Lee & Betsy Paulet present Florida Songstory
Just WHATis Florida Songstory and WHO are Lee and Betsy Paulet?
Florida Songstory features the talents of Florida born songwriter Lee Paulet, blended with the spoken verse and harmony of five-generation native Betsy Bolger-Paulet. They captivate listeners with their entertaining, thought provoking, passionate, emotionally stirring original material. As Florida natives, they consider themselves among the endangered species.
Through spoken word and song, they weave a colorful tapestry of their native Florida's history through stories of its heroes and its villains and its wars and its warriors. They paint vivid word pictures of their native home's beauty, nostalgically reminding all who listen of the importance of wisely monitoring "progress" in paradise.
Lee Paulet and Betsy Bolger-Paulet met while performing at a local concert. Both being native Floridians, specializing in songs and stories about their precious state it was natural they would start performing together.
The Paulets became husband and wife team in December 1993. Their collection of material is presented to audiences in a refreshing new format, blending song, poetry, and storytelling. Sometimes comical, sometimes tragic, their message is always entertaining while tracing Florida's culture and history. They often amuse their audience with the good natured humor of their Mars-Venus relationship.
Lee Paulet began his songwriting and musical interests in his early school years. Born on a 26-acre ranch in Tampa, most of his early writing was about life in the countryside. His interests were honed in high school with the forming of a rock group during the early '60s - which disbanded when he joined the Air Force.
Returned from military duties, Paulet continued his education at University of South Florida, where he began playing at many local coffeehouses and clubs. Early credits include the Levy, Peanut Gallery, Empty Keg, 18th String, and Beaux Arts. After graduation he dedicated his efforts to family responsibilities, but continued his songwriting. For several years he served as radio operator in the Merchant Marine, entertaining fellow shipmates with his original sea chanteys.
Paulet's interest in presenting his songs on stage reawakened in the 90's when he participated in a local open mic program. Once again, he decided to make music his career, and now performing as well as writing commercially, he decided to specialize in Florida songs.
Paulet has gained statewide attention and awards for his original songs and is often called on to conduct songwriting workshops at festivals and schools.
Betsy Bolger-Paulet, who is also a staff-writer for the St. Petersburg Times, is a fifth-generation Floridian. Her mother was from the Jernigan, Taylor, Creamer families, of the Panhandle, while her late father Horace Collier Bolger, was a descendant of the family who settled Collier County,
Several of Betsy Bolger-Paulet's verses were inspired by memories of her father who returned from naval service in World War II to the life of a simple mullet fisherman in the quaint north Pinellas town of Ozona. President Bill Clinton honored Mrs. Bolger-Paulet for her verse "Sunday Afternoon TV at Mother Shucker's Bar Jan. 17, 1993 . . . Inauguration and the Latest News and Sports".
Active in music and poetry circles, she conducts poetry presentation workshops and coordinates the Best of Florida Poetry Contest and program at the annual Will McLean held every spring in Pasco County.
The couple, performing as Florida Songstory, can be seen at major folk festivals throughout Florida including Barbeville, Dade City Pioneer Days, the Florida Folk Festival at White Springs and Heritage Village in Largo. They have produced several CDs and books.
Performing a special venue of original nautical material, the Paulets participated in Guiding Lights, a tour of Florida's lighthouses with award-winning photo-journalist Scott Keeler. They provided theme music for Changing Tides, the ninth annual opening exhibition of internationally famous fine-artist Christopher Still.
The Paulets participate in Hillsborough and Pinellas County artists-in-the-schools programs and several Florida marine science educators association environmental seminars.
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Why FLORIDA SONGSTORY?
Lee and Betsy Paulet proudly admit to being Florida Crackers with blood-lines going back generations. They feel the importance of keeping the history and culture of Florida alive in these days of irresponsible developers who totally disregard the land they destroying in their thoughtless process of homogenizing all and everything they touch into miles of urban sprawl.
To hear Lee and Betsy present FLORIDA SONGSTORY is to hear the fascinating tales of native characters such as "Bone Mizel" - a hard-drinking Florida cowman who could talk his way out of and into all manner of trouble. There are legends like that of the "Ghost of Cecil McKay,'' about a freed slave McKay who bought a small patch of land in Central Florida where he established a successful orange grove with the intention of buying back his wife and children, much to the disdain of local folks who decided to make an example of him - thus starting a chain of events that goes on to this day!
The Paulets offer hope for the future in "Butterflies," the true story of how one man, University of Florida scientist-professor Tom Emil, saved an entire species, the Schaus Swallowtail.
They sing the ballad of "Gator and Jumper," a tale of two Seminole chiefs who did what they had to do in order to stop Andrew Jackson's men from wiping out the tribe - even though this meant the death of Gator's baby daughter.
They paint vivid word pictures of the beauty or their native home with “Florida State of Mind” and "Florida Waltz." They becry the destruction of developers in thought-provoking material such as "Florida Lullabye" and in their latest creation titled "Cracker Pride" - done in a style they dub Cracker Rap or more simply CR-RAP.
They tell mischievous stories about the Florida pastime of watching the "Cockroach Olympics," and Lee and Betsy also offer hilarious insights into their own Cracker-style Mars vs. Venus relationship with "A Woman Stands Behind A Man to Show Him Where To Go" and " I Told You So.''
