EXCITING NEWS

We just got off the best tour of our careers! Thanks to all our fans in Los Angeles, San Diego, the folks at the MIM in Phoenix, The Green Valley Recreation Center (Tucson), The Flickinger Center in Alamogordo NM, and Matt Greer at St John’s United Methodist Church in ABQ for helping to make it possible!

Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in March! Tell your friends! Check the GIGS page for more details.

NEWS UPDATES

• We are currently working on our Third and Fourth Albums! Sign up on the email list for progress reports!
• Our documentary has been through its first round of notes and is being fine tuned. We just did some more interviews and video shoots when we were in LA in Jan. We’ll let you know when it AIRS!
• New review on the 2nd CD from the UK (plus it is listed as a top 10 for 2011). Click here to read the review.

It All Comes Back to … “How long till I can listen again to this CD?”
Five Stars
author: Rik James (“Americana Backroads” KGLT-FM)

“I just simply love this record. When I first put the disc in my player, I was ready for a quick step review, but just a few bars in, I was going, “Whoa now… Hey, wow, these guys can really sing and pick. Great singing, terrific arrangements. From the contagious beat and happy feel of the opening track, “Fiddler’s Bend” to the final song, “After the Storm,” I could not wait too long, and I just had to listen to the whole CD all over again. And I was not disappointed the second time either. Stephanie’s fiddling, and Luke’s guitar and mandolin are terrific. And the material… These songs are very special. I really cannot pick one favorite, because each took me to a place to which I wish to return to again and again. And I guess that is why it really does come back, comes back to a great love for what music can do. GET THIS CD!! Highly recommended!”

Speaking of a CD with beautiful music, “It All comes Back To Love” features the voices and music of Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin.
Bettman’s voice might remind you a bit of Joan Baez or a dash of Emmylou Harris.  Her fiddle playing blends elements of jazz, bluegrass and old-timey music. On their website it says “We are Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin, and together we create original folk/bluegrass/Americana music. Our shows are uplifting and energetic. And our songs range from up tempo bluegrass to groovy jazzy acoustic pop to heart wrenching ballads with a focus on memorable lyrics, stunning musicianship and beautiful vocal harmonies.”
Halpin has played with the likes of Merle Haggard and Lone Star. On the duo’s first CD he plays guitar, fiddle and mandolin. He offers harmony vocals and lead on at least one song. This summer the duo is keeping busy with gigs in New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and other spots out West.
“It All Comes Back To Love” is all acoustic, with help from the likes of Michael Pacillo and Brian Netzely.  All eleven songs were written by Bettman or Halpin.
“Buttonwillow” is a fine instrumental featuring Bettman on fiddle, Halpin on mandolin, Netzley on bass and Pacillo on percussion.  It might remind you of something from Alison Krauss, Tony Rice or Nickel Creek.

Bettman’s song “The Darker Side of Happy” is a haunting melody with beautiful harmony vocals to boot. Probably the opposite of “Darker Side…” is Bettman’s “Stiff Upper Lip,” featuring fantastic guitar from Halpin and fiddle by Bettman.

“It All Comes Back To Love” is a wonderful debut album by two talented people.
— Rod Harrington /  El Dorado News-Times

It’s hard to believe that this is their initial collaborative effort; Southern Californians Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin sound like they’ve been at it making records for some time.  Their polished, 11-track Americana album, “It All Comes Back to Love,” shows off their many skills, as songwriters, as singers and as musicians.  Produced by the duo, along with Ed Tree, the tracks here are a platform for Bettman’s emotive, Joan Baez-inspired vocals, as well as her award-winning fiddle playing, and Halpin’s head-spinning mandolin and guitar picking, and his velvety, close harmonies.

The Halpin-penned instrumental “Buttonwillow” is a rollicking bluegrass thrill with a European flair, while sultry south-of-the-border “Moonlit Night” is a romantic duet, pairing Halpin’s surprising center-stage tenor with Bettman’s clear soprano.

“The Darker Side of Happy,” written by Bettman, could be arguably THE definitive song explaining the emotions surrounding suicide.  Reminiscent of the 2004 Brad Paisley country hit “Whiskey Lullaby,” she explores two self-inflicted deaths and the families left behind: “They all said it was a loss/They all felt a mortal shame/They all cried in separate corners/They all held themselves to blame.”

Folky and acoustic “The Sound of Time” finds Halpin singing lead in their poignant co-written song about a man getting through the untimely loss of his spouse, and looking back at how the experience changed his perspectives: “I use the good silver/Every week, fresh flowers from the store/I don’t wait to travel/And I don’t save the good wine anymore.”

The somewhat self-indulgent “Leavin’ New York” has a supporting melody, but lacks the lyric strength found elsewhere on this record.  Light-weight and saccharine “Beautiful Place” feels “out of place” following the solid “The Sound of Time.” But the big picture on “It All Comes Back to Love” is the overall groove, the perfect, unique blending of their voices and the ace musicianship of both Bettman and Halpin, making this a memorable first project together as a band.

Visit their web site at www.stephaniebettman.com

Stephanie Bettman & Luke Halpin – It All Comes Back To Love
By Jan Duke, About.com Guide

The Bottom Line: Stephanie Bettman & Luke Halpin’s newest collaboration entitled It All Comes Back To Love blends the wonderful and rich voice of Stephanie Bettman with the fine tuned sounds of Luke Halpin. Stephanie Bettman’s vocals will surely send chills up your spine within moments…her vocals are rich and full bodied to say the least. Add Luke Halpin’s instrumentalist skills and perfectly blended harmonies into the mix and you get a near perfectly mastered acoustic album. The album offers a respectable showing of tunes and comes in with a total of eleven, seven of which were written by Bettman, two by Halpin and two jointly written by the duo. Their sound, in general, was hard to place into a specific genre but I would have to label the album as more of an Americana style. Expect the songs to include a mixture and blend of several styles that include; Bluegrass, Ballads, Country, and Americana. Highlights of the album include the beauty of Halpin’s mandolin playing and harmonies as well the definable sounds of Bettman’s amazing vocals.

Music matters in the sense that it has the potential to change lives. For the good, or for the bad. We’re going to try and stay focused on the good. I have personal experience with fans sending emails and talking to me after show, telling me their stories about how our music has change there lives for the better. Other artists have shared with me their stories. I think it is important to share these stories because it reminds us, as artists, that what we do matters. Everything from making people’s drive to work more tolerable while listening to a CD, to people coming to terms with the loss of a loved one.

The Music Matters Blog will also cover all things concerning music. My mind is constantly over-thinking everything from practicing with a metronome to how do I get booked at the Gibson Amphitheater to what is the best thickness for a guitar pick. I enjoy sharing these thoughts and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them. With any luck Stephanie may drop by the blog and add her two cents from time to time.

See you at a show! – Luke

For press and publicity usage, high-res photos and information to download.

Pieces as PDFs:

• 8×10″ photo of Stephanie Bettman
• 8×10″ photo of Stephanie Bettman & Luke Halpin
• blank performance press release
• Stephanie Bettman bio
• Stephanie Bettman & Luke Halpin bio
• “Daily Breeze” Article
• 11×17″ poster
• 8.5×14″ poster
• 8.5×11″ poster

The photos as high-res JPGs:

• 8×10 photo of Stephanie Bettman
• 8×10 photo of Stephanie Bettman & Luke Halpin

or, download the entire press kit in one .zip file (14mb).
(Right-click to save it to your hard drive)

It All Comes Back to Love

Fiddler’s Bend

Moonlit Night

Stiff Upper Lip

Deja Vu

It’s easy to `Get Close’ to Bettman’s bluegrass
By Michael Petersen

Stephanie Bettman may be several years removed from her last acting role, but the multitalented performer hasn’t forgotten what it feels like to create a bond with an audience.

Indeed, she’s taken her stage and screen skills and applied them to an increasingly successful, eclectic career as a songwriter, vocalist and fiddler.

“Acting is all about understanding human beings, and really empathizing with what it is to be human, and it’s the same thing with songwriting,” said the Los Angeles musician. “That’s what I’m writing about. I’m writing about the human experience.”

Fresh off a national tour, Bettman will bring her music to the 100-seat Grand Annex in San Pedro Saturday night, playing acoustic bluegrass and jazz. She’ll be joined by her band and her music partner, Luke Halpin.

Bettman’s songs cover the emotional spectrum and audiences seem to be drawn to them. Her live performances have been well-received and her debut CD, “Get Close to Me,” was met with critical acclaim.

One music critic, David Steinberg of the Albuquerque Journal, wrote of the album: “Stephanie Bettman’s singing voice will remind you of a cross between Emmylou Harris and Joan Baez. In her debut CD, Bettman, who also is a fine fiddler and a composer, produces more than sound-alike vocals. She also creates an eminently listenable mix of music that covers plenty of territories of style, from bluegrass to folk ballads and laments to country.”

Though her music career started only about five years ago, Bettman said she has been interested in singing and entertaining for most of her life.

“I’ve just always loved to sing, and I think my mom noticed that I had a knack for it, so she signed me up for voice lessons,” Bettman said. “And I kept studying. I went to college for that – I studied opera at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (in Ohio).”

Bettman, a native of Albuquerque, got her first taste of songwriting playing cover songs as a member of an acoustic trio in Chicago.

“That’s when I started feeling the desire to actually create the music we were playing,” Bettman said. “I wrote my very first song there.”

For a few years afterward she pursued an acting career and even did a stint as a circus trapeze artist. But it wasn’t long before Bettman returned to songwriting.

“I usually have a desire when I’m writing a song to make it have multi levels,” she said. “It’s not usually just about a simple relationship or just about one simple circumstance. It’s usually got multiple levels that apply to life in general and I’m usually trying to put some kind of a positive spin on it, even if it’s a pretty dark subject matter.”

So far, one of the most rewarding parts of her career as a songwriter, she said, was the release of “Get Close to Me.”

In addition to receiving positive reviews, that first CD helped Bettman acquire a backing band. The group she now performs with came together as she recorded the album.

“My current band members are on that CD, because they joined me about halfway through the process,” Bettman said. “It takes awhile to find the right people who really connect with the project.”

One of these “right people” was Halpin. He played the mandolin for Bettman and went on to become her duet partner.

“Luke Halpin came along and he committed to this project in a way that nobody else did, and he brought not only his talent as an instrumentalist but also as a songwriter, and it has been a great, great collaboration,” Bettman said.

In addition to performing live, Bettman is working on her second album, which she said is “much more representative of what we sound like live, which is acoustic.”

It was this sound that interested Taran Schindler, outreach coordinator for the Grand Annex.

“When I think Stephanie Bettman, I think high energy, smart lyrics, rich music and an engaging performer,” said Schindler.

Bettman also fits nicely with the Grand Annex’s Folk-Americana theme.

“She is top-notch and key to this series because of her fiddling ability,” Schindler said.