Our Electronic Press Kit The Pratie Heads play for weddings
Song lyrics and translations for Rag Faire
Song lyrics and translations for Early Fare
Bob's links
Send us email
Or call 919-383-8952 (Jane)
or 919-416-9181 (Bob)Bob Vasile and Jane Peppler, as the Pratie Heads, play and sing Irish, Scottish, English, and Early American music for concerts, festivals, weddings and workshops. We call our repertoire "More or Less Traditional Music of the British Isles." For samples (mp3) of our music see sidebar at left. We concentrate on British Isles, Celtic, and Colonial American songs and tunes, but also play original material, a few pieces from Sweden, Finland, Holland, Bulgaria, Jewish traditions, and other foreign parts.
Based in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, we've been selected for the 2008-2010 Touring Artists Directory of the North Carolina Arts Council.
Email received Feb 1,2008 Thanks for a fantastic performance.
Bob (and Jane), I was hoping to see you at our favorite breakfast haunt so I could thank you in person but now I don't want to delay sending you and Jane my sincere thanks for a fabulous performance for our annual Triangle Guitar Society holiday salon recital.
We've always enjoyed your many performances for us in the past mostly in a solo format but with Jane Peppler as your duo partner I believe you have a fantastic synergy of talents and a fine ensemble that's as expressive as it is flawless. With your your fantastic originals and your special unique arrangements there's no limit to your success.
I have heard many compliments from our TGS folks how blown away they were to find that Jane sang perfectly in Spanish and with a seductive charm as well. Starting off with the eastern European sounding piece Daichovo Horo was a smash hit. It was great to hear the duo version of Boutros the Cat. And Bagira's walk owes a lot to Dadfad in Bagdad and you know I love that special style. Perhaps this piece should be our next transcription project.
And I especially love your new murder ballads and yes you're a great singer too. Lord Franklin is so tender and sweet that on first hearing I already feel nostalgic. And I think your next album after the murdererous ballades should be entirely devoted to your own compositions as they are always my favorite pieces when I hear you play.
Already we are planning to get you guys back in one of our public concerts soon. With the gypsy seduction of Jane's playing and singing and your special exciting style of guitar and bouzouki and fantastic tender singing your duo deserves to be heard far and wide and I congratulate you both on achieving such a fine accomplished ensemble.
BRAVO!
Randy Reed
President, Triangle Guitar Society
Lecturer/Instructor of Guitar, Duke University
July 2007: we compiled a sampler of instrumentals and love songs for weddings, called "Hearts' Delight," available to prospective brides and wedding planners - email us if you're interested.
Coming soon: a sampler of music of the sea (pirates! sailors!), Colonial America (including a song by 13-year-old Benjamin Franklin about the death of Edward Teach aka Blackbeard), and early North Carolina: "The Jamestown Homeward Bound."
Our cd Rag Faire, November 2006, is available from Skylark Productions.
Read a review of "Rag Faire" from the News & Observer, 1/7/2007.
In December 2006 we also issued Early Fare, a re-mastered release of our music from the 1980s (from the recordings "Flowers of the Forest," "Todlin' Home," "Kiss Quick, Mother's Coming!" and "Heritage") as a double-cd set. Our cds are available from Skylark Productions.
"You don't look famous, but you sound famous." (Comment from audience member buying our cd! Heh heh.)
Hear harmony vocals on ballads, songs and snatches (and dreamy lullabies); beautiful airs, strathspeys, jigs, reels, hornpipes, waltzes, and music of indescribable tempo on guitar, bouzouki, concertina, violin, and viola...
UPCOMING CONCERTS
Sunday March 9 2008, 3-4 pm, PineCone (Piedmont Council of Traditional Music) at the N.C. Museum of History, free.
Friday March 14, St. Patrick's benefit concert for the Fiddle and Bow Society, at Blessings, 823 Reynolda Rd., Winston-Salem, NC. 8:00 PM, cover $10.00/$8.00 members.
Saturday March 15 2008, St. Patrick's concert at the Historic 1908 Courthouse, Independence Virginia, 7:00 PM, $10.
Monday March 17 2008, St. Patrick's concert at Belle Meade Resort, 100 Waters Dr, Southern Pines NC 28387 from 5:30-8:30
Saturday June 7, 8:00 pm, concert for Triangle Guitar Society
at St Michael's Episcopal Church, 1520 Canterbury Road (off Wade Ave. just 5 blocks towards the capital from the Whole Foods in Raleigh)
Steve Winick wrote in Dirty Linen Magazine: "The Pratie Heads were their state's premiere performers of British Isles traditional music ... they have made some of the best Celtic, English, and early American folk music available in recorded form. They have picked beautiful, uncommon songs to play, have thoroughly researched tunes and texts to produce the best possible versions, and have lovingly and impeccably arranged them. And still it emerges as spontaneous, joyful music - it's a rare gift they have. ... Peppler's voice is a clear soprano wonder with a feeling of intense but controlled wildness that she may owe to her training in Slavic and Balkan singing ... as amazing on fiddle as she is singing, [with] great tone on the slower tunes and real speed on the quick ones. My suggestion is to buy a copy of each tape, and then make a dub of each. Put the originals away in a cool, dark place and play the dubs. That way, when you've worn out your copies, you can repeat the process without having to pay for more tapes. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Jane and Bob were members of the North Carolina Touring program throughout the 1980s and made four recordings - the last, "Heritage," was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
They performed at folk festivals, coffeehouses, concerts and weddings until 1988. Their St. Patrick's performance for the Smithsonian Institution was broadcast over Voice of America in countries including Greece and Albania.
Pratie Heads programs include ballads, songs, jigs, reels, marches, airs, strathspeys, set dances, country dances from Ireland, Scotland, and England.
A related program, "American Traditions of the 17th-19th century," includes songs like "How Stands the Glass Around" (a favorite with General Wolfe, redcoats and patriots alike); "The Bundling Song" (1803, decrying currently popular courting practices); "Tobacco" (1603, Tobias Hume, lauding an important import); "We Are Stole and Sold" (an abolitionist's song of slavery from the slave's point of view). This program ties in with Carolina historical/cultural curricula; the English and Scottish settlers of this region brought musical traditions still preserved in our mountain and coastal communities.
NEW! As an experiment we signed up with a company that allows us to sell single tracks. Double-click on a title to hear a sample...
Bob Vasile's homepage
Jane Peppler's homepage
Send us email
Or call 919-383-8952 (Jane) or 919-416-9181 (Bob)