This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Once again, the Longmont Museum’s Thursday night concert series brings a unique experience to the Stewart Auditorium. This time is the Denver based singer/songwriter duo of LVDY. And their name is always followed by “pronounced LADY”.
Kathleen Hooper and Aubrey Mable met in 2012 while studying abroad in Dunedin, New Zealand. ”It took us approximately 5 seconds to realize we were going to be the best of friends." They were both in different programs when they met abroad. The two young women shared their love of music over the years, “playing in the kitchens and living rooms of friends and family.” Not just playing together, but also creating original tunes and lyrics.
Their musical history came from different backgrounds. Hooper’s family was very musical, with her father singing in a men’s acapella group, and her mother and sister were both singers. Starting in high school, she trained in classical and then musical theater. She applied for music school but did not get in. Instead, she went to the University of Denver and joined their acapella group.
Mable taught herself how to play the guitar when she was 12 and was writing songs by the time she was 14. She went to Bryant University in Providence, Rhode Island, and said “I needed my beer money”, so played in bars and in another duo.
Mable moved back to Denver in the fall of 2017 and ended up living with Hooper. Their dream was to play and write music together and they just started busking on the street as well as trying to play in front of as many audiences as possible. They even returned to New Zealand together, ran a half Iron Man, and toyed with the idea of staying in the country.
Back in Colorado, things started to pick up and they began getting paid gigs in clubs and bars, and even getting a loyal following, the LVDY Mob, which they also describe as their “girl gang”. They got good press in the Denver and Colorado music scene, and Mable’s gritty style paired with Hooper’s more elegant presence impressed both the critics and the Girl Gang.
LVDY is now an important growing feature of the folk/rock scene, not just in Colorado, but throughout the US, and they hope even further afield in the future. The combination of acoustic and electronic music earned them the 303 Magazine Awards Best Folk Band/Artist fof 2018-2019. Can their ambition to play at the ultimate Colorado music venue at Red Rocks be far away?
Meanwhile, enjoy this “folksy yet soulful” duo at the Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium this coming Thursday at 7:30 pm. Call 303-651-8374 and visit 400 Quail Road, Longmont, CO 80501.
