"Connie Dover has become an American treasure
who has rediscovered the musical synergy that existed between the
British Isles and the American West."
-- Cowboys & Indians Magazine
"Just occasionally, a voice arrives on the folk
scene that is so pure, so beautiful, so magical, that it tells you:
this is how to sing a song.
Such a voice has Connie Dover."
-- The Scotsman (Scotland's National Newspaper)
"Heavenly songs bridge the Celtic tradition and
the American West.
Connie Dover's shimmering soprano is as pure and clear as the Western
sky."
-- Kansas City Magazine
Acclaimed by the Boston Globe as "the finest folk ballad
singer America has produced since Joan Baez," Connie Dover is a singer,
poet and Emmy Award-winning producer and composer.
Her soaring, crystal-clear voice and inspired arrangements of
traditional music of Scotland, Ireland and the American West display a
depth and breadth of range that have earned her a rightful place among
the world's finest traditional singers.
Connie began her Celtic music career as a lead singer for the Kansas
City-based Irish band Scartaglen.
She has collaborated with musical friends on both sides of the Atlantic,
performing on radio, television, and in concert throughout North and
South America.
Her broadcast performances include guest appearances on NPR's Weekend
Edition, A Prairie Home Companion, Thistle and Shamrock, Mountain Stage
and E-Town.
Connie's solo CDs,
Somebody,
The Wishing Well,
If Ever I Return and
The Border of Heaven,
have firmly established her reputation as a world-class vocalist,
garnering rave reviews.
Recorded in Scotland and produced by Scottish music legend Phil Cunningham, her music
features instrumentation by some of Scotland, Ireland and America's
finest traditional musicians.
She has recently completed recording a CD of traditional Christmas songs
and carols with the Kansas
City Chamber Orchestra, entitled The Holly and the Ivy, which
will be released in 2008.
Connie's work as a writer and composer has flourished alongside her
performance career.
She received a 2007 Emmy Award for her production of acoustic music for
the KCPT public television production
Bad Blood: The Border War that
Triggered the Civil War.
Her original music earned a Grand Prize in the 2007 Yellowstone & Teton Song Contest, sponsored by the Western Folklife Center
(Elko, Nevada), and she is a recipient of the Speakeasy Prize in Poetry, sponsored by The Loft, America's largest independent
literary center.
Her book of poems, Winter Count, was published in 2007 by Unholy Day Press.
Connie has twice been a finalist for the AFIM Indie Award, and other
accolades for her music include being named a Top Ten Folk Release by
Tower Records' Pulse! Magazine, a Winning Favourite Folk Release
by The Scotsman, Scotland's National Newspaper, a Boston
Globe Top Ten Folk Release, a nomination for Scotland's Living
Tradition Award Album of the Year and a Creative Achievement Award from
Time Warner's Hollywood On-Line.
She has been a finalist for two Native American Music Awards, and for
two New Age Voice Music Awards for Best Vocalist and Best Celtic
Release.
Connie founded the Taylor Park Music record label to release her
music, which is now distributed worldwide, and she has contributed songs
to compilations on the Narada, Sony, Virgin, EMI and Rounder record
labels.
She has been a guest on numerous collections of folk and world music,
and on film and television soundtracks, including the PBS programs
Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie and Water and Fire: A
Story of the Ozarks (which won two Emmy awards for music), and she
was a music consultant for the Ang Lee Civil War film epic, Ride with
the Devil.
Born in Arkansas and raised in Missouri, Connie Dover is of English,
Cherokee, Mexican and Scots/Irish descent.
She discovered the wealth of the Celtic music tradition as a teenager,
and began a search which continues to this day, devoting her life to the
collection, preservation and performance of traditional songs and
ballads.
Her history degree, earned from William Jewell College, and her
undergraduate work at Oxford University have further enriched her unique
perspective of the cultural context of folk music, and her insightful
interpretations bring ancient ballads to life.
Her classes and workshops exploring the creative core of writing and
performance are a hallmark of her work.
When Connie is not performing, she works as a ranch cook in the
beautiful country between Wyoming's Wind River and Absaroka Mountains
(and where she can often be heard singing old-time songs around a
roaring campfire to the accompaniment of hoarse cowboys and lowing
cattle).
The theme which runs through her work is the exploration of the common
ground between British Isles and American folk music, and she offers the
modern listener a musical experience that transcends cultural boundaries
and affirms our connection with the past.
A warm and engaging performer, and a singer and composer of the highest
order, Connie Dover's diverse background and interests are reflected in
the depth and richness of her approach to traditional music.
"Connie Dover possesses that most rare of
instruments, a voice so evocative, so perfect, that it makes other great
voices pale.
Hers is a universal voice, following the thread of history, so steeped
in tradition it conjures images of Scotland, of Ireland, of Appalachia,
of the Old American West ... a consummate singer of Celtic music."
-- Jon Chandler, Old West Journal
"We have before us one of the best singers in
folk music today, and probably, one of the female voices of this
generation who is destined to stay at the forefront for a very long time
... interpreted with emotion and an exotic, enduring passion."
-- Salvador Rodriguez, Faro Del Ocio, Spain
"Some singers, though singing in a foreign
language, have very moving voices.
Even if the audience does not understand the words, it will be attracted
by pure feelings that are expressed naturally ... so Connie's singing,
like a crystal spring, drives away our fatigue and brings vitality to
our lives."
-- Chinese Press, Singapore
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