Many local artists and musicians have benefited from Burlington musician Peg Tassey's tenacity.
She has championed many local arts projects from first inklings to full-blown happenings - like helping to spread the word about octogenarian local author, Fay Webern, and curating a photography show titled, "Rural Revolution," at her alma mater, Goddard College - featuring pictures snapped by students during the '70s.
Now, Tassey has molded an entire album around one woman's voice.
That voice belongs to Miriam Bernardo of Calais. Her voice is already well-known in the region, as Bernardo is part of many bands, crossing several music genres.
Plus she played Persephone in the original, Vermont-based folk-opera, "Hadestown," written by the now-multi-Tony-Award-winner, Anais Mitchell.
So when asked by Tassey and Bernardo to write songs for a new record centered around Bernardo's voice, Mitchell and others local composers jumped at the invitation.
In this interview, Tassey talks about the hurdles and challenges she faced in her new role as record producer.
The album, "Songs From The Well," took five years to make, from concept to record-pressing, and includes songs written by Tassey, and other well-known Vermont songwriters like Anais Mitchell, Michael Chorney, Mark LeGrand, Colin McCaffrey, Patti Casey and more, and is available now.
Bernardo and her band, along with several of the songwriters, will perform tunes from the record on Friday, Oct. 11 at 9 p.m. at the Double E Performance Center in Essex Junction.
