Look Ma No Hands

Description

Sherry Minnick is lucky to have come from a singing family. She made her first recording in Rhinelander, Wisconsin at the age of four, and turned professional with The Debonaires at the age of 14. Living in the Twin Cities since 1974, Sherry has sung with a number of bluegrass and old-time bands. She danced for two years with The Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, and spent five years with the cloggers in The Uncomon Loon String Band. She appears on a recording, The Uncommon Loons, made for a tour of France in 1996. In a duo with John Van Orman, she sang music of the British Isles as well as Appalachian ballads, gospel shouts, and Johns original songs, one of which, quot;Crazy Betty,quot; appears on this recording. She also performed with Josephine Davis as The Brother Sisters, an old-time duet. At times Sherry performs with Rachel Nelson, and appears on her recordings Im Awesome and Change Is a Thousand Hearts. She also worked with Rachel and Kate Mackenzie as The Virtue Sisters, and this hot trio can be heard on Arne Fogels album You Call It Madness. Kates song quot;Epitaphquot; appears on this recording. Sherry had a ten-year association with the Great American History Theater, appearing as musician and sometimes actress in runs and touring shows of Plain Hearts, Down to Earth, Homegrown Heroes, Cowgirls, and Mesabi Red. She appears on a recording of Plain Hearts, music written by Eric Peltoniemi. For nine years Sherry taught the West Bank Jubilee Childrens Choir in Minneapolis, which learned and performed music from the oral tradition of many different cultures. She subsequently taught, for six years, a Native American childrens choir, Singing Circle, at All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission in south Minneapolis. In addition to performing, Sherry has conducted workshops in old-time guitar and clogging. She taught workshops in harmony singing for the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association and song workshops for the Minnesota Folk Festival, Wheatland Music and Dance Camp, and Moosejaw, among others. She has taught ballad workshops in Minnesota schools and colleges. She was a programmer on KFAI radio for its first 15 years, hosting bluegrass, folk, and traditional music shows. She judges the Duet Singing Championship at the Minnesota State Fair, and she was a finalist for a McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians in 2007. Today, she concentrates on the unaccompanied singing of the traditional music in North America and the British Isles, and the songkeepers function which this music represents. She also loves songs of early recorded country music and classic country, so look for another recording soon. You can read a review of this recording on the Old-Time Herald website.