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Stella & Jane
New acoustic duo strips county music raw
by Nicole Kauffman, The Scene
March 17, 2005
Stella & Jane (also known as Suzette Weakley, left, and Bobbie Lancaster) perform at Second Story March 10. The acoustic duo features two local musicians known for their work in other groups: Weakley in Lost Boys and Lancaster in Code Blue.
Stella & Jane had planned their trip to Nashville Tennessee for eight months: They would sign up for an open mike night at the famous Bluebird Cafe, pull on newly purchased cowboy boots and sing and strum their hearts out. Since they had joined forces as a songwriting team less than a year ago, the women were overwhelmed by ideas. Songs were coming so fast they barely had time to write them down.
The Bloomington women, whose real names are Stella Suzette Weakley and Bobbie Jane Lancaster, describe themselves as "alt-rock with a country-folk edge." "Between Lucinda Williams and Alison Krauss and Mick Jagger!" Weakley said, laughing. Americana fits the bill, they say, and visiting Nashville was a way to gauge those up-and-coming in that scene.
Weakley and Lancaster are best known in Bloomington as members of other bands: Guitarist, pianist and mandolin player Weakley is a longtime member of '70s-style rock band The Lost Boys, and Lancaster fronts the popular blues group Code Blue.
Their new venture is all-original, acoustic and raw, with Weakley harmonizing with Lancaster's booming voice. "Part of the spirit of the music is that it's stripped down, bare bones. It's got kind of an old spirit to it, an old soul," Lancaster said.
At 8 p.m. Saturday, Stella & Jane will be at the Players Pub, with old-style delta blues players Curtis Crawford and "Hambone."
DIXIE DUO
Weakley and Lancaster met when Lancaster began working at Bloomington Realty, which Weakley owns. They were colleagues for about a year before realizing how in-sync their musical interests were. One day, Weakley told her co-worker of her burning desire to perform original music, which over the years has been piling up in a box in Weakley's home.
Lancaster had several tunes of her own to show off. "I was writing stuff that didn't fit with the Code Blue sound" she said. Influenced by everyone from Etta James and Patty Griffin, to the Rolling Stones and Gillian Welch, the duo now has enough material for at least three albums.
Although far apart in age, Weakley is old enough to be Lancaster's mom, but that's all she'll say about that. Their writing styles and personalities are similar. "It really is weird sometimes how much we have in common," Lancaster said.
They settled on the name Stella & Jane when they impulsively tried out their songs at the Refuge Inn on an open-mike night. Lancaster announced to the crowd they were "Stella & Jane, the Cleaning Monkeys." "It's like naming a puppy, because then you have to keep it," Weakley said.
Weakley even had to borrow someone's guitar, but the brief performance convinced the musicians they were on to something good. "It was just dead silence in the room. I looked up and the entire room was just leaning toward us," Weakley said. Plans were made for Nashville in February, part girlfriends' road trip, part taste of a big country-music city.
SEEING THE SCENE
Shortly before the trip, though, Weakley broke her strumming hand. Then Lancaster strained her neck and was unable to turn her head to the right. "It was so pathetic it was funny," Weakley said.
They loaded the car anyway, with Weakley steering and watching the road while Lancaster switched gears. Stella & Jane appeared as the fifth act at the Bluebird Cafe on Feb. 21. Things went well, they said, even though the performance before theirs also was a duo with a mandolin and guitar. (The Bluebird Cafe performance can be seen in the online archives at www.bluebirdcafe.com.) "I expected to go down to Nashville and be overwhelmed," Lancaster admitted.
Weakley is getting used to the idea that people generally are surprised by the energy of Stella & Jane. "I've got kind of a big voice," Lancaster said. "I've got a big guitar," countered Weakley.
Already, Bloomington fans are asking where recordings are, and the women are happy about that. They call their musical abilities a gift. "Everybody's got their gift -- a little something different in 'em," Lancaster said.
Weakley grinned at her friend. "There's a song waiting to happen," she said.
Nicole Kauffman can be reached at 331-4357 (email)
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Stella and Jane press ‘On With the
Show’
By Rama Sobhani For The Herald-Times
February 5, 2009
Chance meetings often yield the most
favorable results, especially when talking music.
What if a young Paul had never seen a skiffle
group called the Quarrymen and never met its
frontman, a teenager named John? History and
record collections the world over would be quite
different.
Maybe not quite on that level, but tasty nonetheless was the occurrence of Stella Suzette Weakley meeting a co-worker of hers, Bobbie Jane Lancaster, and their decision to compose music together.
“(Bobbie) was an employee at Bloomington Realty, which I own,” explained Weakley, who plays guitars and sings. “We discovered that we both wrote music but, were frustrated that what we were writing wasn’t suitable for the bands we were in.”
Weakley and Lancaster were both performing in other local groups at the time they met. Weakley was with a classic rock outfit and Lancaster in a blues group, but neither was contributing original material to their respective bands.
Weakley’s experience performing music goes back further than 2005, when the ladies first teamed up. In fact, her earliest memories of being in front of a crowd is when she and her sister would warm up audiences for Johnny Cash at state fairs as children.
“I remember how exciting it was,” she said. “I don’t know how much money we got, but I do remember a big roll of tickets for the rides, and that’s what was important.”
But when they got together for the first time to compose their own songs, the result was a flood of ideas that would solidify into a soulful mix of what they term “alt-rock with a country folk edge.” That’s pretty close, and there’s definitely some traditional American influence, but there’s a complexity in the music that description doesn’t cover. Especially with the recent addition of multi-instrumentalist Jeff Foster to their ranks, Stella and Jane create a multi-layered cake of emotive expression.
To support their latest release, “On With the Show,” the now-trio is being sponsored by local radio station WFHB for a CD release party to be held at the Waldron Art Center on Sunday, February 8, 2009.
By Rama Sobhani For The Herald-Times
February 5, 2009
Maybe not quite on that level, but tasty nonetheless was the occurrence of Stella Suzette Weakley meeting a co-worker of hers, Bobbie Jane Lancaster, and their decision to compose music together.
“(Bobbie) was an employee at Bloomington Realty, which I own,” explained Weakley, who plays guitars and sings. “We discovered that we both wrote music but, were frustrated that what we were writing wasn’t suitable for the bands we were in.”
Weakley and Lancaster were both performing in other local groups at the time they met. Weakley was with a classic rock outfit and Lancaster in a blues group, but neither was contributing original material to their respective bands.
Weakley’s experience performing music goes back further than 2005, when the ladies first teamed up. In fact, her earliest memories of being in front of a crowd is when she and her sister would warm up audiences for Johnny Cash at state fairs as children.
“I remember how exciting it was,” she said. “I don’t know how much money we got, but I do remember a big roll of tickets for the rides, and that’s what was important.”
But when they got together for the first time to compose their own songs, the result was a flood of ideas that would solidify into a soulful mix of what they term “alt-rock with a country folk edge.” That’s pretty close, and there’s definitely some traditional American influence, but there’s a complexity in the music that description doesn’t cover. Especially with the recent addition of multi-instrumentalist Jeff Foster to their ranks, Stella and Jane create a multi-layered cake of emotive expression.
To support their latest release, “On With the Show,” the now-trio is being sponsored by local radio station WFHB for a CD release party to be held at the Waldron Art Center on Sunday, February 8, 2009.
Music review: 'Myths &
Dreams'
Audibles with Elizabeth Ross
The Scene
June 22, 2006
When Audibles interviewed Bobbie Jane Lancaster of Stella and Jane last April, she mentioned the group's first album, "Myths & Dreams," commenting, "(Our first) CD was recorded in just one day at Airtime Studios. We didn't really know what was going to happen there, but we're proud of the music that is on the CD." As well they should be.
"Myths & Dreams" kicks off with the strong "Not Gonna Settle" (for the blues), written by Andrea Fiedler. The song is slightly bluesy - a little dark - but catches the ear immediately through its regular, rhythmic strumming and pristine but self-confident lead vocals.
The next song, "You're Still On My Mind," is a loose contrast but far from lazy. Though it relaxes into a catchy, folksy, chorus-driven melody, it's a track with a bright, clear energy. A lovely, brief fiddle solo by Andrea Fiedler is interjected perfectly to color and advance the song and blend into it gracefully, slipping in and bowing right back out for the vocals. The complementary harmonies and lead vocals punctuate the group's honest, pure delivery, which is Stella and Jane's most immediate and magnetic quality.
After listening to these first two tracks, it's tempting to backtrack and replay them. Right from the start, these two very different songs exemplify the CD. Though the most striking examples of refreshing variety come in the first half of the album, it does nothing to diminish the quality of the track listing as a whole. Whether playing evocative, gentle tunes or punctating the bluegrass influence, the ladies of Stella and Jane make it seem easy to bring distinction to their songs' character, though they're using the same ensemble of instruments.
"Compelling" and "infectious" describe the first two tracks, but overall the straightforward, breezy, down-to-earth manner, with which Stella and Jane delivers almost every element of its music, asserts itself from the start and breathes a fresh life into a recording that is anything but static.
Audibles with Elizabeth Ross
The Scene
June 22, 2006
When Audibles interviewed Bobbie Jane Lancaster of Stella and Jane last April, she mentioned the group's first album, "Myths & Dreams," commenting, "(Our first) CD was recorded in just one day at Airtime Studios. We didn't really know what was going to happen there, but we're proud of the music that is on the CD." As well they should be.
"Myths & Dreams" kicks off with the strong "Not Gonna Settle" (for the blues), written by Andrea Fiedler. The song is slightly bluesy - a little dark - but catches the ear immediately through its regular, rhythmic strumming and pristine but self-confident lead vocals.
The next song, "You're Still On My Mind," is a loose contrast but far from lazy. Though it relaxes into a catchy, folksy, chorus-driven melody, it's a track with a bright, clear energy. A lovely, brief fiddle solo by Andrea Fiedler is interjected perfectly to color and advance the song and blend into it gracefully, slipping in and bowing right back out for the vocals. The complementary harmonies and lead vocals punctuate the group's honest, pure delivery, which is Stella and Jane's most immediate and magnetic quality.
After listening to these first two tracks, it's tempting to backtrack and replay them. Right from the start, these two very different songs exemplify the CD. Though the most striking examples of refreshing variety come in the first half of the album, it does nothing to diminish the quality of the track listing as a whole. Whether playing evocative, gentle tunes or punctating the bluegrass influence, the ladies of Stella and Jane make it seem easy to bring distinction to their songs' character, though they're using the same ensemble of instruments.
"Compelling" and "infectious" describe the first two tracks, but overall the straightforward, breezy, down-to-earth manner, with which Stella and Jane delivers almost every element of its music, asserts itself from the start and breathes a fresh life into a recording that is anything but static.
Creativity translates into cash in
Fountain Square competition
Visual Arts Preview
By Zorba Rose
September 16, 2005
'What are you doing up this early?" my wife asked me in a sleepy Saturday morning tone.
"I'm going down to enter the songwriting competition in Fountain Square." I replied. "There's $1,000 riding on first prize."
"You don't even get up this early to work," she said as I walked out the bedroom door.
After finding a string broken on my guitar, I asked my wife, "Hey, honey, can I borrow your guitar?"
So, I bungeed my wife's guitar onto the back of my motorcycle and headed off to Fountain Square to enter Masterpiece in a Day art competition.
"The money in itself isn't the important thing," said Paul Baumgarten, Fountain Square Main Street manager, about this year's competition. "It's just what we offer to get people down here to create art."
Baumgarten said Masterpiece in a Day originally was a visual-arts competition at the Indiana World War Memorial. In 2001, the Murphy Arts Center and the Fountain Square Merchants Association worked to bring the arts showcase to this Southeastside neighborhood. The writing, music and performing-arts competitions were added to the day's events over the last three years.
The 2005 Masterpiece in a Day is organized by Big Car Media, with help from Southeast Neighborhood Development and the Fountain Square Merchants Association. Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance donated the prize money.
"Masterpiece in a Day is the big event in the neighborhood," said Jim Walker, Big Car Media executive director. "It's Fountain Square's trademark event, and draws lots of people to the neighborhood."
When I arrived at last year's competition, I saw familiar faces and chatted with bassist Ryan Williams and singer-songwriter Jethro Easyfields.
Organizers then randomly paired the musicians off, and I was partnered with Bobbie Lancaster, a vocalist and mandolin player from Bloomington.
The atmosphere was magical. Painters, sculptors, writers and musicians were scattered throughout the neighborhood working on their pieces of art.
Bobbie and I chose the sidewalk near the intersection of Shelby and Prospect streets for our studio, and inspiration came from a woman strolling by.
She was a bit of a drifter, and told us stories of her past. At one point, she told us that she didn't get married to be a mother, she just wanted a ride out of town.
That was the spark we needed, and Bobbie wrote the lyric: "She didn't want to be a mother / didn't want to be a bride / wasn't looking for no man / only looking for a ride."
The seed for the song was planted, and the rest of our lyrics flowed from our minds to the page in about 15 minutes.
After lunch at Peppy Grill, we wrote the bridge section, rehearsed our vocal harmonies and titled our song "Prospects."
At 3 p.m., we gathered near the stage and anxiously waited our turn.
When it was our time to perform, we sang and played our hearts out, and the crowd enthusiastically applauded -- we knew they liked what they heard.
The winners were then announced, and the day was over. I gave Bobbie a hug and took off on my motorbike.
When I arrived home, my wife walked outside and greeted me by saying, "Show me the money!"
The look on her face when I showed her the $1,000 check was priceless.
Call Star reporter Zorba Rose at (317) 444-6837. (email)
Copyright 2005 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved.
Visual Arts Preview
By Zorba Rose
September 16, 2005
'What are you doing up this early?" my wife asked me in a sleepy Saturday morning tone.
"I'm going down to enter the songwriting competition in Fountain Square." I replied. "There's $1,000 riding on first prize."
"You don't even get up this early to work," she said as I walked out the bedroom door.
After finding a string broken on my guitar, I asked my wife, "Hey, honey, can I borrow your guitar?"
So, I bungeed my wife's guitar onto the back of my motorcycle and headed off to Fountain Square to enter Masterpiece in a Day art competition.
"The money in itself isn't the important thing," said Paul Baumgarten, Fountain Square Main Street manager, about this year's competition. "It's just what we offer to get people down here to create art."
Baumgarten said Masterpiece in a Day originally was a visual-arts competition at the Indiana World War Memorial. In 2001, the Murphy Arts Center and the Fountain Square Merchants Association worked to bring the arts showcase to this Southeastside neighborhood. The writing, music and performing-arts competitions were added to the day's events over the last three years.
The 2005 Masterpiece in a Day is organized by Big Car Media, with help from Southeast Neighborhood Development and the Fountain Square Merchants Association. Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance donated the prize money.
"Masterpiece in a Day is the big event in the neighborhood," said Jim Walker, Big Car Media executive director. "It's Fountain Square's trademark event, and draws lots of people to the neighborhood."
When I arrived at last year's competition, I saw familiar faces and chatted with bassist Ryan Williams and singer-songwriter Jethro Easyfields.
Organizers then randomly paired the musicians off, and I was partnered with Bobbie Lancaster, a vocalist and mandolin player from Bloomington.
The atmosphere was magical. Painters, sculptors, writers and musicians were scattered throughout the neighborhood working on their pieces of art.
Bobbie and I chose the sidewalk near the intersection of Shelby and Prospect streets for our studio, and inspiration came from a woman strolling by.
She was a bit of a drifter, and told us stories of her past. At one point, she told us that she didn't get married to be a mother, she just wanted a ride out of town.
That was the spark we needed, and Bobbie wrote the lyric: "She didn't want to be a mother / didn't want to be a bride / wasn't looking for no man / only looking for a ride."
The seed for the song was planted, and the rest of our lyrics flowed from our minds to the page in about 15 minutes.
After lunch at Peppy Grill, we wrote the bridge section, rehearsed our vocal harmonies and titled our song "Prospects."
At 3 p.m., we gathered near the stage and anxiously waited our turn.
When it was our time to perform, we sang and played our hearts out, and the crowd enthusiastically applauded -- we knew they liked what they heard.
The winners were then announced, and the day was over. I gave Bobbie a hug and took off on my motorbike.
When I arrived home, my wife walked outside and greeted me by saying, "Show me the money!"
The look on her face when I showed her the $1,000 check was priceless.
Call Star reporter Zorba Rose at (317) 444-6837. (email)
Copyright 2005 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved.
New acoustic duo strips county music raw
by Nicole Kauffman, The Scene
March 17, 2005
Stella & Jane (also known as Suzette Weakley, left, and Bobbie Lancaster) perform at Second Story March 10. The acoustic duo features two local musicians known for their work in other groups: Weakley in Lost Boys and Lancaster in Code Blue.
Stella & Jane had planned their trip to Nashville Tennessee for eight months: They would sign up for an open mike night at the famous Bluebird Cafe, pull on newly purchased cowboy boots and sing and strum their hearts out. Since they had joined forces as a songwriting team less than a year ago, the women were overwhelmed by ideas. Songs were coming so fast they barely had time to write them down.
The Bloomington women, whose real names are Stella Suzette Weakley and Bobbie Jane Lancaster, describe themselves as "alt-rock with a country-folk edge." "Between Lucinda Williams and Alison Krauss and Mick Jagger!" Weakley said, laughing. Americana fits the bill, they say, and visiting Nashville was a way to gauge those up-and-coming in that scene.
Weakley and Lancaster are best known in Bloomington as members of other bands: Guitarist, pianist and mandolin player Weakley is a longtime member of '70s-style rock band The Lost Boys, and Lancaster fronts the popular blues group Code Blue.
Their new venture is all-original, acoustic and raw, with Weakley harmonizing with Lancaster's booming voice. "Part of the spirit of the music is that it's stripped down, bare bones. It's got kind of an old spirit to it, an old soul," Lancaster said.
At 8 p.m. Saturday, Stella & Jane will be at the Players Pub, with old-style delta blues players Curtis Crawford and "Hambone."
DIXIE DUO
Weakley and Lancaster met when Lancaster began working at Bloomington Realty, which Weakley owns. They were colleagues for about a year before realizing how in-sync their musical interests were. One day, Weakley told her co-worker of her burning desire to perform original music, which over the years has been piling up in a box in Weakley's home.
Lancaster had several tunes of her own to show off. "I was writing stuff that didn't fit with the Code Blue sound" she said. Influenced by everyone from Etta James and Patty Griffin, to the Rolling Stones and Gillian Welch, the duo now has enough material for at least three albums.
Although far apart in age, Weakley is old enough to be Lancaster's mom, but that's all she'll say about that. Their writing styles and personalities are similar. "It really is weird sometimes how much we have in common," Lancaster said.
They settled on the name Stella & Jane when they impulsively tried out their songs at the Refuge Inn on an open-mike night. Lancaster announced to the crowd they were "Stella & Jane, the Cleaning Monkeys." "It's like naming a puppy, because then you have to keep it," Weakley said.
Weakley even had to borrow someone's guitar, but the brief performance convinced the musicians they were on to something good. "It was just dead silence in the room. I looked up and the entire room was just leaning toward us," Weakley said. Plans were made for Nashville in February, part girlfriends' road trip, part taste of a big country-music city.
SEEING THE SCENE
Shortly before the trip, though, Weakley broke her strumming hand. Then Lancaster strained her neck and was unable to turn her head to the right. "It was so pathetic it was funny," Weakley said.
They loaded the car anyway, with Weakley steering and watching the road while Lancaster switched gears. Stella & Jane appeared as the fifth act at the Bluebird Cafe on Feb. 21. Things went well, they said, even though the performance before theirs also was a duo with a mandolin and guitar. (The Bluebird Cafe performance can be seen in the online archives at www.bluebirdcafe.com.) "I expected to go down to Nashville and be overwhelmed," Lancaster admitted.
Weakley is getting used to the idea that people generally are surprised by the energy of Stella & Jane. "I've got kind of a big voice," Lancaster said. "I've got a big guitar," countered Weakley.
Already, Bloomington fans are asking where recordings are, and the women are happy about that. They call their musical abilities a gift. "Everybody's got their gift -- a little something different in 'em," Lancaster said.
Weakley grinned at her friend. "There's a song waiting to happen," she said.
Nicole Kauffman can be reached at 331-4357 (email)