Album Notes

Hear our new CD,"Where We Belong", in its entirety at adrianfringe.com



Paul Hendershott and Kamie Clarke are climbing through a world of musical branches on "Twisted Tree," their first CD as Adrian Fringe.

Listen closely and you'll hear the Grants Pass duo's influences-Jethro Tull for him, Alfred Lord Tennyson for her-guiding them along their explorations. But that's not to say the sound is derivative.

The lush acoustic guitar work of Hendershott and Clarke offers their take on Celtic, Russian, traditional and coffeehouse folk styles on the 17-song, 55-minute collection of originals.

Hendershott, who has played guitar since he was 10, has taught others to play the instrument for the past 12 years in Grants Pass. That's how he met Clarke. She came to the Hendershott School of Guitar about 3 years ago and now she teaches there.

"Twisted Tree" saw its genesis after the duo was invited to perform at a First Friday Art Night venue. " She mesmerized the audience," Hendershott said. "I told her she needed to write some lyrics, and I would write some music." Clarke's lyrics paint dense, intricate word pictures that reveal new layers and meanings with repeated listenings.No June -moon-swoon-croon here.

"When I heard her lyrics, they inspired good music," Hendershott said,"some of the best music I've ever written."
The two-year project was recorded and mastered at Paul Kruger's Rogue Sound in Grants Pass.

Backing up Clarke and Hendershott are Wayne Switzer on percussion and drums, Cynthia Courneyer on violin, and Kruger on bass.

After two sometimes-stressful years as the CD evolved, Hendershott and Clarke are looking forward to live perfomances. There are rumblings about a possible tour to help spread the word about Adrian Fringe.

So, who or what is Adrian Fringe? "It's a name that I dreamt years ago," Hendershott said."I just thought that it was really cool."

It adds a bit of mystery to music that offers few easy answers as it delivers its payoffs.

Excerpts from an article by Dan Dillon in the Grants Pass Daily Courier