Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards

Americana/Folk (Massachusetts, MA

following "The Edge of Meaning" Gallery Closing Gala on Sunday, November 3 (more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/184081981774674/)

.

This will be a no alcohol show. Soft drinks, coffee from Zen Cafe and Tea will be available for purchase.

Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards features a fresh line-up of folk-pop lady troubadours. While lush fiddle stylings root their music in a folk tradition, Cortese’s vocals are as modern and savvy as they come. The trio’s creations are dark and dreamy: multi-textured gritty and personal original songs with plenty of inspiration from Americana and pop greats. Though Mariel Vandersteel (fiddle/hardingfele/vocals) and Valerie Thompson (cello/vocals) have been developing their rich string sound together with Cortese since 2010, this fall marks their debut as a united project.

Vandersteel’s sensitive fiddle accompaniments, and Thomspon’s rock-solid cello grooves are all over Cortese’s latest album “Into the Dark” (released spring 2013). The project has been widely celebrated in music outlets such as No Depression, and Beat Surrender, who describe the album as “a musical landscape [that] is one to admire from afar and in its minutiae.” Critic Bill Copeland says, “There is nothing as successful in music as an artist like Cortese who can make you feel the complex emotions of her poetry.”

During the “Into the Dark” CD release tour, the trio decided to hang their stars together. Says Cortese, “From the first gig we just felt like we were in it together. Real camaraderie...all of us mischievously looking for fun on and off stage.” Among their tour essentials are “a phone charger and a disco ball for the van”.