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Two hearts. Two minds.
Two Roads Home.
Bryan Williston and Abby Zotz are Two Roads
Home, a guitar and voice - based folk duo that has been performing together for over twenty years. Their music can be characterized
as warm, sophisticated folk pop with Celtic roots, but not exclusively
committed to the traditional. Fusing elements of traditional folk
with bluegrass, country, Appalachian and popular music, the sound
of Two Roads Home reflects the comfort and history they share.
Bryan and Abby began performing together in 1978 in their hometown
of Whitby Ontario. Back then they were called Harmony
and Me (a phrase from the Elton John song, Harmony), singing
love songs and folk tunes at weddings and community events. Early
influences included Gordon Lightfoot, Janis Ian, Joni Mitchell, James
Taylor, Murray McLauchlan and The Beatles, this diversity laying the
foundation for their evocative folk-pop approach.
Over the years, life separated the pair although they touched base
occasionally to share a tune or two. Education and careers took them
on different paths: Abby worked as an actor on stage and in film and
television, and founded the classical renaissance vocal trio, The
MadriGALS;
Bryan worked in children's music, ran a song circle with the Vital Spark Folk Club, and played in his pub act Battered and Fried. Their roads converged again when Bryan got a phone call in the fall of 2001.
"It was Abby's voice on the answering machine: '...listen...I'm in a bit of a bind and I need a guitar player to play at a wedding with me, the guy I had lined up can't make it. I know we haven't played together in about 46 years, but I thought we could put something together and, oh yeah, the wedding's tomorrow." We got together, |
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rehearsed
a handful of tunes and played the next day. And we had a blast."
A renewed performing relationship was in order, and work began on
the CD. "Our name eluded us until after the songs were recorded
and mixing was well underway," says Abby. In fact the CD title,
Dovetailing, came to the pair first. "But when we finally found
the group name, we knew instinctively it was perfect."
Since that fateful phone call, the pair has recorded two CDs and toured extensively, winning fans with their infectious energy and comfortable and often hilarious repartee. They have opened for such notable artists as The Whitely Brothers, Connie Kaldor, Don Ross, Nancy White and James Keelaghan and have shared the stage with the likes of Katherine Wheatley, Jory Nash, Suzie Vinnick, Aengus Finnan, Michael Pickett, David Newland, and The Als. Festivals and folk venues include the inaugural BarrieFolk Roots Music Festival, Toronto’s Junction Arts Festival, The Vital Spark Folk Society and Toronto’s Music on the Hill Series. Their first recording, Dovetailing, released in 2003, celebrated TRH’s performing heritage with a collection of energized and updated traditional folk tunes and stellar covers. “Dovetailing was a springboard for us,” says Bryan. “Recording our own songs was the next logical step. As we toured and toiled, songs had a way of organically evolving.” In the spring of 2008 the duo releases their second CD, Sweet Shadows, a collection of nine original and four traditional songs produced by Canadian folk icon James Gordon.
Two Roads Home celebrates the diverse paths and reunites the worlds
of two old friends. Concert hall performer meets street busker;
pub rocker meets renaissance siren. Life has taken them in divergent
directions; the music brings them home.
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