When
the two performers in the cello-guitar duo Montana Skies - Jennifer
and Jonathan Adams - began playing together in 1997, the impetus
was "curiosity," Jennifer said in an interview last week.
The classical repertoire for guitar and cello is small, and they therefore didn't have much in the way of an example. So over the past decade they've developed a catalog of original compositions and covers of popular songs - everything from the Beatles to Pink Floyd. They're as adept at energetic flamenco as they are patient, spare melodies.
Since meeting 13 years ago, they've forged a marriage, and with Montana Skies a musical partnership that's genuinely unusual. Their originals are warm and articulate, and even the strangest covers have an easy rightness. "House of the Rising Sun" melds with "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" before building to an electric climax (http://youtube.com/watch?v=VOcEscrI-EU), and Montana Skies gives the tunes a new voice while respecting the integrity of the originals.
The duo - which will be performing at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on Sunday - certainly has a novelty appeal. Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=qe-ZC_rfu8c) is initially merely a fun, literal treatment, but Jennifer clarifies the vocal melody of the chorus with her cello, and it transcends its source. The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=bGqrc6oN0cQ) is a relatively easy translation, but Montana Skies is presently working on an arrangement of Rush's "Tom Sawyer." ("It's such a journey of a song, and I think that's one of the main things that we look for in someone else's songs ... ," Jennifer said. "It takes you somewhere.")
"We've changed more than the situation [has] changed," Jennifer said. "I haven't investigated the classical repertoire in so long now ... ."
Montana Skies' own compositions certainly don't sound classical. They're airy with a New Age lightness that's offset by the timeless instrumentation and an emphasis on straightforward, strong cello melodies.
"The Edge of Night" has a melancholy guitar backdrop that's paired with the cello's longing. Jonathan said that the tune is about the Montana night sky, with his guitar representing a satellite and the cello the planet and its people. That might sound corny, but it's a sure-handed composition and arrangement, and you can certainly hear a celestial character to the guitar, contrasted with the earthbound heaviness of the cello.
"Telling myself that story in my head helps me to follow the composition," Jonathan said of his writing. "It really helps me to follow the music where it needs to go. ... It's not always that literal."
Montana Skies has released three albums - starting with a self-titled debut in 2002 - and is planning on recording a fourth soon. Their third album, 2006's Lift, featured bass and percussion and was transformative, Jennifer said.
"What it did for Montana Skies was that it put the pressure on us to try to bring the energy we were feeling with the percussion and the bass ... into what the guitar and the cello can do with just the two of us," Jennifer said. "We've been working on bringing in more percussion elements ... on our instruments - exploring a whole bunch of new territory for Montana Skies."
That
album's title track is certainly a stark contrast for the duo by
itself, and the New Age tendencies are more evident. The bass and
percussion add a contemporary flavor that, to me, is at once
refreshing and off-putting. "Malaguena," on the other hand, uses
percussion flourishes (particularly light hand claps) to excellent
effect with Spanish guitar - an augmentation to the core duo rather
than an element to displace the guitar and cello.
Jennifer called Lift a "side project," but said its discoveries will be reflected in future recordings. Before Lift, she said, Montana Skies worked primarily with a "literal representation" of the two instruments, working within their traditional roles. "We have the same elements of the cello and the guitar," Jennifer said, "but ... we heard different voices that we could have with our instruments."
From the outset, Jonathan said, he and Jennifer have worked to develop their musical vocabulary, particularly given the dearth of tunes written for their two instruments together. "It's easy to look back and see that it was a bit awkward in the beginning ... because you do have preconceived ideas about voicings and things," he said. "I don't think we ... give it a thought anymore because it's just so natural and we're so used to how our instruments work together."
For that past four years, they've used a looper that allows them to "create layers of music on the fly," Jonathan said, and expand their sound. It's "an interesting way to create our own orchestration," he said.
Jennifer said the group primarily attracts fans of acoustic music and jazz. "What we have is a unique kind of music," she said, "and it does cross into different audiences."
"I think we're still finding our audience to a certain degree," Jonathan said.
Jennifer added: "Or our audience is finding us."
Montana Skies will perform at 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 10, at the Ohnward Fine Arts Center, 1215 East Platt Street in Maquoketa. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. For more information on the show, visit (http://www.ohnwardfineartscenter.com).
For more information on Montana Skies, visit (http://montanaskiesmusic.com).
