Ellery

Ellery, the husband-wife duo composed of Tasha and Justin Golden, unleashed its Virt Records debut, Lying Awake, in the spring of 2006. The album, produced by previous Grammy nominee Ric Hordinski (Over the Rhine, David Wilcox), led to 3 nominations in the 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, & Best Folk/Americana Artist) and a concert performance picked up for national distribution to PBS (available on DVD). Lying Awake showcases a band that, after five years of making music together, has finally found its musical center.

Tasha & Justin met while in college in Cincinnati, where their initial attempts at playing music together were more of an experiment than anything else. As the duo honed their craft, they dubbed themselves Dividing the Plunder, and began performing locally. But, as it turned out, this wasn't just the start of a musical partnership, as Justin and Tasha soon got married. Now, as husband and wife, they two began spending their weekends traveling and playing music for a living, while they spent their weekdays finishing up school. Within a year, they had put together what they still refer to as an 'amateur recording' that was originally intended to be just for a few friends. But, people kept requesting copies, and eventually, the duo decided to have it properly manufactured. Strong sales of the release and a string of sold-out shows convinced the duo to make music their full-time vocation, a decision which proved fruitful, given the warm reception of their '03 release, The Ordinary.

The two were determined not to let the momentum fade. They began collaborating more, taking more risks with their approach to songwriting, and writing about their experiences and relationships, while trying to figure out how to translate those themes more authentically than they had before. Eventually, they began to feel as if they were heading in an entirely new direction. They were still playing a unique brand of acoustic alternative folk, and their songs still emitted a smart and soulful, infectious vibe that people had come to know them for, but there was something distinctly fresh and new about what they were doing. As a result, they decided the change needed to be recognized in some way, Thus, Ellery was born.

Lying Awake has earned Ellery strong recognition, including the 3 nominations in the 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. Ellery also scored the cover of CiN Weekly and headlined the popular WNKU Studio89 summer concert series. The album has also earend glowing reviews in such national publications as Paste and Performing Songwriter and first single, "Anna," has received airplay on AAA radio stations throughout the country. An Evening With Ellery was released on DVD in summer 2007, capturing Ellery's dynamic and engaging live performance.

You might think that two people who live and work together would desperately need some time apart, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. "Crazy as it sounds, Justin and I love being together," says Tasha. "This is a tremendously exciting time for us. While we've been making music together for over five years, it has been a slow discovery of who we are and what it is we do, where our center is musically. So, we definitely see this as a new beginning. It's a new recording, with a new label, a new band name, an entirely new season for us."