1964 was the year
the Beatles burst on the US scene, the first year of the Johnson
Administration and the year David LaPlante and Stephen Pounds
first played guitars and sang together (well, true, it has not been
as important as those other events, but it certainly has lasted
longer!) Their early influences ran the roster of the sixties folk
boom and it was during this time they developed their symbiotic rich
vocal sound and what Rory Block has described as their "coordinated,
entirely well-played guitars."
As
high school students they performed locally in New Haven, CT, at
places such as The Exit Coffeehouse. Performing regionally in the
70's and 80's, the duo was equally at home in the intimate setting
of clubs like Caffè Lena, Club Passim or the Iron Horse as well as
festivals where they shared the stage with acts such as Pete Seeger
and Bill Morrissey.
The
80's brought the release of their first album, "Big Kids, Little
Kids" recorded between 1980 and 1983 at the Maine studio,
Neworld, owned by Noel Paul Stookey. Their perseverance caught
Stookey's attention and he worked with the duo to help develop the
album. The duo continued to perform throughout the northeast through
the 90's and forged a musical relationship with acoustic bassist
Dick Kniss, best known for his work with Peter Paul & Mary and
John Denver.
2002
brought a new relationship for David and Stephen joining with
singer-songwriter Gloria Jean at Caffè Lena featuring Gloria's
original music. Since then, both David and Stephen have added
co-writing credit to their signature vocal and intricate guitar
work. And so was born
ALL-SHE-WROTE. |
Gloria
Jean's first guitar at
age 12 was a Kay, impossible to play and torture to learn on. But
she was determined. She learned all the folk and popular music of
the day (Buffy Saint Marie, Dylan, Tim Hardin, The Beatles) and sang
her way through high school. The first songs she wrote appear in her
high school's arts magazine. Looking back, they weren't very good.
But she was determined.
During
college in the 70's she discovered the coffee-house circuit and
helped run "The Freeze Dried" at Albany University. Most of the
performers stayed at the apartment she shared with banjo-player and
former Star Spangled Washboard Band member, Roger Weiss: Robin &
Linda Williams, Paul Siebel, Jack Hardy, Utah Philips, Banjo Dan and
the Midnight Plowboys, Bill Staines . . . It was a rich time of late
night jams and a lot of learning, all the while paying her respects
by performing their songs in coffeehouses. It would be
several years later she would receive the phone call acceptance into
an audition-only songwriting class with Rosanne Cash, literate
daughter of "the Man in Black"; and this would be the first
life-changing event that led to several more. Gloria's rich, deep
voice garnered comparisons to Kathy Mattea, and she was encouraged
to pitch songs to her . . . which led her to songwriter Fred Koller
(co-writer of Mattea's hit, "Going Gone"). He, too, gave her
encouragement, told her to send him more songs to hear, even offered
one or two lyric changes. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Texas mystic &
music legend, offered encouragement next providing unique co-writing
opportunities in his songwriting classes attended by the likes of
Mark LeGrand and Susan Werner.
With a
book full of new songs, Gloria began performing in upstate New York,
building a loving and faithful fan base. A live cd
("*live") recorded at historic Saratoga Springs
coffeehouse Caffè Lena in September 1999 captured the magic that
developed with all that encouragement. Enter LaPlante &
Pounds with their ear for arranging and distinctive dual guitar
and vocal work to enrich Gloria's songs. And so was born
ALL-SHE-WROTE.
© 2010
GlosongsMusic |