Jubilant Bridge
Gig Seeker Pro

Jubilant Bridge

Golden, Colorado, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1987 | SELF

Golden, Colorado, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 1987
Duo Folk Singer/Songwriter

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Jubilant Bridge: Power Lines"

There is an amazing level of melodic richness and complex songwriting present throughout this album. The songs crafted by this duo are musical and lyrical tapestries that can be surprisingly deep and poetic. - Victory Review Magazine


"Victory Review Magazine"

A hybrid folk choir sound that is unique, with beautifully blended harmonies, and very full, often richly orchestrated, arrangements...poetic, free-spirited originals. A rich aural feast. - Victory Review Magazine


"Dirty Linen"

Great harmony vocals...compelling dulcimer playing. Van Alstine's lyrics are intelligent and thoughtful. - Dirty Linen


"Westword"

Vocalist Carol Van Alstine has a striking voice---clean, crisp, and far purer than Michael Jackson's fondness for gloves. "Before You Fly" and "Four Common Men Create the Weather (Diamonds)" are gorgeous. Jubilant Bridge is well worth crossing. - Michael Roberts, Westword


"KZUM"

Your song, "Four Common Men Create the Weather," was perhaps the best Beatles tribute song I have heard. Great music, writing, and harmonies. - Hardy Holm, KZUM, Lincoln, NE


"WAMU-FM"

Your harmonies are so tight, they pulse." - Mary Cliff, Traditions, WAMU-FM, Washington, D.C.


"River City Folk, WFMT Radio Network"

Jubilant Bridge is a joyful combination of stringed instruments (including Appalachian dulcimer) and exquisite harmonies. The vocal arrangements augment their well-played, well-thought-out material, including original and contemporary songs. They are truly fun to work with, and bring both enthusiasm and professionalism to their performance. - Tom May, Producer


"Fort Collins Coloradoan"

Jubilant Bridge is not only helping to keep acoustic music alive, but they are also challenging its borders...with a fresh and innovative style. This band's first album [is] a triumph. - Tim Van Schmidt, Fort Collins Coloradoan


"Scene"

Not to say that, as far as singer/songwriter duos go, Simon and Garfunkel have been outdone, but I think Jubilant Bridge is close. Their songs are characterized by very intimate musicianship coupled with strong emphasis on what exactly the songs are saying. They have created a refreshing brand of music rooted in tradition that goes far beyond the reaches of any normal acoustic duo, but into that of the omnipotent observer of their bittersweet, and sometimes, ironic world. - Chris Galis, Scene, Fort Collins, CO


"Good Folk Coffee House"

The audience will be talking about your remarkable performance for a long time. They absolutely inhaled and savored your every song. You have the best sound and songs out there---a superb collaboration and cohesion of instrumental virtuosity and versatility. - Brandi Hayden, Good Folk Coffee House, Norwalk, CT


"Wit's End Productions"

In an ocean of floating-on-the-surface popular music, Jubilant Bridge is a deep sea dive into a magical world of iridescent color, a mysterious coral reef, brilliant with flickering, darting images, that you gradually recognize as the contours of your own soul. - Nancy Weaver, Wit's End Productions, Driftwood, TX


"Jubilant Bridge - A Bell A Bird A Star - A Gem of a Christmas Album"

Their high standard of musicianship is beautifully paired with these rare and uncommon songs. Their performance is evidence of the senses of musicians who are tuned into a parallel universe of sound that few mortals know. - Kim Sophia Brown, Significato


Discography

CDs:

A Bell A Bird A Star

Power Lines

Happenstance

Under Shattered Skies

Crazy Like the Wind (and LP)

Another Run At the Mountain (Willie Jaeger, mountain dulcimer instrumentals, cassette)

Photos

Bio

A two-time finalist for Best Group/Duo in the International Acoustic Music Awards, Jubilant Bridge is excited to be releasing “A Bell A Bird A Star.” Beautiful songs of the Christmas season, not often heard except by choral ensembles, are here arranged for two voices, guitar, and dulcimer, and feature the duo’s intricate harmonies and arrangements.  The heart of the CD consists of songs by 20th-century composers, some based on medieval texts, traditional carols in several languages, and Latin pieces.  Compelling original songs and instrumentals, including the title track, grace the collection.

 A pure-voiced poet and a dulcimer wizard weave their voices and instruments into a rich, harmony-driven sound that is fresh and innovative.  Intricate arrangements, harmonies “so tight, they pulse” (Mary Cliff—WAMU-FM), comic repartee, a repertoire ranging from critically-acclaimed originals and contemporary songs, to finger-dancing instrumentals and unexpected covers---these are the hallmarks of every Jubilant Bridge performance. The duo comes from a rich aural tradition but surprises audiences with counter melodies, changing time signatures, and well-chosen dissonance.  Their instruments go beyond simple accompaniment; the arrangements and the songs themselves are meshed.  They use the vocabulary, but step outside of the conventions, of folk, rock, and pop---not simply stitching together genres, but folding the seams under.  Every song becomes their own.

 Vocalist and guitarist Carol Van Alstine provides Jubilant Bridge with most of its distinctive original songs. She comes to songwriting by way of poetry.  Often inspired by dreams, and musical and lyrical phrases that take her unexpected places, her emotionally wise songs depict states of mind and heart and the conflicts between them.  Her awards include the BMI Songwriter Award for her song “Power Lines,” as well as Silver in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, one of the longest-running song competitions in the nation, and several Honorable Mentions in the Billboard World Song Contest.  With a voice that has been described as “striking,” “ethereal,” and “far purer than Michael Jackson’s fondness for gloves,” she is often asked after a show, “How does such a big voice come out of such a small person?”  Her musical experiences range from performing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to singing soprano in Renaissance choirs.

 Mountain dulcimer wizard and vocalist Willie Jaeger takes what is often thought of as a “simple” folk instrument and discovers its complexity.  He strums, he fingerpicks, he flatpicks, he plays lead, and recently he’s been experimenting with electric dulcimer.  His unique style of playing, and his popularity as a teacher at the renowned Swallow Hill School of Music, inspired Westword, Denver’s alternative weekly, to vote him Denver’s “Best Local Folkie.”  He was a finalist (Silver) in the national mountain dulcimer championship at Winfield, Kansas, and won a Gold Medal for Best Original Instrumental Composition at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.  An engaging singer with a lyrical baritone, he also plays hammered dulcimer and guitar, and composes instrumentals and the occasional song. 

 Carol and Willie have released five previous recordings.  In “Power Lines,” which featured their compelling original songs as well as their unique take on songs from favorite songwriters, Victory Music Review found “an amazing level of melodic richness and complex songwriting,” the songs “musical and lyrical tapestries that can be surprisingly deep and poetic.”  Other recordings include “Happenstance,” “Under Shattered Skies” (which Victory Music Review proclaimed “a rich aural feast”), “Another Run At the Mountain,” and “Crazy Like The Wind.”  

Band Members