Golden Sun

Already seasoned pros at 15, two Utah musicians bring their considerable talents to the festival stage

By Brandon Griggs
The Salt Lake Tribune

Although they'd never met until this month, Utah musicians Brandie Frampton and Andrew Goldring have a lot in common. Both sing, play the guitar and headline bands. Both have been playing live shows along the Wasatch Front for several years.
And both need their parents to drive them to gigs.
The performing prodigies, who celebrated their 15th birthdays last month, will take the stage next weekend at the 38th annual Park City Kimball Arts Festival. Frampton will belt out her country-rock tunes from a tent atop Main Street Saturday at 5:15 p.m., followed in the same spot by Goldring and his blues-rock band, the Rosedale Power Co., Sunday morning at 11. The two young talents are part of a deep and diverse musical lineup - some 30 acts - that will serenade the tens of thousands of browsers expected to pack Park City's historic downtown.
"It's a really interesting mix this year," says Toby Martin, executive director of Mountain Town Stages, which was hired by festival planners to book live music on three Main Street stages. "You can wander up and down the street and have your ears filled with almost everything."
Everything from folk to reggae to jazz, from the incredible acoustic strummings of Salt Lake City's Jeremiah Maxey, who plays guitar despite missing his right forearm, to the Dylan-influenced rock of Band of Heathens, a Texas foursome named Best New Band in the 2006-07 Austin Music Advertisement Awards.
For sheer youthfulness, nobody can beat Frampton and Goldring. She's a little bit country, he's a little bit rock 'n' roll, and they're both a little bit eager to get their driver licenses next year. Frampton, of Lindon, has been performing since she was 4 and has recorded two albums. And, no, she's not related to '70s rocker Peter Frampton.
"I get [asked] that all the time," she says with a laugh. "I say, 'Yeah, he's my uncle.' "
Frampton's powerhouse voice makes her sound a little like Sheryl Crow. Her budding career has been recognized by New Music Weekly magazine, which named her its Crossover Artist for 2006 at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles. A photo on Frampton's Web site shows the then-14-year-old holding a plaque, a big smile on her face and braces on her teeth.
"Nobody [at the ceremony] really paid attention to me until I won the award," she says. "And then it was like, 'Oh my God, she's for real?' There was a whole different attitude."
When you're fronting a professional band as a high-school freshman, you get used to encountering skepticism about your age. Just ask Goldring, who looks like a kid until he plugs in his guitar and starts blasting muscular, expressive solos.
"Andrew sounds like B.B. King," says Martin, the festival music booker. "If you closed your eyes, you'd never know he was a teenager."
Goldring lives in Holladay and began taking guitar lessons at age 9 from his mother. By age 13, he was leading a power trio, playing blues-rock inspired by his guitar heroes: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. He practices almost daily in his basement and runs his nascent career with help from his dad/manager, who helps him book shows and maintain his Web site.
"It's kind of a challenge to get gigs, because I can't play in bars or clubs or anything," says Goldring, whose voice has changed since his first, and only, album came out. "So we play a lot of festivals."
For the teenager, that has meant some memorable live shows, such as a "Good Karma" celebration at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork. Or the time a church fundraiser mistakenly booked Goldring's band as a jazz-swing combo, forcing it to become, in his words, "a lounge act."
Frampton and Goldring are passionate enough about music to pursue full-time careers - after graduating from high school, of course. Until then, the youths will continue to impress audiences who may underestimate them because of their age.
"People are always surprised after they hear me play," says Frampton, who could be speaking for Goldring as well. "I'm like a little kid with a band. They probably think I haven't worked for it. But I have. And I want to keep going no matter what. When I grow up, hopefully it'll get better."
livingeditor@sltrib.com. - The Salt Lake Tribune