Folk Duos ★ Ordinary Elephant ★ Clay Parker & Jodi James ★ @ The Whirlybird

Ordinary Elephant captivates audiences with their emotionally powerful and vulnerable songs, letting the listener know that they are not alone in this world. The collaboration of husband and wife Pete and Crystal Damore, their connection, and their influences (such as Gillian Welch, Guy Clark, Anaïs Mitchell) all meet on stage. “Two become one, in song...hand-in-glove harmonies surprise the listener with focused intensity and musical mastery,” says Grammy-nominated songwriter Mary Gauthier.

Ordinary Elephant was named Artist of the Year at the 2018 International Folk Music Awards, and their 2019 release “Honest” has been called “one of the best Americana albums of the year” by the Associated Press. PopMatters says it is “easily one of the best folk duo records I’ve heard in years.” “Honest” was the No. 1 album on the FAI Folk Chart for May, and hovered in the top 5 of the weekly NACC Folk chart from June to October of 2019.

Clay Parker & Jodi James hail from Baton Rouge. Their sound borrows from and transforms traditional Southern cornerstones such as folk, blues, and country, and though the duo remains loyal to the heritage that brought them together, Clay and Jodi are unafraid of experimenting further, often intermixing mellow psychedelia and cosmic country into their classic harmonies. They’ve been lauded by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and Rolling Stone Country describes their sound as "quiet, sweetly harmonized and unassuming but mesmerizing back-porch music."