Bluegrass sisters to bring act to town Parsons Sun (KS) - Friday, September 28, 2012 Author: COLLEEN SURRIDGE [email protected]

The 2012 Kansas State Fiddling and Picking Championship Folk Ensemble winners, sisters Maggie Vogts and Abbey Vogts , will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Parsons Municipal Auditorium during "An Evening of Traditional Bluegrass Music.".

ERIE - Neither Maggie Vogts nor her sister Abigail Vogts , both of Erie, imagined a year ago that doing what they enjoy the most - making music together - would soon land them on a stage performing before large audiences. Nor did they believe for a moment their playful harmonizing would gain them area notoriety following their being named the 2012 Kansas State Fiddling and Picking Championship Folk Ensemble winners in Lawrence this summer or garnering them a personal invitation to appear in the Acoustic Kids Showcase at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield. Before May of this year, life was simple. Time was spent going to school, and church, helping on the family farm, caring for the horses, Zoey the dog, and Cat the cat, and playing guitar and singing inspirational music.

"Abbey had taken up the guitar and then I started to play. Pretty soon we were practicing songs and would play them for each other, and then we'd just start singing together," Maggie explained. "It was kind of gradual." While being naturally inclined to sing, the same was not true of Abbey playing the guitar. At their mother's insistence, the girls had taken piano lessons from her while growing up. Admittedly, Abbey said, she had no desire to learn piano, much less guitar. "But someone else thought I should. I got it for Christmas one year about three years ago. There was this big package leaning against the wall. Because of the size and shape of it, I thought, 'Ahhh. A.22,' because Daddy and I had been talking about rifles. On Christmas morning when I opened it up and found a guitar, I tried to act pleasantly surprised. I was really kind of disappointed," Abbey said. "It's funny how the present I was most disappointed in turned into one of my favorites and one I've used the most." Having a pastor who played guitar quite a bit, and who was willing to give Abbey lessons, Mrs. Vogts said she and her husband saw their chance. Maggie soon followed her little sister in getting a guitar and taking lessons. "I still don't really want to learn that much. I don't know that much about the guitar, just the bare minimum to get me by. I learned how to play all the basic guitar chords, so I can play about anything. The piano lessons really helped with that," Abbey said. Oftentimes, the two girls would find time to practice their guitar together and sing, whenever Maggie was home from college and Abbey was not in school. When their mother Deborah walked in on them one day about a year ago, she was pleasantly surprised hearing her daughters' voices together singing American folk music. The girls had joined their mom at an event in the Flint Hills a couple of years ago and seemed to hear bluegrass music for the first time, despite greatuncles, grandmas and parents having listened to it for years. "When I was young, I thought it was boring and I didn't like it," Abbey said. "When I heard it there, it kind of shocked me. I thought, 'Oh my goodness, this is amazing.'" Mrs. Vogts approached her daughters about practicing and then entering the talent competition for Katy Days on Memorial Day weekend. "We thought, 'Oh mom, you're just biased.' It was nice of her, but she's our mom and she is supposed to say those things," Maggie said. The girls did not place, but then Abbey said they did not really expect to place. "They had these rules and regulations and one of them was about how long a song could be. Maggie and I just blew it off the second time because we didn't want to shorten a good song," Abbey said. "So we were penalized points."

Katy Days was just the beginning, though. Katy Days triggered the attention of Russ Head, commercial music director at Labette Community College. "He approached us and said, 'You guys should have a CD,'" Mrs. Vogts said. "I was just thinking, 'I wonder how much this will cost us,' but he said he just wanted to take them on as a personal project.' All this summer they've been recording," Mrs. Vogts said. Also all summer, the girls traveled from one festival to another, performing where they could, and listening to other singers and musicians play bluegrass music, eventually entering the competition in Lawrence and landing first place at the state event. "It was kind of shocking," Maggie said, admitting maybe her mom wasn't just biased. "It's a good feeling." "Old Time Noise," their debut album set to release later this fall, offers a mix of old-timey ballads with a few original songs by Maggie that blend a depth of heartfelt emotion with honest compelling lyrics. Until then, the girls are being interviewed on radio stations that are playing rough cuts of their music and Mrs. Vogts said she is fielding offers from performing venues to recording studios. Both the girls say they do not understand why people are making such a big deal over their talent, and all the attention for these two young women is pretty overwhelming at times. "It's all happened so fast. It's just kind of been one thing after another. Boom. Boom. Boom," Abbey said. "It's kind of exciting in some ways, but kind of overwhelming, too." Mrs. Vogts said the girls need to put a brick on her head to keep her from floating up, her excitement is such. While others may see some range of fame in their future, the girls remain doubtful of such recognition and are choosing to keep their thoughts and feet grounded. Maggie said she is staying focused on completing her senior year at Pittsburg State University to get her degree in communications, while Abbey is trying to stay focused on getting through her sophomore year at Erie High School. The two admit it is not always easy, though - not because their thoughts wander to bright lights, fame or fortune, but because their summer filled with music has increased their passion to practice and play. "Abbey started her mandolin lessons in June. She's only had it for a few months," Mrs. Vogts said. "She just got her fiddle last week. It was a gift." "It's nearly 200 years old. It's my great-great-great-grandpa's. The thing about stringed instruments like this is, the longer you play them, the sweeter the sound," Abbey said. "I always try to get practice in before I get on the bus to go to school. The first few hours and the last few

hours of the school day, it's just like, hurry and get over with so I can go home and practice." "Both of them say it's hard to concentrate on school because they've got music on their minds," Mrs. Vogts said. The Vogts Sisters will have a chance to expel some of that pent up desire to "practice" their music as they take the stage Saturday night at the Parsons Municipal Auditorium, performing at 7 p.m. for "An Evening of Traditional Bluegrass Music." "I'm really excited," Abbey said. "I'm not really nervous with Maggie up there, but I still get butterflies thinking about it." "It's cool because we get to wear the dresses our grandma made for us," Maggie said. "It's going to be awesome." As Saturday night approaches, and the girls think back on everything their mother has done for them, especially in recent months, they both expressed their thanks. "She has pushed us a little, but it's been to encourage us," Maggie said. "And it's been a big sacrifice on her part. She's a writer and time that she should be dedicating to writing her books, she is giving to us." "She's done so much for us. We are really grateful," Abbey added.

Section: News Page: 1 Record Number: 8fc71d5c6de6a6dc9b863c08450f7457 Copyright, 2012, Parsons Sun. All Rights Reserved.