Aubrey Atwater

This biography is excerpted from the history of the Atwater-Donnelly Band:

Aubrey and Elwood met as volunteers at the Stone Soup Coffeehouse in Providence in early 1987. Within just a few months these self-taught musicians from Rhode Island formed a duo. Married since 1989, Aubrey and Elwood perform throughout the United States and, on occasion, abroad. Their fourteen recordings receive international airplay. Highlights include airplay on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Fiona Ritchie's "Thistle and Shamrock," and the nationally syndicated "Midnight Special" out of Chicago.

Atwater and Donnelly have performed and researched traditional folk music and dance in Appalachia, the Ozarks, New England, and other key places in the United States, as well as Ireland, England and Prince Edward Island. They have performed with or shared festival billing with folk legends Jean Ritchie, Pete Seeger, and Doc Watson.

Aubrey and Elwood lead workshops, study with traditional musicians and folklorists, play for and call contra-dances, appear on television, and regularly receive standing ovations for their concerts during trips to festivals and camps such as the Hindman Settlement School in Eastern Kentucky, the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, the Old Songs Festival in New York, the Ozark Folk Center in Arkansas, and the Swannanoa Gathering, the John C. Campbell Folk School in western North Carolina and the Summer Solstice Festival in Cumberland, Rhode Island.