Singin' on the slopes...
California to Vermont - Gillette loves skiing
By Joe Blenkle/Sierra Ski News Editor
Folk singer Steve Gillette
    Steve Gillette and his wife Cindy Mangsen are America’s premier folk duo. Steve has written songs for Garth Brooks, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Anne Murray, Linda Ronstadt, Waylon Jennings and Tammy Wynette to name only a few. He’s the author of Songwriting and the Creative Process - and he also loves skiing!
    Gillette now lives in Vermont, but he began skiing in California where he grew up.
    "It's true, I grew up in Southern California, in Whittier, which in my young days was a small teacher's college town not yet swallowed up by the urban sprawl of Los Angeles," he said. "My parents grew up in Rochester, New York and skiing had always been a part of their lives. So my dad started my sister Karen and I on the slopes at an early age. We were four- and six-year-old shuss-boomers. No poles - we had no idea what to do with them - we'd just point our clumsy skis down the hill and zoom. With such a low center of gravity we usually managed to stay upright, but I cringe at the thought of the lift lines we crashed.
    "In those days we stayed with the bunny slopes and the rope tows in the ski areas local to Southern California. It was a fairly short season since there was little man made snow in those days. We would ski at Snow Valley, Mt. Baldy, Mt. Waterman and Snow Summit. I think we skied the first seasons of some of them.
    "When we were a little older, we started taking family trips to Mammoth Mountain. I remember when chair lift number three opened. Now I think there are about twenty five lifts there. Before the first gondola, there was a guy who would take you up to the cornice in a helicopter for five dollars.
    "Right where the gondola ends today, you could stand on that spot and see all the way over into the Tioga Pass and Yosemite. I remember timidly creeping over to the edge of the cornice where two bamboo poles were stuck in the snow at the point where you were supposed to drop over the edge.
    "After about 10 or 12 feet of vertical drop, you'd try to get your skis under you and regain some control of what was by then a thrilling free fall. I think I was 15. I loved it!
    "In the 60s when I started to travel with my music I had chances to play at some of the ski resorts in Aspen and Snowmass. This was quite a time. You could ski for miles on Ajax or the Big Burn. I even had a chance to do some moonlit cross country skiing with friends at Buttermilk. At night there were about a dozen great music venues. I played at the Abbey Cellar, and opened the show for the Limelighters and The Earl Skruggs band at a place called, the Limelight (yes, that’s where the group got it’s name).
    "One night at the Abbey two friends, James and Vanessa Hendriks (not the same Jimmy Hendriks) introduced me to an old singing partner or theirs. Her name was Cass. We danced to the band in our ski boots and then everybody sat down to listen to some tapes of the rough mixes of Cass' new group. It was what was to become the first album of the Mamas and The Papas - 'Monday, Monday,' and 'California Dreaming.' I'd never heard anything like it.
    "My wife, Cindy Mangsen and I make our living travelling and playing for folk music audiences around the country. Most of our concerts are on weekend nights and many times we have midweek days to explore, do museums and yes, sometimes ski.
    "The first time I brought Cindy out to California to meet my family we all went up to June Mountain and skied cross country at Twin Lakes. The snow was deeper than anything Cindy had seen in the East. At one point we came across a telephone booth that was completely below the surface of the snow. Someone had dug a stairway down to it so you could still make calls.
    "At home in Vermont, we enjoy the snow, we have some beautiful areas to ski downhill as well as cross country. Killington, Mt. Snow, and Bromley are all well known ski areas close to our home in the Southwest corner of the tiny state. There is also a small local hill called Prospect Mountain which has been a favorite of ours for cross country trails.
    One of the most pleasurable places is just 20 minutes from our house. It's the estate built by Robert Todd Lincoln. It’s a museum and historical site, and has beautifully manicured trails and always pretty good snow conditions. Even closer, just across the street and up the hill we take advantage of the trails behind the old Park McCullough house in our little town of North Bennington."     Steve and Cindy are touring during the month of March, but have other projects in the works, as well.
    "Our most recent recording project is a concept album called, 'A Sense of Place.' In it we try to capture musically the feelings of the seasons of Vermont. There are spirited French-Canadian tunes and some of our own writing. There is a haunting song about a woman lost in the deep woods in Colonial times. Something that really did happen. The album is available in most places on Redwing Records.
    "We got to work with many of the musicians we admire and we really feel we’ve represented some of the spirit of our home region. Vermont is rich in the traditions of music and folklore and blessed with the best of all four seasons.
    "We love making our way in the world by our music. At this point it means that we have to travel a great deal, but that also affords us the chance to be in all those places we love to be."     "If you'd like to find out more about Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, visit their web site at: www.compassrosemusic.com.
© March 2001 by Joe Blenkle
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