Ordinary Elephant

×

Expand

Olivia Perillo

The duo Ordinary Elephant and guitars in front of a lake.

Ordinary Elephant

media release: Acclaimed folk duo Ordinary Elephant will perform at Cafe Carp in Fort Atkinson on July 18th. The husband/wife singer-songwriters Crystal and Pete Damore are touring in support of their self-titled album, Ordinary Elephant, released independently on May 3rd. You can listen to lead single “Relic of the Rain” – a snapshot of the couple’s love story – HERE. Transcendent and intimate, their live show focuses on the magic and beauty hiding in plain sight.

After years of non-stop touring, Ordinary Elephant finds the artists at home in rural Louisiana, sharing stories and embracing stillness. The result is a stripped-down and intimate collection of emotive and character-driven songs that showcase the arresting chemistry between Crystal and Pete. Gorgeous harmonies and mesmerizing fretwork call to mind everything from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Produced by Dirk Powell (Joan Baez, Levon Helm), Ordinary Elephant is a work of profound self-assurance that embodies the sound of sincerity and commitment, patience and gratitude, and learning to let go of expectation and revel in the simple beauty of the moment. This is their third album.

“As you listen to Ordinary Elephant’s songs, it becomes obvious that they have the vision to see many common things in life as having special significance and worthy of vivid exploration.” – Houston Music Review

The contemplative “Once Upon a Time” kicks off Ordinary Elephant, followed by “The Prophet,” offering delicate guitar and banjo permeated by harmony. “Midlife” aptly offers a reflection on middle age, while “Here It Is” wrestles with the political and systemic issues of our times. The raw vulnerability of “They’ll Figure It Out” seamlessly leads into the confidence of commitment echoed in “Walk With You.” The uplifting “I See You” closes the album, as Crystal bares her soul in an open letter to her future self. By stripping away everything but themselves and their songs, Crystal and Pete zero in on the kind of tiny details that might otherwise go unnoticed, on the magic and the beauty hiding in plain sight. They turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Ordinary Elephant began in 2014, when the Damores left established careers to pursue their passion for music, jumping into an RV and hitting the road. After years of touring relentlessly and building a fanbase, the duo earned the International Folk Music Award for Artist of the Year in 2017 on the strength of their breakout album, Before I Go. They followed up with 2019’s Honest, which the Associated Press hailed as “one of the best Americana albums of the year” and PopMatters called “one of the best folk duo records in recent memory.” The duo call themselves Ordinary Elephant because there’s no such thing as an ordinary elephant. “Every single one is just this amazing, magnificent creature,” Crystal explains. “And all of the everyday things we take for granted in life have a whole lot more to them, too, if you take the time to look.”