ANGELA FOREST
// Vocals & Acoustic Guitar
Angela is a seasoned and dynamic stage performer who gracefully creates a natural rapport with her audiences in any size venue. She is a charismatic singer who engages audiences with a distinctive vocal gift that passionately transmits evocative and introspective lyrics. Themes for her original songs range from hopeful reminders of our responsibility to ethically care for our environment, to the bittersweet secrets of the psyche's interior landscape where the timeless worlds of magical fantasy are revealed.
Angela began composing and performing her music in 1975 as a solo folk guitarist. From 1983 to 1990, she was the lead singer for the Central Florida pop-rock band The Mix. Angela has performed in numerous theatrical productions and was a singer in the 60s girl group band The Creamettes. In 2000 her band Marble Feather released a CD of Angela's original music. The song Wekiva from the Marble Feather CD was selected for the soundtrack of a PBS documentary Wekiva Legacy or Loss? Co-produced by Bill Belleville, Bob Giguere, and WMFE-TV.
CDs Featuring Angela:
Mixistential
Marble Feather
About the Band
ELAINE GRAY
// Electric Guitar
Elaine began performing with bands in 1980. She was the co-creator of the Central Florida pop-rock band The Mix (1980-1989) with singer/songwriter Angela Sterling Forest. She performed on guitar with several splinter groups from The Mix (The Creamettes, Angie B & The Thrill Things) in the 1990s.
Elaine recorded and composed original pieces (Orbothea, Radiant Spiral, Rocketman) for theater, film, and performance art events from 1990 – 1995. More recently Elaine has performed on guitar with the Western North Carolina Celtic / fiddle group The Mountain Laurels. (2009 -2019). She describes her guitar playing as "strictly rhythm", as she holds down the beat, the drive, and the groove of the band.
CDs Featuring Elaine:
The Mix – Mixistential
The Mountain Laurels – Highland Bloom
The Mountain Laurels – Edge of the Dance
RHONDA LORENCE
// Violin, Electric Cello
Rhonda is a classical violist/violinist. She was a founding member of the Mountain Laurels, a Western North Carolina band with subtle and varied musical influences that range from traditional Irish music to contemporary folk.
Rhonda studied Celtic fiddle with Martin Hayes and Liz Carroll at Swannanoa. She also holds a bachelor's degree in music performance from the University of South Florida and has more than 30 years of performance experience.
Rhonda is also an accomplished sound engineer and composer. Her original compositions on the viola are featured on her critically acclaimed CDs Winter Moon (2005), and Movements in the Moment (2009). Her compositions explore the viola's wide range of nuance and texture through the intricately woven mosaic of soundscapes. Critics have described her style as the meeting of Richard Wagner, John Williams and Phillip Glass – some of the best contemporary instrumental music (New Age Reporter) and so haunting…(it) goes straight to the soul (WERU-FM, East Orland, Maine). Winter Moon was nominated in four categories for the New Age Reporter Lifestyle Awards in 2005. Her compositions "Changing Tides" and "Winter Moon" received satellite radio and NPR radio airplay and several of her works have been featured in films and ballets.
Rhonda teaches Suzuki violin and viola with Watauga Arts Council in Boone, NC and Harper School for the Performing Arts in Lenoir, NC.
CDs Featuring Rhonda:
Winter Moon
Movements in the Moment
The Mountain Laurels – Highland Bloom
The Mountain Laurels – Edge of the Dance
