Carrtunes release long-awaited debut

Sonoma Valley folk band releases first CD after 30 years together|

It’s not often that a band stays together for three years, let alone 30, and that type of longevity is probably why the Carrtunes are so good at their blend of folk, swing, doo wop, jazz and Americana. Hailing from Sonoma Valley, the band formed when all the members had children in the same school and the parents started jamming to play talent shows for the school. Almost 30 years later, they still get together almost every Monday and play, just for the fun of it. And after so many years, they’re finally releasing a CD.

The ladies in the band – Cynthia Carr, Sandi Everett and Caryn Prince – with their stellar harmonies, will invoke images of acts from the Andrews Sisters all the way to ‘70s folk singers. Along with Ed Davis and Doug Bates, the quintet’s new CD is titled “A Carrtunes Banquet” and it certainly is that. The disc is all cover songs, sans one, which we’ll touch on later. The CD kicks off with a Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ “Look at Miss Ohio” and it’s on from there. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Robbie Robertson are all represented. There’s even a version of “In the Mood” by Joseph Garland, which was a big hit for the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and as embarrassing as it is to admit this, I didn’t know the song actually had words, but they come through loud and clear and in the style of the era in which it was written.

The band is most proud of Cynthia Carr’s original song “Our House, Our Town,” about which bass player Ed Davis says: “The song has such universal appeal, it feels to me like one that could become part of the American Songbook…” According to Carr, “When I was a young girl, I read and loved ‘Vagabond’s House’ (which) describes a traveling soul’s home filled with their most valued treasures and memories. It churned up the wanderer in me and made me pine for this special place. I carried that with me until I was a grown woman and began writing, but it wasn’t until I actually fell in love that the song came to be.”

The disc is being released this week, and you can get that and find more about the band at carrtunesband.com.

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