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MudLark: About us

MudLark - acoustic trio with harmony and depth

Davis trio MudLark includes Ray Frank, Katie Henry and Laura Sandage. Their rootsy, intense sound features banjo, guitar, string bass, and three strong voices covering a broad emotional and stylistic range. Their uniquely fresh and elegant brand of Americana draws on broadly varied influences including bluegrass and Appalachian music, folk, country, blues, pop, old-time, choral and parlor singing, tapping into many rich veins of American music past and present. MudLark's exquisitely crafted original songs and traditional material invite listeners into a deep, sometimes raw place, with wild beauty, earthy humor, mournful longing, and a touch of the grotesque.

MudLark's interweaving harmony vocals and instruments create a rich, graceful musical landscape that has captured the hearts and minds of audiences wherever they have played. Their shows invite the listener on a voyage from tears to big belly laughs, from mud-covered river bottoms to internal mountain peaks. Recent projects include sharing stages with prominent folkies Priscilla Herdman, Bryan Bowers, Joe Hickerson, and Cindy Kallet, and taking the 2007 Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau by storm. The first MudLark CD, Nest, is due for release in Summer 2007.

Ray Frank - guitar, vocals

A veteran of the West Coast contra dance circuit with Stump Tail Dog, Ray started out on the East Coast, with classical guitar training and studio session work in New York City. He builds and lovingly restores banjos and is known nationwide as a master of tasteful accompaniment and tasteless humor.

Katie Henry - banjo, guitar, vocals

Raised in Juneau, Alaska, Katie has recorded and toured the West Coast with Babes With Axes and as a solo singer-songwriter. Her original songs are prized for their evocative depth, her voice is supple, her instrumentals richly textured..."Katie is an extraordinarily poetic, musically interesting songwriter as well as musician and singer. But you probably already know all this. You can tell her I said so, if you want." - Chris Roth of Heartsong Review, 2006

Laura Sandage - string bass, vocals

Laura's original songs engage audiences with honest questions, disarming confessions, and infectious melodies. Iowa-born and California-raised, her experience as a performer ranges from opera to improv. Bloom, her 2005 solo CD, is the project that first brought MudLark together.