Nervous But Excited
February 10, 2011 by su
Filed under 2011 Performers
“Ahhhh…organic and rich like good soil…makes me want to listen and hear it grow. The songs are honest and dimensional. It’s music to my ears.”
- Amy Ray, The Indigo Girls
Pleasantly Aggressive Folk Duo Nervous but Excited (Kate Peterson & Sarah Cleaver) equals genuinely crafted stories and a uniquely dead-on harmony. They are two songwriters and two singers, switching up acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, violin, ukulele, glockenspiel, bass, harmonica, and working in a whole lot of laughter in between. Their original repertoire ranges in topic from smart, introspective narratives to the tactfully political… interspersed with songs of love and loss that will undoubtedly tug on your heart.
Road warriors to the core, they are a lot less nervous these days, and their endless passion has landed them on stages with folks like Ani Difranco, Iron and Wine, Utah Phillips, Ben Gibbard, Catie Curtis and Cheryl Wheeler – to name a few. Their live show will bounce you through a variety of emotions always keeping you guessing which is coming next. You might cry, you’ll definitely laugh, and they hope you’ll leave feeling that your heart has grown just a little bigger than it was before you arrived.
Their April 2010 project, a 6 song EP entitled Just the Two of Us (Our Duo Doing Duos), finds kate and sarah alone in the studio conquering the challenge of interpreting soul, r&b, indie pop-rock and 80′s rock into their pleasantly aggressive style. NBE chose 6 duos – The Righteous Brothers, Indigo Girls, K-Ci & Jojo, The Weepies, Tegan and Sara, and Roxette – to cover as a fun challenge for themselves and their voices and as a treat for nbe fans. The EP is accompanied by a series of 6 short and quirk-filled YouTube videos, shot and edited by kate and sarah, explaining in one ridiculous way or another, why they chose each song.
In April 2009 they released Anchors: the first 100% carbon neutral CD release. On Anchors, Kate and Sarah’s unique vocal harmonies are enhanced by many talented players including Girlyman, Lyndell Montgomery and Chris Bathgate among others who joined them to color in the lines of the songs with a sweet-tasting assortment of warming-your-feet-by-the-fire-in-the-wintertime kind of instrumentation. Of this, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls says “ahhhh … organic and rich like good soil … makes me want to listen and hear it grow. The songs are honest and dimensional. It’s music to my ears.”
Since 2004, nbe has toured consistently and released 3 full-length albums and 3 EPs. They have played many established rooms and with artists such as Lucy Kaplansky, Melissa Ferrick, Ferron, Toshi Reagon, The Butchies, Alix Olson, Bitch, Girlyman, Pamela Means, Chris Pureka and Ember Swift among others. In July 2009, nbe’s song Said and Done from Anchors was chosen out of more than 500 entries to be part of the Michigan made movie Annabelle & Bear. With the help of nbe’s strong and loyal fan community, kate and sarah won a music competition to film a cameo in the movie.
Nervous but Excited is represented by Riot Grrrl Ink and distributed nationwide by Goldenrod Music.
