Cletus & Lori, Washington D.C.’s Alt-Folk Fix:
Who can believe that it’s been nine years since Cletus and Lori sang their first open mic together? They had only known each other a week when Lori learned the harmony to all of Cletus’s songs. (Yes, he was frightened, too.)
Lori Kelley met Cletus Kennelly at the Mid-Atlantic Songwriter’s Contest awards ceremony in 2000. That’s when a musical, nay, “harmonial” plan hatched in her mind to convince Cletus, or possibly trick him, into forming a heady Folk/Pop Duo. Not easily persuaded (being immune to brainwashing and hypnotism), Cletus reluctantly agreed.
Soon he could hear the wisdom in Lori’s folky little scheme. Nearly 1,000 shows, 3 CDs and 11 Washington Area Music Association Awards later, they are still playing strong in the Washington, D.C. area. Cletus and Lori are sometimes compared with Simon and Garfunkel and the more recent hit duo, the Indigo Girls. They enchant both older and younger audiences alike with spell binding harmonies and meaningful lyrics.
Cletus and Lori blend their original songs into a delightful and very personal show. Highlights of their nine-year journey have been repeated performances at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Takoma Park Folk Festval, Falcon Ridge New Emerging Artist Stage, the Rehoboth Beach Band Stand, the Washington Folk Festival, and being asked to perform for American Veterans at Piestewa Peak in Phoenix, Arizona, honoring the family of Pfc. Lori Piestewa, the first Native American service woman to die in combat.
Cletus and Lori continue to create new music together. They still argue playfully on stage, and get lost on the way to their gigs, despite having a GPS. Expect their new eight-song CD release, “The Very Same Sky,” in the summer of 2009 and BUY it at CDbaby and iTunes NOW and FOREVER.
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