The Open Stage with Cletus and Lori

The songwriting duo of Cletus Kennelly and Lori Kelley will join Michelle on the Open Stage on Saturday, Feb. 6th at 2 p.m. Their work has earned them 51 WAMMIE nominations and ten WAMMIE Awards, including BEST CONTEMPORARY FOLK GROUP, and individual WAMMIES for SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR. They’ve performed at the Kennedy Center as solo artists and as a duo. As Richard Harrington of the Washington Post says: “What's better than a good singer-songwriter? Two singer-songwriters whose meshed voices seem built for close harmony. That's the case for Cletus Kennelly & Lori Kelley.” Cletus and Lori are sometimes compared to Simon and Garfunkel and the more recent hit duo, the Indigo Girls. They enchant both older and younger audiences alike with spellbinding harmonies and meaningful lyrics. Highlights of their nine-year journey have been repeated performances at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Takoma Park Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge New Emerging Artist Stage, the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand, the Washington Folk Festival, and being asked to perform for American Veterans at Piestewa Peak in Phoenix, Arizona, honoring the family of Pfc. Lori Piestewa, the first Native American service woman to die in combat. Their new eight-song CD, “The Very Same Sky,” was released in the summer of 2009.