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"We might not be the same, but we're not so different you and I, we only have this moment, to see eye to eye," Enguita sang in her clear, warm voice as Geleris strummed her mandolin and Lester kept the beat with a tambourine.
Seeing eye-to-eye is just one of the band's messages. With songs ranging from tributes to American soldiers to ending domestic violence to taking a moment to reconnect with friends, the trio is making their mark in the music world with increased exposure on the internet and concert tours that have taken them as far as Portland, Oregon.
The Women on the Move Trio will play at downtown Newhall's OutWest retail store 7 p.m. Saturday.
"Trish came here during one of our Art Walk events and handed me a CD. I listened and it was fantastic," said OutWest owner Bobbi Bell. "Then I saw them at (U.S. Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon's, R-Santa Clarita) Women's Conference and I was amazed. The audience wept and laughed. Their music really touches hearts."
Formed in 2007 after appearing on the Enguita-produced Women on the Move compilation CD "Beautiful" - which featured 15 female singer-songwriters performing their own music - the trio performs their own songs, with a few Joni Mitchell classics mixed in.
"We're all individual artists who have been playing solo shows for years, but once we got acquainted and became available to work together, we realized we really liked the sound," said Lester.
"It's so nice to have back-ups. I hate to perform alone anymore," Enguita said.
All of the Women on the Move Trio discovered a passion for song as children, but followed very different paths to reach their musical destiny.
Geleris called herself a songwriter at heart who started at 14 or 15 years old, but who didn't delve fully into her talent until after the birth of her third child, who is now 15.
"I decided then to take the gifts that were given me and move forward with music, whatever that looked like," Geleris said.
The Glendora resident started by pouring her feelings into song lyrics and arrangements, followed by networking with other musicians to learn the ins and outs of getting her work heard. During her first networking mission, she made friendships that ultimately led to her original song "Call Me Crazy" being featured in the 1997 Columbia Tri-Star film "Implicated."
Since then, Geleris, a former high school teacher, has released two CDs, including her latest "If I Only Had a Minute," as well as founded a songwriters networking website called SongNet.com.
Lester described herself as a mostly self-taught musician who started playing the piano at age 4. As a teenager she studied folk guitar from Bud Dashiell, half of the 1960s folk duo Bud & Travis, and at 22, began her performing career in front of hundreds of soldiers as part of a trio that played in Korea during her stint in the United States Army.
Once she returned to civilian life, Lester's path changed course. "My mom told me, ‘Don't be a starving artist.' So I got a series of regular jobs, got married, and had kids," Lester said. "But the music was always with me."
So much so that she gave up a three-decade career in public relations after several relatives died in the course of a year.
"I was financially and emotionally drained. I thought, ‘Who am I?' I felt like God had put me here to be a musician," Lester said.
She began collecting song lyrics, then learning the arrangements. Soon enough, Lester was writing original songs and put out her first CD "Plymouth Belvedere" in 2007. The title track was picked up for a National Public Radio "Car Talk" compilation album in 2009.
Enguita grew up as a self-described military brat who first picked up a guitar when her family was stationed in Madrid, Spain.
She settled on a 1-acre property in Lancaster in 1983 and worked as a Social Security employee until taking an early retirement in 2003, which allowed her to focus full-time on her music career.
Songs from Enguita's 2005 "Two Suitcases" CD have aired nationally and in Europe, and she won a $2,500 prize in the "Music from Home" competition by Ritter Ranch. Enguita also created her own label, Red Coyote Records, and was the producer on the "Beautiful" CD, which has been an Editor's Pick at the independent music website CDBaby.com for more than two years.
Women on the Move Trio is working on their debut CD, scheduled for release in late 2010 or early 2011. Works by each individual artist are available for purchase online through iTunes or ReverbNation.com, and their CDs are carried at retail locations like OutWest.
It may not be the traditional method for musical stardom, i.e., a manager, a label and a recording contract, but that's just fine with these artists.
"The way the business works today is absolutely in our favor. We have control of our work and can pick the cream of the crop of all our songs to showcase," Enguita said.
Meanwhile, they are cutting their chops on the road, with performances as varied as McKeon's first Women's Conference held at the College of the Canyons campus on Feb. 13.
The event had an audience in the hundreds.
They also played to a battered women's shelter in Oregon in March.
The band is committed to helping victims of domestic violence, inspired by the plight of Enguita's sister, who fled an abusive relationship with her two children. Enguita's "Heading to the Shore" was written in her honor.
"We want to bring awareness to women that they can have a better life," she said. "I'm really proud of my sister, that she improved not just her own life, but the life of her kids."
All three women play guitar in the band and take turns on percussion.
Geleris recently learned the mandolin and the dulcimer, the latter in honor of Joni Mitchell, and has been viewing the artist playing the instrument on YouTube for direction.
"I watched Mitchell's hands, how she does her tuning on each song. It's really enabled me to improve," Geleris said.
For some shows, they break out a big African drum, or djembe.
"They're always something rhythmic going on," Lester said.
"Yeah, we're really good at shaking," Geleris said with a laugh.
Women on the Move Trio, 7 p.m. Saturday, $15 suggested donation, refreshments provided, OutWest, 24265 Main St., Newhall. (661) 255-7087. For more information on the band visit www.WomenontheMoveTrio.com or become a fan on www.ReverbNation.com/WomenontheMove.
