Tingstad and Rumbel: Grammy Award Winners

ERIC TINGSTAD GETS 2007 GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR "SOUTHWEST" - December 7, 2007

ISSAQUAH, WA - December 7 Fingerstyle guitarist and Seattle's native son, Eric Tingstad has been nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the New Age category in support of his November 2006 release, SOUTHWEST on his label Cheshire Records (visit http://erictingstad.com). Tingstad is well known for his impressionistic style and an uncanny ability to unearth the soul of musical landscapes creating a distinctive sense of place. "Southwest" is Tingstad's second nomination. He won the GRAMMY in 2003 with Nancy Rumbel for "Acoustic Garden."

With an ensemble of Northwest musicians, Tingstad recorded and produced the earthy and evocative project he began developing nine years ago. He said, "I contribute the success of this recording to the shared and selfless effort of everyone who participated in this project."

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Building his compositions from the rhythm section up with percussionist Tim Miller and a click track, Tingstad crafted nine acoustic cuts. Drummer, TJ Morris worked with Tingstad's drum loops creating "Ambient Americana." Terry Lauber's pedal steel guitar anchors this recording with essential western underpinnings without turning the corner into an overt country sound. Petra Stahl contributes venerable chants and haunting vocals authenticating the echo of ancient voices.

The stable of contributing artists include bassist, Garey Shelton; native flutist, Gary Stroutsos; accordion player, Murl Allen Sanders; former Narada label mate and Grammy-nominated pianist, David Lanz; and oboist, Nancy Rumbel who has recorded and performed with Eric since 1985.

A classically trained guitarist in the Segovian tradition, Tingstad began his recording career in 1982 with the release of "On The Links" which met with critical acclaim in the Northwest. He has five solo recordings to his credit; and has been featured on 26 more recordings or compilations. By a vote of his peers, Tingstad was honored in October 2006 with the Coyote Award from Arts Northwest commemorating his leadership, visibility, and contributions to the constant change in the arena of live performance.

Seattle's Tingstad and Rumbel Bring Home the Gold - February 24, 2003

photo by ron rabin

Contemporary instrumentalists, Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel won the GRAMMY Award in the New Age category in recognition of "Acoustic Garden" during the 45th GRAMMY Awards in Madison Square Garden. This GRAMMY signifies and rewards an eighteen-year career and 13 collaborative recordings for Tingstad and Rumbel.

Released in August, Acoustic Garden remained on the Billboard charts as well as the NAV radio charts for 18 weeks. In January, the album bounced from the #50 slot up to #19 on radio charts. The Chicago Tribune calls Acoustic Garden "a new kind of roots music." The Blade reports the album is "a melodic bouquet," and Salt Lake City's Deseret News says, "Acoustic Garden is joyfully abloom." The album can indeed literally blossom. The CD cover contains the first-ever plantable CD cover imbedded with wildflower seeds for an instant garden.

Since the release of their debut album in 1985, Tingstad and Rumbel have been a top-selling duo for Narada Productions with classics such as The Gift, Woodlands, In the Garden and American Acoustic, which won Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 1998 from NAV.

Tingstad is a classical guitarist trained in the Segovian tradition. He is a native of Seattle and studied at Western Washington University. As one of the few premier woodwind players in the world performing on English horn and oboe, Rumbel studied with members of the San Antonio Symphony while growing up in Texas. She later studied with Ray Still of the Chicago Symphony while attending Northwestern University. She later toured for nearly five years with the legendary Paul Winter Consort.

Acoustic Garden was one of five albums selected from 83 titles in the New Age category. Other nominees include Kitaro, Will Ackerman, R. Carlos Nakai and Jai Uttal & the Pagan Love Orchestra.