Armor & Sturtevant

Armor and Sturtevant are an American husband and wife musical and recording artist duo that have been composing and performing professionally since 1993. They live in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Musical genre and instrumentation

Armor & Sturtevant interpret folk music from East Africa, Appalachia, and the British Isles, and write songs inspired and influenced by various folk traditions, classical music, bluegrass, rock and roll, and jazz. Their collaborative work utilizes many instruments including: Kelly Armor: voice, flute, bass flute, fife, whistle, chivoti, kalimba, kayamba, piano, accordion, and concertina, and various East African hand percussion instruments.

Dave Sturtevant: voice, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, resophonic guitar, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle.

History

Armor & Sturtevant have toured across the United States and appeared in other countries, performing and offering workshops at opera houses, schools, churches, and multicultural events and festivals. They have worked in collaboration with a ballet company, a women's chorus, a flute choir, an African drum and dance ensemble, Appalachian cloggers, a chamber orchestra and a children's choir. They are listed on the Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour Roster (and received two grants from them [http://www.pennpat.org/uploadedFiles/About/Press_Releases/PR%20Fall%2099%20Grants.pdf] [http://www.pennpat.org/uploadedFiles/About/Press_Releases/PR%20Spring%2000%20Grants.pdf] ), and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Roster for Arts in Education, and they have been favorably reviewed in the "Cleveland Plain Dealer", Rochester NY City Paper, "Dirty Linen" Magazine, and the "Chicago Tribune". [ [http://webliminal.com/songwrite/armor_sturtevant.html Armor and Sturtevant: Bios] ]

Biographies

Kelly Armor studied composition at Yale University with David Hicks and Martin Bresnick, and flute performance with Thomas Nyfenger. For 2-1/2 years she lived with native families in Kenya and Tanzania, became fluent in Swahili, and collected Pagan, Islamic, and Christian traditional songs, learning to play indigenous flutes and hand percussion instruments. She received a B.A. in Intercultural Studies and Ethnomusicology from the Friends World Program of Long Island University in 1988. She has given workshops and lectures on East African music and culture for the Library of Congress, the National Flute Association, and at Chautauqua Institution. In 1999, she was hired as an oral historian by the Erie Maritime Museum where she collected stories about Erie's lakefront history. She currently serves as the Folk Art and Education Director of the Erie Art Museum [http://www.erieartmuseum.org/programs/folkarts/OSNO/osno.html] , and has participated in more than 30 long-term residencies with pre-school, elementary, middle school, and adult students. [http://www.erieartmuseum.org/programs/folkarts/rfasc/rfasc.html] She also plays with the Great American Gypsies [http://www.playerie.com/artists/great_american_gypsies/index.html] .

Dave Sturtevant learned singing and fiddle from his father (born in the Appalachian foothills of north central Pennsylvania), performing traditional ballads, camp songs, and Lutheran hymns. He studied voice and trumpet in high school and college, and is self-taught on guitar. In 1986 he received a B.S. in Sound Recording Technology from the State University of New York at Fredonia. His songs have been recorded and performed by other nationally touring folk musicians such as Joe Stead, Dan Duggan, John Kirk, Neal and Leandra, and Sue Trainor. [http://www.armorandsturtevant.com]

Recording and broadcast

Armor and Sturtevant have produced recordings of their own music and performances of musicological interest from other parts of the world. Both of their CDs on the Tatema Music label have garnered air play on folk radio programs nationwide, including National Public Radio's Car Talk, and internationally on the United States Information Agency's Voice of America. They have also appeared on the albums of Dan Berggren and the Great American Gypsies.

Past performances

* Blissfest, Cross Village, Michigan
* Baltimore Folk Music Society, Maryland
* Caffe Lena, Saratoga, New York
* Grand River Folk Art Society, Grand Rapids, Michigan
* Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts
* Fredonia Opera House, Fredonia, New York
* Whitaker Center, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
* Bickford Theater, Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey
* Two Harbors Folk Festival, Minnesota
* Common Ground, Westminster, Maryland
* Shenandoah Music Festival, Orkney Springs, Virginia
* Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland
* Reading Musical Foundation, Reading, Pennsylvania
* Kent State University Folk Festival, Kent, Ohio
* Starwood Festival, Sherman, New York
* Down East Folklore Society, Beaufort, North Carolina
* Tidewater Friends of Folk Music, Norfolk, Virginia
* Morgan County Arts Council, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
* Erie Summer Festival of the Arts, Pennsylvania
* Calliope Folk Music Society, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* GottaGetGon Folk Festival, Saratoga County, New York

Discography

*1993 - "Spring Day" (Tatema Music) - CD and cassette
*1996 - "You Dance Like You Drive" (Tatema Music) - CD and cassette [http://www.folkweb.com/armorandsturtevant]
*2003 - "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" - Erie Pennsylvania School District: Limited Edition Recording of the District Choir's Annual Concert (125 kids singing an Armor & Sturtevant song and doing body percussion to accompany themselves under their direction.)

Performed as guest artists

*1985 - "Adirondack Green" - Dan Berggren (remastered for CD in 2001) Sleeping Giant Records
*2004 - "Before I Had A Red Tomato" - Great American Gypsies
*2005 - "Minerva" - Dan Berggren (Sleeping Giant Records)

Musicological recordings

*2001 - "Vavaka: Contemporary Christian Composers of Madagascar" (Erie Art Museum)
*2004 - "Roho: Songs of the Spirit from East Africa" (Erie Art Museum)

Film

* "A Ride for Liberty – The Fugitive Slaves: Eastman Johnson (1824-1906)" (Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum of Art) A Main Street Media Production in association with the Harry T. Burleigh Society, the Northwest Pennsylvania Freedom Institute and WQLN Public Broadcasting of Northwestern Pennsylvania [http://www.wqln.org/SafeHarbor/Film/Credits.htm]

References

* [http://www.nighteaglecafe.org/artists/armor_sturtevant.html] Night Eagle Cafe Website: Erie Daily Times article
* [http://www.westminster.edu/news/weekly/00-01-year/0221e.html] "Musical Diversity Makes Its Way to Westminster College". Westminster Weekly article
* [http://wvbr.com/bfg30.html] WVBR Bound for Glory
* [http://www.rosencomet.com/starwood/1997/STWDXVII_ENT.html] 1997 Starwood Festival program
* [http://www.goerie.com/gottahavemusic/Article_Index/Professional_Musician/professional_musician.html] "What it Takes to be a Professional Musician".
* [http://www.earthforce.org/content/article/detail/1333?PHPSESSID=] "Youth Explore Watershed Issues in Depth". Earth Force News
* [http://www.uusbhc.org/newsletters/newsletter0504.pdf] "East African Music and Spirituality". UUSBHC Newsletter
* [http://www.mshale.com/article.cfm?articleID=1333] " Fadhili Nkurlu - A Music Legend in the Making". Mshale: African Community Newspaper

External links

* [http://www.armorandsturtevant.com/ Armor & Sturtevant website]