The Story Wrens were formed approximately 2008 by performers at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Sothern California who met at the St. Helena’s Guild, home to more than a few pagans, vegans and libertines, and a hotbed of traditional arts and lore.
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“Let us form a pact”, said one, pulling hands in a circle after a particularly good trad singing set, “that next season, we will be a band”, and so it was, with the band passing the audition by making the Entertainment Director cry… in a good way.
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While research and authenticity may have been the lay of the cultural landscape, the environment of the annual 6-week festival also pushed performers to create unique live entertainment, with fellow groups like the Merry Wives of Windsor and the Poxy Boggards not only singing gorgeously and powerfully, but also helping to create the concept of NC-17 stages and ushering in their Golden Age. The Wrens, as one of the smallest, most instrumental and most unabashedly artsy of these groups, had their struggles in the 80-decibel soundscape (no amps), the routine 90-degree heat, and the thousand competing distractions of a huge festival, but ultimately honed the mix of music, theater, and history they present today.
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A few years later, the trad St. Helena’s guild was terminated, in part due to the aforementioned pagans, vegans and libertines – well, not so much the vegans – but the Wrens remained, and branched out with other engagements like the Lifetime channel series, American Princess, and the Hollywood premiere for the Netflix series, The Witcher. More changes came with the pandemic but, remarkably, the Wrens re-formed as a Northern California band, re-affirming their out-of-their-minds love of trad music and festival performing, and drawing even closer.
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The Wrens bring a diversity of performing backgrounds:
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Orchestral cello and 1000+ stage play performances (Mark, mandolin & fiddle)
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Musical theater and Nashville (Vickie, lead singer)
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Champion trad harping (Shawna, with the Chieftains, Joan Baez, and all-Ireland)
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R&B and Delta Blues (Forrest, percussion, he of 9 Grammy nominations and the Jazz Crusaders)
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Playing Rachmaninov for fun (Megan, 12-string guitar)
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With their second award-winning album, The Sailor and the Mermaid, the Wrens came to fully understand their focus on Story Songs. With an emphasis on storytelling, tight harmonies and instrumental drive, they work/play to curate the beautiful trad songs, updating them for a modern audience, and creating connections through time.
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Musical director Mark Sellin started as a classically trained cellist, but also fell in love with Irish fiddle and with story songs. He also worked with numerous acting troupes of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, writing and performing comedies and musicals with members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, among others.
Mark brought his musical and theatrical sensibilities to the songs celebrated by the Faire genre. With fellow musicians of the scene, including the Merry Wives of Windsor and the Poxy Boggards, the Wrens and Mark curated and arranged ancient songs with an emphasis on storytelling, tight harmonies and instrumental drive.
Victoria Bottelson is a singer, songwriter and storyteller. With an impressive resume and years touring as a lead or back-up singer for artists, heathens and libertines, her story tells like a Dylan ballad from the spotlight to moonlight. Her voice is captivating, her interpretations deep and she just might make you laugh when she sings you a silly sea song. Here she is walking onto the ice and singing the National Anthem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrvluaBbgc)!
Shawna Selline was enchanted by the harp and began playing at age eleven. Following several years as a street musician, she traveled to Ireland to study traditional music with the famed Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann music school. At age eighteen she won the All-Ireland championship, returned to tour the U.S. twice, published a book of compositions, an instructional guide and even played on a Joan Baez album. While raising her three children, she continued Celtic and classical harp, playing for countless events, teaching and recording. For over fifteen years, Shawna has provided harp therapy for Kaiser, the VA and other institutions. In 2016, Shawna was delighted to travel to Chicago as a guest artist with the Chieftains. Shawna promotes the Irish harp tradition and with this beloved group, performs for soundtracks, concerts and fairs.
Two time Grammy Award winning percussionist Forrest Robinson brings his rhythmic savvy and enthusiasm for Renaissance fairs, history and songs of old, to the Storywrens! When his extensive touring and busy schedule allow, he joins us for our musical journeys through time!
Raised in Michigan, Megan Doyle became enamored with the piano at age five and begged her parents to let her get lessons. Her study of classical piano led her to explore all manner of instruments (she never met an instrument she didn't like!), including voice. A move to California found Megan performing at Renaissance Faires and other cultural events, deepening her love for traditional folk music, songs, and ballads of the British Isles. Many of her performance songs appear on her album "Nightingale in the Trees." Megan also plays saxophone, flute, trumpet, bassoon, oboe, clarinet, tin whistle, bass guitar, hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, autoharp, didgeridoo, kalimba, hurdy-gurdy, and nyckelharpa, a collection of instruments that takes some time to get through the spell-checker.
Guest Artist, Nathaniel Sellin was brought up in the California folk scene. Now a music producer in the LA art scene, he was trained classically on acoustic bass and studied Jazz with Charlie Haden student, Evan Conway. Additionally, Nathaniel immersed himself in world percussion with an emphasis on folk instruments, Celtic bodhran and Balkan tapan. Storywrens have been thrilled to have his technical and artistic flair on both studio recordings as well as live performances as his schedule permits.