BumpKin Pie: A Bit o' Press

(About "Party In The Stable")
“...one of the best original seasonal songs to appear this year.”

Suzanne Ives and Michael Dunkley
Americana Meets Suburban Twang

washingtonpost.com/MP3 Producer
Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Too shy to reach out for what deep-down she really wanted, Suzanne Ives spent her early years writing poetry, and composing songs "on a termite ridden grand piano." All the while she listened to the radio and thought, "hey golly I can do this." Yet Ives kept her words close to the vest, and her feet off the stage. She married a musician, Michael Dunkley -- a bluegrass guitar picker she met while both attended the University of Virginia in the late-70s-- but even with his encouragement public performance was just not something Ives could bring herself to do.

Then about three years ago, a friend persuaded Ives to attend Summersongs. The song writing camp gave Ives what she needed - a secluded wilderness setting at the foot hills of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, and a nurturing staff comprised of performing musicians ( including Tom Prasada-Rao, Sloan Wainwright and Steve Gillette) that made her feel at ease.

"I had been afraid but [Summersongs] was very intimate, supportive, encouraging - I blossomed," quips Ives. "I'm a late bloomer but being a late bloomer beats getting nipped in the bud."

Ives emerged from Summersongs with new found courage and a decent recording (accomplished - from pre-production through to duplication - in one hour) of her tune "Faraway Girl" as a tangible reminder that she had ventured before a gathering of her peers, and both had enjoyed it. Just maybe she could do it again, and again.

Around the same time, Ives and Dunkley had the good fortune to have Scott McKnight move in next door. A well established musician-singer-songwriter who has worked with Kevin Johnson as well as with Eric Brace in Last Train Home, McKnight kindly facilitated opportunities for his neighbors. He brought friends to Ives's Summersongs-inspired songwriters' circle, and included Dunkley on his contribution to the Americana Motel compilation CD as well as its supporting performances. McKnight, Dunkley, with others, appeared as the Del Swarthmores.

As more musicians got to know Ives and Dunkley other opportunities opened up for the duo, who occasionally also goes by the name Bumpkin Pie. One of these was the inclusion of Ives's "Americana with a side of suburban twang" styled songs on the last two Hungry for Music holiday CDs. Her "Make the Angels Sigh" appears on last year's Holiday Feast Vol. VI. "Take the Tree Out to the Curb," which she describes as "a bitter sweet song of hope" closes the new Holiday Feast Vol. VII album.

"I'm not looking for fame and fortune. I just want to get songs out there. I used to be afraid, now they can't shut me up."