With a voice that is "joyful yet aching," Louise Bendall delivers acoustic folk music with a bluesy-jazzy twist. She draws from a variety of musical flavors to create original music rooted in soulful vocals, complimented by instrumental musings. Her music has been described as “haunting yet uplifting,” & “pretty and poetic in its straightforwardness,” & going from "soulful to raucous."
Louise grew up in Louisianna singing in the church choir and classically trained on the piano. Many moons later at the University of Oregon, Louise borrowed a guitar from a friend (thanks Eli!) to write her first song and eventually sold her share of a VW Bus to buy her first guitar. She has loved playing ever since.
Nowadays, this folk-jazz songwriter & performer resides on a farm in North Carolina where she enjoys writing songs influenced by the constants and variables in people, family life and her nomadic adventures.
Louise (banjo, bass, guitar, vox) joined forces with Hypatia Kingsley (mandolin, violin and vox) in 2003 to create Watermelon Sugar. The multi-instrumental duo creates stunningly well-written original music that folkin' grooves. Watermelon Sugar became international artists when performed in Hong Kong in 2007. They are planning an Asia tour for 2008. Despite livig at opposite ends of the globe, they are about to release their third album, Slice, and have already begun working on a fourth.
Louise began performing with Elizabeth Freeman in 2007 as Chocolate Martini Therapy. Their music has been described as "fun, funky folk." They have a CD in the works.
Louise is currently working on her first solo CD.
