– Biography –

I come from a family of three generations of traditional singers and storytellers. I was born in Canton, NC at the "South's First All-Night Dance" on January 1st, 1982 causing my parents, Fredrick Park and Jennifer Armstrong, who organized the event, to momentarily forsake the dance hall.

At the age of two my mother packed me and my sister, Georgia Rose into the car and we drove North to her native Chicago. When we arrived I was surrounded by old time music, Irish and English ballads, blues and gospel music, play party games, square and contra dances and my Grandparents, George and Gerry Armstrong. They were dubbed the "Mom and Pop" of the Chicago folk music scene by some and where dubbed Grammy and Grandpa by us grandkids.

In Chicago, my sister and I performed some with our mother and some as a duet during those early years but decided as a family not to form a family band. My sister and I both sang commercials for TV and radio, on many recoding projects of our mother’s, in the car, with our grandparents and on stage. Music has been the constant in my life.

When I turned twelve I went to a singing camp in Vermont called Village Harmony. It was an amazing experience to be surrounded by other kids who loved to sing as much as I did and I reveled in being exposed to new musical styles. Village Harmony specializes in community singing from around the world. I fell in love with Balkan village music, Shape-note singing, folk and liturgical music from the Caucasus Republic of Georgia, Corsican music, Medieval, Renaissance, early Baroque music along with West African and South African vocal music.

In 8th grade I was invited to join Northern Harmony, under the umbrella of Village Harmony, for a two-month tour around the UK. When I returned home I decided it was time to make music my main focus and take my education into my own hands and join my sister in home schooling ourselves for high school.

After a brief recording project in Hollywood CA, recording two CDs with Malcolm Dalglish in Bloomington, IN, going on another Northern Harmony tour and recording a CD with them in VT, it was time for a change. My mother, sister and I had happily made our home there in the Windy City with the open sky, Lake Michigan to the East, my Grandparents house nearby and oh so many musicians but in the Summer of 1997 we moved to Jamaica Plain, MA.

In 1999 I recorded a CD with my sister titled, Across the Blue Mountains. Our goal was to document the songs we had sung together growing up. I was 17 at the time, Rosie 19 and we knew we would soon be heading out into the world choosing our own paths.

A few years later my mother moved to Belfast, ME and I began attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). College was an amazing adventure. With my dear friend and singing partner, Emily Miller, who was attending Brown University all the while I was at RISD, we were able to fit some music into our college lives. The school years where rich with projects, friends, politics and lots of learning while my Summers were full of performing, teaching at Village Harmony and other music camps, festivals, gardening – and remembering to breath.

I graduated in 2005 with a BFA in Furniture Design and promptly jumped back into touring, teaching and performing.

I’m currently living in the music rich mountains of Asheville, NC and soon to be married to amazing tenor singer, jazz piano playin’ and banjo pickin’ Nathan Morrison. We are enjoying leading a weekly world-music chorus in Asheville, always learning more songs and cooking ourselves grand feasts! Love, music and food . . . oh yes!