The Calvert Marine Museum’s Maritime Performance Series presents Pint and Dale on Friday July 20 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. Wine, beer, and “lite bites” by Lotus Kitchen on sale starting at 6:00 p.m.
With vocals and guitar, mandola, Irish pennywhistles, percussion and the exotic sounds of the vielle-à-roue or hurdy gurdy, the Seattle duo William Pint & Felicia Dale bring an energetic and contemporary spirit to their performance. Drawing on several cultures, Pint and Dale perform traditional and modern music and songs reflecting the immense vitality of those who live and work on the sea. Their music fits into the world of modern folk, rock, and popular song, but is rich with the myth, narrative, rhythm, rhyme and lyric associated with the days of the tall ships. They have won an ardent following across the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands with their recordings and appearances at festivals and concerts.
Felicia Dale grew up in an environment steeped in the traditional lore of the sea. Born on and raised on Vashon Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, she spent her childhood sailing Northwest coastal waters and cruising Canada’s “inside passage.” Her father was a sea captain who brought back tales and treasures from exotic ports of call. Her mother is a transplanted Parisian; Dale learned French as her first language and acquired a lifelong love for the songs of the French seafaring tradition. Felicia’s striking vocal harmonies are matched by her creative use of the hurdy-gurdy and Irish pennywhistles, taking these traditional instruments far beyond their usual roles as she blends them into the texture of a song or departs on improvisational romps with equal ease.
William Pint was wooed away from his early rock and roll influences by the folk/rock sounds of Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention in the 1970s. In 1977 he headed west to escape the cold Wisconsin winters of his native Milwaukee and to pursue music. The salt air of Puget Sound and the rich, seafaring history of the Pacific Northwest soon led him to explore the song and lore of the deep water sailors. With his band Morrigan he recorded an album of Irish tunes and nautical songs “By Land or By Sea,” for Folkways Records in 1979. Along with composer Paul Ely Smith and Robert Kotta in the group Ellipsis, he investigated the unusual combination of minimalist, folk and classical music. Flying Fish Records released their 1984 self-titled recording produced by Mícheál Ó Dhomhnàill. The same trio also performed and recorded as Copperfield, a popular Northwest band specializing in British Isles and Celtic music. The trio opened concerts for Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy, Silly Wizard, John Renbourn, David Bromberg and others.
In performance, William Pint’s emotionally expressive singing is complemented by his powerful guitar and mandola work with which he can supply settings of great delicacy or wild, driving rhythms.
