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Mad Agnes is not one person, but three, and they're mad in only the most inventive way. Margo Hennebach, Adrienne Jones and Mark Saunders stir up elements of classical and folk, cross singer/songwriter poignancy with street-theatre smarts and infuse it all with courageous harmonies, complex counterpoint and rich storytelling in a powerful live performance. Their lyrics are intelligent, their delivery warm, and insightful. Not surprisingly, each has arrived at the trio from a long list of solo accomplishments.
The music of classically trained Hennebach has been described as “contemporary and timeless” by the Star Gazette, and “captivating” by Sing Out Magazine. A finalist in songwriting competitions, including Kerrville and Napa Valley, Margo has a BM in Piano from Oberlin Conservatory and a masters degree in Music Therapy from the Guildhall School of Music in London, and is Feldenkrais Practitioner. Jones is a self-taught fingerstyle & rhythm guitarist and bassist, a finalist in four national songwriting competitions, a member of Actors Equity Association, and a Reiki Practitioner. Of her CD release, Talking River, Dirty Linen magazine praised her “expressive ability to wrap meaning around a lyric with the simple rise or fall of a note.” Mad Agnes also features Hartford Conservatory graduate Saunders on vocals, acoustic, electric, National steel and bass guitars. His guitar work recalls the inventiveness of Richard Thompson, while providing "understated ballast with his voice and lead guitar--his delicate arpeggio picking...and fiery fills and runs,” says Acoustic Guitar magazine.
They've been called genre-bending -- with classical, rock and old-world backgrounds they play everything from contemporary original to madrigals, to Celtic traditionals, to harmony-driven folk pop. Their third CD, Revenants, features guest artists, drummer Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull) and guitarist Jeff Pevar (Crosby, Stills, and Nash, CPR), and was mixed and mastered by four-time Emmy winner Jim Chapdelaine (Phoebe Snow, Big Al Anderson) in West Hartford, CT. The song list represents all three members' contributions, including, for the first time, three instrumentals by Saunders (guitars, mandolin). Together the collection presents an intimate scrapbook of the band's passages and triumphs.
Recognized for their terrific live show, Mad Agnes was a formal mainstage artist at The Southwest Regional Folk Alliance in 2007, the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference in 2004, and a TriCentric artist in 2003. They perform internationally at listening rooms and festivals including The Kerrville Folk Festival (TX), Mountain Stage New Songs Festival (WV), The Birchmere (VA), The Forksville Folk Festival, The Sellersville Theatre, Bethlehem Musikfest and Godfrey Daniels (PA), The Bitter End and the Towne Crier (NY), Old Settlers Inn (KS), WFMT’s Live Stage (IL), Cedarburg Cultural Center (WI), Sunrise Civic Center Theater (FL), University of Hartford and Cheney Hall (CT), The Ark (MI), and First nights Morristown (NJ) and Worcester (MA), Cropredy Festival (UK).
As one presenter once introduced them, “Together, the three of them make a great couple.”
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