Elation Center for the Arts presents “Holy Water and Whiskey: An Evening of American Folk Music,” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse.

Holy Water and Whiskey consists of Maggie and Bruce Washburne, and Scott Altenbach. Accompanying themselves on acoustic guitars, banjo and acoustic bass guitar, they are known for their beautiful vocal renditions of traditional and contemporary American folksongs, bluegrass gospel and cowboy songs.

All three began performing professionally during The Great ’60s American Folk Music Renaissance, earning money to put themselves through college. Maggie and Scott are biology professors. Bruce is a social worker in charge of a VA program that assists blind veterans.

They are folks with a strong connection to nature. The Washburnes operate a farm in Cuba, N.M. Altenbach has been living on his off-the-grid, self-sufficient farm in the south valley of Albuquerque for 35 years.

Altenbach recently retired as biology professor from the University of New Mexico. Besides performing music, he slides down ropes into ancient mines, looking for bats and consulting with state governments about preserving natural habitat.

Altenbach is a renowned rattlesnake expert. He has owned the world’s largest collection of rattlesnakes, including every type of rattlesnake in North and South America. After getting a few too many bites, he shifted and became a bat expert. He is now the foremost photographer of bats, having published his own book of bat photos as well as having them published in National Geographic. He has also written many articles about bats.

In his youth, Altenbach was a hard-rock miner in Colorado. Now he does contract work throughout the Southwest — combining his mining experience with his biology expertise. While you’re having your morning cup of coffee, Altenbach may be dangling on a rope 300 feet down a vertical shaft exploring to inner life of an old mine. He’s got some great tales to tell about it. Altenbach is a fascinating guy. He’s also into old steam engines and has a steam tractor and steam mine hoist that he rebuilt.

The Washburnes are interesting folks, too. We’ll go into their background – and how these three fine musicians got together - in next week’s PREVIEW.

Elation Center for the Arts presents “Holy Water and Whiskey: An Evening of American Folk Music,” at 7 p.m. Sat., Jan. 24, at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse.

Weaving a tapestry of smooth and mellifluous harmonies, three fine musicians from the farmlands of New Mexico snowshoe into Pagosa to bring us a concert of traditional and contemporary American folksongs, bluegrass, gospel and cowboy songs.

Holy Water and Whiskey is a fine singing group, whose acoustic instruments — guitars, banjo and acoustic bass guitar — provide a rich and textured backdrop for their considerable songmanship abilities.

Singing is a wonderful way to create warmth — and warmth is biologically adaptive when it comes to living in Pagosa in the winter. Speaking of biology, two of the group members are biology professors. But, they won’t be coming all the way from Albuquerque to deliver a biology lecture (although it might be interesting to see Scott Altenbach dangling on a rope, three hundred feet down a vertical shaft, exploring the inner life of an old mine). Altenbach, a renowned rattlesnake expert, has owned the world’s largest collection of rattlesnakes, including every type of rattlesnake in North and South America. After getting a few too many bites, he shifted and became a bat expert. He is now the foremost photographer of bats, having published his own book of bat photos as well as having them published in National Geographic. He has also written many articles about bats.

Maggie Washburne is the other biology professor of the group. She has a strikingly beautiful voice — with more than a trace of the superb vocal quality of another female singer, Joan Baez. As a biologist, her specialty is genomics, molecular biology and she does both teaching and research.

Her husband, Bruce, is a social worker, in charge of the VA programs that assists blind veterans in New Mexico and southern Colorado.

All three began performing professionally during The Great ‘60s American Folk Music Renaissance, earning money to put themselves through college. They are folks with a strong connection to nature. The Washburnes operate a farm in Cuba, N.M. Altenbach has been living on his off the grid, self-sufficient farm in the south valley of Albuquerque for 35 years.

“What are all these biology professors doing, running around singing folk songs?” you ask. Well, if warmth were biologically adaptive, then a biology professor would know that there is more than one way to create it. Singing creates it through increased respiration and circulation; it is also radiated through friendship and a feeling of community that singing can nurture, and Holy Water and Whiskey do this very well.

The group’s latest CD, “Spirits of All Kinds,” includes a cross section of the kinds of songs the group plays. You can hear samples of their songs on-line at http://cdbaby.com/cd/holywaterwhiskey2.

Elation Center for the Arts presents, “Holy Water and Whiskey: An Evening of American Folk Music,” at 7 p.m. Saturday., Jan. 24, at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse.

Holy Water and Whiskey is an acoustic trio from Albuquerque that sings folk, gospel, bluegrass, cowboy and contemporary songs. Their rich harmonies are the hallmark of their sound. The trio has been very well received at performances throughout the Southwest.

Holy Water and Whiskey consists of Maggie Washburne on bass, Scott Altenbach on guitar, and Bruce Washburne on guitar and banjo. Bruce and Maggie got together to perform in a folk group in Hawaii in 1977, were married, and have been playing folk music together ever since. In 2003, they started performing with Altenbach, a Colorado native.

All three members got their start performing during the ‘60s. Since then, their musical tastes have evolved to include many acoustic instrument and vocal styles. Their latest CD, “Spirits of All Kinds,” represents a cross section of their repertoire. Using the strong vocal leads of Scott and Maggie as the foundation for most of their selections, the group adds their own special blend of close harmony singing. Audiences consistently report the group’s harmonies and interesting selection of songs are what keep them coming back for more.

Maggie Washburne has a strikingly beautiful voice, with more than a trace of the superb vocal quality of another female singer, Joan Baez. “Spirits of All Kinds” includes three original tunes written by Maggie, including, “Ill Wind,” about a successful divorce; “Grandma’s Angel,” a song that tells of an experience that Maggie’s grandmother had when she returned to the orphanage where she was raised; and “Laugh When the Sun Won’t Shine,” a blues tune with the message that a good man, or woman, is hard to find.

Maggie is a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. Bruce is a social worker in charge of the VA programs that assists blind veterans in New Mexico and Southern Colorado. The Washburnes own a farm in Cuba, N.M.

Altenbach is a retired professor of biology who has been living, off the grid, on his farm in the south valley of Albuquerque for 35 years.

Altenbach, who consults with state governments about preserving natural habitat, is a renowned rattlesnake expert who once owned the largest personal collection of rattlesnakes in the world, which included every type of rattlesnake in North and South America (Don’t worry, he won’t be bringing any to the concert). Altenbach is also the foremost photographer of bats and has written extensively about them. When he isn’t playing music — or dangling on a rope three hundred feet down an old mine looking for bats — Altenbach enjoys rebuilding old steam engine farming and mining machinery.

Together, these three remarkable musicians weave a colorful and appealing tapestry of American folk, gospel, bluegrass, cowboy and contemporary songs. Join us this Saturday at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse for “Holy Water and Whiskey: An Evening of American Folk Music.”