The family photo album features a shot of a knee-high Renee Lando perched atop the coffee table playing along to her dad’s collection of country and rockabilly records, with a toy guitar bigger than her slung over her shoulder. Without question, it was the legendary Johnny Cash who first inspired Renee’s love of guitar. But it was the music of Will Ackerman, Leo Kottke, and Alex DeGrassi that resonated most in her heart and led Renee into a world of alternate tunings and instrumental composing. Ever since, Renee has continually journeyed in search of fresh melodies and intriguing textures in her playing that have given rise to a style fusing flavors that span from classical to jazz to blues to folk.While Renee adores whiling away the hours sculpting tunes on her back porch, she has been performing for more than 24 years. Early in her career, Renee participated as part of the acoustic and percussive backdrop to the Folk Choir based out of her hometown church in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. The choir, whose unorthodox style and sometimes breakneck and often Bluegrass-oriented temperament, achieved a notable following and in short time was performing throughout the northeast. Renee also composed, arranged and performed compositions throughout the last half of the ‘80’s with an acoustic folk/jazz trio she helped form. The trio’s popularity on the college scene took the group to audiences as far away as Moscow and Moldavia.
