Barry and Sally Childs-Helton are a husband-and-wife duo of

filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a ni ...

performers based in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, IN. Barry is a guitarist and songwriter, while Sally is a percussionist (and Music for People improvisation teacher). Their repertoire ranges from parodies to lyrically dense "space music," incorporating diverse musical genres including folk, blues, rock, and jazz. Both have doctorate degrees in

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, and the title of their album ''Paradox'' is an intentional pun. (Sally's song ''Alphabet Soup'' can be read as her commentary on academia.) They are legacy members of The Black Book Band (active 1990–1998) and current members of Wild Mercy (2002–present). Together they have been nominated 21 times for the

Pegasus Award The Pegasus Award is the premier award for filk music and is annually hosted at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF). Awards The Pegasus Awards were founded to recognize and honor excellence in filking. As science fiction (sci-fi) became better k ...

given by the

Ohio Valley Filk Fest Ohio ( ) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the west, and Michigan to the northwest. O ...

, collecting 5 trophies. In 2003, they were inducted into the

Filk Hall of Fame Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a nic ...

Discography

* ''Escape from Mundania'' 1987, Space Opera House - cassette * ''Paradox'' 1989, Space Opera House - cassette * ''First Contact'' 1995, Dodeka Records (with Black Book Band) - cassette * ''First Contact'' 1997, Dodeka Records (with Black Book Band) - CD with bonus tracks * ''Tempus Fugitives'' 2001, Dodeka Records - CD compilation of selected tracks from ''Escape from Mundania'' and ''Paradox'' * ''Summer Storm'' 2003, Small Green Alien Productions (with Wild Mercy) - CD * ''Furious Fancies'' 2005, Small Green Alien Productions (with Wild Mercy) - CD * ''Dream of a Far Light'' 2008, Small Green Alien Productions (with WIld Mercy) - CD * ''The Summers Behind You'' 2015, Dragon Scale Studios (Barry solo) - CD

Pegasus Awards

*1988 Best Performer *1993 (Barry) Best Space Song (''Lightsailor'') *1994 (w/ Black Book Band) Best Performer *2012 (w/ Wild Mercy) Best Performer *2016 (Barry) Best Writer/Composer

Pegasus Nominations (individually and jointly)

* Best Writer/Composer - 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015 * Best Performer - 1991, 1993, 2008, 2009 * Best Genre Crossover - 1992, 1993 * Best Fannish Song - 1990 * Best Love Song - 1991 * Best End of the World Song - 2000 * Best Risque Song - 1994 * Best Filk Song - 2010 * Best Classic Filk Song - 2016, 2017

References

Musical duos from Indiana Filkers Living people Indiana University alumni Musicians from Indiana Male–female musical duos Married couples Songwriters from Indiana Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-band-stub