Conversations with Jeff and Paige

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff and Paige. 

Hi Jeff and Paige, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Once upon a time on a starlit night in the deep forests of the Pacific Northwest two graduate students studying how to become experiential educators, found each other’s quirky personalities and fun-loving approach to educating children about the natural world while singing under the stars on a camping trip. 

That’s where we met, exploring outdoors and learning to be teachers. It wasn’t quite so “happy ever after 

though. All that learning about the natural world and the problems that industrialized civilization was causing, had taken a toll. I was depressed, so depressed, I wasn’t sure how I could “get back out there” and teach other people how to live with this information, especially children. After one particularly depressing break from school, I returned unsure how I could keep going with my degree and turn it into a livelihood. Jeff was there, also returned from his vacation, he took one look at me and said, “Still carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders hey Doughty (my last name)?” That was when our friendship and working partnership deepened. We took a lot of walks and talked about how to find and express joy while also understanding that our world was reaching tipping points, from which there would be no coming back. 

We collaborated on projects finding creative ways to tell complex ecological stories like “how do we take the salmon lifecycle, the damming of rivers, and the way that these important species intersect with local economies and native traditions and tell this story in a way that people who’ve never been here can understand? And then inspire them to make change as a result? 

We loved working together and Jeff’s personality brought out all the silly in Paige, while Paige’s personality brought out a more thoughtful side in Jeff. So that’s where it started… and then but it would take a move to Colorado and a lot of soul searching before the current iteration of “Jeff and Paige” was born… 

The first time I saw Jeff singing the “Bobcat Walk,” a song about the most numerous wildcat in all of Colorado (and the contiguous United States) to a group of children, I started to dance and sing along. The kids loved the dance moves and I loved the lyrics of this catchy song that teaches about the food web and the life and habits of a reclusive kitty cat you might never see even though it lives in your backyard! 

From that moment forward Jeff and I began collaborating on creating the “Jeff and Paige Lives Show.” Slowly, over time, we become an educational musical duo, using theater and music to bring science and nature to life for children (toddlers-elementary school) and their parents. Our live show grew into six different music albums (a seventh is currently in the works) school programming, curriculum, and educational products. and the Jeff and Paige Science and Natures Show Live At Home. 

Our discussions about how to educate about the worlds “problems” in age-appropriate ways to children and families, has taken us on a journey of crafting our dialogue, skits, and music to leave people with a sense of peace, connection, and capability, rather than the debilitating apathy that an overload of environmental and social issues learning can lead one too. To this day this conversation is one of the guiding parts of our show creation, album recordings, video production, and curriculum offerings. 

We’ve now been performing, producing, and collaborating together for over 14 years!! The bobcat walk is still one of our most requested songs and we’ve reached thousands of children and families through our joyful spirit of play and science and nature lessons grounded in the natural world. As we face the realities of climate change, more pertinent and locally clear than ever after the Marshall Fires burned down over 1000 homes in our community, Jeff and I have a renewed sense of purpose and clarity for supporting families and children to navigate the times we have ahead. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Has anyone ever mentioned that starting a business at the same time as starting a love relationship may be fraught with difficulties??? Well, we’re here to tell you that it is!! All of our creative passion for using music and theater to educate about science and nature got mixed up with starting to date. It was exciting, fun, stressful, and worth it. After a few years of working out our kinks Jeff and I were able to land on a way to work together using his songwriting strengths and my talents for dance, theater, and messaging to create The Jeff and Paige Live Show and all the musical albums, school programs, curriculum and products that go with it. 

We also have kids… two of them. Wolf and Alice are both our most joyful and beautiful teachers and our most intense challengers as we navigate a creative community-focused career and the financial and artistic challenges that come with it!! How do you record an album when you need a babysitter to cover all the recording hours, but you have no budget for the album… you know because it’s not made yet? How do you recover from a performance where you laid it all out on the stage and then come home to two kids who want you to give them your all? 

It’s a beautiful, messy, and loving existence that neither of us would trade in (most days.) 

And then there was that whole pandemic… when we couldn’t perform at all in front of live audiences!? Yeah, that was rough… can we change the topic? 🙂 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We dress up in homemade costumes, like a black widow spider, a lightning bolt, a rattlesnake, a local farmer… and sing songs about nature and science to entertain and educate children and their grownups about the natural world. We have a song about insect body parts, geology, keystone species, the joy of getting outdoors, the intestinal parasite Giardia (The Opera of Giardia, check it out on YouTube) so much more. We’ve created 6 albums, one entirely focused on kid-friendly science and solutions to a changing climate, and we have a seventh on the way. We are known for our joyful approach to life and to facing the problems of the world with eyes wide open and surrounded by community. We have an amazing Membership program that offers parents and teachers easy ways to connect with science and nature at home and in the classroom, as well as sustainability workshops and parent supports to help our world transition in the face of the climate crisis. 

I think the thing that sets us apart is the care and attention we give to the creation, messaging, and presentation of all of our projects. After fourteen years of performing and presenting together we still rehearse before every live show and we spend (perhaps too much time!) discussing the pedagogy, intention, and purpose of all that we present to the world, whether live or on video/virtually. We are both educators at heart, though our work is performance and theater! 

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Paige: Shy, into music, dance, and theater, but wouldn’t admit it. Passionate loved writing, reading, and having one or two friends to connect with. Lived in many places around the world before the age of 20. 

Jeff: Outgoing, into choir and baseball, thought he would be a doctor (started out college pre-med) lived in a small town and never went anywhere too far away, then traveled abroad in college and realized he needed to live many more adventures! 

Contact Info:

• Email: paige@jeffandpaige.org
• Website: jeffandpaige.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffandpaige/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeffandpaige/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffPaigeMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/jeffandpaige
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ySSpnZC2MnmGAs1xTN2K9 

Image Credits
Kay Beaton Photography
LIghter Fluid Media
Dave Kagan
Sensitography