Holy Water & Whiskey
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Holy Water & Whiskey

Band Folk Acoustic

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"HW&W at Wilderness Alliance"

Holy Water & Whiskey's uplifting tunes and spiritual lyrics got their start in the mines of Colorado and the farm country of Michigan and Iowa. Bruce Washburne (day job:social worker at the VA), Maggie Werner-Washburne (UNM Biology Professor) met through bluegrass bands while in Hawaii. Both had been singing since high school. Scott Altenbach (Biology Professor) played the coffee house circuit from his early college days and through graduate school. As often happens when life gets going, music took a back seet while kids grew up, careers were developed and gardens were planted.
A few years ago, they got together and started harmonizing. There was no turning back. They have since performed from Cuba, NM to Santo Domingo Pueblo, enchanting everyone with their techinical precision, sense of humor, and compassion.

The group seems to have found a home with the Wilderness Alliance mission - in the ideas of keeping wild places wild and working with traditional people to protect their ways of life. From ranching in SanJuan to caribou herds in the arctic, Holy Water & Whiskey's music has expressed the desire to protect the sacred and to fight against the forces that would destroy what we, as Americans, hold dear.

All of them love the outdoors and wild places. And the wild places are like their music: uplifting, harmonious, and spiritual.
- Wilderness Alliance - Albuquerque


"Holy Water & Whiskey"

Professors of Biology, farmers, and musicians, these three friends play traditional folk, bluegrass, gospel, and some "select" whiskey tunes. With a focus on beautiful vocal harmonies, they creat a relaxing and enjoyable listening experience for audiences of all ages adn are one of Solid Grounds' most requested performers. - Solid Grounds Coffee House 2007


Discography

Better Late Than Never
You can hear it at CD Baby http://cdbaby.com/cd/holywaterwhiskey
and learn more about the band on their website: http://www.holywaterandwhiskey.com.

Their new CD "Leap of Faith" should be out summer of 2008.

Photos

Bio

‘Holy Water and Whiskey’ is an Albuquerque group that plays acoustic traditional, folk, bluegrass, gospel, cowboy, and select Irish, Spanish, blues, and “whiskey” tunes. The common themes are solid, straightforward instrumental playing and soulful harmonies, with which they weave songs with great lyrics together with stories and great humor to make magical evenings. From “Let the Mystery Be” to “Wayward Wind”, their music is upbeat and uplifting. The band performs songs that aren’t heard everywhere but speak to the heart, especially as they bring their full lives to each tune. After an evening listening to the band, you’ve laughed and cried and made new, life-long friends. With an email list of more than 600 people – you won’t be alone if you want to come back again and again. Holy Water & Whiskey and their fans might show up anywhere – and you are lucky when you find them because you are guaranteed a good time that you won’t soon forget.
The Albuquerque group consists of Maggie Washburne on bass, Scott Altenbach on guitar, and Bruce Washburne on guitar and banjo. Bruce and Maggie met in a band in Hawaii, were married there in 1979, and played in several bands there and in Wisconsin until their kids came along. After 20 years without performing, in 2003 they started singing with Scott, Biology professor, bat expert, former hard rock miner and Colorado musician. The trio has been having a great time harmonizing ever since. In 2007, Scott married Maggie’s sister Maria (our sound person and band saint) – so they’re not only real, down-to-earth people, they’re a real family band.
In Albuquerque, the group has played at many events, including opening for Michael Martin Murphey’s Christmas show at the Albuquerque Convention Center, at the Kimo Theater as the adopted musical mascots of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, and as regulars at the Albuquerque Folk Festival, The Smokehouse in Rio Rancho, The Solid Grounds Coffee House, The Covenant Café, The Santa Fe Southern Railroad, and O’Neill’s Pub on Central Avenue, where they perform monthly. They’ve gotten rave reviews outside Albuquerque, too, including the Nature Center in Prescott, Arizona and at several concerts in Hillsboro and Kingston, NM.
When not playing the music that they love, Maggie is a biology professor at UNM, where she teaches, has a genomics lab and runs a large student program and Bruce is a social worker and the coordinator of services for blind veterans for the state of NM at the Albuquerque VA. Bruce and Maggie also own and operate a farm in Cuba, NM. Scott is retired from the UNM Biology Department but manages to keep busy with his organic, “off-the-grid” farm and shaft work, including examining abandoned mines in 4 states.
For booking, our blog, schedule, or other information visit the web site at www.holywaterandwhiskey.com; call 505-265-3218; or E-mail Bdwashburn@aol.com.