Mouths of Babes

Mouths of Babes is Ty Greenstein (Girlyman) and Ingrid Elizabeth (Coyote Grace).

This tender tomboy and rough-and-tumble lady come together to melt hearts and shake souls with undeniable chemistry and a truly unexpected heralding of wisdom. Mouths of Babes' sound is equal parts celebration and blues, folk and soul, salve and anthem—an invitation to love this life, to sing your sob story and end it with a smile.

The new collaboration between Ty and Ingrid draws much of its creative impetus from the Real Women Real Songs project, for which they have each committed to writing a new song every week in the year 2014. By the end of this transformational year, they will have over 100 new songs between them. (All of Ty's songs are in video form on her Patreon page; Ingrid's are on her Patreon page).

In her twelve years with popular folk-pop quartet Girlyman, Ty Greenstein established herself as a prolific songwriter and gifted lyricist, a talented multi-instrumentalist, and a magnetic presence onstage. Relix Magazine writes, "The poignant honesty that Ty brings to [her] tunes gives them an emotional intensity that's as bracing as it is moving," while the Americana Gazette praises her powerful lyrics: "Tylan's practice of extending metaphors out toward a precipice keeps an unpredictable edge to [her] songs. Most writers would stop at the easy close. Ty jumps, leaving much to imagination, to powerful effect."

Over the course of seven years with sultry roots trio Coyote Grace, Ingrid Elizabeth played the upright bass, wrote and sang, commanding audiences with her larger-than-life sassiness and professional dancer's grace. The Huffington Post writes, "There's a yearning, freight-train-hopping, propulsive energy to many of [Coyote Grace]'s songs that suggests...the road to one's true identity, a destination on a map still being written," and Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) once marveled, "They write such heart wrenching melodies and make such textured harmonies that I find myself enraptured and taken by their timelessness of song."

Only fate could have orchestrated the union of Girlyman and Coyote Grace. The two bands ended up spending a whole year touring together in 2011 and inevitably, all seven band members ended up onstage together each night. The musical chemistry was electric. Each show closed with a roof-raising version of MaMuse's "Hallelujah" that quickly became legendary among the bands' fans. Ingrid and Ty became fast friends and ended each tour with a bittersweet goodbye, giddily awaiting their next adventures together. Slowly they were discovering their perfect compliment not just onstage, but off as well.

Fast forward to 2013, when both Girlyman and Coyote Grace became indefinitely parked, for various reasons. So Ty did the obvious next thing—she moved to California and knocked on Ingrid's door. First came love, then came music—and finally, Mouths of Babes was born.

The new material from Mouths of Babes finds Ty's heartfelt songs being lifted up by Ingrid's infectious irreverence, while Ingrid's songs dig for a deep taproot of universality a la Ty's literate leanings. The duo heads to Empty Sea Studios in September 2014 to record its debut EP, with release shows to follow in the fall and winter. And in spring of 2015—wait for it—Ty and Ingrid are getting married.

Happily ever after, indeed.