Artist Information - the Pratie Heads
Instrumentation:
Jane Peppler - vocals, fiddle, viola, concertina, piano
Biography:
Jane Peppler and Bob Vasile, recently playing together again as the Pratie Heads, perform Irish, Scottish, English, and early American songs and dance tunes, and more. Their new recording, "Rag Faire," was released in December 2006. There will be a cd release concert sponsored by the Triangle Folk Music Society on January 13, 2007. A double-cd set re-release of their earlier recordings, called "Early Fare," is also available.
They played for festivals, arts councils, schools and community concerts through the 1980s as part of the North Carolina Touring program. The group made four recordings - the last, "Heritage," was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Their St. Patrick's performance for the Smithsonian Institution (Associate Artist Series at the Baird Auditorium in Washington DC) was broadcast over Voice of America in countries including Greece and Albania.
Jane Peppler plays with the world music band Mappamundi, directs the Triangle Jewish Chorale, and owns "Skylark Productions," a recording company.
She variously taught beginning and ensemble singing and led a Celtic "Slow Jam" for the Duke University Short Course program for over twenty years.
She instituted the "Solstice Extravaganza," a Christmas Revels type event, in Durham in the late 1980s and produced it annually for seven years; as part of that gigantic project, she created the 16-voice a cappella group called the "Solstice Assembly," which made three recordings, was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, and played at Piccolo Spoleto. She was an arranger, transcriber, and singer for the a cappella women's Balkan group, "Laduvane," in Cambridge MA in the 1970s. In college, she sang, arranged, and transcribed for the Yale Slavic Chorus and played in the Yale Symphony Orchestra and the Yale School of Music Orchestra.
Bob Vasile played with Freyda Epstein and Ralph Gordon (both formerly of Trapezoid) 1989-1995 in the group Acoustic Atta-tude. Their Red House recording Midnight at Cabell Hall was recognized as one of the three best folk recordings of the year by NAIRD (INDIE Award); they opened for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and shared the stage with Tony Rice, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall and Mark O'Conner at Mountain Stage.
One of Bob's guitar composition was featured in the Jan 2004 issue of Fingerstyle Guitar magazine; another has been featured on All Things Considered and Minnesota Public Radio's The Morning Show. He won a signed Wayne Henderson guitar at the 1996 Wayne Henderson Music Festival and guitar competition and was featured in the Tenth Annual Wayne Henderson Guitar Competition In June 2004, with the nine previous winners for another Wayne Henderson Guitar.
Bob taught guitar at the Augusta Heritage Schools "Irish Week," the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and the Black Mountain Music Festival; he has shared the stage and recordinged with Seamus Eagan, Mick Maloney, Zan Mcleod, and Riverdance's Tommy Hayes. He learned traditional Irish style while traveling in Ireland, where he met and performed with Irish folk artists and played at the Willy Clancy Festival in Milton Malbay.
Discography:
Bob and Jane together
Heritage (1988)
Kiss Quick, Mother's Coming! (1986)
Todling Home (1985)
Flowers of the Forest (1984)
Jane with other people
Sedgefield Fair (with Jacqueline Schwab and Robbie Link) 1993
Courting Disaster (with Beth Holmgren, Joe Newberry, and others) 1991
Some Assembly Required (with the Solstice Assembly) 1990
Under the Drawbridge (with the Solstice Assembly) 1989
Three Log Night (with the Solstice Assembly) 1988
Roses and Rainclouds (with Laduvane) 1979
Turn Your Radio On (with Laduvane) 1978
Laduvane (eponymous) 1977
Bob with other people:
Live at the Courthouse (with Brian Grim, Mark Rose, Helen White and others) 2003
House on Fire
Fingerstyle Guitar's compilation cd (along with Chet Atkins and John Williams)
Blue Apples (with Fred Boyce)
Count My Heart (with Kathleen Hannan)
Welcome to Heaven (with Dave DiGiuseppe)
South of Andromeda (with David DiGiuseppe)
Pratie Head website: http://pratieheads.com