ATX: Live Wedding Music Capital of the World

Alison Lumley and Chrissie Natoli

Just another one of my many job perks (beautiful scenery! happy people! cake!) is getting to hear fantastic musicians on a regular basis. I've listed some of my favorites in previous posts and I'll be sure to list more in the future. Today I want to tell you about a few musicians I really, really love, who play and sing beautifully and who are available for weddings and commitment ceremonies. 


A few weeks ago I had the honor of performing a wonderful commitment ceremony and Alison Lumley opened with a cover of Bright Eyes' First Day of my Life, truly one of my all time favorite songs. I got to talking with Alison after the ceremony, and it turns out that in addition to her solo work, she is also in a duo with Chrissie Natoli, whom I first heard sing years ago, along with her (then brand new) husband, Jimmy Joe, at a wedding I performed at the French Legation Museum. Chrissie and Jimmy Joe play so sweetly together. 

Alison Lumley

Meeting Alison was a chance for me to reconnect with Chrissie, and I asked her to tell me more about her music, so I could share it with y'all. Here's what she had to say:


Jimmy Joe and I have a wedding music website, Beautiful Music 4 You.  We specialize in instrumentals on 2 guitars or guitar and mandolin, and we've added ukelele to the mix.  Jimmy Joe play sitar as well and we've done some prelude music on the sitar before.  We do the "classics"..Canon in D and Bridal March, Jesu, etc......But we also love to take popular songs and make instrumental arrangements.  So we have some beautiful versions of "All You Need Is Love," "Moon River", "Edelweiss", "Pussywillow Cattails", etc.....We do all we can to make the ceremony music exactly what the couple wants to reflect them and their tastes.  We sing, too, and often will stay to do the cocktail hour and play some Johnny and June, Jones and Wynette,  and other "romantic" upbeat songs--some originals, too.  (Which you can hear at www.thebetterhalvesmusic.com)   (We are learning how to use our home studio, so soon we should have more samples of the instrumentals up on our wedding site, but there are a few there for now.  )

Chrissie and Jimmy Joe Natoli

I haven't done wedding music with Alison, but have been wanting to learn some more jazzy songs with her--like "Blue Moon," "Love Me Tender," etc, to offer for ceremonies or cocktail hour entertainment.   We call our duo Avenue Elle and we also have a lot of beautiful original love songs, which, with Alison's voice especially, I am sure folks would love to have as part of their wedding.  Our website is Avenue Elle.   


We are so lucky to have so many amazing musicians here. If you're looking for someone to play, I highly recommend Chrissie, Jimmy Joe, and Alison. If they're booked, you can email me and I'm glad to suggest others.