November 2013 Songwriters' Showcase

The Fredericksburg Songwriters' Showcase presents Laurie and Pete and The Taters on Friday, November 29 at 8 p.m.,in the Picker's Supply Concert Hall, above 902 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA (enter through the alley round back). Admission is $10 ($5 kids and students). 

Laurie Rose Griffith and Peter Mealey

Laurie is a compelling singer and gifted interpreter whose rich soprano draws every nuance and emotion from a lyric. World Folk Music Association’s Dick Cerri, says, "Laurie has the ability to get right to the heart of a song.... It's easy to fall in love when you hear her sing." While steeped in the tradition of great interpreters like Judy Collins and Joan Baez, she can deliver a blues or country rocker with authority, or finesse a jazz standard with style and intensity. She has been instrumental in bringing to the stage great songs written by songwriters who otherwise would have remained in obscurity. As a guitarist, she is a strong, versatile player with an impeccable sense of rhythm and groove.

Peter is a skilled instrumentalist on guitar, mandolin, string bass, and harmonica who has been hailed for his "superlative compositional and technical skills” (Northern Virginia Rhythm), and has been nominated for Contemporary Folk Instrumentalist of the Year by the Washington Area Music Association. He’s been a first place winner in the Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Competition, and his songs brought the duo to the finals in the Kerrville Folk Festival’s national song competition.  He is the author of Melodic Fingerstyle Guitar, and the No Fear instructional books for guitar, and has contributed columns and features to a variety of publications, including Bluegrass Unlimited, Acoustic Musician and the Freelance Star.

Laurie and Peter’s music is the result of two established artists versed in many styles and traditions combining complimentary talents, skills, and personalities. Whether they are drawing from their large body of original work, singing an Australian ballad, or spinning out an Irish jig, they use their formidable musical skills simply to give an audience a complete, memorable musical experience.

While Laurie and Peter are fully functional as a duo, they perform regularly as a trio with Henry Hubbard (Bass, Vocals, an Mandolin). On occasion they expand to a quartet, when a good fiddler is in town.

The Taters

The Taters play eclectic roots-pop, a mix of roots-rock, power-pop, country, & Americana, a sound that's been compared favorably to the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Mavericks and Nick Lowe. CD Baby describes it as "Country roots-pop, dashed with the genius songwriting of 60's & 70's power-pop, like a curious, accidental mix of the Mavericks, the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison and the Beatles".

The Taters have been reviewed favorably in Billboard Magazine, No Depression, and countless regional publications, and have played successful shows throughout the mid-Atlantic region for the last 16 years. In 2008 they won "Richmond's Favorite Band" in a poll from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2009 they were the Theresa Pollak winners for Best Ensemble. They have 5 CDs of original music out, and are currently getting airplay at over 60 stations around the world, in 12 countries.

The Taters have played to crowds from festivals & clubs to bookstores & house concerts, and have shared the stage with dozens of great performers, including Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Patty Loveless, Los Lobos, Dwight Yoakam, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Sam Bush, Asleep At the Wheel, Bill Kirchen, BR5-49, Little River Band, Kansas, America, 1964 The Tribute, Wayne Hancock, and The Grandsons. Their music appeals to all ages and is suitable for any audience.

The band was formed in 1997 by Craig Evans and Brad Tucker as "Burnt Taters". The name was shortened in 2002 to simply "The Taters".