Wolf Creek Resort, OgdenValleyMagazine.com and Wilkerson Fine Art & Consulting are sponsoring the 4th Annual Music and Arts Festival.  Lark & Spur are featured performers from 8pm - 10 pm, Saturday, February 16th. 

Lark & Spur began as street singers in Paris and Munich.

When Jeff Whiteley first heard Lori Decker sing he imagined the effect her voice would have on busy pedestrians in the Paris metro tunnels. He had performed in those same tunnels a few years earlier when a slow job market in Utah sent him off to Paris with nothing more than a passport and a Martin guitar.

The Paris metro is noisy, dirty and busy. But the tunnels are vaulted, and covered with tile. The acoustics sound like Carnegie Hall. 

He convinced Lori to give it a try. The results were dramatic. She stopped traffic. Francs flew. One of their street performances was recorded and later broadcast on a French radio station. On another occasion one of the leaders of the French communist party happened by, stopped to listen, and the next day they were on French television.

They went back and forth across the Atlantic many times, adding other musicians along the way, culminating in performances at the Montreux, Brienz and Deauville jazz festivals. Their music is heard on French radio and Whiteley is still a card carrying member of a Paris based music cooperative.

Lark & Spur performs February 16th at Wolf Creek Resort as part of an event presented by Ogden Valley Magazine and Wolf Creek Resort.  Lark & Spur's music is a weave of acoustic textures: mandolin, acoustic guitars (nylon and steel string), double bass and, of course, vocals. Lori Decker sings with clarity, and a golden (some use the word angelic), show stopping warmth.

After a recent concert a woman approached the group and asked the frequent question of how to describe the music of Lark & Spur. The answer is not easy. The repertoire ranges from medieval French folk songs and Celtic dances to Broadway show tunes, jazz standards and gypsy swing.

I've concluded that we are so retro, we have become avant-garde," says Whiteley. "We put the priority on ideas like melody, tone quality, harmony, respect for the song, communicating the sense of the lyric, and inviting the audience to share the journey. These ideas are not as common as they once were.

comments Whiteley.

Lark & Spur consists of Jeff Whiteley on vocals and guitar, Lori Decker, vocals, tin whistle, mandolin,  Mike Fjerstad, guitar and Evan Coombs double bass. Their music can be sampled at www.cdbaby.com. More information is available at excellenceconcerts.org and bankofutah.com. Lori Decker is also a Physician Assistant in Cardiovascular surgery with Intermountain Health Care. Mr. Whiteley is the founder of the Excellence in the Community Concert series. Information on Excellence in the Community

Excellence in the Community is nonprofit corporation founded in 2005 on the idea that Utah's best musicians are a valuable, world class, but too often invisible resource that could and should be more productively harnessed to enhance our communities. Excellence in the Community takes Utah's best musicians out of the back ground music business and presents them on concert hall stages. Excellence also produces a program of concerts designed for and presented in area elementary schools.  

Many of those attending Excellence concerts in Salt Lake register surprise, not only at the quality of the music, but that they could live so long in an area and be unaware of the depth of its talent. This is the point. The world class musicians are here, all along the Wasatch Front. Missing are venues, perceptions and opportunities. "With Wolf Creek Resort's help this will change," says Jeff Whiteley of Excellence in the Community.

In Salt Lake City, Excellence presents one concert per month in the Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory at Westminster College. Musical styles vary from concert to concert. Jazz quintets, blue grass, Celtic, Broadway, classical guitar, western folk lore, vocalists, harpists etc., and the list goes on.  They are considering bringing the project to the Ogden area.

For example: October's Excellence concert in SLC featured the Bob Bailey Quintet. Bob Bailey is 85 years old. A gifted pianist, he worked in Hollywood with such names as Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ginger Rodgers etc. And yet here in Utah he is not as well known as his talent and resumé warrant. Bob is a good example of what Excellence in the Community is trying to do: present local excellence in settings commensurate to the talent; and invite the public to come and see.