While participating in the “Eleven Days of Peace” gatherings leading up to the lighting of the World Peace Flame in Ashland on International World Peace Day last month, I had the distinct pleasure of hearing a trio of women that stirred my soul. They are known as Wild Honey, offering the delicious elixir of vocalists Megan Danforth, Peia Luzzi, and Cyrise Beatty Schachter singing sweet melodies together in luscious harmony. A mountain song from Appalachia and a sea song from Wales, a lullaby from Georgia and a wedding ballad from old Bulgaria—these are songs for laughter, songs for tears, songs for love, and songs for life. Thankfully they have recorded a CD—simply called Wild Honey—so you can share their mystical, moving magic in your circles, rituals, and gatherings.
The excellence they bring forth reminds me of other groups ranging from Kitka to Stellamara to The Wailing Jennys. The fantastic harmonies of Wild Honey, in which each of these uniquely wonderful songkeepers blends, supports, and leads straight into the heart of these traditional songs, cherish and love the way this music flows.
Nine songs have nine places of origin: Gaelic Scotland, Wales, American Gospel, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Ireland, Hungary, Corsica. Each track is a journey to a different time and place, allowing you to travel the world via these beautiful voices. Peia is the most well-known Wild Honey member by way of her three CD releases and annual European concert tours. Megan and Cyrise blend beautifully, both energetically and through their depth of study. Wild Honey overflows with precision, expression, discipline, and practice — though their schedules allow for just two concerts a year in Southern Oregon.
The ancient wisdom and life lessons embedded in the music — whether you understand the words or not — are restorative, stirring, and enveloping, capturing and releasing your heart through listening of the closest kind.
See “Wild Honey Trio” on Facebook or Wildhoneytrio.Bandcamp.com
—LLOYD BARDE