Last evening thanks to Tredyffrin Library in Tredyffrin Township I had a real treat: being able to listen to traditional folk music and to see an old friend.

When I was a little girl I had a friend named Aubrey Atwater.  After grade school we went our separate ways but as adults reconnected via e-mail and Facebook. She and her husband Elwood Donnelly live in Rhode Island and are folk singers who specialize in traditional American and Celtic folk music and dance.  They are known as Atwater-Donnelly. Thanks to them and artists like them, a very beautiful form of music (like the music performed by the Carter family and Jean Ritchie , for example) and story telling are preserved.

My childhood friend and her lovely husband actually have quite the following and in recent years have been at more local locations to us, like the Philadelphia Folk Festival.  Although based in Rhode Island they have traveled extensively with their music for over 25 years not only in the U.S. but Ireland, England, and Canada. They have produced seven books, thirteen recordings, and have also been featured in a documentary.

Aubrey and Elwood have beautiful voices and they play such an amazing range of instruments.  Among the instruments they play which I love are the banjo, mandolin, and dulcimer.  They play as a duo and with their band. I am in awe of their talent.

If you want to check them out, visit their website. Many thanks to the Tredyffrin Township Library on Upper Gulph Road for scheduling such a fun event!