The Cantrells to open Tunes at Twilight series

Perhaps only marriage can produce the kind of chemistry Emily and Al Cantrell have as performers. In considering marriage, Emily and Al went looking for musical partners as well. Their musical model was the Texas-style fiddler (Al) with the rhythm guitar backup player (Emily), but they have pared down the sound to one that is all theirs.

"They are flat-out the best acoustic group I've ever seen," says Larry Underberg, who booked the acts for this year's Tunes at Twilight series.

The Cantrells get the Tunes at Twilight series started Friday in a 7 p.m. concert at the Courthouse Gazebo in downtown Cape Girardeau's Courthouse Park.

Underberg, a speech professor at Southeast Missouri State University, was a late convert to acoustic music. "That was from hearing them play," he said. "They don't seem to have a weakness ... The big thing is how nice they sound together."

Emily is a honey-voiced singer, guitar player and the duo's lyricist. Al is a virtuoso of the fiddle, mandolin and dry observation. Emily says the nature images in her songs come from her love of the outdoors and says they go hiking in a park and have a big back yard in Nashville.

Al says, "I discovered that if I don't mow my back yard it turns into wilderness real fast."

Emily grew up in Nankipoo, Tenn., not far from Memphis. Al was raised in Three Tree Point, Wash., on Puget Sound. Emily previously was married to another musician, but they didn't play together and it didn't work out. Then she met Al. "I specifically had in mind I wanted a mate who was a musical partner to me," she said.

Al had never been married before but says, "I had seen so many marriages end up with either the musician quitting in order to save the marriage or the marriage not lasting."

Marriage does not guarantee musical chemistry, though. Al played in a trio with a married couple who never spoke to each other on stage. He was the go-between.

The couple met while playing in a Boulder, Colo., band called The Tractors. The Tractors eventually went in different directions but Emily and Al stayed together. They seem musically glued.

In 1995, Emily wrote Al a birthday song called "It's All Yours." "It's just a song that I wrote/But I wrote it for you/It's a kind of a last-minute fit/And I've had it awhile/ Since I first saw you smile."

On the road, audiences often request their bluegrass version of the love song "On a Slow Boat to China," which jazz banjo master Bela Fleck recorded with them. The Cantrells are just finishing their next CD, titled "The Heart Wants."

Hitting the road

Many touring musicians who aren't celebrities get around in campers or vans. The Cantrells will pull into Cape Girardeau in a Lincoln Town Car. The car is one of "the tricks of traveling," all musicians need to know, Emily said in an interview from Nashville. "That's what it comes down to. The music is the easy part."

They drive a Lincoln after years of getting around in a Japanese car that saved money on gas but was much noisier. To musicians, having your hearing sensitivity diminished by traveling in a loud car is not worth the savings. "The main thing we discovered is the Lincoln is easy on the ears," Al says.

Fame doesn't interest them much. "I have always thought it might be more trouble than it's worth," Emily says.

"... I have always wanted to play for a reasonable amount of people, to entertain them as much as possible. That's as much as I want out of life," she said.

"That's a lot."

The Cantrells will be followed to the park the next Friday, May 30, by Danzig and Woolley, a North Carolina duo who play Americana music spiced with guitar, mandolin and percussion. The remainder of the acts scheduled so far for the spring and summer are composed of local musicians.

Concerts start at 7 p.m.

All shows are at 7 p.m. at the Courthouse Gazebo on Courthouse Park. In case of rain, the concerts will be moved to the listening room at Grace Cafe at Broadway and Pacific Street. A sign will be posted at the Courthouse Gazebo in that event.

After the Cantrells, the Tunes at Twilight schedule includes:

Danzig and Woolley, May 30.

Steppin' Out, a mixture of jazz, adult contemporary and Motown featuring Willie Bollinger, Ruth Sauerbrunn and Dean Winstead, June 6.

Bruce Zimmerman & Friends, playing classic blues, June 13.

Dan Wiethop, a former national harpsichord champ who also plays harmonica and guitar and sings Americana, June 20.

Saxy Jazz. Pat Schwent and her combo play jazz and big band music, June 27.

The concerts are free. The audience is encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

After a break to avoid the midsummer heat, Tunes at Twilight will resume with more performances from Aug. 15 through Sept. 19. Big band, bluegrass, gospel, folk, Americana and some surprises are scheduled.

The acts booked for August and September include the Jerry Ford Orchestra, the Fred Goodwin Combo, the bluegrass band Still on the Hill, a Ste. Genevieve, Mo.-based national gospel group called The Travis Lee Band, and Cape Girardeau musicians Junipurr Wind and Jennifer Noble.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

By Sam Blackwell ~ Southeast Missourian

Perhaps only marriage can produce the kind of chemistry Emily and Al Cantrell have as performers. In considering marriage, Emily and Al went looking for musical partners as well. Their musical model was the Texas-style fiddler (Al) with the rhythm guitar backup player (Emily), but they have pared down the sound to one that is all theirs.

"They are flat-out the best acoustic group I've ever seen," says Larry Underberg, who booked the acts for this year's Tunes at Twilight series.

The Cantrells get the Tunes at Twilight series started Friday in a 7 p.m. concert at the Courthouse Gazebo in downtown Cape Girardeau's Courthouse Park.

Underberg, a speech professor at Southeast Missouri State University, was a late convert to acoustic music. "That was from hearing them play," he said. "They don't seem to have a weakness ... The big thing is how nice they sound together."

Emily is a honey-voiced singer, guitar player and the duo's lyricist. Al is a virtuoso of the fiddle, mandolin and dry observation. Emily says the nature images in her songs come from her love of the outdoors and says they go hiking in a park and have a big back yard in Nashville.

Al says, "I discovered that if I don't mow my back yard it turns into wilderness real fast."

Emily grew up in Nankipoo, Tenn., not far from Memphis. Al was raised in Three Tree Point, Wash., on Puget Sound. Emily previously was married to another musician, but they didn't play together and it didn't work out. Then she met Al. "I specifically had in mind I wanted a mate who was a musical partner to me," she said.

Al had never been married before but says, "I had seen so many marriages end up with either the musician quitting in order to save the marriage or the marriage not lasting."

Marriage does not guarantee musical chemistry, though. Al played in a trio with a married couple who never spoke to each other on stage. He was the go-between.

The couple met while playing in a Boulder, Colo., band called The Tractors. The Tractors eventually went in different directions but Emily and Al stayed together. They seem musically glued.

In 1995, Emily wrote Al a birthday song called "It's All Yours." "It's just a song that I wrote/But I wrote it for you/It's a kind of a last-minute fit/And I've had it awhile/ Since I first saw you smile."

On the road, audiences often request their bluegrass version of the love song "On a Slow Boat to China," which jazz banjo master Bela Fleck recorded with them. The Cantrells are just finishing their next CD, titled "The Heart Wants."

Hitting the road

Many touring musicians who aren't celebrities get around in campers or vans. The Cantrells will pull into Cape Girardeau in a Lincoln Town Car. The car is one of "the tricks of traveling," all musicians need to know, Emily said in an interview from Nashville. "That's what it comes down to. The music is the easy part."

They drive a Lincoln after years of getting around in a Japanese car that saved money on gas but was much noisier. To musicians, having your hearing sensitivity diminished by traveling in a loud car is not worth the savings. "The main thing we discovered is the Lincoln is easy on the ears," Al says.

Fame doesn't interest them much. "I have always thought it might be more trouble than it's worth," Emily says.

"... I have always wanted to play for a reasonable amount of people, to entertain them as much as possible. That's as much as I want out of life," she said.

"That's a lot."

The Cantrells will be followed to the park the next Friday, May 30, by Danzig and Woolley, a North Carolina duo who play Americana music spiced with guitar, mandolin and percussion. The remainder of the acts scheduled so far for the spring and summer are composed of local musicians.

Concerts start at 7 p.m.

All shows are at 7 p.m. at the Courthouse Gazebo on Courthouse Park. In case of rain, the concerts will be moved to the listening room at Grace Cafe at Broadway and Pacific Street. A sign will be posted at the Courthouse Gazebo in that event.

After the Cantrells, the Tunes at Twilight schedule includes:

Danzig and Woolley, May 30.

Steppin' Out, a mixture of jazz, adult contemporary and Motown featuring Willie Bollinger, Ruth Sauerbrunn and Dean Winstead, June 6.

Bruce Zimmerman & Friends, playing classic blues, June 13.

Dan Wiethop, a former national harpsichord champ who also plays harmonica and guitar and sings Americana, June 20.

Saxy Jazz. Pat Schwent and her combo play jazz and big band music, June 27.

The concerts are free. The audience is encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

After a break to avoid the midsummer heat, Tunes at Twilight will resume with more performances from Aug. 15 through Sept. 19. Big band, bluegrass, gospel, folk, Americana and some surprises are scheduled.

The acts booked for August and September include the Jerry Ford Orchestra, the Fred Goodwin Combo, the bluegrass band Still on the Hill, a Ste. Genevieve, Mo.-based national gospel group called The Travis Lee Band, and Cape Girardeau musicians Junipurr Wind and Jennifer Noble.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182