FROM A TEAHOUSE IN BOULDER TO A FORTRESS IN DUSHANBE
The Fremonts perform for their sister city Great Barrington couple takes their cabaret act to Tajikistan as part of U.S. Embassy tour BY JESSICA GAMARI The invitation came in the form of an email last fall. “Darren from Dushanbe would like to formally invite The Fremonts to visit Tajikistan.” Their reaction? “We laughed!” Stephaine Dodd, vocalist and accordionist of The Fremonts, said. “We thought it was a scam.” But then, she and her husband Justin Badger, guitarist, vocalist and the other half of The Fremonts, Googled Darren from Dushanbe. Turns out, the invitation was legitimate and Darren, a real person, works as a foreign state officer for the U.S. State Department in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
According to their website, The Fremonts, a cabaret-Americana duo, create “unique theatrical experiences for their audiences by blending Americana music and storytelling with a cabaret aesthetic … [They] present their original music with performance skills honed from years of working as professional actors” in New York City. Dodd says she first picked up the accordion “on a whim” while on a trip in New Orleans many years ago. The duo describes their sound as a jazz-inspired cabaret, with lyrics inspired by their personal lives, old family stories and even ghost stories.
Stephanie Dodd and Justin Badger, aka The Fremonts, pose for a picture during a video shoot near Nurek Reservoir in Tajikistan. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FREMONTS
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