Old time musical artists and storytellers Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle, who perform simply as Anna & Elizabeth, were featured recently on an edition of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.
They used the opportunity to demonstrate the crankie, a folk arts tradition that vastly predates the advent of television and video. It’s essentially backlit art on a roll, hand operated with a crank, and used as a visual accessory to old time storytelling.
Anna & Elizabeth also write and produce a monthly radio show, the Floyd Radio Show, very much in the Prairie Home Companion mold. It combines music, comedy, and storytelling, recorded live from the tiny town of Floyd, tucked away in the Blue Ridge mountains between Roanoke and Galax, VA.
The most recent episodes are always posted on their web site.