Album Notes

Take a classical and East European folk music influenced singer/songwriter with a flair for puns and limericks, and pair her with an American folk and rock influenced singer/songwriter who was educated by Mad Magazine, and you have the duo of Whitman and Pantell. Karen Whitman and Rick Pantell work with bowed and fretted stringed instruments to support Karen's warm, natural and versatile vocals on mostly original songs, reflecting the ups and downs of our times. Karen's clear, melodic and mesmerizing voice, complemented by her fiddle, is fortified by Rick's resonant, energetic, individual style on guitar, banjo and tambura, adding a fresh, bright sound. Their songs, written both individually and collaboratively, are enthusiastically received and appeal to a wide audience. Whitman and Pantell have performed at numerous coffee houses and festivals in the New York City tri-state area. Festivals include The New Jersey Folk Festival in New Brunswick (with their then band, Paprikash), as well as at Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival. They have also been broadcast live on WAMC radio on "Dancing on the Air" with Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, as well as in concert with Pete Seeger and others. Before teaming up, Karen was the lead singer of her Manhattan based band, the Balkanizers, performing at such New York venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, as well as such out of area venues as The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, Rick was playing the coffeehouse circuit from Boston to Boise, for college kids and cowboys respectively (and respectfully)......Clearly, they were a perfect match waiting to happen! They both moved to Woodstock, NY (Yes, the Woodstock!) where they eventually met through their mutual love of the visual arts. After showing each other (quite literally) their etchings, They discovered they could also make beautiful music together. They've been harmonizing ever since. The music of Karen Whitman and Rick Pantell, takes you through a full range of emotions through their unique mixture of creative, heart-felt music that, to be honest, only these two could have conjured up! WHAT THEY SAID... "This immensely talented duo...gave us an extremely entertaining set with an international flair...They kept the audience mesmerized for the duration of the performance" - Red Rogers, Hudson Valley Folk Guild, NY "Whitman's voice has a pulse to it- The oncoming force of a wave - a pitch that carries and penetrates, yet retains a quality that's a pleasure to hear song after song...Pantell's guitar is its own force, his chorded backing resonant and lush" - Kitty Montgomery, Kingston Freeman, NY "It's not only good music, it's intelligent music" - Peter Martin, Taconic Newspapers, NY