The harmony-driven trio, Dear Ella, joined me on NineVoltHeart to showcase their distinctive sound and to help promote their upcoming show at The Institute for Musical Arts on 3/29 in Goshen,MA. We begin our segment with Mary Witt’s song dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald (“Dear Ella”) that became the project’s namesake. Mary Witt and Annie Patterson have long and varied musical careers which we explored in the segment. Annie Patterson co-created the world renowned song book, “Rise Up Singing” and has led communal singing for decades. She sings with the swingband “Girls From Mars” and sits in with “Big Yellow Taxi” as well. Mary Witt is the longtime bass player, songwriter and singer for The O-Tones. Ann Percival, third member of Dear Ella, could not make the show but has been active in the dance community as a member of “Wild Asparagus”.

I was also fortunate to have Ann Hackler, co-creator of the Institute for Musical Arts along with June Millington, in studio as well. The duo version of Dear Ella sang “Lonesome Valley” followed up by “Swing, Brother, Swing” from Patterson’s ‘Girls From Mars’ project. The conversation covered a lot of topics including Ann Hackler’s story of the IMA’s beginning and their mission of training women and girls in the musical industry! We talk about the women visionaries that Dear Ella are inspired by and the social justice messaging in their repetoire. We hear “Song For Peace” a Witt original and a duet with Jim Henry from the O-Tones’ ‘Groove Duets’ called “The Walk”.

The idea of multi-generational influences in both music and social justice work is explored with Mary’s parents stressing the importance of giving to their community. We also discuss the role of other art forms such as visual art to all the musicians. The segment concludes with The O-Tones’ “No Soap No Hope Blues”, Ella Fitzgerald’s take on “Begin the Beguine”, Dear Ella’s version of “C C Rider”.

IMA.org for information on the 3/29 show in Goshen and the OTones.com for info on Dear Ella.