Artists:Ellen Stapenhorst

Ellen's love of music is one of her earliest memories -- it's always been there for her. She grew up in a family of folk, classical and esoteric music buffs (with a little rock 'n roll around the edges) that continued to appreciate music even through the early stages of Ellen's playing violin and singing along with her brother Steve's clarinet improvisations. When Steve became a working folksinger, Ellen also picked up the guitar and formed a group with her junior high singing buddies. Soon she was performing solo and with different groups in the Southern California coffee houses of the late Sixties.

Early on she felt the power of music to move people, as the civil rights movement swept the country. She also found that songwriting was a way to bring focus and clarity to her own observations of the world, inner and outer, as well as a way to express her deeply felt values and passions. (And a darn good form of therapy.)

From 1969-1972, Ellen ran a non-profit coffee house in Glendale, California, called The Whole, which provided a stage for many artists including Jackson Browne, Mary McCaslin, Steve Gillette, Glenn Frey and J.D.Souther. And she continued to perform with Elbo and Dave, a band she formed in high school with brothers Dave and Bo Hale.

ON TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS...there and back again...and again...

When The Whole closed, Ellen joined her brother Steve in Colorado, where they formed the eclectic, original, country-rock band Tanglefoot with several other Aspen musicians (songwriter J.D. Martin, Jim Yoder, Randy Noe, Pat Curto and Jeff Getz). Ellen sang and played fiddle, guitar and bass with the band as they toured the country for eight years and recorded an album with legendary producer Paul Rothchild (The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt).

Tanglefoot finally succumbed to the effects of Disco (hard on live music) and different musical directions within the band and parted amiably (they still gather occasionally, usually around an "eating holiday" or a game of killer croquet). Ellen moved to Sonoma County, California in the early 1980s and played over the years with many fine northern California musicians, including Kevin Russell and Layne Bowen of Modern Hicks, Mark McLay of the Dustdevils and pianist Jim Aikin. After almost two decades of going back and forth between California and Colorado, she finally made the big move back to the mountains and her beloved Roaring Fork Valley in the summer of 2002.

In 1982, Ellen met and began studying with Tom Crum, an aikido teacher and innovative thinker who was applying the principles of the martial art to personal development and conflict resolution. Tom had co-founded the Windstar Foundation with John Denver, and was offering programs there exploring the relationship between aikido (whose stated goal is "to render an attack harmless without harming anyone, even the attacker") and sustainable living practices. This immediately felt like a fit to Ellen, a way to practice and embody non-violence. She eventually earned her black belt in the art. By the mid 1980s, Ellen was traveling with Tom as his assistant, and she continues to work with him in his programs as a facilitator, teacher and folk singer.

Lifelong interests in the environment, social justice and peace infuse her music, writing and art work. Ellen also works in the field of conflict resolution, where she finds music can open the door to finding common ground..