Vermont-based artist Cindy Mangsen blends her warm soprano voice with proficiency across numerous acoustic instruments. She moves with equal assurance between traditional Scottish ballads and material by modern singer-songwriters such as Jack Hardy, Jean Ritchie, and her spouse Steve Gillette, shifting among solo projects, paired recordings with Gillette, paired recordings with Anne Hills, and three-way recordings alongside Hills and Priscilla Herdman.
A musical household shaped Mangsen’s early years; her father performed on multiple instruments and her sister played harpsichord. Her professional path opened after she relocated to the Chicago region in the early 1970s, where she became a steady presence at the Old School in Chicago and the Ark in Ann Arbor.
Mangsen headed back to the East Coast in 1980 to enroll at the State University of New York in Albany. Following completion of a master’s degree in library sciences, she accepted a librarian position at Bennington College in her hometown. She first encountered Gillette in 1978, and he later moved to Vermont to join her.
Mangsen’s partnership with Anne Hills dates to her 1983 debut album, Long Time Travelin’, which included vocal harmonies from Hills; the same singer has appeared on every subsequent solo release. Their initial duo project, Never Grow Old, arrived in November 1994 and included guest contributions from Gordon Bok, John Hartford, Laurie Lewis, Tom Paxton, John Roberts & Tony Barrand, and Carla Sciaky. The follow-up duo album, Never Grow Up, came out in 1998 with additional support from Jan Burda, Michael Cooney, Steve Gillette, Priscilla Herdman, Carla Sciaky, Rosalie Sorrels, Pete Seeger, and Dave Van Ronk.
In 1990 Mangsen, Hills, and Priscilla Herdman issued the trio album Voice, described by the Hartford Advocate as “a clinic in harmony.” Their second trio effort, Voices of Winter, appeared in December 1997 as a seasonal recording drawn from a concert tour. Mangsen and Gillette have also released two joint albums: Live In Concert, captured at the Ark in 1993, and The Light of the Day in 1996.
