Roots magazine, Listening Through the Lens, cites Ordinary Elephant as “folk music at its best. Commentary of social issues, a focus on the importance of family and seeking out the highest human aspirations delivered with tender care and precision — never over-playing or needing to throw in tricks.” Ordinary Elephant’s music is honest and pure. In fact, the couple’s latest record is entitled Honest and it is deserving of high praise due to its unflinching authenticity. The lyrics provide nuggets of wisdom and are accompanied by warm and simple instrumentation. There is nothing flashy about Ordinary Elephant.

Crystal and Pete left careers as a veterinary cardiologist and computer programmer in Texas to take to the road and have been playing music full-time for the past several years. Crystal plays acoustic guitar and Pete plays clawhammer banjo and they make beautiful music together. Winners of the 2017 International Folk Artist of the Year, Ordinary Elephant easily exhibit why they are anything but ordinary. Their strength and courage in leaving “safe” jobs to pursue their dreams is commendable and the fact that their music has struck a chord with audiences proves that safe isn’t always the way to journey through life. Crystal reports that her creative side was given the breathing room that it needed to come back out after leaving the 9 to 5 world behind.

Ordinary Elephant clearly illustrate the pathos with candid lyrics that convey the depth of humanity. Their songs contain stories like those of a veteran suffering from PTSD and an interracial couple who is shunned for being in love. Crystal and Pete’s tender touch magnifies the common threads that bond us all together. As Nashville songwriter Mary Gauthier says of this pair: “Two become one, in song . . . hand-in-glove harmonies surprise the listener with focused intensity and musical mastery.”

You can watch the show on YouTube and Facebook.

Photo by Bobby Villarreal

Ordinary Elephant’s website: https://www.ordinaryelephant.net/

Ordinary Elephant’s video: https://www.ordinaryelephant.net/videos

• I’m a big fan of Ordinary Elephant — their intimate songs, the weaving harmonies, and the stories that draw you in as if you were gathered around an enchanted campfire. Eliza Gilkyson
• There is nothing at all ordinary with this elephant. They are smack dab in the tradition that I have always loved but have both (all four?) feet in the 21st Century. This is rich ground. Listen! Tom Paxton
• Soft in delivery, harmonious and so damn perfect that it just eases itself into your whole being. This is the kind of music that lingers long after the last note fades. Red Line Roots
• These are elegant, warm and engaging songs delivered and played with instant warmth and beautiful, instinctive intensity. Mike Ritchie, Celtic Music Radio