Shull Flandreau Radding
The Branch Will Not Break

Info

Carrie Shull strikes anyone paying attention as a musician who wants to take care of the performance first, worry about the amenities after. Slight, a curious expression always in place, a pre-Raphaelite Ophelia with oboe and cor anglais has risen into the role of improvising double-reed queen with quiet authority. Hear her play and you hear darting microtones, swooping high notes, fattening full tones from the middle range of her instruments, always looking both to complement and instigate whichever ensemble has the pleasure of her company. Carrie has worked with over 20 classical ensembles and a wide variety of contemporary music ensembles. Carrie and Tara knew each others' playing due to shared contacts in Greensboro, including Eugene and Dave Fox. Reuben came through town with Jack Wright for a duo house concert in Chapel Hill and Carrie played in the open period that concludes many of these concerts (the Triangle has many players who are serious about their "fleet composing;" they have trained their ears to what can be played with a new listener/performer). Carrie's been traveling the world for years looking for musicians that provided interesting complements to the double reed instruments she favored; Tara and Reuben were good matches. The result, a one-day session in Brooklyn and Chris Stamey's mastering later and UMR-030 is released, one of a series of new Umbrella recordings. Thick and portentous, full of the lush timbres that two strings and a double reed can provide, Carrie and Tara goad and run from Reuben's full and wood-warm bass sound. A beautiful and haunting recording, sure to stick in your mind long after a first listen.
Carrie Shull received degrees in music performance (BA/MM) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While studying at UNC-G, Carrie met and began performing with Eugene Chadbourne (vocals guitar, dobro & banjo). She was a member of two of his groups, Ellington Country (Chadbourne, Shull, percussion great Paul Lovens, Pat Thomas (piano), Alex Ward (alto sax & clarinet) and Leslie Ross (bassoon)) and the Insect and Western Party (Chadbourne and Shull with various other members, including Brent Dunn (bass), Carrie Biolo (vibraphone) and Brian Ritchie(bass)). At the 1997 Taktlos festival in Bern, Basel and Zurich Switzerland, Carrie premiered Chadbourne's composition for oboe soloist and ensemble, "The Cricket in My Life", with Ellington Country. In the Taktlos program bios, Carrie became known as "die punk oboisten" to her European audience - and to her collaborators back home in the Triangle region of NC. Ellington Country toured Holland after Taktlos, and The Insect and Western Party Trio (Chadbourne, Shull, Biolo) happily opened for Steve Lacy at Duke University in the fall of 1997. Ellington Country appeared one more time at the 1999 Nickelsdorf festival in Austria.
Carrie has also worked with the NC based improvising large ensemble, MicroEast Collective which performed and improvised with guest artists including late bass legend Peter Kowald and Frank Gratkowski (saxes, clarinets, composition) and others. Current projects include the Shull Flandreau Radding trio and pulsoptional (www.pulsoptional.org), a composer/performer collective dedicated to new and experimental music also based in NC. pulsoptional is the proud recipient of a 2005 Indie Arts Award awarded by Triangle NC alternative newspaper, the Independent Weekly. Also in 2005, Carrie was awarded an Emerging Artists grant from the Durham Arts Council.
Carrie also actively freelances with numerous classical ensembles throughout North Carolina. She has performed with the North Carolina Symphony, the Carolina Ballet, the Opera Company of North Carolina, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, NC Master Chorale, Durham Choral Society, Duke University Chorale and the Duke University Encounters Series.

Musician's Discography

Releases:

Shull Flandreau Radding Trio The Branch Will Not Break (2005 Umbrella Records 030)

MicroEast Collective Fabric (2001 Umbrella Records 027)

Out of My Face (2000 Umbrella Records 025)

062099 (1999 Umbrella Records 024)

Eugene Chadbourne Beauty and the Bloodsucker (1999 Leo CD LR 270)

Worms with Strings (1999 Leo CD LR 264)

Insect and Western Insect Attracter (1998 Leo CD LR 256)

The Insect and Western Party (1998 Charm School Records)

Ellington Country – The Hellingtunes (1998 Intakt CD 052)

Ellington Country – Total Tuesday (1998 Home Recordings HRCD 002)

(Small bits on NC alternative music CDs: The Nein, Gerty, Minerva Strain, Bicycle Face)

In Press:

Trio with Eugene Chadbourne and Martin Klapper

pulsoptional, self titled