By Logan Molyneux
The menu on one wall is the only way to distinguish the Vermillion Skies Caf? from a living room.
The other walls in the Provo venue are lined with couches, armchairs and bookshelves. Above the couches and tables, a section of the wall is plastered with scraps of paper containing drawings and short poems like a family refrigerator.
The place feels more like a home with a cash register than a caf? with couches. To complete the atmosphere, Vermillion Skies hosts poetry readings on Wednesday nights and local musicians on the weekends.
Singer-songwriters Debra Fotheringham and Stephanie Smith will bring their distinct music styles to the caf? at 8 p.m. Friday.
Fotheringham said her sound is earthy, more roots and jazz oriented, while Smith?s is more smooth and lyrical.
?My dad was a jazz musician,? Fotheringham said. ?He has probably a thousand jazz CDs that I grew up listening to, so that?s been a big influence on me.?
She said she really likes Brazilian rhythms and artists such as Antonio Carlos Jobim. Some of her favorite vocalists are Ella Fitzgerald and Norah Jones.
Smith?s music has always been very closely tied to her life. She grew up writing her own music and released her first CD at age 17. She got married two years ago, and she said it has influenced her music a lot. Her latest CD is called ?Change.?
?My song ?Anywhere? is about how life is crazy right now and how we make it through because we have each other,? Smith said. ?It?s really cheesy, but it?s one of my favorites.?
Their musical styles contrast, but Fotheringham and Smith think it?s better that way. They?ve been doing concerts together since they met almost two years ago.
?We both have pretty different styles, so our show isn?t boring,? Fotheringham said, ?but they?re not so different that they don?t go together.?
Teaming up has worked well for them. Both musicians were asked to record in Nashville this May so they can pitch their music to producers in the area. While neither one is sure where this opportunity will lead, they are both excited. Smith and Fotheringham attribute their recording offer to good networking.
?It?s all about who you know,? Fotheringham said. ?That makes all the difference.?
Other keys to success, they said, are an e-mail list and a Web site to keep fans informed. Fotheringham advised other musicians to give concerts, even free ones, whenever possible.
?Play everywhere, as much as you can,? she said. ?Things like open mic nights are great.?
Smith suggested that getting a gimmick might be the key to standing out and drawing an audience here in Provo.
?I?ve seen so many performers around here with some sort of gimmick,? she said, ?so I told Debra we should probably get a dancing monkey or something.?
Concert tickets are $4.