Anne's Cordial Emerges with Unique Sounds

Anne's Cordial is a three-woman musical group from Rhode Island who have been together since last year. The group has performed publicly in limited venues, but are hitting the local music scene with great confidence, and an incredible sense of serenity. As we chatted through the interview, it became clear how tuned in to each other these women are.

Anne's Cordial is made up of Eva Kendrick, Reed Ferenbaugh and Natalie Markward. These multi-talented women have plenty of depth with their experience in other types of art. Art teaching, music teaching, choral directing, opera, gospel music and even an Americorps experience is churned into their mix. Reed and Eva have been friends for years. Natalie got added to the group in an unique way. Nat was sitting at the local coffee house when Reed's boyfriend noticed she was reading a book on early music. He approached her and suggested that she make contact with Reed - also an early music aficionado.

All three of the women have been making music for many years individually, and they have a variety of training under their collective belts. One of them has a Master's Degree in Music, one has a Bachelor's Degree in Music and one has a Degree in the music of life. Since Eva, Reed and Nat decided to get together, they've discovered a new excitement in performing with each other.

The group performs vocal harmonies with light acoustic instrumentals. Their playlist includes some covers, some original compositions, and a wide variety of sounds. Their "preferred" style of music defies labeling. Eva composes some of their music, and Nat arranges all of their music. Reed brings a unique view with her die-hard passion for very early music (think before the harpsichord came on the scene) and her mastery on the folk harp. Nat plays guitar, Eva plays keyboard.

They love music. Period. So they include blues, jazz, folk, even (gasp) bossa nova in their sets. It's not your grandmother's bossa nova. They put their own spin on the sound to make it unique - to make it theirs. Wednesday evenings are rehearsal night where "the boyfriend" cooks a spectacular meal and they practice singing and playing late into the night. "Sometimes until early morning", laughs Reed.

It is not unusual for egos to get in the way when talented people try to collaborate. But I found Eva, Reed and Natalie almost strangely lacking in one highly dominant personality. That's not to say these women are weak. Not at all. Their ability to focus all energy on the music instead of themselves should give them a long shelf life.

Each woman of Anne's Cordial brings a unique background and focused energy to the performance. But it is their ease of collaboration that is so impressive. Eva is the most classically trained, Natalie has more earthy approach, and Reed's contribution falls somewhere in the middle. Although they all sing in a similar vocal range, there is enough difference to allow for a good arrangement of their three-part harmony.

All of them admit to a confluence of influences, which explains the eclectic playlist, but they are all open to trying new sounds and experimenting with styles and types of music. Anne's Cordial is full of enthusiasm for their performance and I highly recommend catching their gig at the nearest coffee house.