A musical testament goes big
The pandemic slowdown allowed Lizzie Plotkin and Natalie Spears to polish their album “Just over the Ridge,” which topped bluegrass and folk charts after its January release. The year 2020 might be remembered as the worst in the history of live music. But for area musicians Lizzy Plotkin and Natalie Spears, it will be revered as a pivotal time for perfecting their first album together. “It changed how we were going through quarantine,” Plotkin said of her socially distanced work with Spears during the COVID-19 crisis. “It was such a crazy, sad, hard time that to have something positive to work on was important.” Plotkin and Spears sent off the year we’d rather forget with a memorable finale: by releasing a juggernaut duet album on January 15, 2021. “Just over the Ridge” premiered at #7 on the Billboard Bluegrass Charts the following week, and continued to pull national attention throughout the spring, holding #1 album on the Folk Alliance International radio charts for the month of February. The album draws influence primarily from old-time and bluegrass standards, featuring six original duets of fiddle and clawhammer banjo, soulful singing and a touch of funky blues. “It wasn’t all rushed, and we were able to put our whole selves into it,” Plotkin said. “We are so happy that people are enjoying the record and playing it on radio stations around the world.” Born in Nashville, Plotkin has lived in the Gunnison Valley for a decade. As an intern studying birds at Rocky Mountain Biological 10
By Erica Andrews
Laboratory in Gothic, Plotkin’s music took shape under the cathedral gaze of Gothic Mountain, and through meeting roots musicians in the valley. She made the switch from environmental to music education seven years ago, and started touring with local band Free the Honey prior to branching out on a more solo basis. Spears grew up in Washington, D.C., with a father who played jazz and classical piano as a hobby. She started learning the keys at age three, played throughout high school and eventually picked up an upright bass. With her focus on sports, her music fell to the back burner, but then an interest in natural building brought her to the Rockies and back to her music. She ended up in Carbondale, working for a straw bale builder, and started playing casually with other musicians in the Roaring Fork Valley. “I’d never really learned how to play with other people,” Spears admitted. During her time in Carbondale, she learned about old-time and roots music, and she honed into that rhythm playing with a group called Pearl and Wood. Both Spears and Plotkin had separately attended Victor Wooten’s camp in Tennessee in 2012 and 2013; it merges the study of the natural world with the study of music. Later, they serendipitously met at a Pagosa Springs fundraiser where Wooten was performing. “When we got there, people who knew both of us said we had to meet and play together,” Plotkin said. Since both had their instruments with them, they jammed a bit and knew instantly they had a lot in common. Plotkin invited Spears to play with Free the Honey – which she did – and they officially began playing as a duo in 2016. After three years of playing and touring together, they recorded “Just over the Ridge” in December 2019. While the 2020 coronavirus pandemic brought a long pause from juggling performances and a
