Folk duo Neal & Leandra hits the Lied Center stage Saturday

Music is the voice that calls to us while we are sleeping – it sets our mood and inspires us to new heights and directions. For some of us, it's the simple story of how boy meets girl and love ensues. But for others, the passion instilled by the music that moves us, sets the stage for everything that follows.

Folk musicians Neal & Leandra, who will perform at the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, are one such story.

"I was attracted to the immediacy of folk music," said Neal Hagberg, of Neal & Leandra. "It has gotten a rather bad name by some over the years, but at its core, it is driven by a sense of what is timeless, not just what is popular."

Neal first met Leandra Peak in 1980 at a Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., at a performance of "Godspell," in which Peak was a cast member. Hagberg approached Peak after the play and asked her to sing with him at a folk festival on the north shore of Lake Superior.

"I did not write much of our material then," Hagberg said. "We were both drawn to folk icon Bill Staines' music and learned a bunch of his songs for this gig. Then we found out he was the headliner of the festival. So they had Bill Staines on the main stage singing Bill Staines' songs and us on a stage, within hearing distance, singing Bill Staines' songs. It was surreal and hilarious."

Since then, Neal & Leandra have devoted themselves to writing original material.

"I started writing like a fiend from then on and we have released 14 CDs of original material, so we never have to get caught in that situation again," he said.

Hagburg and Peak married in 1989 and have been touring full time as a duo ever since. They have played all over the United States from folk festivals to special performances at tiny coffee houses in places like San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Carnegie Hall.

"We have played large concert auditoriums and empty coffeehouses," Hagberg said. "We've played national radio in one town and couldn't get on the national radio show in our own backyard; been adored and I'm sure ridiculed."

Despite the success, adoration and everything else that comes with working in the music industry, Hagberg holds true to the passion he has for the music.

"The older I get, the more my aspirations are to stand in front of an audience, play the songs with everything I have and not be attached to how people receive them," he said.

Saturday's show is being presented in conjunction with a workshop the same afternoon for Cornhusker Place Detox, where Hagberg will use music and song lyrics to help enable those individuals in the detox program to initiate a dialogue about their situation.

"Neal & Leandra are high quality performers," said Charles Wooldridge, the president of the Lincoln Association for Traditional Arts, which is hosting the show. "Their harmony-rich music can be described as romantically themed and having a sense of humor based on real life events."

This folk duo is critically acclaimed by a wide variety of publications including The Washington Post and Boston Globe. As always, be there early to reserve your seat.

Tickets can be purchased at Lafta.net via Paypal or at the door. Prices are $17 for adults, $1 for children under 12, $13 for LAFTA members and $10 for students with an ID.

joewade@

dailynebraskan.com

if you go:

LAFTA presents Neal & Leandra

when: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

where: Lied Center for Performing Arts

how much: $17 adult, $10 student