Nate Borofsky, Tammy Greenstein, and Doris Muramatsu make up the dynamic band, "Girlyman." Greenstein and Marumatsu met in the second grade and stayed close throughout college. Doris admits, in school, she was pretty conservative on the outside. "I didn't want to stand out, because in junior high school, I was made fun of on the bus. My relationship with Tammy was a way to get away from the taunting. When I was with Tammy, we would be creative together. We started singing together at age 14 in my kitchen."
Years later, the duo had formed an award-winning group of their own, The Garden Verge 2002, before teaming up with Borofsky. They met him while rented an apartment in New York. Prior to moving in with the songstresses, Borofsky was a rising solo artist in his own right. He won the 2001 Boston music award for Best New Singer-Songwriter.
The band has been together just over a year and have successfully created their own record label, Clever Shark records and produced a full length CD, "Remember Who I Am." The trio has also played at New York's hip club, "Fez," toured across the country, and was voted Most Wanted to Return Artist 2003, at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
The vote came as a shock to Girlyman, because they had not been told immediately. "We found out some other group got it before us so we thought we didn't get it. We had gone through this mourning process (laugh), but a woman at the Ridge hadn't gotten the chance to tell us that we had actually won. So when we found out, we jumped up and down," Muramatsu said.
Girlyman and their CD...
"Viola," is a song filled with pain and nostalgia, smooth pats from a djembe drum, slick strums of an acoustic guitar, and an abundance of peaceful three-part harmony vocals. Borofsky wrote "Viola" for a college dance teacher he knew. Borofsky said, "parts of the song are about her and others are fantasy. She was an amazing artist, but she has since passed away, so I wrote the song to remember her.
Greenstein composed the albums fifth track, "The Shape I found You In." Greenstein explains, "The song's sound started out as a metaphor. It was a bomb shelter, but not in the traditional sense. It was about being protected. The song reflects how people in relationships feel protected -- it came from a personal place."
When the band is not on tour, they admit they are kept busy with self-promoting, booking shows, working on their website, and going to the movies.
"Remember Who I Am," encompasses refreshing vocals, flavorful instruments, and a sound that is colorful and playful. Girlyman unified their uniue abilities to revolutionize the sound of bluegrass music... they've made it enjoyable again.
For more information visit: www.girlyman.com
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