Electric guitar and fiddle meld in intriguing new ways, entwined with sweet harmony vocals in the original songs performed by Laura Cortese and Jefferson Hamer. Last seen wowing the Freight audience with an opening set for David Lindley, Laura and Jefferson explore new ways to combine their copious instrumental, vocal, and songwriting talents. Tonight they spotlight tunes from their new duo CD, Two Amps, One Microphone.

Laura Cortese is a beautifully expressive fiddler, a mesmerizing alto singer, and a songwriter with a knack for bringing together the groove and polish of urban music with universal themes of the old world. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2002, Laura has been steadily building a reputation for her dazzling musicianship and sprightly performances. The Boston Globe calls her joyful, wide-ranging musical style "A captivating, frisky mix of traditional grace and modern sophistication."

Brooklyn-based Jefferson Hamer is a respected singer and instrumentalist in several widely dispersed musical circles: singing ballads and playing at traditional Irish sessions, playing acoustic guitar and singing tenor with old-time fiddlers and bluegrass ensembles, bending tele-strings with electric country and rock bands, and playing solo as a singer-songwriter. In his duo work with Laura, Jefferson's electric guitar lends an explosive, full-spectrum sound.

Opening band A Thousand Years at Sea bring their soulful singing and epic fiddleplaying to their distinctive Celtic indie-folk sound.

Visit Laura's website

Visit Jefferson's website

Visit A Thousand Years at Sea's MySpace page

Listen to a track from Laura Cortese: