Close to the bone

Close to the bone

Courtesy Boston folk singer Antje Duvekot performs Saturday at Tulsa’s Blue Dome Diner.

By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
3/16/2007

Face it folks, the life of a folk singer isn't glamorous, even if you're a critically-acclaimed folk singer who does it the way Antje Duvekot does it

When she tours, the Bostonian piles CDs and an acoustic guitar into her car and drives to her gigs, which she plays alone under the hot lights.

While she's on the road, she'll sometimes stay with friends or people she's never met before. On other nights, the singer/guitarist will stay in a motel.

Back at her apartment in Boston, she lives with four other people who are active in the local folk music scene.

"I think it's kind of a lifestyle that suits me well," she said, in a phone interview Tuesday. "I get antsy if I'm in one place."

It's a living anyway, she said.

Her music, from her 2006 album on Black Wolf Records, "Big Dream Boulevard," has earned the songstress critical praise from all corners, including the Boston Globe and National Public Radio.

She draws inspiration from Paul Simon, Ellis Paul, Ani DiFranco and John Gorka.

Duvekot puts her stamp on her music, crafting songs drawn from her experiences with relationships, religion and her reactions to political events.

"Big Dream Boulevard" showcases her breathy, sweet and high voice tackling materialism on "Diamond on Your Hand" and war in "Jerusalem." The album features mostly folk

music backed by steel guitar and piano, but it gets electrified in parts in an almost modern-day rock 'n' roll vibe.

Duvekot sees her music as a therapeutic outlet, but admits she can get a little embarrassed that she's so open with her private life, at times wondering why she's so open about that stuff.

That desire for openness may stem from her relationship with her parents, she said, who, when she was growing up in Heidelberg, Germany, were extremely reserved.

"I got so angry with them for never sharing where they were at," she said. "I decided I'm just going to say it out and screw it and life is short . . . But it's still odd, because obviously, I'm opening up to strangers."

Saturday's show at the Blue Dome Diner marks her first visit to Oklahoma, she said, but she'll return this summer for the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah.

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ANTJE DUVEKOT

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Blue Dome Diner, 313 E. Second St.

Tickets: $12

By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer