Album Notes

Instrumentation
Louise Bendall -- vocals, guitar, banjo
Hypatia Kingsley -- vocals, guitar, mandolin, violin

Biography
Watermelon Sugar is an indie folk duo rooted in the twenty-year friendship of Hypatia Kingsley and Louise Thompson Bendall. Their voices, guitars, banjo, violin and mandolin blend to create original music made sweetly and felt deeply. Watermelon Sugar is often compared to the Be Good Tanyas, Throwing Muses, Dixie Chicks and Indigo Girls.

Having met in high school in Pennsylvania, the two began to musically collaborate in 2001. The band became a "band" in 2003 and released their first CD, Sample, in October of 2004. Although the two members make their homes hundreds of miles apart in Washington, DC and North Carolina, they manage to get the most out of the creative process together in sometimes frenzied gig and recording sessions. Something to Savor is the band's second CD.

Of the band's music, Hayley Kile writes, "The instrumentation is free and easy, like a pickup game that is not fiercely competitive but inclusive, diverse and ultimately a romp. The overall focus...is a compelling recognition of the basics in our relationships... independence, letting go, effort, easy love, temptation, responsibility, belonging. Its about how to hold on to a lover, old friend, ideology and grow with it, to recognize and encourage change but also to cherish the singularity of the moment. Louise and Hypatia draw on a long friendship together, a generous, expansive network of experiences and landscapes that fall together in the music comfortably."


Band Bios:

Louise Thompson Bendall -- Louise began writing songs while studying at the University of Oregon. With the encouragement of housemates who heard her singing, she borrowed a guitar to write her first song and eventually scraped together $50 to buy a guitar of her own. Louise lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children, writing songs inspired by her nomadic adventures and life on the farm with her family.

Hypatia Kingsley -- Hypatia is a classically trained violinist who started expanding her instrumental and songwriting repertoire in order to keep up with Louise. Her musical influences run the gamut from Andrew Bird to Radiohead to June Christy, while her lyric material often focuses on relationships and politics. She, her husband, and their daughter live in Washington, DC.