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HISTORY
The GinSangers are based in Elkins, West Virginia. Connie is a West Virginia native and now makes the Allegheny Highlands her home. Dave was raised in New England but has been in West Virginia so long that you'd think he was from here. He's lived a few other places too, including Columbus, New York City and Indianapolis.
In 2003, one of their songs, Rock Me Like a Lullaby, took them to MerleFest where they won first place in the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. That same year they were top ten finalists at the Mountain Stage New Song Contest with Carry My Soul Away. They were also runners-up in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest that same year. Townsend and Parker have taken their music all over West Virginia and the Appalachian region and from New England to 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 appeared with Kasey Chambers, The Greencards and Tony Joe White. They have also shared the stage with the Osborne Brothers, J.D. Crowe, bluesman Ernie Hawkins, Johnny Staats and Ginny Hawker.
Connie and Dave's work has earned a spot on a West Virginia compilation disc, in Mark Nowak's play Sago and most recently in the production, West Virginia: Words and Music.
At an early age, Townsend began playing venues around West Virginia. Inspired and influenced by West Virginia troubadour Mike Morningstar and a host of other country, rock, bluegrass and traditional musicians, Connie spent half her childhood listening to music with the headphones on. Some of her early favorites were Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, The Burrito Brothers, and Bonnie Raitt. Connie developed a steady rhythm guitar to accompany her singing. Her songwriting began to take form after moving to Elkins and really clicked when she and Dave met. Dave's influences came out of the folk revival of the 60's, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan and later gravitated to performers like Lyle Lovett and Chris Smither, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams.
Connie and Dave's first recorded original work was on Connie's These Hills album, which is a solo effort featuring Connie's unique voice accompanied by her guitar on most of the cuts. Connie and Dave's original songs make up the majority of cuts on Connie's CD, Gentle Graces and The Ginsangers more recent release, Weight of Light. Critical comments? "It's warm, like listening to friends play music that you really like." Their recordings are available at their shows and online at www.theginsangers.com.
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"her voice moves easily and forcefully between angelic, gospel-tinged high notes and twangy country inflections ..."
— M. Friedman, Charleston Gazette
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webmaster
© 2009 Wild GinSang Music
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