THE GAZETTE
Page B-8
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 g
Montgomery County to Music City Blake High School graduate, musician enjoys warm homecoming n
BY
CARA HEDGEPETH STAFF WRITER
For singer/songwriters Tom Whall and Emily Earle, the last few weeks out on the road have been an exercise in trial and error. “It’s been a really great learning process,” Earle said. “ ... As far as, what areas and markets does our music work in? What kind of crowd tends to like us better?” During their private show Sept. 27 at RPM Studios in Silver Spring, the duo — who are also dating — didn’t have to worry about the crowd not liking their Americana sound. They played for a room full of Whall’s friends and family. “It was great,” said Whall, a Silver Spring native. “My parents always love it when I get to play when I’m in town ... they are the ones who have supported me from the beginning.” The September concert was also special because of its location. RPM is a digital media group specializing in video production, audio recording and engineering and live performance/music video. Whall and Earle’s performance was recorded for a DVD.
“It’s one thing to go on tour and just have a show where all of your friends and family come out, but I think I wanted to do something unique and that’s why we did this whole studio show,” Whall said. “It gave family and friends the opportunity to see us in a very unique environment.” Whall is a 2007 graduate of Blake High School. Whall — also a talented drummer and keyboard player — picked up the guitar in high school. He learned from his father whom he called a musical “jack of all trades.” A triplet, Whall also spent his adolescence harmonizing with his brother and sister in church. “With family, it’s awesome because a lot of times it sounds good because what they call the timbre of your voice is so similar, they match very well,” Whall said. Lucky for him, Whall was able to find that same connection with Earle. “I think the timbres of our voices are different enough, unique enough, that people like it,” Whall said. “That’s my mathematically musical equation behind it all,” he laughed. Whall met Earle a year ago through a mutual friend shortly after she moved to Nashville. Whall attended Baldwin-Wallace College, a small liberal arts school outside of Cleveland. He moved to Music City after graduating in 2011.
For more information and to buy Tom or Emily’s EPs, visit emilyearle.com and tomwhall. com
Earle spent her childhood in Texas before moving with her family to Colorado. She is the niece of Americana singer and Grammy Award-winning artist Steve Earle. She attended Berklee School of Music in Boston for three years before landing an internship with Warner Music in New York City. Earle gained some notoriety for her stint on NBC’s singing competition “The Voice,” where she made it to the Battle Round on Team CeeLo. After “The Voice,” and opening for her uncle on a sevenmonth world tour, Earle settled in Nashville. Whall first joined Earle for a show at Opry Mills Mall. “It’s a three-hour-long gig which is a long time to fill, so she asked me to start playing with her,” Whall said. “That became a weekly gig and we started learning each other’s music and harmonizing on it.” The idea for a tour was born when the duo realized they each had shows booked along the East Coast. “Tom had booked a wedding and then a week before that, I was asked to play a benefit concert in Georgia so we thought we’d just link these two together and put a
ALYSSA TORRECH
Both Tom Whall and Emily Earle have had the opportunity to perform for family and friends during their tour together. lot of shows around them to make it a tour,” Earle said. “We picked towns where we knew we had friends who we could stay with. [We thought] this could be a great opportunity to see and catch up with old friends.” Other stops on the tour included Philadelphia, Wrightsville Beach, N.C. and Chesapeake, Va. “I like starting from the
ground up,” Whall said. “I think it’s more fun that way; to just kind of book your own stuff, stay out on the road and do it the old school way.” Both Whall and Earle said they hope to eventually quit their day jobs — he works at a puppy adoption center and she occasionally babysits and substitute teaches — and support themselves solely through mu-
sic. But the musicians said they also recognize it won’t happen overnight. “Nashville is a town of paying your dues,” Whall said. “So I think we’ve both kind of come to terms with our dues could take one month or 5 years or 10 years to kind of get to where [we] want to be.” chedgepeth@gazette.net
IN THE ARTS
Continued from Page B-7 8 p.m. Oct. 19; Julie Fowlis, 8 p.m. Oct. 25-26, call for tickets, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown. 301-528-2260, www.blackrockcenter.org. Fillmore Silver Spring, Julieta Venegas, Los Momentos Tour 2013, 8 p.m. Oct. 10; Lee Brice, 8 p.m. Oct. 11; Atlas Genius, 8 p.m. Oct. 13; Rusko — The Lift Off Tour with Special Guests Roni Size and Dynamite MC, 8 p.m. Oct. 18; Aaron Carter, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, 301-960-9999, FillmoreSilverSpring.com, www. livenation.com. 1894585
Institute of Musical Traditions — Takoma Park, Celtic Voices: Lisa
Moscatiello, Barbara Tresidder Ryan & Loralyn Coles, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16; Takoma Park Community Center, call for prices, times, Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Ave., Takoma Park, 301960-3655, www.imtfolk.org.
Institute of Musical Traditions — Rockville, Avril Smith, Becky Warren
& Friends, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21, Saint Mark Presbyterian Church, 10701 Old Georgetown Road, Rockville, call for prices, www.imtfolk.org. Strathmore, Afternoon Tea, 1 p.m. Oct. 8-9, Oct. 12, Oct. 15-16; The U.S. Navy Birthday Concert, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9, Jaimie Salazar a.k.a. Gato, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9; BSO: The Streisand Songbook, 8 p.m. Oct. 10; Orion Weiss, piano, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11; Sutton Foster, 8 p.m. Oct. 12; Sutton Foster Masterclass, 10 a.m. Oct. 13; Les Violins Du Roy with Stephanie Blythe, 8 p.m. Oct. 15, call for venue, Locations: Mansion, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda; Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, 301-581-5100, www.strathmore.org.
1912905
ON STAGE Adventure Theatre, “Goodnight Moon,” to Oct. 27, call for prices, times, Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, 301-634-2270, www.adventuretheatre-mtc.org. Imagination Stage, “Lulu and the Brontosaurus,” to Oct. 27, call for prices, times, Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda, www.imaginationstage. org
w No ing! w Sho
F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater
603 Edmonston Dr. Rockville, MD 20851
240-314-8690
www.rockvillemd.gov/theatre
Rockville Musical Theater presents
“Guys and Dolls”
1894442
1883577
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm Sundays at 2pm
1894609
November 1-16