Pratie Heads: More or less traditional music of the British Isles

 
Bob Vasile and Jane Peppler, as the Pratie Heads, play and sing Irish, Scottish, English, Spanish language, and Early American music for concerts, festivals, and workshops. We call our repertoire "More or Less Traditional Music of the British Isles and beyond." For free mp3 samples of our Celtic music (and beyond) see sidebar below.

We specialize in British Isles, Celtic, and Colonial American songs and tunes, and recently music in Spanish, but also play original material, a few pieces from Sweden, Finland, Holland, Bulgaria, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, and from Jewish traditions (Yiddish / klezmer, Ladino / Sephardic, Hebrew / Israeli.

We particularly enjoy playing at weddings. For many free samples of wedding music, rates, etc., see our new site, Wedding Music in North Carolina.

If you like our music, please sign up for our mailing list! We personally promise not to spam you! It would help us out! Thanks...

Our Electronic Press Kit Sound samples Workshops Past Performances Order our recordings The Pratie Heads play for weddings Song lyrics for We Did It! Songs of People Behaving Badly Song lyrics and translations for Rag Faire Song lyrics and translations for Early Fare Discography Pratie Heads on Reverbnation Pratie Heads on MySpace Send us email Or call 919-383-8952 (Jane) or 919-416-9181 (Bob) SAMPLE WEDDING MUSIC:

OUR 30th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT! Saturday March 17, 2012, 7:30 pm: 30th anniversary Pratie Heads St. Patrick's Day celebration, at the Murphy School in Durham (Shared Visions Retreat Center) Tickets $10 at the door or $8 in advance via PayPal: Based in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, we're members of the 2008-2010 Touring Artists Directory of the North Carolina Arts Council. From the Pittsboro General Store Cafe, November 2009... From our Centerfest appearance, September 2009; Jim Baird, bassist with Mappamundi. A windy day at the Hillsborough Arts Council for the Arts & Crafts Fair, April 2009:   Our new cd, We Did It! songs of people behaving badly, arrived in September 2008. You can buy it at the Skylark Productions website. Email received Feb 1,2008 Thanks for a fantastic performance. Bob (and Jane), I was hoping to see you at our favorite breakfast haunt so I could thank you in person but now I don't want to delay sending you and Jane my sincere thanks for a fabulous performance for our annual Triangle Guitar Society holiday salon recital. We've always enjoyed your many performances for us in the past mostly in a solo format but with Jane Peppler as your duo partner I believe you have a fantastic synergy of talents and a fine ensemble that's as expressive as it is flawless. With your your fantastic originals and your special unique arrangements there's no limit to your success. I have heard many compliments from our TGS folks how blown away they were to find that Jane sang perfectly in Spanish and with a seductive charm as well. Starting off with the eastern European sounding piece Daichovo Horo was a smash hit. It was great to hear the duo version of Boutros the Cat. And Bagira's walk owes a lot to Dadfad in Bagdad and you know I love that special style. Perhaps this piece should be our next transcription project. And I especially love your new murder ballads and yes you're a great singer too. Lord Franklin is so tender and sweet that on first hearing I already feel nostalgic. And I think your next album after the murdererous ballades should be entirely devoted to your own compositions as they are always my favorite pieces when I hear you play. Already we are planning to get you guys back in one of our public concerts soon. With the gypsy seduction of Jane's playing and singing and your special exciting style of guitar and bouzouki and fantastic tender singing your duo deserves to be heard far and wide and I congratulate you both on achieving such a fine accomplished ensemble. BRAVO! Randy Reed President, Triangle Guitar Society Lecturer/Instructor of Guitar, Duke University July 2007: we compiled a sampler of instrumentals and love songs for weddings, called "Hearts' Delight," available to prospective brides and wedding planners - email us if you're interested. Coming soon: a sampler of music of the sea (pirates! sailors!), Colonial America (including a song by 13-year-old Benjamin Franklin about the death of Edward Teach aka Blackbeard), and early North Carolina: "The Jamestown Homeward Bound." Our cd Rag Faire, November 2006, is available from Skylark Productions. Read a review of "Rag Faire" from the News & Observer, 1/7/2007. In December 2006 we also issued Early Fare, a re-mastered release of our music from the 1980s (from the recordings "Flowers of the Forest," "Todlin' Home," "Kiss Quick, Mother's Coming!" and "Heritage") as a double-cd set. Our cds are available from Skylark Productions. "You don't look famous, but you sound famous." (Comment from audience member buying our cd! Heh heh.) Hear harmony vocals on ballads, songs and snatches (and dreamy lullabies); beautiful airs, strathspeys, jigs, reels, hornpipes, waltzes, and music of indescribable tempo on guitar, bouzouki, concertina, violin, and viola...

Steve Winick wrote in Dirty Linen Magazine:

"The Pratie Heads were their state's premiere performers of British Isles traditional music ... they have made some of the best Celtic, English, and early American folk music available in recorded form. They have picked beautiful, uncommon songs to play, have thoroughly researched tunes and texts to produce the best possible versions, and have lovingly and impeccably arranged them. And still it emerges as spontaneous, joyful music - it's a rare gift they have. ... Peppler's voice is a clear soprano wonder with a feeling of intense but controlled wildness that she may owe to her training in Slavic and Balkan singing ... as amazing on fiddle as she is singing, [with] great tone on the slower tunes and real speed on the quick ones. My suggestion is to buy a copy of each tape, and then make a dub of each. Put the originals away in a cool, dark place and play the dubs. That way, when you've worn out your copies, you can repeat the process without having to pay for more tapes. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Jane and Bob were members of the North Carolina Touring program throughout the 1980s and made four recordings - the last, "Heritage," was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

They performed at folk festivals, coffeehouses, concerts and weddings until 1988. Their St. Patrick's performance for the Smithsonian Institution was broadcast over Voice of America in countries including Greece and Albania.

Pratie Heads programs include ballads, songs, jigs, reels, marches, airs, strathspeys, set dances, country dances from Ireland, Scotland, and England.

A related program, "American Traditions of the 17th-19th century," includes songs like "How Stands the Glass Around" (a favorite with General Wolfe, redcoats and patriots alike); "The Bundling Song" (1803, decrying currently popular courting practices); "Tobacco" (1603, Tobias Hume, lauding an important import); "We Are Stole and Sold" (an abolitionist's song of slavery from the slave's point of view). This program ties in with Carolina historical/cultural curricula; the English and Scottish settlers of this region brought musical traditions still preserved in our mountain and coastal communities.

Bob Vasile's homepage

Jane Peppler's homepage

Featured Wedding Band in Chapel Hill on Gig Salad

Send us email
Or call 919-383-8952 (Jane) or 919-416-9181 (Bob)