter will appear at two separate venues April 5 and 6.

April 5, the duo will perform at 6 p.m.at Rosewind Common House, 3131 Haines St. in Port Townsend.

The next night, April 6, the duo will perform at 6 p.m. at Finnriver Farm and Cidery, 124 Center Road in Chimacum.

Winter said she is looking forward to sharing new songs in Port Townsend.

“We both came at songwriting from a poet’s perspective and got into banjo through the backwoods of traditional music, so expect two strange folky banjo players with unique voices to pluck and tinker away at some new sounds,” she said.

Lee grew up in Farmington, Minnesota and first picked up a banjo at the age of 19, he said.

“I was first drawn to the banjo because it’s a tinkerer’s instrument,” Lee said. “It’s very modular. You can easily take the entire thing apart, swap out any parts you want, and change so many aspects of the tone and feel of the instrument.”

The duo currently is working on a new studio album, “Reckon I’m Fixin on Kickin Round to Pick a Little,” following up on an album finished last fall that is set for release this summer, Lee said.

Winter, from Conway, Arkansas, said she found a musical soulmate in Lee.

“We’re both forever changing and it’s an interesting journey, seeing what we bring to the collaboration. I love Palmer’s voice and aesthetic. We really are so different it holds my curiosity.”

Lee said his partner is a “brilliant and prolific” songwriter. “I feel like I am constantly being pushed and challenged,” Lee said. “‘Can’t ask for much more than that out of a band mate.”

Lee said the duo are enjoying a resurgence in the popularity of banjo music, boosted a bit by mainstream attention to movie star Steve Martin’s performance with the Steep Canyon Rangers bluegrass band

“It’s a little hard to tell from the inside, but it seems like resurgences of the banjo happen in waves,” Lee said. “Mine was the ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?’ album, which led me to finding The (Jerry) Garcia & (Port Townsend native David) Grisman recordings from the earlier ‘90s, which was a point of resurgence in its own right.” Certified platinum, it was the sound track of the film by the same name.

Acoustic Americana style will always ebb and flow in the popular consciousness, Lee said.

“Like a pendulum, people are always looking for something new and acoustic/folk music is constantly evolving under the popular radar.”

For more information, visit thelowestpair.com.