New Voices, Old Sounds: Elizabeth LaPrelle

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THERE'S MORE TO singing old-time Appalachian ballads than just learning a tune and grabbing a song sheet. The essence of that ancient mountain feel is tone.

"A lot of people talk about it as going through the nose, making a really nasal sound," says Elizabeth LaPrelle. "I think of it as sort of a forced sound, which is how you get the breaks and the ornamentation. There's a tension to that.

"And I try to be pretty loud."

Though not yet 21, LaPrelle has already made a big noise in the folk world. When she graduates from William & Mary next spring, she'll probably hit the road, but this weekend, there's no waiting. She performs Sunday at the Takoma Park Folk Festival, where her mother, Sandy, will lend harmonies on several selections. On Saturday night, the LaPrelles play a house concert in Wheaton.

Both 2007's "Lizard in the Spring" and 2004's "Rain and Snow" come highly recommended, but the best way to hear LaPrelle is live. This is a sound that was made to move mountains, not microphone ribbons.

Although she has "Pretty Saro" in her repertoire, it wouldn't be fair to pigeonhole LaPrelle as a purveyor of tales dour and drear. Her songbag includes homey Carter Family numbers, a rip-roaring "Sail Away, Ladies," picked up from Uncle Dave Macon, and the syncopated gospel blast that is "Blind Bartemus."

Still, there's something about hearing a voice so strong applied to the bitterest of fortunes. LaPrelle's ballads suggest that the greatest tragedy isn't to be crushed by fate but to have to live it out.

» Private residence, Wheaton; Sat., 8 p.m. (reservations held until
7:50 p.m.); $15 suggested donation; 301-946-2161. (Wheaton)

Written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon
Photo courtesy Old97Wrecords