A connection through shared experience
ALBANY — On Sunday, April 7 at 7 p.m. at The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, audiences are invited to enter a captivating world of storytelling and music. Folk duo Ordinary Elephant’s upcoming performance will combine raw vulnerability with the captivating harmonies of the married singer-songwriters, Crystal and Pete Damore. They will be accompanied by a special guest, 2022 Folk Artist of the Year for the New York Capital Region, Carolyn Shapiro.
“Our concerts invite you to lean in, listen closely, and be part of a musical conversation,” said the Damores. “We share stories, songs, and poetry, created with intention and through searching for truth.”
“We aim to create an intimate atmosphere where every note and lyric can be taken in to resonate in whatever way the listener needs, allowing a sense of connection through shared emotion and experience,” they continued.
The Damores will be playing a new song from their 2024 album ‘Ordinary Elephant’, and it’s a song that holds particular meaning for them and their audiences. “‘Once Upon a Time’, the first track from our upcoming album, is one that we love sharing,” said Crystal. “It’s a very simple song, with very plain language, but I think that’s part of why people connect with it.”
The song, which was written at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, is saturated with uncertainty, as they wrote it, ‘searching for safety and truth’.
“The song can feel very ‘of’ and ‘in’ that moment in time, but the farther we get from the writing of it, we recognize how in times of intense uncertainty, no matter the cause, we as humans turn to stories for comfort, assurance, and direction,” said Crystal. “I think that is something most people feel on a visceral level.”
For the album ‘Ordinary Elephant’, they decided to work with the producer, engineer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, who has worked with Rhiannon Giddens and Joan Baez. His work with the Damores created the most authentic version of themselves and their music yet.
“Armed with an astute ear, an open heart, and a priceless collection of vintage microphones, Dirk sat behind the console, hit record, and listened,” said the Damores.
“The result is what feels like the most distilled version of us possible. Just the two of us in a little cypress room, playing our hearts out,” they said. “It’s our humble offering to a broken world with so much beauty. The songs are the sound of sincerity and commitment, of patience and gratitude, of learning to let go of expectation and revel in the simple beauty of a moment.”
In addition to their music, the Damores’ poetry book, We Are Poetry, is coming out alongside the new album. Featuring a compilation of selected poems written over the last five years, the book can stand alone but also serves as a companion to the new album. The fourth side of the double vinyl version of the new album contains readings of 16 of these poems.
Ordinary Elephant began in 2014, when the Damores left established careers to pursue their passion for music. They jumped into an RV and hit the road, beginning their journey of touring and building their fanbase.
Since their breakout into the music scene, they’ve earned the International Folk Music Award for Artist of the Year in 2017 for their breakout album, ‘Before I Go’. In 2019, they followed up their acclaimed breakout with their next work, ‘Honest’. The Associated Press called it “one of the best Americana albums of the year.” PopMatters said it was “one of the best folk duo records in recent memory.”
The Damores described themselves as ‘thrilled’ to add Albany to their tour. “Taking in a city from its listening room stage and through conversations with the audience during and after a concert always feels like a wonderful way to get right to the heart of a place,” said the Damores.
”We’re grateful that music allows us to travel and bring ourselves to other places in the name of bringing people together, and we’re honored to be a part of that tradition at The Linda,” they continued.
What they hope their Albany audience takes away from their show is to “be grateful, be kind, listen deeply, and give what is uniquely yours to give in your blink of time here,” said the Damores. “This is the story we tell, so that we keep hearing it too.”
This ‘connection’ is the essence of the Damores work— with each other, their music, and their audiences in every city they go to. “We all need each other, and we all find comfort in knowing others are seeing us and having similar experiences,” said the Damores.
“We always hope that our concerts give people the chance to be reminded of how much we all share and to feel connected to something bigger.”
Tickets and more details for their Albany show can be found on www.eventbrite.com.
