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.
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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.
© 2009
GlosongsMusic |
