Melanie Hutton And Marshall Lefferts

Coming from diverse backgrounds in music, and influenced by both
modern and ancient styles from all over the world, Melanie Hutton and
Marshall Lefferts came together in Santa Barbara and began producing
what for them was the synthesis of their expression as music partners
and expressed that which they most love about music.  Marshall and
Melanie related to a rather unorthodox style of composing music with
grace and without limited expectations of where the music needed to
go.  This opened up the collaboration and served as a fluid and joyful
container in which to experience what has become Mystery of Souls.

About Melanie:

Melanie produces, records and performs music from around the world,
both traditional music and original music influenced by many styles.
Her original music has primarily been written in an intuitive tongue
which transcends the mind and reaches the soul.  Influenced by many
musical styles but most often those of the Medieval period as well as
the folk music of different cultures, she brings a synthesis of
ancient and new ideas compositionally to the songs she creates.  Often
folk music is very simple, and Melanie loves exploring how to express
these pieces with respect for the culture and also the joy of creating
with modern music technology.  She accompanies her strong and lyrical
voice with the hammered dulcimer and frame drum, weaving beautiful and
evocative tapestries of sound into diverse compositions.  Many have
called her language recognizable and ancient, which Melanie believes
is in each of us.   She also studies and performs traditional and
folk/gypsy repertoire in Turkish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Macedonian,
Arabic and the Ladino songs of the Sephardim, and is a member of the
Middle East Ensemble in Santa Barbara, California, directed by Scott
Marcus, which performs locally and nationally.  She recently performed
in Turkish for a Tango conference live show in Las Vegas.   In 2002
Melanie produced and recorded a short compilation of songs for the
first time on hammered dulcimer, and over the next few years recorded
dulcimer on projects for David Newman and Pamela Polland.   In 2005
Melanie partnered with Marshall on the Mystery of Souls recording
project, which was an incredible journey of truly unlocking the
intuitive language and music that she wants to express and exploring
the vast possibilities of recording with a music partner to share with
the world.

About Marshall:

Marshall composes, produces and records original music as well as
commercial projects for film and internet.  With over forty years of
experience, he was born into a musical family and has been surrounded
by music throughout his life. Marshall studied piano at a young age
and then launched into the vast world of the guitar, emulating greats
like the Allman Brothers, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and
Peter Gabriel. In his early teens he immersed into the renegade genius
of Frank Zappa which helped to set a quest for a new expression in
music as the primary motivation in the art--a quest both intimidating
and compelling beyond words.  Exploring the flavors of many world
music genres, Marshall has enjoyed working on performance and
recording projects which have served to uniquely express, improvise,
synthesize and bring an eclectic feel to his musical experiences.
Partnering in 2005 with Melanie Hutton on the Mystery of Souls
recording project, his love of the female voice and the motivation of
creating a unique musical expression was thoroughly engaged.  Marshall
lives in Santa Cruz, California where he continues to explore many
avenues of expression in various worlds of music, film and web
production.