Milagro Saints

SD Ineson , Joyce Bowden and Lee Kirby met by chance encounter in NYC and soon found their various musical influences harmonizing into their own subgenre "soulfolk". A move out of that city to Raleigh NC, found them submerged in the rootsy celebrations of the local scene, releasing their debut on Whiskeytown’s original label, and hitting the local music top ten on radio and in the record stores.

Their 2nd CD "Midnight America" released on Moon Caravan Records, won them a slot in the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, sharing the finale stage with all the performers including, Arlo Guthrie, Ellis Paul, and the Joel Raphael Band. The Saints’ new release "Sunday" is a hybrid of influences from the psychedelic folk mysticism of ‘Waiting’ , to the slow soulful ‘Good Day For Love’ , to the anthemic celticism of ‘New Moon’.

Stephen David Ineson was born in Sheffield, England to a family of banjo, fiddle and moviehouse
orchestra players. (His uncle even played mandolin for Ramblin’ Jack Elliot on one of his English tours.)
He returned to NYC (after earlier tours in the US with rock band The Jack Rubies) with a suitcase of songs. At a solo show in the West Village, he met Lee Kirby and was invited to attend a jam session at which his musical partnership with Joyce and Lee was sparked.

Joyce Bowden was born "somewhere in Virginia." Her father possessed a fine baritone voice
(even cutting a record in Nashville). Joyce would harmonize with him and all the other kids,
"singing the 7th’s and 9th’s." She kept her instinct for harmonies, and forged a career as an actor/singer in NYC,becoming part of the east coast country/folk scene with the likes of Shawn Colvin and Jim Lauderdale, playing at Gerde’s Folk City in its last days, supporting Townes Van Zandt, and working with NYC luminaries: Joey Ramone, ex-members of Talking Heads, and Arthur Russell.

Lee Kirby grew up in rural Arkansas where the radio played Chet Atkins, George Jones, and Buck Owens all day. He learned to play harmonica while out in working the fields. Eventually he found himself in Chicago haunting blues clubs like Theresa’s, The Checkerboard, and Kingston Mines, where Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and Koko Taylor held court. Acting as a booking agent for the Jellyroll Kings and Honeyboy Edwards kept him even closer to the sound, as did piano lessons with a the teaching of blues master Erwin Helfer.