The Littlest Birds

"...Sharon Martinson on banjo, offering a gentle, harmony-fueled brand of twang that evokes the dusty backroads and wide open spaces of the American West while remaining deeply rooted on a backporch somewhere in Appalachia." "...old traditionals are given a fresh turn...original songs display an enthusiasm and inspiration that flows off the stage and into the hearts of anyone that is listening. “Think instrumental virtuosity balanced by a breezy, backwoods soul, music that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally soothing.” (Seven Days Weekly, Burlington, VT) "...a lovely sound that embraces listeners simultaneously with the familiar and the new." (Folk Alley) “Elk River Blues”, an old fiddle tune written by Ernie Carpenter, displays how they meld tunes into their own. Sharon has added lyrics based on the story of Ernie’s family farm in West Virginia being flooded by the Army Corps of Engineers. While the song's melody remains in many ways the same, the underlying spirit is made that much more apparent by the addition of her lyrics, "You dam my river, you flood my farm, you dam my river, you flood my home, I've got no other place I can go to, so forever will I roam." Sharon grew up in Casper, Wyoming, and learned to play the french horn at an early age. While in college, her grandfather passed along his old banjo when his fingers grew too sore to play it anymore, and she used it as a distraction while working on her doctorate in Ecology from Dartmouth College. By the time she completed her doctorate, she'd fallen in love with the clawhammer (or frailing) style of banjo playing. She currently holds a position as a post-doctoral research scientist at the University of Wyoming as well as a visiting scholar appointment at Dartmouth College while actively touring with The Littlest Birds. The Littlest Birds formed as a duo (Sharon & David) in 2010 and performed 100s of shows across the U.S. States, Canada and England, including such renown festivals as the Oregon Country Fair and Vancouver Folk Music Festival. They release 3 albums, recorded as a duo between 2010 and 2014. In 2015, Dave moved onto other music projects, and Sharon has continued with The Littlest Birds, and is in the process of recording the 4th album which will be released in 2016. Instrumental virtuosity, breezy backwoods soul.