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HISTORY
When you take the musical tour with
The GinSangers, you take the blue highways into the heart of American music. The music is real. It crosses all the lines of blues, country, swing and traditional.
Connie and Dave are award-winning songwriters. In 2003, they won first place at the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest – considered by many to be the preeminent Americana festival in the United States. Later that year they were finalists at Mountain Stage's New Song Fest and were awarded Honorable Mention in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Since then,Townsend and Parker have taken their music all over West Virginia and the Appalachian region, New England and Louisiana, playing honky-tonks, coffeehouses, concerts, festivals, jam sessions, radio shows, restaurants and songwriter showcases. In August of 2005, they made their debut on Mountain Stage, where they shared the stage with Kasey Chambers, The Greencards and Tony Joe White. Also, they have taught songwriting at the Augusta Heritage Workshops. Their songs have been described as sweet, gritty, edgy and true.
Their first recorded original work was on Connie's These Hills album, which is a solo effort featuring a plaintiff Connie and her guitar on most of the cuts. Connie & Dave's original songs make up the majority of cuts on Connie's CD, Gentle Graces. On Gentle Graces, Connie is backed by the ‘Sangers and fine local and nationally known musicians. The album’s flavor ranges from country blues and swing tunes to a more traditional sound. Critical comments? " It’s warm, like listening to friends play music that you really like." Their most recent recording, entitled The GinSangers Live is available at their shows.
Connie's daughter, Rose Bell, accompanies them on fiddle and harmony vocals. Rose's fiddle arrangement of Amazing Grace can be heard on the Dualtone companion CD to the PBS documentary film, The Appalachians.
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