Leela Grace

Leela & Ellie Grace
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Leela at Columbia, MO
First night celebration 12/31/98
Leela has a natural gift for harmony singing and at the age of 5 was singing harmony to Ellie's melody. In recent years, Leela has had several series of voice lessons that have strengthened her voice, and increased her already-large range. Inspired by her banjo "guru" Cathy Barton, Leela began to learn to play the banjo (in the clawhammer or frailing style) at the age of 14. Coincidentally, the banjo was an instrument that neither of her parents played! She became obsessed with the banjo, playing it every spare minute, often playing it in the back of the motorhome while en route to performances and enjoying the double-takes from the drivers of passing cars. She made lightening-fast progress on the instrument, and soon began adding it to Grace Family shows.

Leela has been making up songs and poems since before she could read and write. She carries a notebook with her in which she write poems and songs, and the other family members know that when a certain faraway, dreamy look comes into her eyes, a poem or song is about to be born. She has been inspired and encouraged in her songwriting through the years by friends and mentors, Anne Hills and Sally Rogers. Her song, "Children At Heart" was recorded on the Grace Family's 1993 album, In Dreams I Hear The Music. As folklorist Bill McNeil says in his review of the album, it "contains ... some fine recent works that deserve to be better known. One of the latter, 'Children At Heart,' is an original by Leela Grace." In 1996, after many requests from fans, the family recorded four more of her originals on Dance Upon The Earth.