About Jamie and Ashley

Ashley Broder hails from Camarillo, CA and is a two-time winner of the Western Open Master Picker Championship. There is an effortlessness about Ashley’s playing. Whether it be a virtuoso mandolin solo break, a languorous 'cello line, a fancifully crafted original composition, or a clear-toned tune from her fiddle, her music spins out like a sinuous ribbon of pure fun. Ashley routinely forays into blues, jazz, bluegrass, Old-time, Irish, classical, and Brazilian music. She has been an instructor at the Mandolin Symposium and in 2004 collaborated with world-reknown Mike Marshall in the creation of his Mandolin Method books.  www.AshleyBroder.com

When I first met Ashley at the fiddle contest in Weiser, ID in June 2005 I didn't immediately become aware of her musical prowess. It was just that she was bags of fun and kept me thinking on a higher plane. Under a sparkling, starry sky we discussed mutual views on musical arrangement concepts all night long.

When she later eMailed me several of her inventive compositions I got a big clue about her musical breadth. We started to experiment with duet playing in September of that year when did a house concert at Ashley's place in Camarillo. Although at first we dismayingly discovered that we knew only one tune in common, our very compatible musical approach meant that we easily absorbed material from one another.

After my Scotland tour in October 2005 I high-tailed it back to California and we began practicing together like crazy. Arranging music for two treble instruments has required rethinking most of the previous work I've done for other configurations. Starting essentially from ground zero, we set about teaching each other tunes and trying to emulate each other's styles, all the while blazing new terrain in the way of a duo concept.

[practicing in Rod Weeks' pub, "The Dog And Hedgehog"]

In December of '05 we had a couple of "warm up" gigs in Seattle, first with two men of “myth and legend”, Dave Bartley and David Kaynor, followed by the annual Solstice concert with Stanley and Kip Greenthal.

[Dave Bartly, Ash, Jamie, David Kaynor]

[with Stanley and Kip Greenthal]

By January we were in full tilt performing mode. San Diego, Santa Cruz, Sutter Creek, Sacramento, Riverside, Pasadena, Alta Dena, and a "farewell" concert for a crowd of 250 in Ashley's hometown Camarillo.

Then we crammed all of our worldly possessions into crappy my Honda Accord and hit the road bound for Virginia.

High in the Appalachian mountains in a sweet little cabin we spent an inspiring 3 weeks recording our new CD. We then relocated to a very old farmhouse just over the border in North Carolina. This was to become our on-again, off-again home for the next 9 months while we worked on post-production of the CD and started our concert schedule in the Southeast.

The person who made this cozy, rustic spot available to us is Gayle Winston, owner and proprietor of a utopic country retreat called The River House Inn, and a woman I describe as an "arts magnet." Ashley and I are among scores of artists whom Gayle has encouraged by her zeal and generosity.

As the Spring turned to Summer we began to get busier with tour dates. This slowed up the completion of the CD, but it seemed necessary to be out there in the world performing. We played an amazing contra dance weekend in Atlanta with Stuart Kenny, the tremendously popular acoustic bassist of Wild Asparagus fame.

[Atlanta home of Kimbi and Karl; the bear is real (but dead!)]

Our debut in Boston initially felt like a disaster from the point of view of audience attendence, but we connected with several musicians and concert presenters who ultimately made the trip extremely worthwhile. Later, at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina, we met the photographer who later provided us with shots for the new album cover.

[nine sets at Grandfather Mountain, NC]

By Fall of '06 we were in Scotland. There we had some of our best concerts to date. [details]

[darling little village on the island of Islay]

And it just kept getting better. The next tour was in California and began with a bang in Bishop (which ultimately lead to an invitation to perform at the Millpond Festvial). Every one of the concerts on that tour were met with resounding response.

By Thanksgiving we had been without a home for 10 months and feeling a bit weary. Ashley finally suggested moving to Asheville, NC which we had admired on several earlier trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We moved into our new home together just as the first delicate flakes of snow appeared.

[our house in Asheville]

New Year 2007 hearaled in all kinds of auspicious beginnings. I found a great new violin after 3 years of searching [details]. Ashley also got a new violin. We finished the long awaited CD. And we returned to California for a sensational, 1-year "welcome home" concert in Camarillo.

To read about our adventures since then, please go to the [Journal] page. Thanks for checking us out!