2Late performs

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Artist Information

Who We Are

2Late is Vicki Gayle and Mike Short, singer/songwriters who flavor their songs with a twist of country and a touch of traditional roots music. They feature acoustic guitars, and their fans love their tight harmony and hot licks. Influences include Miranda Lambert, Richard Thompson, Maura O’Connell, Cheryl Wheeler, Little Big Town, Sugarland and other contemporary Folk and Country artists. They recently began work on their fourth album 10Years 2Late. The title refers to their ten years together making music. Vicki brings 2Late her Country music influences, while Mike comes from a more traditional Folk and Bluegrass background. By combining these sounds, they write and perform music more roots-oriented than mainstream Pop Country, and a whole lot more Country than Folk music.

Vicki & Mike joined their voices and talents to form 2Late in January 2004. While they often play covers at licensed venues, they have filled evenings with the sounds of their own original songs, from the award-winning "Desperation ( One Last Chance)" and the soulful "Wishing" to the often-requested "Duct Tape My Heart" and the plaint against the grind of air travel "(I Did Not) Kill the Kid." They have played a plethora of venues, from ice cream shops to tea houses to the Linda Norris Auditorium, and have been heard on local radio on WAMC, WEXT and WNYQ.

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What We Sound Like

The following tracks are original songs by 2Late, recorded live at Emack and Bolio's in Albany on December 4, 2010.

Videos of live performances are available on our Performance page.

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Biography

It had to be fate.

Vicki and Mike lived within miles of each other for years in Guilderland, a suburban community in upstate New York. Then suddenly their paths crossed again and again. First, they became friends. Then they found out that when they sing together, magic happens.

Vicki Gayle was born in Jacksonville, FL, and first played in front of an audience at age seven. For many years, she performed country, folk and soft rock music around the New York Capital Region. Her philosophy about music is simple: it has to be good, and it has to be fun, and that comes across clearly in 2Late’s performances.

Mike Short grew up in Madison, WI. His mother started training him on the piano very early with formal lessons starting in fourth grade. He picked up the guitar in seventh grade and never put it down. His family gets together whenever it can to play bluegrass, folk and country gospel tunes. His experience in the family band has paid off in 2Late, as Vicki’s lead singing is the perfect foil for his harmonizing. Mike is an accomplished songwriter, specializing in Christian Contemporary and modern acoustic folk music. 2Late's albums feature many of his songs, as well as some particularly strong entries where Mike's music supports Vicki's insightful lyrics.

Veterans of several upstate New York venues, 2Late plays acoustic music ranging from country to angst-filled folk, with just about every emotion in between. Vicki is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, and Mike is the lead guitarist and rhythm singer. Together, they far exceed the sum of the parts, with hot licks and cool harmonies to please any audience.

2Late pegs its music to its audience. A typical concert will run the game from rollicking good fun to songs of serious introspection. The duo is drawn to songs with something to say, and much of the music they play and write has a strong message. But not all of it. The shockingly-popular Duct Tape My Heart is a pretty good antidote to a heavy stretch of songs.

You can really see 2Late's family orientation when they play farmers' markets and spend extra time keeping the kids amused with the Unicorn Song and the Garbage Monster.

Instrumentation

Vicki Gayle - lead vocals/rhythm guitar

Mike Short - lead guitar/rhythm vocals and a bunch of other stuff

Discography

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Press Reviews

Troy Record
September 2007
2Late Makes Differences Work
by Don Wilcock

2Late Makes Differences Work
by Don Wilcock

Vicki Gayle: "We always say in 2Late I am the leader singer and rhythm guitar player, and Mike is the rhythm singer and lead guitar player. So, I wanted guitar lessons. Mike does teach. So, we decided to work that out. Mike says to me…."

Mike Short: "I'm not going to give you guitar lessons."

Vicki: "And I said, 'Why?'"

Mike: "Because I'd like you to be my partner, and I'd like to go and sing around and stuff."

Vicki: "I was shocked and mortified because I had just come off of two very bad partnership experiences."

Mike: "The partner from Hell."

Vicki: "The partner from Hades, yeah, basically."

Mike: "The Catholics are allowed to say Hell. Episcopalians are more conservative."

Vicki: "We don't have the Virgin Mary up there kinda plugging for us, so I say Hades. Okay, Mike?"

Mike: "Fair enough."

Creative duos are high wire balancing acts. Think about Simon & Garfunkel, Sam & Dave, Hall & Oates, Cephus & Wiggens, Heart, or the Righteous Brothers. For what one didn't do well, the other had talents to balance things out. If both considered themselves equals creatively, the wire they walk could get particularly taut.

Vicki: "I first met Mike when he came and substituted as an organist at our church. He came to the 10 o'clock service as the substitute organist, and at that time I was actually working with the youth choir. So I came up and did my little, 'Welcome to the choir' kind of thing. He says, 'Oh, what song ya doing?' And I said, 'We're doing "Shine, Jesus, Shine," and he goes, 'Oh, I hate that song.' So, I immediately pegged Mike as….."

Mike: "A jerk!"

Vicki: "Yeah! Actually, not a jerk. You were full of yourself."

It took Vicki and Mike more than a year of running into each other at various events to decide to team up as 2Late, a duo that's secular in presentation but Christian in ideals. Even when they started performing together, Vicki didn't let Mike play on her solo CD "Half A Lifetime." Their first public performance was at the Knox Country Store.

Vicki: "I was going to play, and he was going to come and do five songs, and it was what, two hours later that we quit?"

Mike: "Yeah, it got dark, and the bugs came out."

Vicki: "Yeah, we had to quit at that point."

Mike: "Five songs took three minutes to play."

Vicki: "Somebody speeds up when he gets going."

Mike: "To me they sounded like they were backwards, they were so slow, but when I looked down at my watch after doing all five, it was three minutes after six. I was playing in a church choir. Whole different feeling! You’re really not the focus of attention."

Vicki: "I was the one with playing-out-in-public experience."

Mike: "I had never done that before. I had played Godspell back in 1975 in Madison, Wisconsin."

Three and a half years later, 2Late (who took the name because they collectively admit to being more than a century old) have one released CD "Comments from The Kitchen" and another one in the works. Their music sneaks up on you the way Lou Reed used to. The lyrics seem simple, almost naïve, until you think about them or reach an O’Henry surprise ending as on "Jaynie." Written by Vicki, it tells the story of an emotionally abused girl who commits suicide. Vicki says she couldn't have written it until her mother passed away two years ago.

Mike wrote "Days That I Have You" for Vicki. "She has dark days, and I wrote that for her to remind her that there are bright days, too. I will contribute to them where I can."

"The joke is that we're married but not to each other," says Vicki. "I think that’s what helps it work." Their faith and their creative work together have helped both Mike and Vicki through dark times. Both their spouses have been in the hospital with heart disease.

2Late has balanced their way across a long and open chasm in three and a half years. Mike remembers early on when Vicki asked him to play at her CD release party, and he responded, "Sure, I won't charge too much to do that." He’s a little embarrassed about it now. "I'd only really known her for six weeks. She said it was a business relationship, but the relationship has changed so much that I wouldn't dream of it at this point even if she was to do another solo CD."

"Or if I did do another solo CD," she responds, "it would probably be in your studio."

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Set lists

We usually do 50 minute sets.... but will work with the venue's time frame. 2Late performs a mix of family-friendly covers and original music. We cover contemporary folk artists like Nanci Griffith, Maura O'Connell, and Cheryl Wheeler, as well as modern country and pop such as Lilttle Big Town, Tanya Tucker, and Garth Brooks.

Some venues require all original material due to licensing issues. With over 35 original songs, we can easily accommodate the needs of any of our sponsors.

We perform well over 150 different songs, and mix up our set lists at each performance to keep things fresh for us, and our audience. There are a few favorites that tend to appear more often!

The following are typical 50 minute sets:

* - originals

Set 1

Set 2

Most requested songs:

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