It's Official!

The Shapenote Sisters now have our very own blog. In this particular incarnation, The Shapenote Sisters are a trio of lovely ladies who enjoy drinking tea together, eating treats from far away places (and Trader Joe's) and singing. We mostly sing shapenote songs (hence our current band name) but we also enjoy some early country, old-time and other sister-style harmonies, so don't be surprised when we sing something else! Dark and haunting is our trademark, but we can make you smile, too.

Photo by the most excellent Michael Patrick O'Leary

Kathy Fahey is are stalwart alto. And sometimes we make her sing bass. She is an incredible artist, working primarily in painting and printmaking. She is owner and artist at 2hawks2fishes through which she sells her prints, t-shirts, bags, cds, and more. You can see her work in galleries and at craft shows around town and beyond. She also plays guitar and will do anything for brunch and a swim. Give her a high five if you can reach that high.

Patty Berry is our tenor (which, in our world, is the melody line). Patty builds houses by day for Habitat for Humanity. She is an incredibly versatile vocalist. Patty can sing the crap out of Toto's Africa and the next minute she'll belt out the Stanley Brothers' Rank Strangers. She, too, is a tea aficionado, and another claim to fame is that she can harmonize on cue, even when I sing in my muppet voice.

Carly Goss is the cranky treble. :) I got my start singing Sacred Harp (shapenote music) about 13 (gasp!) years ago when my gal, Susan Waters, first introduced me to it in the context of a variety of world music traditions. I used to sing Balkan folk music, too, and would love to re-introduce that to my repertoire. I manage an art supply store during the day and I also own and operate Carlybird Weaves, a weaving studio in Woodberry where I create handwoven scarves, cuffs and other works of art. I also teach weaving to adults.

All three of us sing regularly with a fabulous group of Sacred Harp singers every Thursday night at the Cathedral of the Incarnation near Johns Hopkins University. While The Shapenote Sisters do perform, and I have also performed shapenote music with various other groups of singers, Sacred Harp is first and foremost a participatory tradition. We sing for the joy of singing together, for fellowship, for worship, and for fun.