Arizona Folk favorites D Squared headline this year's Granite Peak Folk Sessions Holiday Concert, on Friday, December 14 at the Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Hall. The 3rd Annual folk concert also features popular local songwriter Rita Cantu and the Folk Sessions musical family.

Arizona harp and guitar duo, D-Squared, weaves a tonal fabric of poignant lyrics, earth-rooted melodies and stark, hypnotic rhythms. Combining guitar, mandola, banjo and a low, resonant voice with folk harp, concertina, accordion and beguiling vocals, Don Charles and Deb Gessner lead listeners through a landscape that is both arid and lush, pristine and desecrated, innocent and arrogant. Attending a show is like joining a Gathering of friends around the kitchen table. Natural storytellers with a sly wit, D-Squared enchant audiences with tales of their beloved Southwest and the rocks, stars, plants and critters that share it. Deb Gessner's " faux reverent aura framed by her folk harp will trick you if you don't pay close attention - her wondrous playing emits a gleam of humor and hope" (Acoustic Scene) , and Don Charles has been called "one of the best folk songwriters in a long time." (Victory Review) They released their first CD - matter of life & death - in 1993 as Don Charles & Deb Gessner, and became known as D-Squared in 1997 upon release of their second CD – Big Sky Full O' Dumb Stars. A third album – Accidentally Live – came out in 2006. Charles' song "Row" was included on Songs and

Stories from Grand Canyon, produced by Smithsonian Folkways, while many other D-Squared compositions have been featured in films, PBS documentaries, theater, compilation CDs, and other audio projects. Their song and video, "Little Iraq", produced by filmmaker Cheryl Colan, recently found a spot on Neil Young's Living With War Today website ( www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday ). Charles acknowledges debts to many songwriters and bands that have influenced him, among them Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Pentangle, Trapezoid, Metamora and Public Domain. Gessner's influences include Eric Satie, French dance music, Irish airs and traditional Jewish melodies. Rita Cantu's roots are in her sense of community and her deep belief in the People and the land. She is a songwriter, singer, musician and storyteller. She is a conference weaver, a community activist, a facilitator and an agent of change. Her career with National Parks and Forests has taken her from the Great Smoky Mountains to Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and many points between. She works with communities, catalyzing connections with their sense of self and place, and developing programs and products that integrate nature, culture, and communities through the arts. Her songs and stories draw upon both indigenous cultures and Rita's own rich experiences living in some of the country's most spectacular areas. She has delighted audiences young and old with her lively tales and inspiring songs of life and wild lands. Rita has traveled and lived abroad, performing for audiences in Canada, Spain, and Australia. Rita plays guitar, hammered dulcimer, Native American cedar flute and drums, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, and autoharp. She has produced four albums of original music and authored two non-fiction books. You will be entertained, inspired, and connected to the people and places of life and land in her work and at her performances. "One of Arizona's favorite folksingers" - Arizona Irish Music Society

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