Saturday January 16, 2021
7:30pm EDT
The Whispering Tree at Open Book Coffeehouse
The Open Book Coffeehouse opens the new year with a live concert on Saturday evening, January 16, at 7:30 p.m., featuring folk duo The Whispering Tree. This year, due to the novel coronavirus, all of the concerts will be held virtually, via online platforms, because, well, the show must go on….line. This new way of presenting concerts will allow the Open Book Coffeehouse to share the music with anyone who has access to a computer, laptop, tablet, or smart phone. The concerts are free to all, and made possible by the support of the Friends of the Canton Public Library. The link for the concert will be available at https://www.facebook.com/thewhisperingtree and will be broadcast live from 7:30-8:30 p.m.
The duo, comprised of singer/songwriter Eleanor Kleiner and multi-instrumentalist Elie Brangbour, craft richly immersive folk-rock brimming with evocative lyrics, nature imagery, perspectives from travel, and a panoramic musicality that encompasses traditional folk, indie rock, classic rock, and 1960s pop and rock n’ roll. The twosome has garnered favorable comparisons to Cowboy Junkies, Over the Rhine, and Aimee Mann.
The pair’s debut, “Go Call the Captain,” was named "one of the year's most luminous albums" by The Big Takeover Magazine, and NYC's The Deli magazine called The Whispering Tree "one of the most talented duos to take stage in NYC." Other marquee career moments include official showcases at the Northeast and Southwest Regional Folk Alliance Conferences; being Kerrville New Folk finalists and Philadelphia Songwriter's Project winners and Eleanor and Elie having the honor to lend their voices to Pete Seeger and Lorre Wyatt's album, A More Perfect Union.
The twosome met at music school in London. At the time, Eleanor was a singer-songwriter seeking to collaborate, and Elie had a reputation of being one of the institution’s most gifted musicians. At first, the pair had a band mindset, but slowly found freedom in creating as a duo, working together to blossom Eleanor’s song seedlings with a full range of harmonic, instrumental, and arrangement possibilities.
"Great, great voices, wonderful arrangements"- Frank Hennessy, BBC Celtic Heartbeat
"A musically diverse take on classic Midwest Americana sung with the soul of the gospel" - Americana UK
"Hauntingly beautiful" - Northern Sky Magazine
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Called “one of the most talented duos to take stage in NYC” by Deli Magazine, The Whispering Tree are singer/songwriter Eleanor Kleiner and multi-instrumentalist Elie Brangbour. Together, they craft richly immersive folk brimming with evocative lyrics and a panoramic musicality.
Invisible Forces, the fourth recording by the fiercely independent twosome, debuted at #1 on the International Folk DJ charts, with four songs in the top 20. The album was self-produced, fan-funded and recorded at Elie and Eleanor’s home studio in Beacon, NY and at Old Soul Studio in Catskill, NY and explores a deeply personal and political landscape, with themes of hope, despair and social consciousness.
The lead single, “Fat Cat” has antecedents in Elie’s French background and the old-time gypsy jazz tradition back in his hometown while the satirical, anti-capitalist sentiment of the lyrics is firmly rooted in the protest songs of the folk revival.
Other album highlights include the impressionistic “These Houses,” a song describing the haunting beauty of abandoned places; the revelatory “Heavy,” which with elegant grace, connects New Orleans-style jazz with the 1960s rock and pop harmony vocal tradition; the darkly foreboding environmental ballad, “Garden;” and the sweetly rousing protest song “Bells.”
Since its 2007 inception, The Whispering Tree has issued two albums and two EPs, and toured nationally and internationally. The duo has also earned prime critical acclaim from The Big Takeover Magazine and Keyboard Magazine, among others. Other marquee career moments include being Kerrville New Folk finalists; Philadelphia Songwriter’s Project winners; and Eleanor and Elie having the honor to lend their voices to Pete Seeger and Lorre Wyatt's album, A More Perfect Union.
Videos of The Whispering Tree Performing:
