Ardys is astonishingly expressive. The whole of human emotional range seems to play across her face as she sings mournful ballads, cheery love and lust songs, great declarations of life and adventure tunes and jazzy or country or folksy or showtune-y duets. My heart breaks open whenever she sings “La Vie En Rose” because of the depth of nuance, beauty, ecstasy and joy she carried from her heart into our hearts. Check out some samples of her voice on this soundcloud link. But keep in mind that this is just a drop in the bucket of what she does as a singer.
I’m blessed to get to live with Ardys for about a week each year at Brave Voice as she and Laura Ramberg are Kelley Hunt’s and my artistic staff for the retreat. After hearing Ardys sing with such breathtaking and soaring shimmer and such deep and soulful shine, Kelley and I have been telling Ardys it was time for her to release a CD. Timing is everything on this kind of thing, and thanks to Dianna Burrup, another Brave Voice Diva, and her recording studio in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Ardys was able to record this knock-your-socks-off collection of original songs and cover. Contact her here to get your copy.
Years ago, before I hardly knew Ardys, I organized an arts parade for the Harvest of the Arts Festival. While organizing artists of all kinds — dancers, poets, painters, musicians — to parade together was akin to herding all the kittens in the Midwest, I did love the event, especially the parade opening. That consisted of 9 antique cars, donated for the day, each one carrying one of the 9 muses, portrayed by women in various arts. Without knowing much of Ardys, I knew enough to realize she HAD to be the head muse, riding along with Zeus (portrayed of course by Arden Booth), and so she was. She seemed like a goddess to me then, and now that I’ve gotten to know her, even more so now. Sing, goddess, sing! Don’t let anything stop you because we need your voice.
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