 CD MUSIC REVIEW |
 "Gypsies, Vamps and divineMAGgees" by Amber Shannon October 11, 2005 The rhythmic strumming of a guitar sends chords flying into the air, suddenly punctuated by a soaring gypsy violin - or is it a fiddle - or classsical forms? When the two women on-stage are Cregan Montague and Danielle Tibedo, the chances are it's all three. Tibedo's guitar and Montague's violin drive the train called the divineMAGgees, which despite the unconventional spelling and capitalization is pronounced like divine maggies. With a musical vocabulary that runs the gamut from Cole Porter to post-punk modernism and a look that manages to simultaneously evoke second-hand store Americana and the glamourous vamps of the silent screen, this duo can safely be called unique. Upstate residents will have a chance to sample their wares when they perform as part of the AcousticSeen at the Coffee Underground in Greenville on Friday, October 21 at 8:30 pm. Touring to promote their new CD Love Me Like the Roses, the divineMAGgees will share the stage with songstress Brianna Lane, who also has a new CD.The musical journey that will bring Cregan and Danielle to the basement listening room on Coffee Street next week began in New England, eventually winding through Athens, Georgia until their recent relocation to Asheville, our close neighbor to the north. Understanding a little bit about their respective backgrounds provides a context for considering the eclectic bouillabise that is their music. As their official bio notes: Individually, Danielle and Cregan bring years of musical training and experience to this mutual labor of love. Danielle, born into a family of professional jazz musicians (Lovey Ann Bosteels), began writing songs with her guitar when she was 16. Before she picked up her first guitar, she had become a self-taught pianist and received intense education in jazz trumpet and musical theory. Danielle earned a BFA in sculpture from the Maine College of Art, Portland, in 1996, and continued on to Graduate Studies in multi-media performance art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The art world gave her the foundation for her spirituality, leading her straight to her voice, back to her guitar, back to her childhood filled with music, back to her inspirational source. Cregan has played violin/fiddle since a young child, her talent taking her overseas to Ireland, England, France and Japan, where she shared stages, street corners and pub sessions with the likes of Martin Hayes and Ani Difranco. As a child, Cregan witnessed the passion that music can express through connections with Pete Seeger, Raphael Rudd and Pete Townshend. While Cregan was attending Berklee College of Music, Boston, (she is also an alum of Wellesley College) she joined forces with Danielle as divineMAGgees, and their fate was sealed. After blazing their way through New England in 2002 & 2003 (while based out of Rockland, ME), this progressive, electrified duo -- Cregan Montague on acoustic and electric fiddles and Danielle Tibedo on acoustic and electric guitars -- spent the year of 2004 based in Athens, Georgia, and have recently relocated to Asheville, NC. Throughout the east coast, divineMAGgees (pronounced "Maggies") have attracted the attention of a consistently diverse and devoted audience for their provocative, yet surprisingly accessible music. The duo has also created a strong presence in California, where they are part of the artist development program at Westlake Audio in Hollywood. divineMAGgees have never been described in the same way by any two people. One reviewer writes that the duo's "...sweeping harmonies and lush textures echo traditional folk, seamlessly mixed with the urgency and raw power of punk" (Creative Loafing, Atlanta), while another gives up on all labels and raves that it's "electrifying to find music that I can't compare to any other artist (Indie-Music.com). www.metrobeat.net |
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