Welcome to the PSALM Salon Performing Arts Center Information and Ticketing Site! The PSALM Salon is Philadelphia's coolest intimate venue for great music listening. The Salon invites music lovers to experience the finest in live music from the world over, all in the comfort of home, but with the professional quality of a high end concert club. It is a warm and welcoming place for the community to share in some of the most exciting music found anywhere, make new friends, enjoy free refreshments, and meet world class musicians one on one. It is a truly unique musical enjoyment experience. Lovers of theater, dance, comedy, performance art, and literary readings will also find much to get excited about. The PSALM Salon is produced by the non-profit Philadelphia Society for Art, Literature & Music. (more) |
| We Need Your Help! PSALM has begun a fund raising drive to install a professional high definition multi-camera video production and post-production system which will allow us to produce cable TV programming of all performances and artist interviews, as well as providing live video streaming to the web, upload to video web archives like YouTube and the CPM Foundation, and output to DVD and BluRay. It is very important to have the ability to preserve and disseminate the amazing performances that happen here each week with some of the world's best known and up-and-coming artists. We ask for your generous support to help us reach our goals and offer our sincerest thanks for whatever you can afford. All of your donations are fully tax deductible. We invite you to view a recent performance by Lori Cotler and Glen Velez posted on the PSALM Salon channel of the Consciousness Precedes Mind Foundation website. |
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Saturday, March 13 SAMUEL JAMES / JOE FLETCHER"Samuel James is like a time machine—the same one that keeps Son House and Mississippi John Hurt traveling back to the public consciousness." "Fantastic! Great voice and great playing style! Traditional blues done with a hip twist." James is still in his 20’s, but he already has a leg up on Keb' Mo' and other more established |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Authenticity in blues. Sick of hearing about that? Perhaps a more important issue in bringing fans back to the blues is “relevance.” Listening to Samuel James one realizes that they are listening to a rare breed in the blues world. Here is a young man, still a few years away from 30, whose debut CD is a set of 12 truly original songs. Each song is a story, an often humorous tale, of love gone haywire, or small town racism, or a folk tale of mythical symbolism.
Samuel James is equally at home on guitar, banjo, harmonica, hambone or piano. He’s steeped in the traditions of his elders but has already created his own voice that speaks with clarity and pathos to a contemporary audience.
Samuel James is the most relevant young blues artist to come our way in quite some time.
Samuel James is a performer of stunningly singular talent. A master of fingerstyle, slide, banjo, harmonica, and piano, this phenom is not yet out of his twenties. With musical influences ranging from Skip James and Sonny Terry to Gus Cannon and Charley Patton, such understanding of pre-war blues is rarely embodied in the music of one person.
But Samuel James is not a revivalist. His songwriting is absolutely unparalleled in contemporary blues. His writing is descended from the long forgotten art of the songster. While musically one could compare him to Patton or Cannon, his writing goes in another direction entirely. His songs are often written as linear stories, novels in musical format: O. Henry meets Mose Allison.
James’ musical lineage stretches back to immediate post-slavery. His grandfather (b. 1890) played guitar in contemporary blues styles of the era. James’ father was a professional pianist, and trombone player. Samuel learned to tap dance at five, learned piano at eight and toured the Northeastern circuit professionally by 12. Samuel lost his mother the same year and spent his teens in foster homes. At 17 he reunited and rekindled a relationship with his father.
Samuel James fully discovered his musicianship after a young woman broke his heart. He booked a flight to Ireland figuring the gray and rainy climate would match his mindset. Short of funds to make it home, he learned harmonica from local street musicians. Collecting enough change to make it back to Maine, he gave up a nascent painting career and dove head first into the guitar. Today, still in his 20s, James releases his second CD and debut for NorthernBlues Music entitled Songs Famed for Sorrow and Joy.
The CD was recorded by numbers: One artist, five days, nine mics, two guitars, one banjo, both feet for percussion and 100% acoustic. “It was the hardest week of my life, which is saying something considering I grew up black in Maine in white foster homes.”
The CD was produced by David Travers-Smith whose credits include Ani DiFranco, Harry Manx and Russell Crowe. The recording reflects Samuel’s live performances as much as one can, but more importantly it showcases why Samuel James doesn’t consider himself a bluesman per se, but a songster and storyteller within a style of music. James is a hardworking individual steeped in the traditions of his elders and has created his own voice that speaks with clarity and pathos to a contemporary audience.
Live, Samuel James includes some older material in his set, and when playing a song created by a previous blues master he truly makes it his own. His stamp of originality is evident in every song he picks. Clearly the historical torch is being passed to him from today’s elder masters and yesterday’s originators. Does that make him authentic? Let the listener decide if that is even the question. Samuel James is the most relevant young blues artist to come our way in quite some time.
Samuel explains “Pre-war blues is much more intimate for me . . . much like a conversation. I’m not really drawn to anything contemporary because it’s not nearly as engaging.” Based on consistent standing ovations, Samuel James clearly knows engaging.
www.myspace.com/sugarsmallhouse
Smokey-voiced singer Joe Fletcher sings like he just woke up and can't remember the past week. It's not quite rockabilly or C&W—and it's much too filthy to be roots—but take the best qualities of those genres and you are getting close. If even half of these lyrics are based in fact, let's hope they all share in the redemption they give the listeners. Joe Fletcher fronts the Wrong Reasons.
www.myspace.com/thewrongreasons
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Saturday, March 20 HONEY DEWDROPS
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish are the Honey Dewdrops and have been making music for six years. They play original and American traditional songs focusing on vocal harmonies and tight instrumentation.
Together with writing their own songs and harping on old country and blues tunes, Laura and Kagey began putting together a repertoire that Laura says “fits us.” You could call the Honey Dewdrops’ original material singer-songwriter because they do write and sing songs. You might just want to say that Laura and Kagey write honest songs with affective melodies that leave you feeling happy and sad and coming back for more. With subtle perception and complimenting guitar work, these songs bring to mind journeys, beginnings and ends, Robert Frank photographs, and a close feeling to home.
If the Sun Will Shine, their debut record, was just released May 2009. Recorded live and mixed in a 1920's barn, the record is meant to pay homage to their live performances - full of the same energy and emotion the Honey Dewdrops bring to the stage. If the Sun Will Shine was mastered by local sound engineer, Abel Okugawa at Monkeyclaus in Nelson VA. The album is a collection of songs that The Honey Dewdrops have written over the past two years and it features material that comes straight from the heart. There are eleven original tunes - some of which are award winners, and a few of the songs got Laura and Kagey plane tickets to St. Paul, Minnesota where they appeared on A Prairie Home Companion’s "People in their Twenties Talent Show" (and won first place) in March 2008. This is a record capturing "something haunting, melancholic and all-together charming" (Jeff Royer, Fly Magazine).
The Honey Dewdrops are headed out on the road this summer traveling west to California and playing at all points in between. They're looking forward to joining up with Anne and Pete Sibley (winners of A Prairie Home Companion's 2009 talent show) in their great state of Wyoming for a set or two toward the end of the summer.
With edgy, intelligent lyrics and hypnotic melodies, Abby Ahmad's music is as passionate as it is profound. Bridging genres of folk-rock, blues, and alternative, Abby's percussive guitar style and arresting vocals captivate and challenge her audiences. Emotionally-charged, yet playful, she is at once in your face and in your heart.
Curriculum, (the follow up to her acclaimed debut, The Rearview), marks a metaphoric and musical evolution for the 27-year old songwriter. Inspired by the thrilling yet frenetic challenges of being an emerging musician in NYC, Curriculum documents the path to independence (both musical and personal) navigating the many lessons learned along the way.
The album’s production values were crafted with a similar mentality. Abby teamed up with Brooklyn-based producers Mark Marshall and Nathan Rosenberg. Together, they have produced an organic, searing portrait of sound and emotion.
Adding to the album’s sonic maturity and authenticity are a stellar lineup of NY musicians including Clark Gayton, Steven Bernstein, and Erik Lawrence (who comprise the horn section for legendary musician Levon Helm) and Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist, Michael Leonhart.
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Saturday, March 27 SWEPT ON STAGEA cabaret history of American musicals told through the eyes of 2 backstage people, with Trudy Graboyes and Joe Ciresi |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Trudy Graboyes and Joe Ciresi are the founders and co-producers of TRUJO Productions; concert versions of musicals. Successful performances of, The Man of LaMancha and Bye Bye Birdie were accomplished this year along with fundraisers using these concerts for the non-profit group, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research LIMR). Bobby RYdell made a special appearance at the The Bye Bye Birdie fundraiser for LIMR.
Trudy and Joe have appeared in numerous cabarets (SEASAW SERENADE, and PORTRAIT OF LOVE) throughout the tri-state area.
Trudy recently appeared as Mae Peterson in TRUJO's production of Bye Bye BIrdie, The Queen of Hearts in an original production of Alice in Wonderland at The Kelsey Theater and as Aldonza in TRUJOS' production of, The Man of LaMancha. Trudy has performed at Walnut St. Arden, Ritz, The New Candlelight, Hedgerow, Plays and Players, Narberth, Footlighters and New York Dinner Theaters. She is also in the cast of Tony and Tina's Wedding Show, as Mrs. Vitale; mother of the bride. Trudy's favorite roles are Aldonza, Moma Rose, the Witch in The Wizard of Oz, and Mae Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie. Trudy received the Subscribers Choice Award from the Ritz Theater for her portrayal of Yenta the Matchmaker in the musical, Fiddler on the Roof. Trudy also wrote, produced and is the singer on the children's tape entitled, Doodle Dee Doo. Trudy's 'day,' job is as a Standardized patient (hospital actess) for, The National Board if Osteopathic Medicine.
Joe Ciresi recently appeared as Albert Peterson in TRUJO"S production of , Bye Bye BIrdie. He is the director for TRUJO Productions. Recent credits include, Professor Harold Hill (MUSIC MAN) Benny Van Buren (DAMN YANKEES) and Huckabee in the Kimmel Centers' production of, The Fantastiks. He has also played Father Mark aboard, The Spirit of Philadelphia and at The Kimmel Center. Joe also directed the comedy, Social Security at Footlighters Theater. When not performing on stage or directing in front of the stage, Joe is the Director of Marketing at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
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Sunday, March 28 JEFFREY WERBOCKArt Music of the Caucasus Mountains |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 7:00 pm (Note the earlier time)
One of the richest traditions in Near Eastern music is that of the Caucasus Mountains, and in particular, of Azerbaijan. The art music of Azerbaijan is closely related to Persian court music and reflects both ancient liturgical music and the vigorous folk of the various nomadic peoples who have inhabited, conquered or passed through the region over the centuries.
Jeffrey Werbock will present an evening of instrumental solo improvisations based on traditional Azerbaijani mugham, played on oud - fretless wood face short neck lute; tar - fretted skin face long neck lute; and kamancha - skin face spike fiddle.
Azerbaijani mugham is monophonic modal music, highly microtonal, meter free, densly ornamented, composed of complex melodic lines that are somewhat improvised according to the eastern tradition of theme and variation, and convey a mix of sorrow and joy, exhaltation and lament, and an overall sense of antiquity and otherworldiness.
Mr. Werbock has been giving presentations for well over three decades and has performed often at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, Asia Society, World Music Institute, and presents lecture demonstrations at colleges and universities all over the English speaking world. He has been awarded an honorary degree by the National Music Conservatory of Azerbaijan, in Baku, and was recently sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan to perform a solo concert.
Jeffrey Werbock is one of the few westerners who has mastered this highly complex music. He was taught by Zevulon Avshalomov, one of the acknowledged masters of Azerbaijani Mugham music and a fine instrument maker. Mr. Werbock studied for twelve years with the master, and was considered by Avshalomov as his prize pupil, and inheritor of this tradition. He has performed worldwide to high acclaim with his teacher, as a solo performer and in ensembles on the kamencheh, tar, gaval and oud. Mr. Webock is a fluent speaker of Azeri and is a wealth of knowledge on the history and traditions of the Caucasus which he shares during performances.
The following is a partial list of places where Mr. Werbock performed either solo or with his ensemble:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York City (once in the Instrument Gallery, once in the
Middle East and Islamic Gallery, and twice in the Uris Theatre in conjunction with the Society for
Asian Music).
- The American Museum of Natural History. New York City (Once in the Linder Theatre, twice
in the Kaufman Theatre, and many times in the People's Center).
- State University of New York. Potsdam
- City University of New York at 138th Street and Convent Av.
- World Music Institute. New York City (many times)
- Merkin Hall. Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. New York City (four times)
- Symphony Space, New York City (four times)
- School of Visual Arts. New York City
- Haifa Museum of Ethnology, Haifa, Israel
- Basel Academy of Music. Basel. Switzerland (seven times)
- Radio France, Paris, France
- Asia Society. New York City
- Indiana University at Bloomington
- Rutgers University, New Jersey
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Tyler Junior College, Tyler, Texas
- Middle East Institute. Washington. D.C.
- Middle East Studies Association Annual Convention held in Providence, Rhode Island
- Greenburgh Arts and Culture Center. Greenburgh, New York
- Philharmonic Hall. Baku. Azerbaijan
- Baruch College, NYC
- Opera House, Baku, Azerbaijan
- Turkish Cultural Center. NYC
- Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Washington D.C.
- Silk Road Festival. Washington D.C.
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Saturday, April 3 FATHER JOHN D'AMICO TRIO"Father John" D'Amico is a consummate musician and composer whose style contains elements of Count Bassie, Bill Evans, and early Keith Jarret, but he is definitely his own man. He doesn't let technique get in the way of style. No ego trips for "Father John," he loves what he performs. . .Jazz! It is indisputably classic trio jazz, and he and his trio do it exceedingly well." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
"Father John" recently received the Master of Jazz Award from the Delta Psi Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, of Immaculata College, 2007. He has performed at Zanzibar Blue, Philadelphia, PA, with his trio and with a Quintet and Vocalist, in Europe at the Majestic Hotel in Cannes, France at Midem 2000, where he astounded and enthralled audiences. His long-time notable bassist, Kenny Davis, and the outstanding jazz chanteuse Ella Csircsu accompanied him. He was well received by the European press and broadcasting media. He is considered one of the world's finest Jazz Composers, Lyricists, and Pianists. This reigning "Lord of the Keyboard." was chosen as (10/13//95) Jazz Instrumentalist of the week on BET's Jazz Discoveries, as well as National air play on BET's Jazz TV Station. "Father John" was a 1989 recipient of the John Coltrane Award for Outstanding Achievement in Jazz, and was a featured artist in the National Public Radio's "At the Bride" series 1989-1990. He is an active board member of the Trane Stop Resource Institute (John Coltrane). July 1994, "Father John" was distinguished with a biographical segment "The Jazz Man," that aired on Larry Kane's "The Bulletin" (KYW-TV)
"Father John" has been playing classical piano since he was six years old, Rock & Rollfrom 16 to 19, and Jazz since he was 17. When "Father John" was 19 he made the decision to enter St. Charles Seminary, placing his jazz career on hold. He continued his love of music at St. Charles by conducting and arranging for the Borromeans Chorus, and by playing the part of Howard Hill in the Seminary's production of "The Music Man". While he was a practicing priest he renewed his studies in jazz piano. A career decision had to be made. "Father John", at the age of 29, traded in his pulpit for a piano. Since then, "Father John" has performed with major Jazz Greats: Lionel Hamptom, vocalist Etta Jones, bassist Charles Fambrough, and saxophonists, Jimmy Oliver, Bootsie Barnes, and Lou Tobakin, and percussionists Doc Gibbs. The great drummer, "Philly Joe" Jones, was a featured member of The "Father John" D'Amico Trio.
The Trio has performed at the West End Cafe, and the Village Gate in New York City, and all of the well known clubs and major hotels of Philadelphia and the surrounding area. "Father John" D'Amico has been featured as a solo performer, as well as with his Trio, on the major Philadelphia Television Stations' morning and Sunday shows, and Public Television.
He performed for "Spotlight", produced by Public Television, featuring a medley of music written by Philadelphian, Joe Burke. "Father John" has performed and composed for several independent films and documentaries produced by local film makers, and production companies. Shirley Road Productions', "Waterfront Philadelphia" WHYY was aired January 4, 1994 with original compositions by Father John, and used a new compositions Voyaging Home in a new documentary "Aid to Friends".
He has also had numerous concerts broadcast live on radio stations WRTI, WHYY, and WPEN. He has participated in several Philadelphia area based Jazz Vespers, including Old Pine, and Haddonfield Presbyterian and the Philadelphia Art Museum's Wednesday evening series. He is no stranger to the Presidential Jazz Weekend (PECO Jazz Weekend) or the Mellon Jazz Festivals.
Father John has been the subject for many newspaper articles in the tri state area in the last fifteen years. Nels Nelson interviewed him in a 1985 two page Sunday Inquire feature. The most recent being "Winery's jazz strike's mellow note, The former priest on the keys hadn't strayed that far from his roots." Anne Bernard, The Inquirer, Sept. 3 1996, and "One of Us" the Daily News September 1993.
In 1993 the Father John D'Amico Trio was the first group outside the classical venue to perform at the highly acclaimed Woodmere Art Museum series "Music at an Exhibition". The concert was such a success that they were immediately asked to return in April 1994.
In 1975 the Painted Bride Art Center commissioned a Jazz Mass, which "Father John" composed and performed with his trio and Father MacNamee. Since then the Painted Bride Art Center has hosted numerous concerts for "Father John", which always debuted his original compositions. So it was only natural to record his debut album "Live at the Painted Bride," The second recording, "Street Blues," a CD, is a compilation of Concerts performed at the Painted Bride and Tyler School of Art. Several of his songs have been recorded by local singers of note, "Carino", (Barbara Montgomery, "Barbara Montgomery", 1994-Mr. Bean Bumpy Music, Inc.) "Daniel's Song" and "Josephine," (Ella Csircsu, "Rare Breed", 1995-Csircsu Productions).
As a priest, and even today as a social worker and a probation officer "Father John" has been involved with the Latin Community. He speaks fluent Spanish and loves the Latin Culture. One of his endeavors reflects the Latin influence on his music. (His Latin Jazz Orchestra.) WRTI Live at the Nite Owl Broadcast, 1990.
Kenny Davis is an accomplished student of Charles Fambrough and Tyrone Brown. He has performed with jazz greats Mickey Rocker. Odeen Pope. Bootsie Barnes, Eddie Green, as well as recorded with "Father John" D'Amico, "Live At the Bride," 1986 and "Street Blues," 1988-89, Byard Lancaster, Byard Lancaster Worlds," 1994, and Ella Csircsu, "Rare Breed, 1995-96"Kenny Davis is an accomplished student of Charles Fambrough and Tyrone Brown. He has performed with jazz greats Mickey Rocker. Odeen Pope. Bootsie Barnes, Eddie Green, as well as recorded with "Father John" D'Amico, "Live At the Bride," 1986 and "Street Blues," 1988-89, Byard Lancaster, Byard Lancaster Worlds," 1994, and Ella Csircsu, "Rare Breed, 1995-96"
Greg McDonald recieved his first set of drums when he was 20 months old. He is an alumnus of Philadelphias famous Settlement Music School, and studied with Alan Abel and Greg Steel at the age of 9. He began his professional career when he was 16 years old. He has performed and/or recorded with Johnny Coles, Terrance Blanchard, Wallace Roney, Freddie Hubbard,Kenny Barron,Bootsie Barnes, Joanne Brackeen, Sumi Tonooka, Slide Hampton, and Odeen Pope to name a few.
www.myspace.com/fatherjohndamicotrio
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Saturday, April 10 / 8:00 pm - Makbet DZIECI THEATER"...in art there is no final goal. There is always further to go. It is a voyage of unending discovery, and as in all such voyages, what is gathered by the wayside is often as valuable as what is found at the destination." |
Performances -
Makbet: Saturday, 8pm -
$16 Advance/$20 Door
Fool's Mass: Sunday, 11 am - $16 Advance/$20 Door
Both Performances: $25 Advance/$30 Door
Makbet |
Fool's Mass |
Both Performances |
Dzieci (djyeh-chee) is an international experimental theatre ensemble dedicated to a search for the "sacred" through the medium of theatre. "Dzieci" is the Polish word for "Children".
In Dzieci, we believe the creative act must, primarily, have a transformative effect on the artist himself. We make no pretensions of altruism. If others are involved in our efforts - as students, audiences, patients, (or even fellow group members) - it is because a relationship with them is a natural extension for us to make in the context of our own development. Ultimately, the only gauge each of us has for measuring the effects of our work is our individual evolution, as artists and as human beings.
Using techniques garnered from such theatre masters as Jerzy Grotowski, Eugenio Barba and Peter Brook, ritual forms derived from Native American and Eastern spiritual disciplines, and an ethic based securely in Humanistic Psychology, Dzieci aims to create a theatre that is as equally engaged with personal transformation as it is with public presentation.
Towards this aim, the ensemble balances its work on performance with work of service, through creative and therapeutic interaction in hospitals and a variety of institutional settings. Dzieci believes helping others generates a profound healing effect that not only serves
the patient but also strengthens the ensemble's work.
Dzieci is firmly dedicated to process. Our theatrical creations come organically over a long period of time, and a relationship with the world around us is essential. Therefore, public demonstrations of the work in progress are offered along the way, along with para-theatrical workshops, which invite participants to experience the work underlying our most current investigations.
Fools Mass
In this work, a motley group of medieval village idiots are forced to enact their own Mass, due to the untimely death of their beloved pastor. Though it sounds grim, Fools Mass is full of buffoonery and comic audience participation. This, along with choral singing of sacred hymns and chants from the 8th through the 17th centuries, combines to create a work which travels from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Makbet
Dzieci has been steadily working on a Gypsy retelling of the Shakespearean classic. For this condensed version of Macbeth, the ensemble has learned all the lines, of every part, through a process of oral transmission, so as to create maximum improvisational possibilities. In rehearsal, as well as production, we do not know who will be playing any given role at any given time.
The show has the impression of being a ritual or ceremony. A very mysterious ceremony. Employing haunting folk songs and chants from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, along with the poetry of Shakespeare’s eternal verse, the company explores, and explodes, the very essence of theatre and storytelling.
Matt Mitler (Company Director) was initially trained in Humanistic and Existential Psychology, before discovering the healing potential of theatre. He considers his therapeutic study with such masters as R.D. Laing and Carl Rogers to be equal to his theatrical study with Jerzy Grotowski and Eugenio Barba. Combining these two pursuits, he began to lead workshops in a variety of settings including Hutchings Psychiatric Center (NY); The National Theatre School of Sweden; and the graduate school of The University of Psychology of Warsaw, where, in 1980, his essay, "Art and Therapy" was published in the anthology, New Directions in Psychotherapy.
To date, Matt has designed and directed over 70 theatrical productions, appeared on numerous television programs, and starred in over a dozen independent feature films. Though continuing to act, teach, and direct, Mr. Mitler‘s primary focus is on Theatre Group Dzieci, which he founded, here in New York City, in 1997. He and Dzieci are featured in the book, Working on the Inside: The Spiritual Life Through the Eyes of Actors by Retta Blaney, and profiled in the current edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion.
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Saturday, April 17 TRES COMPADRES
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Tres Compadres is a modern flamenco ensemble that explores the boundaries of flamenco and fusion while embracing the elements of tradition that make this genre of music such an incredible art form. Inspired by such notable artists as Paco de Lucia, Gerardo Nunez, Tomatito, and Vicente Amigo, Tres Compadres continues the legacy of seeking new ways of applying musical growth to an old tradition.
The concept behind the songs recorded on Que Pasa was to reflect the ensemble as a unit. This is not your typical “musicians back up guitarist” flamenco cd. Fast paced unison lines, thoughtful melodies, and complex rhythms interjected with virtuoso solos are featured throughout by all members of the ensemble. The band tackles such flamenco song forms (palos) as buleria, rumba, solea por buleria, tangos, tarantas, and solea.
Tres Compadres shows its’ jazzy side on Fandangos, does a Latin inspired version of Chick Corea’s Armandos Rumba, and puts a world music edge to the Cat Steven’s classic Longer Boats.
Guitarist Chris Mood attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he acquired both his Bachelors and Masters degree in music. An avid performer Chris Mood has been entertaining audiences throughout the tri-state area since the early 90’s. In the mid 90’s Chris toured the college circuit with a jazz ensemble performing at various colleges and festivals along the east coast. Chris has performed in a multitude of settings including T.V., live radio broadcasts, recording sessions, and theater productions. Throughout his musical career Chris Mood has always valued and set time aside for music education and has taught high school, summer music programs, and at various private institutions.
A student of the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, Frank Cooks’ talents have led him around the country performing with such notable talents as bebop saxophonist Ritchie Cole and the Isley Brothers. Besides retaining a hectic performance schedule, Frank also works as a producer/session player and has authored 6 instructional/educational books on playing bass.
Dave Sherick is a graduate of the Temple school of music and has received government grants to travel and study with musicians from Cuba and Spain. Dave’s reputation as an exquisite percussionist keeps him performing regularly throughout Philadelphia and New York and can often be heard performing with the band “Latin Fiesta”. In 2002 PBS shot a short documentary on Dave and his 1 man band percussion show.
Newest member Tim Shay is also a graduate of the Temple school of music. Tim Shay is a talented multi-instrumentalist (flute, sax, piano, clarinet) who prior to joining the Compadres performed with the Philadelphia based jazz-funk band The Electric Jellyfish, opening up for national recording artists at concerts and festivals along the east coast.
www.myspace.com/trescompadresband
| Saturday, April 24 | |
| CRAIG BICKHARDT | FONTAINE COOLEY |
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Craig Bickhardt's new CD Brother To The Wind contains some of the best work he has done in a long career dedicated to ennobling the art of song. One listen and you'll be reminded of the days when artists like James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot were pioneering the singer-songwriter genre.
Bickhardt's songs have been recorded by over 100 artists including luminaries such as Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Allison Krauss, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Janis Ian and Art Garfunkle.
"Music used to change people," Bickhardt notes. "Records used to be made for careful listeners who read the lyrics and talked about the songs, interpreted their meanings. That's the kind of music I relate to." Craig is following in the footsteps of his admired predecessors.
For this project, Bickhardt dug deep into his 800-tune catalog. The record contains songs that have already proven their strength, having been recorded by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, Tony Rice, Charlie Louvin and others. But Craig is not merely a tunesmith capitalizing on his thoroughbred discography. These songs are highly artistic, and throughout his extraordinary career he has picked up many believers among the better artists of his generation. You can hear them "sitting in" on nearly every cut of the CD; Janis Ian, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Maura O'Connell, Rusty Young, Jack Sundrud and a host of others.
"I wanted to include some of the artists and friends I've known and respected on this CD. You get to a point where you realize you don't have forever in this world. It's time to do the things I've put off, and one of those things is to sing and pick with these great people I've met and admired," Craig Says.
The Native Pennsylvanian's big break came in 1982 when he was chosen to write and sing two songs for Robert Duvall's Academy Award winning film "Tender Mercies". In the wake of that film's success, Craig made his move to Nashville where his songs found their way onto platinum and Grammy winning CDs by legends such as Ray Charles, B. B. King, Martina McBride, The Judds, and Dianne Schuur. Along with his friends and collaborators Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch and Don Schlitz, Craig was one of the original Writers In The Round at The Bluebird Cafe. He went on to have three hits as an artist when he joined Schuyler and Knobloch to make their SKB CD No Easy Horses for MTM Records, which yielded Craig's chart topper "Givers And Takers".
In 2006 Bickhardt made the bold move to leave Nashville and return to the concert stage and to his roots in eastern Pennsylvania. Since his move he has shared the stage with Kathy Mattea, Judy Collins, Billy Joe Shaver, Livingston Taylor, and Janis Ian among others. His performance at the 2008 Philadelphia Folk Festival prompted the concert's promoter Jesse Lundy to say, "Craig Bickhardt stands among the giants of songwriting. His main stage show at this year's Philly Folk Festival was absolutely outstanding."
Fontaine Cooley is original acoustic instrumental music fusing jazz, funk, blues, country, bluegrass and an occasional latin groove.
What started as a casual conversation between two old musical friends, grew into the rekindling of their passion for playing music together. Then after a steady diet of once a week one on one meetings for musical experimentation and tea, it morphed into a four piece, cross generational combo of veteran musicians, with countless years of bands, gigs, touring and recording between them. With each member contributing his own style and experience to the project, the result is original acoutic instumental music, featuring guitar, mandolin, bass and drums, fusing jazz, funk, blues, country, and an occassional latin groove into a unique style of their own. Backwoods pyrotechnics.
These instrumentals are essentially ensemble pieces, with finely crafted interplay between the elements, the sum of which is compelling, upbeat, fresh and unique, yet somewhat difficult to classify. The instrumentation, acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass and drums, might lead one to expect a certain type of music, perhaps country or even bluegrass. But while elements of those genres are evident, there are also liberal doses of jazz, funk, blues and Latin, all of which fuse into a style and sound that is uniquely Fontaine Cooley.
Each song is a small journey, and just when it seems the route is identified, an unexpected turn, a surprising detour occurs. From the country tinged “Bus Stories” with its’ salute to the Big Band era at the end, to the funky “It Is What It Isn’t If It Isn’t What It Is” with a Latin mid section, the trip is worth taking repeatedly.
Peter Hayes - Guitar
Terry Bortman - Bass
Paul Iaboni - Mandolin
Jeff Gordon - Zendrum
www.myspace.com/fontainecooley
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Saturday, May 1 STEVE GIORDANO'S SPACETET"My artistic goals will always be unrealistically greater than what I can possibly achieve in one lifetime. For instance, I would love to play in every jazz club and concert hall in the world, compose huge pieces for orchestra and have them played everythere, compose movie scores, get signed by a great record label who let's me do what I want... I will develop my art regardless of this, and with positive attitudes and pure joy from the music itself." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Steve Giordano is a Philadelphia jazz guitarist in great company. He has lived, learned, loved and played in the most evolutionary age of creative music in America. Early teachers were by way of radio and then 45 and LP records from the nineteen fifties. Giordano learned from the best: screaming guitar solos from Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore then lured to jazz by Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and John Coltrane. The first spoken jazz lesson was from a Columbia LP with Leonard Bernstein called "What is Jazz" Every note of Wes Montgomery; then, Jim Hall. Illuminated by writings of Persechetti, Schillinger, and Hindemith. No traditional schooling, but all the best teachers.
Jazz went from blues, swing, be-bop, straight-ahead, hard-bop, post-bop, fusion, progressive, avant garde. Sparked by Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Ralph Towner, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Wheeler, and Chick Corea; Giordano played rock in clubs in his teens gradually subverting jazz into the repertoire in his early 20's. His jazz baptism was playing with drummer Chico Hamilton and then came the organ circuit with Richard Groove Holmes and Willis Jackson, here and in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. Playing in all kinds of jazz situations here on the East coast in festivals, clubs and concerts.
Giordano's career as a soloist and educator has recently included two tours to Italy in 2004 and 2005 offering master classes at the Accademia di Chitarra Moderna and continuing collaborations with Sicilian jazz musicians drummer Francesco Branciamore and guitarist Andrea Quartarrone. Locally Giordano has enjoyed inspired duets with various artists including John Swana on trumpet, and John Blake on violin. Player, composer, arranger, synthesist, writer, teacher. Exploring, challenging, pushing, experimenting, and enjoying the making of beautiful music with dedicated Philadelphia musicians. Ideas ever evolving. Playing from his heart with passion always.
The past several years have proven incredibly fruitful for Giordano. He formed an ensemble known as the Steve Giordano Spacetet. The Spacetet is the culmination of decades of Giordano's compositional development and musical relationships. The Spacetet is comprised of Bob Meashey on trumpet and flugelhorn, Brian Howell on bass, John Mosemann on drums and percussion and Peter Cobb on alto saxophone. Giordano has recently composed a number of pieces designed to highlight the group's sensitive and interactive sound. The Spacetet has since released three recordings featuring these compositions: Sea Dreams (2004), Utopia (2006), and Timeline (2008). With performances at The Painted Bride Art Center, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Clef Club, the University of Pennsylvania, Drew University and upcoming shows at Chris' Jazz Cafe and Ortlieb's Jazzhaus, the Spacetet continues to expose their particular expression of beautiful music.
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Saturday, May 8 JIM BOGGIA with Nate Rylan"Jim Boggia’s star in the Philadelphia music community is firmly cemented." "Philly’s adopted son Jim Boggia is another first-rate audio architect..." "Boggia should plan on a long and illustrious career in the music business if he decides to keep putting out material as good as this." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Misadventures In Stereo, the third album by widely lauded singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jim Boggia, is unmistakably the work of a true believer and pop craftsman who’s closely acquainted with music’s capacity for transcendent uplift. His songs get the balance right between devastating beauty and sadness, and the big fat joke that is life. Born blind in one eye and with limited vision in the other, Boggia grew up an only child with an acutely developed ear for music. His early fascination for such iconoclastic pop classics as the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society, Nilsson Sings Newman and Stevie Wonder’s Innervisons helped to inform an aesthetic sensibility that would push him to create album-length listening “experiences” on his own releases.
Boggia has gained impressive career momentum in a short amount of time. Blackberry selected one of his tracks for a new ad campaign and his songs have also been featured on MTV’s Real World and ABC-TV’s Men In Trees. He’s developed a loyal grass-roots fan base for his dynamic, improvisational live shows. His work has been embraced by numerous fellow artists and kindred spirits, many of who have lent their talents to Boggia’s albums. His sophomore release, Safe In Sound (2005, bluhammock music), featured key contributions from such notable admirers as Aimee Mann, Jill Sobule, MC5 guitar hero Wayne Kramer, Attractions drummer Pete Thomas and legendary ’70s cult-pop icon Emitt Rhodes.
Boggia’s first two releases, 2002’s Fidelity Is the Enemy and 2005’s Safe In Sound, established him as a critical favorite. Harp magazine described his songs as “captivating,” adding that he “delivers the sort of intelligent, melodic pop music that ought to be a staple of radio playlists.” Paste called Boggia a “first-rate audio architect” and praised his use of “lush instrumental flourishes, intriguing sound bites and naturalistic found sounds.” The Washington Post made note of his “soulful voice, experimental instrumentation and an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music.”
The qualities that have endeared Boggia to fans, critics and his fellow musicians are abundant throughout Misadventures In Stereo (which, appropriately, was mastered at London’s fabled Abbey Road studios where the Beatles recorded virtually all of their ’60s classics). His knack for merging melodic bliss and bittersweet, richly detailed lyrical substance is prominent on such tracks as the ironically jaunty-sounding “Johnnie’s Going Down,” the pensive “No Way Out” and the dreamily melancholy “So.” Another standout is the baroque-pop underdog anthem “Chalk One Up for Albert’s Side,” which Boggia co-wrote with Tony Asher, legendary lyricist of the Beach Boys’ landmark Pet Sounds. Particularly affecting is the haunting album-closer “Three Weeks Shy,” about a soldier killed three weeks before completing his tour of duty.
Boggia’s deep and abiding affection for classic pop is apparent on “Listening to NRBQ,” a poignant reminiscence of a love affair strengthened by a mutual love for music. The song also doubles as a tribute to the title band, whose beloved guitarist Big Al Anderson plays guitar on the track. “8Track” and “It’s Your Birthday” (the latter co-written with David Poe) further examine the role that music plays in our lives and loves.
Misadventures may be Boggia’s darkest album to date, but it still sparkles with the melodic wit, inspired arrangements and perfectly crafted songs Boggia is renowned for. Recorded mostly live to analog tape, it’s a warm, organic album that pays tribute to the recording process. “Nine of the ten songs on ‘Misadventures in Stereo’ deal with some type of loss: loss of a loved one, loss of control, loss of love, loss of power, the list goes on.” Boggia says. “Writing and recording these songs gave me an outlet for processing those things, but also provided moments of hope and perseverance as well.”
While Safe In Sound experimented with all manner of left-field sonic frills and exotic vintage gear, Misadventures In Stereo finds Boggia taking a more basic, stripped-down approach. Recording live to analog tape, he and his band blew through the material until they had what they felt were the right takes. “I went for the qualities that I loved about my favorite ’60s and ’70s records,” Boggia states. “They weren’t perfect, but they were all about the feel of the performances. Whether it moved you was much more important than if that note was a tiny bit flat or that snare hit didn’t line up exactly on the beat.” Record collectors will be happy to know that Misadventures will also be issued on vinyl . . . in MONO, no less.
With Misadventures, Boggia shows a career artist at the peak of his creative power, a self-proclaimed “music geek” for whom making music is as effortless as breathing. In a perfect world, everyone will be hearing more about Jim Boggia.
Nate Rylan's work was discovered by Ben Arnold at the Blinkin Lincoln club in Philadelphia when he was invited to play during Ben’s residency. This resulted in the meeting of musicians who eventually became Nate’s musical collaborators for the EARLY APE project.
Nate has been playing music all his life, drawing inspiration from the most prolific songwriters in Rock and Pop. His music is both sincere and irreverent, blending attentive lyrics with striking melodies to create an impressive and unmistakable sound. Nate credits his formal musical beginnings with the Philadelphia Boys Choir for his disciplined commitment to songwriting and performing. His early experience with the Choir, whose former members include influential Philadelphians such as Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) and Ukee Washington (CBS-3), opened his eyes to the amazing world that exists for performers, allowing him the opportunity to sing for sold out crowds at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall in New York, Westminster Abbey in London, and the Royal Palace in Budapest, among many other iconic venues.
As he grew, Nate’s musical interests began to focus on Pop/Rock, which led him toward being recruited out of high school as a music instructor for the first branch of The Paul Green School of Rock Music. While at Rock School, Nate also owned an operated an in-house recording studio, recording and producing all of Rock School’s early shows, the catalyst for the School’s enduring success, nationally and internationally.
Recently, Nate was featured on the John McLaughlin show on WPEB 88.1 FM and received an award from the John Lennon Songwriting contest for his song “Tired Bones.” Nate's music garners comparisons to such taste changers as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Green Day, Elliot Smith, Billy Joel, and even Buddy Holly. Many have described his songs as "prunk", while others have called his songs “the new standard for Pop music." David Wannop, of Montgomery News, called EARLY APE “...‘THE’ band to watch...” Right now, Nate Rylan and EARLY APE are invigorating the Philly music scene one club at a time, appearing at Blinkin Lincoln, The Tin Angel, The M Room, and many more.
http://www.myspace.com/naterylan
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Saturday, May 15 RACHAEL SAGE with Suzie Brown"Dexterous and haunting work, scored with dark emotional hues, rich chromatic chordings and surprising, adventurous changes. Musically sophisticated and accomplished work...standing tall next to any and all contemporary competition" Philadelphia Daily News "Sage is one of those frightenly diverse talents who would easily make the rest of us feel inadequate if she wasn't so darn charming" The Washington Post "Sage (is) the Jewish Norah Jones" Washington Jewish Week |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
"What if I woke up tomorrow and I couldn't love / the truth is that is something I am petrified of / but maybe I'd be relieved to find out / that grieving is what love's about" (Rachael Sage, from the song CHANDELIER)
Multi award-winning New York songwriter Rachael Sage has penned quirky, melodic pop songs since she was old enough to reach the piano keys. Over the course of her career, she has steadily built a loyal grassroots fanbase with a rigorous international tour schedule, performing in inventive configurations featuring Wurlitzer, drums, trumpet and string quartet. Like her musical idol Elvis Costello, she's endlessly fascinated with the crafts of songwriting and arrangement, and counts Buddy Holly, The Beatles, David Bowie and perhaps most surprisingly, John Lee Hooker among her biggest inspirations."I met Johnny Lee while I was a radio DJ at Stanford University. I used to play piano at the happy hour in my dorm, and his organ player delivered the kegs. One day he heard me playing and invited me to a BBQ at Johnny Lee's house. I ended up interviewing him for the station, and after that we just hit it off. He'd invite me over on weekends to play his wurly, and say 'now Rachael, play me some of that Joni Mitchell-classical music!' It was pretty humbling." The song "Blue Light" is about her unlikely friendship with the bluesman, who Sage says, "loved to talk about politics in a very simple, essential way. He seemed to genuinely want to know young people's opinions, and to keep affirming that music was the one great equalizer."
Her latest self-produced disc, CHANDELIER, was recorded by longtime collaborator John Shyloski, mixed by Grammy® Winner Kevin Killen (Elvis Costello, U2), and contains 13 tracks of what Performing Songwriter calls "engaging pop arrangements and gripping melodies." A musically eclectic affair, the album covers a myriad of emotions, but always comes back to one central theme: fragility.
The title track, CHANDELIER, reflects on the reality that "life as you know it could come to a crashing halt at any time - and if it does, will you have done everything possible to relish it along the way?" Sage says she was prompted to write the song after learning that a fellow musician had been diagnosed with severe tendonitis and was advised to take a solid year off the road to heal. "I had pretty bad carpal-tunnel myself at the time, and it really made me think: 'am I just going through the motions here, or am I as conscious and grateful as I can be, every chance I get to do what I enjoy? Performing is a privilege - sometimes it's way too easy to forget that." Layering several tracks to achieve an orchestral effect, cellist Dave Eggar (Coldplay) perfectly captures what Sage describes as "what a glacier melting might sound like, if it could sing."
The song VERTIGO is a frenetic, 6/8 plea for distance from a manipulative adulterer, a scenario she admits "was based on a very unfortunate real-life experience." MY WORD, which Sage composed in her early 20's, is a vibrant folk-pop arrangement featuring violinist Allison Cornell (Cyndi Lauper) and guitarist Ben Butler (Dar Williams). The song was written while she was studying at The Shakespeare Lab at the New York Public Theater, shortly before she decided to focus on music full-time. Sage, who received a degree in Drama from Stanford University and also studied at The Actors Studio M.F.A. Program, reveals: "I had no idea how much I'd use that [drama] training as a singer-songwriter...but I'd definitely say my biggest influence in terms of dynamics - aside from The Beatles - continues to be The Bard."
Another notable cut on the record includes Sage's cover of MEXICO by Jump Little Children, which she heard while performing at a radio station in Atlanta. "That song is about so many of the things I was experiencing during the making of this album, especially the process of trying to let someone go you know is not good for you - someone who's hurting you but you still can't help but be attracted to their passion. Intensity can be intoxicating, even when it's destructive." Heavy guitars and Rachael's first harmonium performance punctuate a Tom Petty-esque arrangement featuring organ playing by fellow New Yorker Rob Curto, who also appeared on Sage's two prior recordings, 2004's Independent Music Award-Winning album BALLADS & BURLESQUE, and 2006's THE BLISTERING SUN.
For all of Rachael's international travels (she toured in the UK this past fall and made her debut in Japan this winter), she insists her favorite musical moments are when "people come up to me at shows and give me their own CDs...I really get a kick out of that, because we're all doing the same thing, just trying to connect and be heard." One such fan approached her at a concert in San Francisco, explained she was a singer-songwriter herself, and then proceeded to ask Rachael if she'd write a song for her commitment ceremony - which became WISHBONE. "I was honored, but I've never written asong like that for such a personal event - so it was definitely a vulnerable situation for me. Thankfully, she and her partner loved it, and now that it's on my record I'm really glad I said yes!"
Sage, a former dancer who performed with The New York City Ballet in her teens, also designed the album artwork for CHANDELIER, which features a drawing by an intern at her label MPress Records. She was photographed in a dress designed by an East Village neighbor, where she’s lived for over a decade. “I really enjoy finding fellow artists in the City who are still in that place where the idea of reaching a new audience for their work – however large or small – is what gets them out of bed in the morning…basically, it’s the reason I still live here and probably always will.”
Eager to nurture aspiring musicians and make a positive impact through music, Sage launched her first philanthropic endeavor in 2006 with the NEW ARRIVALS compilation series. Each volume in the series gives a voice to up-andcoming independent songwriters as well as more established guest artists such as Melissa Ferrick and Jill Sobule, while supporting a humanitarian cause; proceeds from Volume 1 (2006) benefited Gulf Coast Relief, Volume 2 (2007) supports World Hunger Year and Volume 3 (due in September 2008 on MPress Records) will raise funds and create awareness for NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association).
SUZIE BROWN – might be a common name, but there’s nothing common about this rising talent. Having started writing songs in June 2008, Brown has already taken the circuit in and around Philadelphia by storm, selling out popular area music venues such as the Tin Angel, and opening for the likes of Livingston Taylor and Lyle Lovett.
While media outlets have seized on her unusual bio — Brown is a practicing cardiologist who has set aside a promising research career to focus on music — audiences and promoters have focused on Brown’s engaging performances and her intimate songs.
The easy familiarity of her melodies harkens back to Carole King’s folk-pop creations, while the yearning sweetness in her voice recalls the down-home intimacy of Patty Griffin. Brown’s songwriting is remarkably mature, combining subtle progressions with memorable turns of phrase, in the best tradition of Nashville-style songwriting.
This summer, Brown has reached new audiences with successful shows at Bethlehem Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA, Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, and Club Passim and Johnny D’s in Boston. She will continue touring in support of her recently completed EP, Side Streets, produced by Ross Bellenoit at Turtle Studios in Philadelphia.
www.myspace.com/suziebrownsongs
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| TANIA ALEXANDRA | NORA JANE STRUTHERS |
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
"With a voice that floats with gossamer frailty one moment and soars to a sweeping fervor the next, Alexandra coaxes a sweet purity out of simple momentswatching a butterfly, taking a breathand draws truth from places still painfully tender, peeling back the layers of her own assumptions and beliefs with a steely determination."
- Naila Francis, The Intelligencer
Tania Alexandra woke up one morning to see a piano taking up most of her bedroom. She was nine, and that piano became her diary.
Immersed in the performing arts and her father's eclectic tastes, she counts The Muppets, Igor Stravinsky, John Coltrane, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson and Joni Mitchell among her earliest influences. Born and raised amid the beauty of the Colorado mountains, she honed her songwriting in secret while studying music education at Ithaca College, only revealing herself after moving to Philadelphia in 1998.
After recording her debut album Chrysalis, Tania infused herself into the arts community as a singer-songwriter, music and movement teacher, session vocalist and vocal arranger. Her new release Emergence represents both a milestone in her songcraft and a culmination of her experiences as an artist in Philadelphia.
Propelled to spread creative energy like a colorful weed, Tania Alexandra muses her listeners. Her passionate voice weaves through piano driven primal grooves creating a collage filled with poetic lyrics and engaging melodies. Tania's songs are edgy, evocative, and subtly complex. Some haunting, some playful, some reflective, some bold - her music explores her journey into the connections and emotions in life through generations and over time between people, nature, and love.
"Nora Jane is one of the best songwriter-singers this side of the Himalayas!"
-David Mayfield, Cadillac Sky
Nora Jane Struthers is a talented songwriter, singer, and guitarist whose keen appreciation of the nuances of traditional music shines in her own work. Nora Jane grew up in New Jersey playing and singing bluegrass music with her father, Alan. Her mother fondly remembers that, “Jane could yodel before she could talk. When she was a little tyke, she would wait by the window for her dad to walk home from the train station after work, and she would greet him with a yodel.” Living in New York City for seven years, Nora Jane played with her father in a bluegrass duo “Dirt Road Sweetheart” performing forgotten brother duets, originals, and traditional folk songs.
Now based out of Nashville, Tennessee, Nora Jane is performing her originals with her own band, an acoustic quartet comprised of fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass, and occasionally cello. Her songs overflow with imagery and the listener is easily swept away into her stories. In 2009 Nora Jane received her first accolade as a songwriter when she was selected as one of ten finalists in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Troubadour competition. In July, at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV, Nora Jane and her band won 1st place in the Neo-Traditional Band Competition and Nora Jane was given the award for Best New Song.
Musically, Nora Jane draws from the traditions of old time, bluegrass, gospel, and Celtic music, resulting in new songs that sound as if they have been performed by generations of folk musicians. As timeless as her songs, her unique voice is pure and natural and one can’t help but feel that she could have been singing a hundred years ago to an audience of brave pioneers, hardy housewives, and dirt farmers.
The music of Nora Jane Struthers is among the purest Americana being created today.
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Saturday, May 29 ANGEL BANDAngel Band makes big noise. Loud noise. Boisterous, sad, sweet, goofy, glorious and angelic. Any which way you look at it this stuff gets your attention. Whether it’s the crazy tight three part harmony, the killer backup playing, the stories, the passion or the compassion, it gets your attention. |
CONCERT - $20 Advance/$25 Door, 8:00 pm
The songs are mostly self-penned, weaving vivid images, powerful lyrics, musical integrity and “chops” to write home about. The core of the band is held by the singers: Nancy Josephson, Jen Schonwald, Alison Paige, and Kathleen Weber. All are experienced on lead and backup vocals. The love of the sound that three female voices make together is at the center of this group. The chord rules the day. Both mystical and elemental when the three hit “it” the hair on the back of your neck’s gonna stand up. Working as the crackerjack backup band (lovingly known as “Chum”) are: David Bromberg (guitar, National Steel guitar, dobro), Mitch Corbin (mandolin, guitar, fiddle), Bob Taylor (bass), Jeff Wisor (fiddle, mandolin), & Nate Grower (fiddle). The difficult to pigeonhole sound that emanates from the band roams from old time “mountain” music to contemporary rock and roll influenced originals. Any way you slice it this band catches hold of you and won’t let go.
Nancy Josephson has a long and varied musical pedigree. As a vocalist and bass player she did stints with the Buffalo Gals, David Bromberg Band, Arlo Guthrie, Peter Rowan and Fiddle Fever. Nancy was also a vocalist with the legendary Chicago Gospel Choir, The Annettes. After a long absence from the "official" music scene, she returns with both voice and attitude to anchor this extraordinary group.
Kathleen Weber, was born into a musical family, where she developed a deep appreciation for all genres of music. Having participated in numerous choirs, bands and acoustic groups for over 20 years, Kathleen has developed vocal abilities that perfectly compliment Angel Band. She has performed with the likes of Moravian Women's choir, singer songwriter Steven Kelly of the Lehigh Valley, and most recently with Los Manatees of the Philadelphia area. The youngest member of the group brings a musical maturity that completes the rich harmonic texture that is the Angel Band trademark.
Alison "AlyCat" Paige grew up in Wilmington, Delaware where she was surrounded by a family of musicians and artists. Aly began professional theatre at the age of 5. She later discovered that singing was her true passion and began performing with live bands at venues and festivals all over the tri-state area. At one performance, Aly picked up a bass and fell in love with the instrument. She went on to receive a degree in vocal performance from the University of Delaware, while studying the bass on her own. Throughout her life, Aly has been writing and recording her original music. She has played her music for audiences up and down the east and west coasts in a few different bands including BrotherSister and also the AlyCat Band. Aly has enjoyed recording and sharing the stage with national acts such as Rusted Root, G. Love and the Special Sauce, The Spin Doctors, Kenny Rogers, Donald Byrd, Schleigo, Townhall, George Stanford, David Bromberg and many, many more. Since March ’09 Aly has become proud member of Angel Band.
Rounding out the band are Marc Moss (drums, guitar, mandolin, accordion), Bob Taylor (electric & acoustic bass) and Christie Lenée (guitar).
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Saturday, June 5 TOBY WALKER with Jay Gullo"If he doesn't get them with his phenomenal guitar playing or catchy songs, he gets them with his wonderful stories. True entertainers have an engaing spirit that puts a smile on your face. Arlo Guthrie has it. David Bromberg has it. And so does Toby. " |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Toby Walker is a unique, accomplished fingerstyle guitar virtuoso. Toby is adept at blues, rags, hot country picking, and coaxes more out of a guitar than anyone can imagine, but the originality doesn't end there. He is also a skilled singer and songwriter who draws inspiration from traditional and contemporary music.
Toby takes that musical foundation and creates something uniquely his own and has been eagerly received in various venues including concert halls, festivals and coffeehouses throughout the U.S., England and Europe.Toby’s passion for blues, rag, folk, and other traditional American music drove him to leave an apartment crammed full of recordings, books and instruments for the Mississippi Delta, Virginia and the Carolinas where he tracked down some of the more obscure - but immensely talented - music makers of an earlier era.
He learned directly at the feet of Eugene Powell, James "Son" Thomas, Etta Baker, and R.L Burnside, among others. The talent, passion, and soul of a Toby Walker performance reflects these travels. Whether it is telling the humorous and heartwarming tales of other masters, talking about his inspirations, or astounding you with his mastery, his performances are a feast for the senses. The audience is moved in ways that delight them long after the encores. You can catch a taste of these Toby Walker stories on his Web site in the "Blues Travels" section. But make no mistake about it - he is to be experienced live. Those fortunate enough to attend one of his shows will vouch for that.The love Toby has for his craft pushes him to share his history and experience where he has performed in libraries and schools allowing others to share the sounds, sights, and emotions of his unique abilities.
His teaching credits include, among others, Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. In 2006, Carnegie Hall acknowledged his rare talents and hired him to augment and teach in their "American Roots" program aimed at honor level middle school students. This one-of-a-kind series demonstrates the history of blues music and traditions, while teaching the history of African Americans as they migrated from the south into the north.
His mastery of the blues was recognized in Memphis when he won the International Blues Challenge Award.There is no doubt that Toby Walker has found his life's calling, and as a result everyone keeps calling for more Toby Walker.
Jay Gullo began his musical career as a teenager, playing and singing in local bands in Jamestown, New York. Although he was enrolled as a classical trumpet major at New York’s Fredonia State College, Jay soon realized that his soul really belonged to the music he grew up with - Blues and Jazz. Before graduating, Jay left Fredonia to pursue a full-time music career as a singer, songwriter and musician.
Since Jay always loved to sing and had an unusually "raspy" voice, singing the Blues was perfect for him. Because of Ray Charles' influence, Jay taught himself how to play the piano in a style reminiscent of the New Orleans Honky Tonks and Jazz clubs. In addition, he learned how to play the guitar and harmonica. From there, Jay embarked on a career that has spanned forty-two years performing throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Today, Jay performs many of his original songs in the Philadelphia region for numerous concerts and nightclubs. Although he has performed with many musicians, it's his "down home" Blues solo act, with his soulful vocals, and unique piano/guitar style that best reach audiences.
Jay has been influenced by the music of Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Willie Dixon and Eric Clapton, among others. His music has been compared to the acoustic blues of John Hammond and Keb Mo and Delbert McClinton.
Jay’s repertoire includes a mix of his original songs and classic blues standards.
Jay’s CD The Blues Love Me has recently been released.
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Saturday, June 12 PAT WICTOR"...Pat Wictor walks onstage and sits down. He places a Guild DV-52 flat across his lap and begins playing slide guitar. The sounds are snaky and sizzling...." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
In a remarkably short period of time, Pat Wictor has become the name that is being chatted about on the acoustic, blues, folk and Americana circuits. Steeped in American "roots" music, Pat is a contemporary songwriter and interpreter drawing on the rural country, gospel, and blues traditions of our nation.
An American by birth, Pat was raised outside of the United States until his teenage years, living in Venezuela, Holland, Norway, and England. This time abroad gave him an unusually deep awareness of being a resident of a country while also a world citizen. Through these early experiences, he gained an appreciation for taking diffferent paths to arrive at the same destination.
Indeed, Pat took a convoluted path to folk music, winding his way through rock, heavy metal, and jazz. He started with guitar, shifted to bass, moved to saxophone, and then quit music entirely before a return in 1993, a time when he also began composing songs. By 2001, he left a teaching career to pursue music full time and does so in the broadest way possible. An adept improviser and accompanist, he is sought after as a collaborator, sideman and session musician, with numerous recording credits to date. His monthly e-mail column, "A Few Choice Words," is read by thousands of subscribers. He is a music educator of note, teaching workshops on writing, interpreting, and rearranging songs, on slide guitar and other guitar techniques, and various topics of music history.
His performances--part fireside chat, part meditation on matters earthly and transcendent--feature his originals. In addition to his own tunes, he is quick to offer up a newly-discovered lyric from another performer, or a fresh arrangement of a traditional song, delighting in introducing his audience to innovative material. With flowing red hair and zen-like calm, Pat embraces his audience with the sincerity of his music and the clarity of his voice, inviting them in.
Pat views his life and his music as a journey, populated with an ever-shifting landscape of people, places and emotions. It is a journey he is eager to share with others, knowing that it is the experiences along the way, not the arrival, that initiate the most profound changes.
Pat's fifth CD, Heaven Is So High...And I'm So Far Down, was released in July '06, and has receivved nationwide airplay on folk and specialty radio programs. The disc features standout originals like "I Will Walk With You," the a cappella "Raise My Voice and Sing," and the title track. The CD also includes distinctive versions of Bob Dylan's "Oxford Town," Dave Carter's "When I Go," and a swampy, rousing version of "You Got To Move," featuring Abbie Gardner of Red Molly. His previous CD, Waiting for the Water, also received wide radio play, reaching #4 on the FolkDJ charts in February 2005, and remaining on the charts for months afterward.
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Saturday, June 19 LILI AÑEL“Lili Añel has an impressively rich, dark, folk-pop alto...Hearing her, one is bound to make comparisons with other similarly endowed singers...Añel possesses unusual power, fearless emotional directness, and a wide-open timbre. Her phrasing...incorporates a strong Caribbean influence...Añel has made her reputation as a pop singer and songwriter...[she] is a bundle of raw potential ready to be molded into a coherent recording personality.” |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
“pure dynamite...her songwriting is consistently excellent...ofttimes Joni Mitchell sharp...and her sharp wide-ranging but unswervingly thoughtful performances do her songs full justice”
-JazzTimes
“A performer to watch [for]….a velvet voiced, vocal powerhouse whose earthy, jazz-laced tunes stretch the boundaries of traditional "singer-songwriter" turf.”
-Philadelphia Inquirer
“Singer-songwriter of Afro-Cuban heritage whose notoriety is spreading well beyond the Big Apple. Añel's deep but supple voice echoes Joni Mitchell's sweet-and-sad-as-honeytears voice on Blue, but Añel's lyrics are life-affirming and hopeful.”.
-Rhapsody Online
The now-Philadelphia based singer/songwriter, draws varied comparisons - from the Beatles to Joni Mitchell to Steely Dan. Strange combination, no? Surprisingly, these influences and more are easily audible in her diverse and original repertoire. This Beatles-inspired artist's forward and wide-open vocals are refreshing, while the melodic hooks of her fearless songs never cease to amaze.
For years Lili Añel, has electrified audiences in the United States and Canada with her powerhouse vocals, charisma, songwriting skills and natural ability to command the stage. Appearing with Lili at PSALM will be Kurm on bass and vocals and James Armstrong on Percussion.
| Saturday, June 26 | |
| STEPHEN DiJOSEPH | BARNABY BRIGHT |
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
What OTHERS have SAID::
“Complex, bold, awe-inspiring performances and arrangements. The likes of which this listener has rarely witnessed.”
- BrianAustin Whitney- Founder, JP Folks International Music Organization
“Words and music TALENTED singer-songwriter Stephen DiJoseph doesn't make a big issue of having Tourette's syndrome, so we won't either. His new CD HYPNOTIZED highlights his low-key, prog-rock sound and jazzy folkways plus, his dynamite, swinging version of the Moody Blues ‘Nights in White Satin’.”
- Michael Harrington- Philadelphia Enquirer
“...Strains of acoustic folk-rock, Beckish modernism, soft-pedal soul, and drum-'n'-bass coalesce into a poetic and accessible collection of songs with an original flavor."
-Jon Sobel - Blogcritics.org (Hypnotized pre-release review 9.7.06)
"...a soulful voice .... mind-bending instrumentals that leave you feeling "like you found something you didn't know you needed” says Maine Things Considered host Charlotte Renner.
.......interviewed on the WHYY/NPR talkshow Radiotimes with Marty Moss-Coane discussing the ‘influence” of Tourette Syndrome on his music and creativity.
......... a frequent guest on Philadelphia’s longest running folk radio program , The Gene Shay Show on WXPN,
....... featured on PRI’s Echoes, syndicated on over 170 radio stations. ...... opened for such notables as Greg Brown, Peter Mulvey, Billy Jonas, Mad Pudding, Los Lobos, Mose Allison and Franz Lizst(?) .
****top 500 honorable-mention catagories of the 13th and 14th Annual Billboard World Song Contest 2006 and 2007 for songs from HYPNOTIZED
***** A finalist in The Singer-Songwriter Awards 2007.
*** His song Flyin’ was nominated for best song out of thousands of submissions along side Bruce Springstein- guitarist Nils Lofgren in the male S/S category of the 2007 JP Folks International Music Awards
www.myspace.com/stephendijoseph
Barnaby Bright's music has been featured on television shows such as ER, Days of Our Lives, and PBS Roadtrip Nation. Their song, "If I Came Back as a Song" was voted 3rd place winner by a notable panel of judges inlcuding Tom Waits, in 2007's International Song-Writing Competition.
They recently returned from a month-long European tour to promote their first full length album, "Wake the Hero." Fronted by Nathan and Rebecca Bliss, Brooklyn-based Barnaby Bright combines beautiful acoustic guitars, lush harmonies, rich string arrangements, quirky instruments and subtle electronic tweaks. Their unique brand of lush, indie folk is a warm and welcome wind of change.
"Rebecca’s smooth, melodic vocals are reminiscent of Karen Carpenter or Shelby Flint...and Nathan’s incorporation of his jazz background into Garfunkel-y acoustic compositions bring diverse styles together to the folk in the road: a marriage of minds and hands and music."
-The Deli Magazine
"Nathan and Rebecca Bliss make up the sweetly melodic folk-ish duo Barnaby Bright, whose songs have soundtracked heavy emotional moments on Days of Our Lives and ER"
-Time Out New York
http://www.myspace.com/barnabybright
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Saturday, July 3 MINAS
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Orlando Haddad and Patricia King formed Minas in 1978 at North Carolina School of the Arts to bring Brazilian music to stateside audiences. They proceeded to play all over the eastern US before going back to their musical roots in Brazil, where they entertained, traveled extensively and recorded their first album, Num Dia Azul.
Today Minas is one of the most sought after Brazilian bands in the United States. Minas is built upon the duo's multiple talents as vocalists, instrumentalists and composers with an impressive grasp of the whole range of Brazilian musical idioms.
At the core of any Minas show are the voices of the duo, which reflects two decades of vocal and instrumental blending. Warm and engaging, this magical sound becomes infectious when Minas adds bass, drums, percussion and horns to Orlando's guitar and Patricia's keyboards. One can experience Minas in a variety of formats, intimately, as a duo or trio, and in exciting venues with larger ensembles up to orchestra and Big Band arrangements. Orlando and Patricia have been composing original material together since the moment of their first meeting in 1974. Their recorded material consists exclusively of originals.
Compositions
Minas owns its own sound. Taking Brazilian music into different compositional realms, Minas creates a sound that is imaginative, evocative and intimate. Between the vocals of Orlando and Patricia, founded on piano and acoustic guitar, augmented by expert ensemble players, one experiences a musical landscape of subtle and complex beauty.
Performance Highlights
Lincoln Center, SOB's (NYC), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Mellon Jazz Festival, Academy of Music, International House, Painted Bride Arts Center (Philadelphia), Merriam Theater (Minas with orchestra and big band), Ocean City Pops, and numerous concert series and jazz venues.
TV and Radio
Emeril Live", Food Network; Interviews on Fresh Air and Radio Times (NPR); Sounds of Brazil with Sergio Mielniczenko (KPFK/PRI) Trem Azul with Milton Nascimento (syndicated in Brazil), many interviews with WXPN, WRTI, WHYY (3 of Philadelphia's NPR affiliates), Voice of America, and other stations. Minas CDs have been playing on public and commercial radio throughout North America.
Films
Original music written for the documentaries Black Water by Charlotte Cerf (PBS) and Amazon Journal by Geoffrey O'Connor (Discovery Channel, PBS), and Video Cruise Guide to the Bahamas Islands. Minas scores for authentic original music using indigenous Brazilian instruments such as berimbau, cuíca, tambourim, etc.
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Saturday, July 10 THE NIK EVERETT BAND“NIK'S SONGS DRAW ONE IN. HE IS IN THE UPPER ESCHELON OF SINGER SONGWRITERS & ROCKERS. PERIOD." “...FROM THE GUT ROCKER...HE SEEKS SUCCESS IN DIVERSITY” |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
When you think about the things you really love about music; driving rhythm, unforgettable melodies, lyrical meaning, and so on, these are the soundtrack of our days. Great songs that apply themselves to multiple genres of music are rare for most, but you will find them from Nik Everett.
For your listening pleasure, he serves up a potent mix of American folk & roots music meets British pop and rock. In other words, an updated classic rock sound. Already a fixture in the mid-Atlantic region, Nik can be seen and heard with his acclaimed band or solo acoustic. Look for the just released "A Short Walk Home-Music from the documentary, Greetings From Asbury Park" that is currently airing nationally on PBS.
Singer/Songwriter Nik Everett from Philadelphia and performs a very melodic and soulful brand of music. After starting off in the late eighties with an independent cassette entitled, "Paralyzed In Motion" his next album, "Surrender Tonight" received extensive airplay in the mid-Atlantic region with the title track being a top 40 hit. It was then voted Best Indie Release by the Philadelphia Music Foundation. A few years later brought "Gravel & Honey" displaying even more of Everett's versatile talents. 2004 saw his most acclaimed work to date; "Summer's Gone". His style is an updated classic rock sound that encompasses hard rock, pop, country, folk and sublime ballads. A powerful live performer, Nik has also supported such artists as Marshall Crenshaw, Ben Arnold, Robert Hazard, Cliff Eberhardt, Alex Chilton, The Hooters, Suzanne Vega and many more.
| Saturday, July 17 | |
| INCENDIO | HUDOST |
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CONCERT - $20 Advance/$25 Door, 8:00 pm
INCENDIO in both Italian and Spanish means “fire” and this moniker is fitting for a musical group whose sound is all about energy, exploration, and passion. At the heart of INCENDIO’s sound is the Latin or Spanish guitar which can conjure up romantic as well as powerful and bold images – they refer to their style as “Latin Guitar World Fusion”.
Averaging over 150 shows a year since 2000, INCENDIO’s live performance has become an explosive improvisatory journey, garnering tremendous audience response in such diverse venues as the Strawberry Music Festival in Yosemite, the Sundance Film Festival, Verizon Music Festival, Catalina Jazztrax, California World Festival, and many more across the United States. Their six CD’s have enjoyed international radio airplay and critical acclaim. Their new guitar trio CD, “Vihuela”, was released in March 2009 in coordination with a new signature wine, “Incendio”, from Vihuela Winery in Paso Robles, CA.
But it is the music they present at these shows upon which they have built their reputation. Sweeping, romantic playing is usually the heart and soul of live Spanish guitar performance. But the diverse backgrounds of the musicians in Incendio mean that, in addition to that romantic and passionate playing of their instruments, their concerts balance rock-style enthusiasm and energy with a tremendous technical and improvisational sophistication. Thus, Incendio achieves the difficult task of appealing to both a general audience who enjoy the melodies, as well as that more difficult audience: other musicians, who have come to respect the group’s vision and work ethic as much as their fretwork wizardry and occasionally complex arrangements.
The group’s seven CD’s also feature a unique compositional and performance slant. Echoes of their predecessors like Strunz and Farah, Jesse Cook, and the acoustic side of Al Di Meola are obvious. But the group has explored jazz, Celtic, middle-eastern and electronica throughout their career, putting their own stamp on their self-produced music. They subtly bring influences as diverse as Weather Report, Jimi Hendrix, XTC, Paco de Lucia, Buddha Bar and Joni Mitchell to bear on their musical tapestry. Thus, their music is a true “fusion” and sounds like little else in the genre. And thus, as they have moved through new age, through electronica, through every subheading, the band’s sound and enthusiasm has continued to evolve – no two Incendio CD’s sound exactly the same.
Incendio’s richly textured music is rooted in myriad sources: Carbé’s flamenco and classical guitar training as well as her Sicilian ancestry, Durand’s Peruvian heritage, Stubblefield’s European travels and musical collaborations with Kuwaiti oud maestro Waleed Hamad, not to mention Durand’s penchant for rock-style dramatics and Stubblefield’s lightning-fingered jazz-fusion mastery. Carbé’s deceptively graceful bass and guitar playing grounds Durand and Stubblefield’s dazzling twin-guitar attack, resulting in adrenalizing sonic explorations that take on greater dimension when they call longtime friends like percussionist Bryan Brock and drummer Nicole Falzone.
The evidence of the strength of live show can be seen and heard in the Dia y Noche CD and DVD release. Available as of December 2005 on their own Incendio Music label, it literally shows day and night aspects of Incendio in action. While the nighttime footage was filmed in an elegant concert hall, the daytime scenes capture the electric intensity of an Incendio performance as they play at the eclectic Strawberry Music Festival in Yosemite, California. The footage of Durand and Stubblefield’s tightly interlocked guitar solos — almost like spiraling shredding contests — with Carbé propelling the floor-pounding rhythms, all three rocking from the gut, leaves no doubt that this is a band that is, first and foremost, about performance. Crowd scenes reflect the thrilled surprise of audiences experiencing Incendio for the first time. It’s that immediate visceral response from listeners upon which Incendio has painstakingly built a reputation over the past six years.
“We always have had great word of mouth,” Durand adds with gratified pride. “ If we play for a thousand people, we won’t get 800 people coming up and giving us a perfunctory pat on the back, saying, ‘You guys are really good.’ We’ll get 50 people coming up saying, ‘We will follow you into hell.'”
HuDost is living proof that the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts, pulling together musical styles as diverse as the jellies in Marco Polo’s kitchen cupboard, they weave a seamless tapestry that renders tears and laughter in listeners and cultivates that nameless longing that abides somewhere in all our hearts.
HuDost’s material is best described as experimental Indie world rock. Their original work ranges in style from ‘Alternative World Music’ to their own ‘Country and Eastern’ fusion, merged with an atmospheric, rich, experimental sound. This is mixed with the rich, eclectic blending of traditional Sufi music, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian and Balkan folk music, Farsi, Turkish, Arabic, Folk, Pop and Rock.
Their sound crosses all borders and barriers, taking the listener on a journey they will not soon forget. HuDost has toured throughout the US, Canada and Europe, including shows in Turkey, and have performed extensively on the east coast doing shows at Alex Grey’s CoSM in NYC, the Salvador Dali Museum, the Shakori Grassroots Festival, Omega Institute, Rumi Festival, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and many others. HuDost has also opened for the California Guitar Trio and Jefferson Starship and have worked with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Neko Case and Mercan Dede.
HuDost has put the finishing touches on their third album, produced by Grammy award winner Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois). It was released May 12th, 2009. They have also released a six song ‘Royal Mountain EP’ featuring two songs from the upcoming album and four B-sides. Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines created a program featuring their music for nationally broadcast CBC’s ‘Outfront’, which was aired in the spring of 2009.
Their debut CD, titled ‘In an Eastern Rose Garden’, was released in 2005 and received rave reviews. CDBaby says about HuDost’s debut album: “These beautiful atmospheric, warm and resonant songs weave the evocative… With stylistic colors of folk and pop presented with the colorful harmonic vocabulary of the East, this album delicately pairs the two art forms with great success.” In a review of HuDost’s 2006 release ‘Seedling’, CHRONOGRAM Magazine said “HuDost has a folk quality yet is quite post modern; the band offers new takes on ancient words and melodies, cross-cultural hybrid transcendental chill-out music with an edge. (The album will even be agreeable to those whose spiritual music is punk.)… This is not fluffy new-age music—it’s serious, complex fare with no aversion to addressing agony. Sommer’s vocal execution is precisely orchestrated, her voice-opening, hollow-toned vortexes piercing through the tough spots. This album is a journey of music and spirit.”
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Saturday, July 24 THE MELTON BROTHERS BANDThe Melton Brothers make the kind of music that gets you tappin, slappin, shakin and poppin from a pin-drop whisper to kickin take-your-breath-away grooves. |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Their style is a blend of groove swing, R&B, country blues and roots rock, and the show is a musical conversation delivering their own songs and stunning unique interpretations with rhythms and harmonies so tight these guys seem like one soul. Dale's one-of-a-kind organ style with Garth Hudson, Matthew Fisher and Booker T influences is the icing on this rhythmic cake.
Collectors are buzzing from Australia, Japan, Sweden and England to New York, Chicago and LA over their 1979 LP re-discovery, songs the Meltons play today with a fresh spontaneous edge. Yes, the LP has become a worldwide collector's item and a catalyst for the group's recent expanding popularity with a reissue slated for early 2010. They are currently working on an upcoming CD to be released in the spring of 2010 with Philadelphia drummer Fred Berman who tours and records with Amos Lee among others. Fred is also on The Meltons' live shows.
The Melton Brothers hit their stride in the 70s and early 80s playing concert venues from the Eastern Shore to the Greater Philadelphia area. At the time their popularity was ignited by an appearance and numerous rebroadcasts on Channel 12 and USA Network TV of a concert staged in Head House Square, Philadelphia. They were launched into the music cafe and Philly concert circuit appearing regularly at The Main Point, Grendal's Lair, Perewinkle's, Guthrie's, the Cabaret clubs, John & Peter's and numerous college and community concert events. Currently they've been performing at The Tin Angel, Puck Live, Chaplin's Music Cafe, The Kennett Flash, The Mainstay and numerous outdoor concert series. Dale also performs with the Beaucoup Blue Band and The Illumination Band.
Dale and Dennis have been the rhythm section and vocal support for recording artists Shirley Eikhard ("We Got Somethin to Talk About", the hit by Bonnie Rait), Erin Dickens (founding member of Manhattan Transfer), Jesse Fredrerick, The Watson Brothers, Alfie Moss, Vinyl Shockley, and Washboard Bill, and have opened for BB King, Muddy Waters, The Chambers Brothers, Buddy Miles, Procol Harum, The Kingsmen and many other national and regional acts.
| Saturday, July 31 | |
| SHANE HINES | SETH GLIER |
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
My relationship with Shane Hines began when I was pulled out from underneath the bed and placed at his feet. I hadn't been played for months and was excited to be in the hands of an active singer-songwriter. Our friendship together started off slow but I took a liking to how he approached each song with a passionate urgency that begged listeners to turn in their seats and listen.
The more time we spent together, I began to realize that his talent for hauntingly sweet melodies was well complimented by insightfully brave and honest lyrics. As his trusty acoustic guitar, I did the best I could to provide lush chord voicings and softly spoken fingerpicking passages. When we hit the road, I was right there in the back seat along side jugs of water, a few books, and some CD's by artists such as B.B. King and the Beatles.
With each strum, a small hole began to wear away in the top of my body and as our tour schedule expanded, Shane Hines was literally breaking through in all parts of the country. Local and regional success took us from Boston to Tennessee, where my case was run over at an outdoor house concert, while national touring grabbed the attention of USA Today. An international tour found us playing at Abbey Road Studios and eventually caught the ear of artist representatives from Orange Amplifiers and Gibson Guitars. This led to the day our family finally expanded and I met my brother, J-45.
The new acoustic in the family started coming along for the ride and I found I was being replaced at some of the best writing houses in Nashville writing songs with Lori McKenna, Jim Lauderdale, Cory Batten and other amazing writers. In fact, the new guitar was exclusively played on the upcoming album "All the Quiet, All the Chaos". On recent tours with indie breakout artist Corey Smith, I've found myself staying off to the side of the stage. However, I don't mind. After being a part of the show for so many years, I can now sit back and enjoy what everyone has been listening to all this time; a singer songwriter that writes from the heart and sings from the soul.
"When it comes down to Seth’s music, either you love it or you've never heard it before.” - CD Baby
Seth Glier will grab you...if not with his powerful falsetto or his melodic prowess, then with what Performer Magazine calls his “intoxicating groove.” The 20-year-old singer, pianist and guitarist – who abandoned studies at The Berklee School of Music after one year because he “decided I should be playing for people and not for grades” – aims straight for the gut on his MPress Records debut, The Trouble With People.
Glier was raised on the music of Joni Mitchell, Martin Sexton and Jeff Buckley, but considers his brother to be his greatest influence. “My brother is autistic and non-verbal. I learned to communicate with words better once I realized how to communicate to someone without them.”
Beginning as an act of solitary creation, THE TROUBLE WITH PEOPLE was recorded in Glier’s basement over the course of three months. In the comfort of his own home and without the constraint of being on the clock, Glier patiently treated each song like a scene in a movie. “I felt as though I was collecting footage for a film rather than recording an album,” he recalls. After carefully assembling a palette of sounds including a string quartet and vinyl scratching, Glier and co-producer Ryan Hommel recruited Alan Evans (Soulive) to play drums on several tracks. The result is an expansive set of songs with lush arrangements that elegantly support Glier’s unabashedly honest lyrics.
A Western Massachusetts native, Glier released several DIY albums before catching the attention of MPress Records founder Rachael Sage last fall. Sage observes, “Seth's songwriting is classic, and hearkens back to great pian o-based songwriters who broke in the '70's like Billy Joel and Elton John...but he has an impressive range that grabs new audiences immediately, and his sense of melody is incredibly strong.” Upon signing Glier, Sage brought in Grammy® Winner Kevin Killen (U2, Tori Amos, Elvis Costello), to re-mix Glier’s original tracks.
Recently featured in The Boston Globe for his “100% Fan-Funded Tour”, Glier is already a seasoned troubadour. He has performed hundreds of shows across the country – including a set for more than 25,000 people on the National Mall in Washington D.C. – and has shared stages with John Mayer, Martin Sexton, Erin McKeown and Cheryl Wheeler. Other notable supporters of Glier's music include acclaimed singer-songwriters Ellis Paul and Livingston Taylor, as well as legendary producer Russ Titelman (Steve Winwood, Cyndi Lauper, Eric Clapton). Livingston Taylor says, “Listening to Seth’s music gives me hope for what’s to come. The next generation is alive and well.”
On November 3rd, MPress will release Glier’s label debut THE TROUBLE WITH PEOPLE, featuring 12 original songs. The physical release will be preceded by an October 6th digital-only version, via iTunes. Highlights of the album include the soaring ‘Gotta Get Away’, the Beatles-influenced instrumentation on ‘Naia’, Glier’s commanding title track, and the insightful ‘Someone Else To Crown’. A sophisticated collection that shows surprising maturity and self-reflection, the album weaves understated tales of real people in quiet pain. Maybe the term ‘old soul’ has meaning after all…
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Saturday, August 7 MEGITZA QUARTET"Megitza Quartet offers an intriguing blend of classical, jazz, and world music... ...the exotic music artfully conjures images of campfires, folk tales, and lovers dancing the tango or samba. Vocalist Malgorzata Babiarz is consistently enchanting, whether she’s conveying the beauty of the traditional "Krywaniu" or breezing through her own Latin-flavored "Cisza (Silence)." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
"World music for the new millennium….
Kurt Weil meets Edith Piaf, meets Stephane Grappelli, meets Erik Satie, meets the Megitza Quartet…."
- Jim Tullio, Grammy Award Winning Composer and Producer
An embrace of tango, the strength of a highlander, the heart of a bossa nova, soul of a carnival, and a spirit of Roma, fuse into an enchanting journey to capture the audience with soulful sounds and energetic up-tempo compositions. The desire of a group of musicians from different cultures and backgrounds such as Poland, Roma, Greece, Italy, Ireland, and United States, to unite different styles of music, resulted in forming Megitza Quartet.
The band is fronted by Malgorzata Babiarz - also an upright bass player - with her strong voice and a Polish Highlander Gypsy soul, Andreas Kapsalis, -an exceptional guitarist of a Greek descent, who uses a unique technique of finger tapping and incorporates his guitar's body as percussion instrument, together with Marek Lichota - a Polish bayan virtuoso, and all backed by an excellent innovative drummer Jamie Gallagher, who uses a hybrid multicultural drum set.
With their high energy stage presence Megitza Quartet offers it s audiences an insurmountable dose of adventure where even without knowing the language anyone can be captivated by their songs , that give a pinch of inspiration, a smile, and a tear.
"There is nothing as terrifying as witnessing the reincarnation of old prophet's soul in a voice of a young artist."
-Osvaldo Golijov, Grammy Award Winning Composer
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Saturday, August 14 AMERANOUCHE TRIO“In my opinion, more than an exceptional form of gypsy oriented jazz, Ameranouche is a capture of joyfulness itself. We sometimes forget what’s most valuable within the presence of artists, until we’re most of all effected when that happiness is projected thru the talent of those who are truly gifted to do so”. |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
The award winning Ameranouche trio features the melodic virtuosity of guitarist Richard Sheppard, the vehement rhythm chops of guitarist Ryan Flaherty and the dulcet low end of upright bassist Xar Adelberg.
Together, this rip-roaring ensemble is a super force of hot acoustic jazz, sometimes referred to as hot swing or Gypsy jazz. The contrast of other influences like American Soul music, Flamenco and Bop are what give the fast fingered trio such a recognizable sound. All played on acoustic instruments, the music is rhythmic, vigorous and strangely elegant. It’s hard to believe only three people are creating such a big sound.
"The most important element of this music is the happiness, joy, and feeling of connectivity" - Lowell Sun; MA
Richard (Shepp) Sheppard: Solo Guitar/Vocals.
Shepp comes from southern New Jersey. He attended the Berklee School of Music, studied guitar and composition with Pat Martino in Philadelphia, and studied guitar with Attilla Zoller in Southern Vermont. He has taught guitar, composition, and music theory as a faculty member of Bennington College (Bennington, Vermont) and Pittsfield Community Music School (Pittsfield, Massachusetts). He has performed and done shows with many different artists. Among these are John Jorgenson, Ritary Ensemble, Rick Danko, Taj Mahal, Hot Tuna, and Vassar Clements, to name just a few.
Ryan Flaherty: Rhythm Guitar/Vocals.
Ryan hails from Rock Island, IL. A seasoned performer, both songwriter and vocalist. Ryan is an Irish boy with a bit of Bohemian blood and a hot musical temper, laying down the rhythmic groove that is so often heard in the music of Ameranouche. Here's what Bob McKillop, the editor of MaineFolkMusic.com, had to say about Ryan: Flaherty is a rhythm machine! But he is a machine with a soul that is filled with romance and high spirits. I watched his supple wrist drive his right hand into a blur, as he strummed the complex backing guitar part, and changed tempo mid-bar, and he did it as easily as if he were merely breathing." Ryan has played all over the United States and Europe with Ameranouche and as a solo artist.
Xar Adelberg: Upright Bass/Vocals.
Hailing from Maine, Xar joined Ameranouche!!! in January of 2007. She has studied bass with Scott Lee and John Hebert and participated in masterclasses with the likes of Reid Anderson and Frank Carlberg. She is always ready to diversify her listening; one of her favorite ways to do this is by reading Do The Math, the blog of Ethan Iverson.
Xar has performed in the US and Europe.
Gypsy Jazz Workshop - All Levels
WORKSHOP - $45 Advance/$50 Door, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Ameranouche will host a Gypsy jazz workshop for instrumentalists of all levels, guitarists, bassists, beginners, experts, curious non-instrumentalists, and anyone else interested in the art and science of Gypsy jazz. We'll discuss the stylistic features that characterize this culturally-diverse music, how to approach them harmonically and how to navigate their implementation. How to play the traditional rhythm "pompe", how to build a bass line, how to improvise, how to solidify technique, increase speed, how to approach practice so as to target progress-areas, and how to avoid the practice-doldrums. We'll get aimed for the next level, no matter where you're starting from. If you play (or want to), definitely bring your instrument!
Time will be spent in both large and in small groups so as to maximize individual attention from each member of the group. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and are welcome to bring a notebook or recording device. Refreshments will be provided.
Ameranouche is the first Gypsy jazz group ever to play at the JVC Newport Jazz Festival, has had three tunes on a National Lampoon Soundtrack, and has twice won Best of NH awards. Ameranouche is an award-winning, nationally-touring, acoustic trio featuring Richard "Shepp" Sheppard on solo guitar, Ryan Flaherty on rhythm guitar, and Xar Adelberg on double bass.
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Saturday, August 21 ANNE McCUE BANDAnne has been voted Folk Artist Of The Year by the Roots Music Association! She was up against John Hiatt, Jakob Dylan, Dar Williams and a number of other artists! "This new album is such a beauty. The song Beautiful Thing is stunning. I love every song on this record...maybe because Anne McCue is my Aussie clone!"
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Lucinda Williams says, "Initially, her stunning voice hooked me in. Then I got inside the songs. The first chance I got, I went to see her perform ... I was floored! The combination of her tom-boyish beauty mixed with the precision and assertiveness with which she approached the guitar, her surrounding languid and earthy vocals created an intoxicating blend."
Anne has recorded the first half of her next electric album with bassist Bones Hillman (Midnight Oil) and drummer Ken Coomer (WILCO) at 16 Tons Studio in Nashville. Going for a swampy, bluesy, deep sound Anne is thrilled with the results. The record will be released in February 2010.
About Anne McCue's "East Of Electric"
Anne McCue has recently been included along with Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Patty Griffin and other great artists in the collection '4 Decades of Folk Rock' and was a special guest at the International Guitar Festival.
She released her last album "East Of Electric" in late 2008. McCue recorded and produced the album at her own Flying Machine Studio in Nashville. It was mixed by Mike Esser at 16 Ton Studio and was mastered by Ray Kennedy at Zen Masters.
Accolades earned by the album include the Airplay Direct Americana contest and the Folk Artist Of The Year Award from the Roots Music Association.
McCue recorded the album whilst waiting to record a new electric album. Inspired by the golden era of folk pop music which took place in the late sixties with such albums as Rubber Soul, Aftermath, bands like The Byrds and artists like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, Anne set about recording, playing every instrument she could get her hands on - guitars, mandolin, cheatin' banjo, piano, harmonica, lap steel, slide banjo, bass guitar, ukulele, shaker, tambourine, organ, drum etc.
Special guests include Eamon McLoughlin of The Green Cards (violin, viola & cello); Irish singer/songwriter Tony Kerr (backing vocals); artist Leslie Mills (tapdance) and Dave Ray of The Coalmen (snare drum) . While Anne is primarily known for her guitar playing skills, she gets to stretch out here on many other instruments and undertook all production and recording duties for the album. She was also able to call on her arranging skills for the string section in "Money In The Morning".
"I wanted to stay close to that late sixties folk rock ethic, keeping it real, not adding too much instrumentation, keeping the story and the melody in the forefront ... Being included on the '4 Decades of Folk Rock' anthology encouraged me to follow this path and style which I am naturally inclined toward anyway. Recording an album at home seemed like something great and productive to do whilst waiting for the dust to settle in the music business around me..." says McCue.
As one of the foremost female guitarists of our time, Anne has been invited to play at the Jimi Hendrix Tribute Concert at the Adelaide Guitar Festival alongside world renowned guitarists such as Vernon Reid and John Hammond.
Anne has appeared as guest guitarist/vocalist on albums by Michelle Shocked, Gina Villalobos and Stephen Rowe and has been featured in Guitar Player Magazine, No Depression, Harp, Performing Songwriter, Billboard, Australian Musician etc...
Her song 'Stupid' is included on the Time Life release '4 Decades Of Folk Rock' which features such legendary artists as Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Suzanne Vega and Patty Griffin.
She has released her fourth solo album, Koala Motel, to critical acclaim and has recently co-produced two albums by other artists - Stephen Rowe and Leila Florentino.
Guests on 'Koala Motel' include Lucinda Williams, John Doe, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Jim Lauderdale and Doug 'Lovejoy' Pettibone.
Anne recently took part in The Broad Festival - a national tour of Australia put together by Deborah Conway in which she played at concert halls all over Australia including the Sydney Opera House.
Her two previous albums were recorded at Dusty Wakeman's Mad Dog Studios in Burbank, California and were released on the Messenger Records label. McCue and Wakeman co-produced the albums. Going in with the philosophy of some of Anne's favourite three piece bands, on 'Roll' she played the guitars, Dusty played bass with Dave Raven on the drums. The three jammed on the material. Carl Byron added keyboards. The album has received critical acclaim from such publications as Billboard, Entertainment Weekly and XM Satellite Radio (Top 5 Album of the Year) and was picked by Bob Harris of the BBC as his favourite album of 2004.
Offered the chance to play music in Vietnam for a year Anne found it, "an unbelievable experience and it really changed my life. It also gave me the chance to hone my lead guitar playing." Anne rode a 1965 Vesper and toted her guitar around on the bike 'just like the locals'. After playing in all kinds of bands almost every night it was time to return to Melbourne where she frequented the blues jams.
She continued recording her original songs but took the opportunity to become a member of a group which was soon signed to Columbia Records giving Anne the opportunity to tour the U.S. and Canada as part of the "Lilith Fair." This experience brought her on stage with many of the greats such as The Pretenders, Emmylou Harris and Sarah McLachlan and took her to Los Angeles. The band proved to be creatively frustrating for Anne, so she left the group to pursue her interrupted solo career.
Eventually she completed her debut album "Amazing Ordinary Things". Anne co-produced all the tracks except "Angel Inside" which was produced by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell). The CD is named after a painting by Jules C. McCue, Anne's sister, whose artwork is found throughout the packaging.
McCue also released a live recording from her tour in 2002 with Lucinda Williams entitled "Ballad Of An Outlaw Woman" and is currently editing the DVD which chronicles her time on that tour.
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Saturday, August 28 FLASH ROSENBERG
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
LAUGHING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT
Written, imaged and performed by Flash Rosenberg with a special guest cameo by her brother, the famed musician and composer, Ken Rosenberg
The best time you will have all year, promise.
Photographer/cartoonist Flash Rosenberg talks and walks through hundreds of original, projected images to challenge what we see with what we know. This is optical humor. Not jokes. And not just funny pictures, but funny ways of picturing what we think we know to be true in the world. Blending the logic of a scientist, the irreverence of a humorist, with the pith of a sage, she shows how a slice of pizza can define infinity. She demonstrates how to make love archival, and how to laugh at the speed of light. She translates what's visible into verbal snapshots. This smart show is for anyone who has ever dreaded, taken, or been in a picture. Rating: PG-13
Flash Rosenberg is an “Attention Span for Hire” who works as a photographer, cartoonist, writer and performer. She uses photos, drawings, writings and performances to deliver pith, humor, interpretations and memories. Her public art mischief has aired daily on public radio, has been performed onstage internationally, and published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, the Forward, The Funny Times and Lilith Magazine. She is a freelance photographer and currently, Artist-in-Residence for LIVE from the New York Public Library. She is a regular performer for Monologues and Madness, the first Monday of each month at The Cornelia Street Café. She is also a poet with Brevitas, performing at The Bowery Poetry Club. She draws discussions between distinguished authors and provocateurs in front of live audiences to create real time, animated Conversation Portraits. Flash contributed the daily feature "Flash Moments," audio snapshots which aired on Michaela Majoun's WXPN morning program between 1989-1993.
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| MACK BAILEY & RACHEL LEVY | LIZANNE KNOTT & JOHN CONAHAN |
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
In its power, clarity and shear beauty, Mack Bailey's voice reminds me of no one more than my friend, the late John Denver. I love to hear this man sing.”
- Tom Paxton
You can tell a lot about singer songwriter Mack Bailey by the musical company he keeps. Mack has been hailed as “the next great singer in folk music” by no less an authority than Glenn Yarbrough, the original tenor in the fabulous world-renowned folk trio, The Limeliters. Mack’s career came full circle when in 2004 he was asked to be the newest tenor in The Limeliters, with whom he now performs around the country.
Using John Denver’s music, Mack taught himself to play the guitar, so it was a thrill for Mack when he had the privilege of trading verses to “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” with Denver in front of 9000 people shortly before John’s death. Today, the Limeliters and John Denver continue to play an active role in Mack’s professional life, even as he pursues his successful solo career. Mack has caught the attention of national folk music audiences with not only his Limeliters performances, but also with his prominent role in the nationally touring show “A Musical Tribute to John Denver” with many of John’s former band members and production crew.
Several of Denver’s former band members have also played on Mack’s albums, including Chris Nole, Pete Huttlinger, Jim Horn, and Bill Danoff. Other music royalty has joined him as well: Mary Chapin Carpenter sang on his first album, which was produced by Bill Danoff of “Country Roads” and “Afternoon Delight” fame, and the Jordanaires contributed soulful background vocals on his album, Why I’m Here. Denver’s long-time producer, Kris O’Connor, produced Mack’s Through Your Eyes album. Most recently, prestigious musicians like Sam Bush, Pat Flynn, and Jack Pearson graced Mack’s album, Choose Your Attitude.
For almost two decades, Mack has been a principal member of the reunited 60s group, The Hard Travelers, with whom he has recorded five albums. He has a rich history of major concert appearances having performed with or shared the stage as opener with a long list of folk and country stars including Brooks & Dunn, Randy Travis, Alabama, Barbara Mandrell, Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill & Amy Grant, Kathy Mattea, Tom Rush, Tom Paxton, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kenny Rogers, Alan Jackson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Brad Paisley, Leann Rimes, and John Denver confirming that indeed, Mack keeps very good musical company.
Mack also performs with his wife, Rachel Levy, and the duo have been likened to a “similar pairing 40 years ago of Gram Parsons and a very young Emmylou Harris”. “Lucky Man”, written by Mack and Rachel, was chosen as a finalist in the 2006 mid-atlantic song contest in the country/bluegrass category and was also selected to be profiled in sing out! Magazine. In addition, this past fall “Lucky Man” was a feature song on NASCAR Angels. Mack and Rachel also co-penned “It’s Time”, which has received critical acclaim from former Vice-President Al Gore, as promoting environmental awareness. Mack was awarded for his excellence with a WAMMIE for Best Traditional Folk Performer, and his song “High Gear” has been featured on NPR’s popular Car Talk.
Originally hailing from the small town of Troy, North Carolina, Mack attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated with a degree in music performance. Besides writing, performing solo and in his two groups, and recording eight solo albums, Mack is musically active in several medical and environmental causes, including Maryland Therapeutic Riding, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Starlight Starbright, and Challenge Aspen. Mack has also played in nursing homes and Alzheimer’s units playing group concerts and individual outreach, and he continues to enjoy working with school students on songwriting in their creative writing classes. Mack currently resides in Denver, Colorado.
"Absolutely gorgeous music. We've rarely had as big a reaction to any artist in recent years that we've had for Lizanne Knott"
- Bob harris BBC2
An award winning songwriter and managing partner of renowned MorningStar Studios, Lizanne Knott has been captivating audiences throughout the Northeast and garnering accolades from radio listeners and peers around the globe. Well known locally for her floating vocals and lyrical juxtapositions, her apparent depth and transcending warmth make for an inviting mix of music which moves easily through dark poetic ballads - to roots driven folk and folk rock. She has performed at some of the most prestigious listening venues on the east coast and throughout England, steadily gaining ground wherever the road takes her.
A frequent featured artist on London's acclaimed Bob Harris show, BBC2 and other BBC stations, she also recieves airplay on AAA radio throughout the US. Her music has been used in independant films, TV movies, documentaries and by national non-profit organizations.
Together with partner - 4 time GRAMMY Award winning producer/engineer, Glenn Barratt and a host of their friends ~ who happen to be some of the most renowned session players around ~ she merges her delicately soulful sound with some of todays most innovative music.
Lizanne is proud to be the Philadelphia host for the New York Songwriter's Circle at World Cafe Live.
Lizanne's Affiliations:
MorningStar Studios ~ Managing Partner
New York Songwriter's Circle ~ Philadelphia Director
Stoneyport Associates, UK
Americana Music Association Member
NSAI ~ Professional Member
ASCAP ~ American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
BMI ~ Broadcast Music Incorporated
MOC ~ Musicians on Call
Lizanne's CDs can be purchased at CD BABY: www.cdbaby.com and in stores throughout the UK.
John Conahan has been featured on international, national and regional radio programs, shared the stage with a myriad of musicians, and appears regularly at the most prestigious venues throughout the country. He is a regular at the Tin Angel, the World Café Live, the Living Room, The National Underground, Rockwood Music Hall and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. He has shared the stage with friends like Missy Higgins, Los Lobos, Jeffrey Gaines, Josh Joplin, Rachael Sage and Bernie Worrell. John’s audience interaction is always a highlight – he’ll have you singing his songs and outright laughing in between them. You can find out more about John and his recordings on iTunes.
John’s award-winning songs have been featured on MTV, VH1, in film, promotional campaigns and syndicated broadcasts and podcasts.
John composes, arranges and performs as a featured soloist with a number of ensembles including string quartets, orchestras, jazz combos and choral groups. He has been a Music Director for many notable recording and touring projects.
"John Conahan is all about the music – all of the time."
- Frank Quattrone
"Conahan delivers with startling passion and emotion, singing with flair and personality, complete with eclectic, rich piano playing. His sound is flawless."
- Copper Press
"John’s music caresses your soul while quenching your thirst for finely-crafted music."
- Music Morsels
"Many of today’s singer songwriters blend blues, jazz, folk and country in a style that says, ‘I don’t have my own voice or know what my interests are.’ These songwriters master no style and create musical mush. John Conahan has none of these problems. His blues, jazz, pop, and vocal music all contain his unique vision."
- David Wannop, Music Journalist
"John is a captivating, larger than life performer and if you haven't seen him yet- do yourself the favor... you’ll be blown away, I promise."
- Dena Marchiony - Philadelphia Songwriters Project
"John is an outstanding talent and equally entertaining. His voice is one of those rare instruments that can go anyplace his heart desires. He is a true pleasure to listen to!"
- Tina Shafer - New York Songwriters Circle
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Saturday, September 11 ARDEN OF EDEN"Mary offered a superb set of emotional acoustic tunes packed with edgy & powerful lyrics. Her strong, flexible voice was clear and pure, and her delivery earnest, leaving everyone hungry for more!" |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
After releasing several successful indie albums on her own, Mary Arden Collins listened to the voices inside her head telling her that it was time for a new adventure. Keeping the pop melodies and poetic lyrics intact, ARDEN of EDEN was born, adding new musical collaborations and white go-go boots.
With a new name and an extra dose of inspiration, ARDEN of EDEN’s album, Love Street, is anything but the usual singer/songwriter melodrama. Whipping together tasty ingredients like soulful grooves and alternative rock, the result is fresh, organic Indie Pop. Long before its official release, Love Street made waves in TV (Criminal Minds and Joan of Arcadia) and film (The Thing About My Folks and Solstice).
Inspired by a variety of life experiences from lust to love, from the political to the spiritual, ARDEN of EDEN will take you on a stimulating journey, while trying to save the world… and still help you remember why you fell in love with music to begin with.
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Saturday, September 18 PRESTON REED"... phenomenal." "A groundbreaking guitarist." "Amazing….hypnotic" "Absolutely unmissable" "Heart stopping tour de force" "Will drop your jaw" |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
"… widely thought of as the world’s most gifted guitarist"
- Total Guitar
"True spellbinding guitar mastery"
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Guitarist Magazine
"Spectacular… the best one-man show this reviewer has seen since Bruce
Springsteen… A terrific performer"
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The Irish Independent
You may experience a strange sensation when you watch Preston Reed live for the first time. It starts with a sharp intake of breath. Seconds later, your jaw swings on its hinges, your eyes become dinner plates and your brain fizzes as it computes the musical madness being relayed by your ears. You feel light-headed, because you haven’t breathed for two minutes. Don’t be alarmed. These are all perfectly normal reactions to witnessing the guitar visionary of the 21st century.
Preston Reed is a one-man revolution. The 53-year-old New Yorker tweaks the nose of musical convention, pokes the eye of accepted wisdom, and burns the rulebook of the past. His unique style is impossible, unfathomable, unthinkable, as with blurred hands he taps, tickles, slaps and soothes his instrument, fusing polyrhythmic percussion with emotive melody to create a sonic landscape. Each piece is a symphonic tidal wave, yet Reed only needs one acoustic and ten fingers to send it crashing onto audiences across the planet.
There’s a clear line in the sand when it comes to the journey of Preston Reed. It was drawn in the summer of 1988, as the guitarist sat in his Minneapolis apartment and searched for a way to break out of a musical rut. Until that point, Reed’s path had been familiar. He was a child of the ’60s, and cites his earliest memory as The Rolling Stones’ hit The Last Time, whose classic lick led him to early flirtations with the ukulele and a grounding in basic chords courtesy of his father. He wrote his first song at eight – a number called The Lonely Night – before a course of regimented classical lessons wilted his passion.
But fate wasn’t finished with Preston Reed. At 15, the bug bit again, as Reed attended a Hot Tuna show in New York and was floored by the bluesy fretwork of Jorma Kaukonen. That night, his guitar was retrieved from the closet and took up permanent residence on his lap, with Reed drawing inspiration from acoustic legends like John Fahey and Leo Kottke, and developing his own voice along the way. He was still just 17 when whispers of his talent buzzed through the music circuit following a live debut in support of beat poet Allen Ginsberg at the Smithsonian Institute.
Starting with 1979’s Acoustic Guitar, a volley of thrilling albums spread Reed’s reputation, and by 1988 he had signed a major deal with MCA with the help of his friend, country singer Lyle Lovett. But behind closed doors, the guitarist was frustrated. Though spellbinding by any standards, his playing had reached a plateau; his muse held in a stranglehold by the physical limitations of the instrument. Then the thunderbolt struck. Reed wiped his technique clean, stepped into the void and made his first attempt at the two-handed fretboard attack that would change his trajectory forever. Creatively and commercially, things would never be the same again.
If Reed were the type of musician to look back, he could reflect on three decades of glories including gigs with Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt, burgeoning sales of his 15 (and counting) studio albums, sold-out venues across three continents, untold hits on YouTube and the praise of both the man on the street and fellow six-string pioneers like Al DiMeola and Michael Hedges. If he were a statistician, he might refer to the 1997 live satellite broadcast on Turkish television that saw an audience of 120 million in 17 countries flood the switchboards after his performance.
But Preston Reed doesn’t deal in nostalgia. Twenty years after he changed the face of the acoustic guitar, this trailblazer still tours and records with a passion that flows into the hearts, heads and feet of his audiences, and continues to push his musicianship to a place where other guitarists fear to tread. Nobody knows where Preston Reed’s journey will take him next – not even the man himself. The one thing we know for sure is that it’ll be one hell of a ride.
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Saturday, September 25 PHIL ROY"This is Phil Roy at his Phil noir best. Eccentric, lush and musical. An atmospheric wicked beauty. Uncommonly smooth, yet strange and curious. Enjoy the Roy" |
CONCERT - $20 Advance/$25 Door, 8:00 pm
"Phil Roy grew up in Philadelphia during the '70s, when Philly soul ruled the airwaves. As a young guitar player (starting at age nine, his teacher was in Gamble & Huff's house band), hearing jazz from John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock led Roy to study at Berklee. It was at Berklee that he realized he didn't have the chops to make it as a jazz guitarist, but a class on songwriting opened up another avenue in music for him.
After writing some songs, Roy moved to Los Angeles, where he put together Carrera, which was then signed and dropped by Warner Bros. after one album. The band changed names and was signed and dropped by EMI after one album. Roy then gave up on the performance end of music and became a staff writer for several publishers, achieving some success by having his songs performed by Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Widespread Panic, and others. Even so, Roy was feeling unfulfilled, realizing "that I was writing songs to get on commercial radio when I wasn't even listening to commercial radio!" He decided that writing and recording an album of his own was the thing to do.
Phil continues to thrill audiences everywhere with his incisive wit and sardonic yet warm persona. When not writing and performing, Phil welcomes his fans into his Philadelphia home where he prepares sumptuous gourmet feasts and gives private concerts.
His debut, Grouchyfriendly, was recorded in 2000 and managed to sell 8,000 copies without a distributor, leading to his being named 2002 Independent Artist of the Year by Musician's Atlas magazine. He followed it up with Issues + Options, which was then picked up by Or Music and re-released in May 2003. After a breif hiatus from the studio, Roy returned with Great Longing in May 2007."
– Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide
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Saturday, October 2 SHERRY CANARY and the KOOL KATSTraditional Jazz Standards with Gypsy Swing Flair |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Sherry Canary & the Kool Kats emerged as a result of our shared love of Gypsy Jazz and standards. Sherry "Canary" Somach has always had an affinity for standards and swing. Says she, "I figure if I am going to learn a song, I want it to endure" She became interested in Gypsy Jazz while attending summer music camp at Ashokan at least 12 years ago, before it started gaining popularity. She also writes original music in the genre.
Sherry and violinist Bill Nixon met at a party. She was packing up to leave and someone asked her to do one more song. Bill had just arrived from a gig. He was in the kitchen, but when he heard the music he came out playing his violin. It was magic. It felt like they had played music forever!. Bill is classically trained, and performs periodically with a symphonic orchestra. He also plays Irish, Cajun, and jazz violin. When he got turned on to Gypsy Jazz, he was a natural. He has since studied with Tim Klipius,an amazing violinist from Holland, and sits in with the Hot Club of Philadelphia. Bill met Baird Standish a few summers ago at a Gypsy Jazz camp called Django In June. Baird plays in many genres, and also sings with a group called Orpheus. Baird also sits in with the Hot Club of Philadelphia. Our bass player, Rich Mackenkie, plays with a number of blues bands, but has a great feel for our music. Together, we play Gypsy Jazz, Standards, and original music in the genre. We have performed in the lobby the Kimmel Center before a concert featuring one of the most reknown comterporary Gypsy Jazz guitarists, Dorado Schmitt. We have played at the Over the Bridge concert series in New Jersey and the Philadelphia Folk Song Society's monthly members concert. We also play twice a month on Sunday afternoons and some Friday evenings at the Coffee Junction in West Mount Airy. We have played for a number of fund raising events, and also local bars such as the historical Mermaid Inn in Chestnut Hill.
Sherry Somach: Rhythm Guitar/Vocals
Bill Nixon: Violin
Baird Standish: Lead and Rhyhm Guitar
Bass : Rich Mackenzie
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Saturday, October 9 DUO JALAL:
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Acclaimed chamber musicians, violist Kathryn Lockwood and percussionist Yousif Sheronick perform together as duoJalal, dazzling audiences around the world with their artistry and synergy. Known for their work with LARK Chamber Artists and Ethos Percussion Group, duoJalal explores musical traditions that cross the globe. The true depth of their virtuosity and musical versatility is revealed as they weave classical and world traditions into western chamber music sensibilities. Recent performances include venues and festivals throughout the US and Australia.
This remarkable blend of melody and rhythm creates a musical conversation unlike any other. The viola is augmented with the sounds of the durbakeh (goblet drum) and riq (tambourine) from the Middle East, the West African djembe, and numerous frame drums from around the globe. From Philip Glass, to Derek Bermel to John Patitucci, composers are eager to contribute to duoJalal’s repertoire as their view of the musical world is all-encompassing. duoJalal’s name is inspired by the 13th century poet Jalal Rumi, whose visions, words, and life teach the world how to reach inner peace and happiness and that people of all religions and backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony.
Kathryn Lockwood has been hailed as a violist of exceptional talents in reviews around the country. The Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaimed, "...Lockwood played the vociferous viola cadenza with mahogany beauty and vivid character." 2005 marked the release of Kathryn's solo recital CD of Viola Music by Inessa Zaretsky, "Fireoptics", which Strad declared "Lockwood is absolutely inside the music's idiom finding appropriate tonal shadings". In addition to touring and recording with the Lark Quartet, Kathryn Lockwood performs with numerous other prestigious groups including Trio Solisti, Triple Helix, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Muir Quartet. Kathryn moved from her homeland of Australia to the United States in 1991 only to capture some of the most sought-after awards in the country including the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, Grand Prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, Concert Artists Guild Management Award, and awards at solo competitions such as the Primrose Competition, Washington International Competition, and the Pasadena Instrumental Competition.
Before relocating to New York in 2001 Kathryn held the position of violist of the Pacifica Quartet since its inception. As an original member of Pacifica Quartet, Kathryn was heard live on National Public Radio's "Performance Today" and on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Ravinia's Bennett Gordon Hall, Corcoran Gallery, St. Lawrence Center, and University of Thessaloniki /Greece. Kathryn collaborated with violist Michael Tree on an all Dvorak CD and composer Easley Blackwood on recordings released by Cedille Records. Kathryn performs regularly with Russian born pianist and composer, Inessa Zaretsky, with whom she has recorded Zaretsky's "Fireoptics" on Bribie Recordings. Collaborations include such artists as Cho-Liang Lin, Judith Ingolfsson, Branford Marsalis, St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Bill T Jones Dance Company. Currently on faculty at University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Rutgers University in NJ, the Concordia Conservatory in Bronxville NY and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Kathryn was previously on the faculty at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Interlochen Academy, Music Institute of Chicago, and National Music Camp in Australia. Kathryn earned her Master's Degree with Donald McInnes at the University of Southern California, and her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music with Elizabeth Morgan.
Hailed by the New York Times for his “dazzling improvisations” YOUSIF SHERONICK appears internationally as soloist and chamber musician with world-renowned groups and artists such as Philip Glass, Ethos Percussion Group, Glen Velez, Foday Musa Suso, Simon Shaheen, Henry Threadgill, Lark Chamber Artists and Paul Winter Consort. duoJalal is his most recent venture with violist and wife Kathryn Lockwood. Sheronick's unique style encompasses traditions and instruments from the Middle East, North and West Africa, Brazil, India, and Europe. His ability to work in such diverse genres is due to having studied contemporary classical, jazz, world and rock music, which he seamlessly fuses into his playing. Critics say Yousif “is capable of creating hypnotic atmospheres” (Mundoclasico) where he "transported the listener to another dimension." (Ritmic). Prestigious venue performances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royal Festival Hall (London) and Wigmore Hall (London). Distinguished collaborators include Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Marcel Khalife, Sonny Fortune and Cindy Blackman.
Mr. Sheronick recently released his critically acclaimed solo CD titled "Silk Thread" which Modern Drummer Magazine calls “a testimony to his genius”. He also released a Riq Instructional DVD which Rhythm Magazine (UK) says “is a must to uncover the mysteries of this ancient instrument.” He has appeared throughout the US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia with festival appearances including the JVC and Newport Jazz Festivals, Jazztel (Madrid), Renaissance Festival (Rethymno, Greece) Early Music Festival (Regensburg, Germany) and Jerusalem Festival (Palestine). He has performed live on NPR's "Performance Today" and John Schaffer's "New Sounds." An active clinician, Mr. Sheronick teaches masterclasses at home in the US and abroad. Mr. Sheronick holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Iowa, is artist in residence with Ethos Percussion Group at Lehman College (Bronx, NY) and serves on the faculty of Concordia Conservatory.
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Saturday, October 16 THE KENNEDYS“Maura’s sweet, reedy voice is versatile enough to tackle a wide range of styles, ...and Pete is a formidable multi-instrumentalist, playing assorted guitars, sitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, keyboards and drums with equal aplomb.” |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
The story of Pete and Maura Kennedy’s personal and professional relationship, now in its second decade, is somewhere between fate and a fairytale. How else can you explain a chance meeting in Austin between two East Coast-born musicians that immediately sparked a songwriting collaboration, a first date at Buddy Holly’s grave, an enduring romance, and a creative partnership that radiates warmth, positive energy, and captivating music?
In 1992, Virginia native Pete Kennedy was playing a solo show at Austin’s Continental Club on a brief sabbatical from his duties as country-folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith’s lead guitarist when he met former Syracuse, NY, resident Maura Boudreau, enjoying a night off from performing with her own country-rock band, The Delta Rays. The duo “instantly connected on a soul level, or maybe even something deeper,” according to Pete. They wrote their first song together the following day before Pete returned to the road, and rendezvoused ten days later at mutual hero Buddy Holly’s grave in Lubbock, Tex., 500 miles equidistant between them. And that’s how it started . . .
When Griffith needed a harmony singer to replace Iris Dement on short notice for a British tour in Spring ’93, Maura was the obvious choice, and her touring life alongside Pete began. While boarding the plane to England, Nanci informed the duo that they would serve as the opening act for many of the shows on her tour, as well as performing in her backing band. With a need for material to fill their set, Pete and Maura wrote an inspired set of songs in Dublin that would become the basis for their first album, 1995’s River of Fallen Stars, which earned an “Indie” award as “Best Adult Contemporary CD” by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors.
The body of work The Kennedys have created since their 1994 wedding is a reflection of their musical and philosophical influences and experiences separately and as a couple. A child of the ’50s, Pete was compelled to pick up his older sister’s guitar after seeing The Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and was soon playing “Louie Louie” and “Satisfaction” in a garage band while also absorbing the new sounds of The Byrds and folk-rock. After a year of studies at Boston College and with disco music just around the corner, Pete “started to lose interest in pop and got into taking the long view of the guitar.” He returned to Virginia and immersed himself in classical and jazz guitar, studying with master players Joe Pass and Johnny Smith in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The rise of the “alt.country” scene in the mid-’80s reignited Pete’s interest in contemporary music and he became a first-call session player in the Washington, DC, area. When fellow picker John Jennings took a sabbatical from his role as Mary Chapin Carpenter’s lead guitarist, Pete stepped into his shoes. On a final show with Carpenter in 1991 (on “Austin City Limits”) before she took a hiatus for songwriting, Pete sat in with fellow guest Nanci Griffith, was invited to join her band, and accepted.
Meanwhile, Maura Boudreau was learning there was more to music than pop when she started working in a used record store in Syracuse in the mid-’80s. There she discovered the British Invasion bands of two decades earlier, England’s groundbreaking folk-rock group Fairport Convention, and, most significantly, country-rock singer Emmylou Harris, whose recordings led Maura to the traditional music of Patsy Cline and the Louvin Brothers. She subsequently switched from playing Fairport-influenced material to forming the country-oriented Delta Rays and also started writing her own songs. A trip to Austin’s SXSW music showcase in the late ’80s convinced Maura to relocate her band there, although all but one of the original Delta Rays opted out of the move.
After Pete and Maura’s fateful 1992 meeting (the subject of their first Appleseed CD’s title song, “Half a Million Miles”) and several years of touring and recording with Nanci Griffith, the duo seceded amicably from Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra and became The Kennedys, recording CDs that encompass their favorite musical styles while incorporating the naturalistic, transcendental and mythological teachings of Joseph Campbell, Eckhart Tolle, Walt Whitman, and various Eastern-oriented philosophers into their songs and lives. Their goal is to live in the moment, appreciating every second of sensation, which imbues their music with a constant sense of wonder and freshness.
With the release of their tenth CD as The Kennedys and recent CDs by their Strangelings and Stringbusters side projects added to their discography, Pete and Maura remain the Energizer bunnies of the folk/rock world. Their touring schedule makes Bob Dylan seem lazy – they’ve played about 1500 gigs in the last 12 years, everywhere from house concerts to major festivals. And when they’re not recording, performing, or conducting monthly guitar workshops, they’re airing their favorite music on their “Dharma Café” show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s channel 70.
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Saturday, October 23 BEN ARNOLD
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CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
From big budget major label record deals to self-financed recordings, Philadelphia-based singer and songwriter Ben Arnold has seen both sides of the proverbial coin. It's a journey that has no doubt informed his songwriting. But, despite the highs and lows, Ben finds himself exactly where he's meant to be in his career, a self-sustaining artist composing his finest songs to date, playing to a loyal, ever-expanding audience and on the verge of releasing a new album that is yet another benchmark in his steadily growing discography.
Becoming the first singer-songwriter ever signed to the groundbreaking independent record label Ropeadope, Ben Arnold's new collection of songs, Nevermind My Blues is available nationwide on October 30. The very fact that Ropeadope (a label best known for cutting edge artists like The Benevento-Russo Duo, King Britt, Sex Mob and Tin Hat) would offer a home to an artist in a genre it's never yet navigated speaks volumes about the universal appeal of Ben's artistry.
"We've never had a singer-songwriter in nearly 10 years as a label because we never really felt that anyone had that 'Ropeadope vibe' to them," states label founder Andy Hurwitz. "But when the opportunity to sign Ben came along, we had to go for it. I've been a huge fan for years. He's easily one of my favorite contemporary living artists."
Ben Arnold has toured throughout the United States and Europe with various line-ups both solo and with his rollicking live band. He has shared a stage with everyone from Ryan Adams, David Gray, Ben Folds and Lucinda Williams to Ron Sexsmith, Randy Newman and even a strangely magical week in Holland with Townes Van Zandt. While maintaining a relatively low touring profile during the recording and in the build up to the release of Nevermind My Blues, Ben plans to tour extensively throughout 2007 and 2008.
At the age of 19, Anna Coogan found herself in Salzburg, Austria, studying opera in a language she did not yet know. She explains: “I’m not exactly sure how I got there- a series of good auditions and better luck. I did not speak a word of German when I first got there-- it was a crash course.”
Somewhat bewildered by the pressures of being in the prestigious world of opera, Anna shocked the old guard at the Mozarteum by singing American show tunes for recitals, and missing class to go skiing in the Austrian Alps. “I love opera, but I never could relate to the music. It did not feel like mine. I’d show up burnt from the mountains, unable to sing very well, and be in a load of trouble with my teachers.”
Homesick and lovesick for the man she would later marry, Anna returned to the US in 2001, swearing off music for good. She re-enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle and began to a degree in Evolutionary Biology. It was in late 2001, sometime after the events of September 11, that Anna first heard Alison Krauss sing. “I had never heard any sort of country music until that point. I grew up on the Beatles, on opera and old 1960’s folk music. Hearing old-time music changed the course of my life, yet again. I was hooked.”
Finally finding music that she could relate to, Anna picked up her old guitar and started hammering out old-time, two chord songs. She wrote her first song, played her first gig, and formed the band “Anna Coogan and north19” in a matter of months.
After only a year together, Anna Coogan and north19 released their first full length record, Glory, on local country-noir label Tarnished Records. The positive reception surprised the young band, who went from playing open stages and coffeeshops to selling out the larger clubs in the region. Glory rose to the top of local station KEXP’s charts, and the band was featured live in-studio on the show “Swinging Doors”. The record sold well across the US and Europe, rose to number 13 on the FAR charts, and was featured on national and local TV.
After the 2007 release of sophomore album Sleepwalker, which was mixed by Grammy winner S. Husky Huskolds (Norah Jones, Tom Waits) and featured on ABC series “Kyle XY”, Anna Coogan and north19 quietly retired. Anna once again found herself rootless in the music world: “After all we put into north19, it was sad to see it go.” She says, “But it was time.”
Since the late 2007 split of the band, Anna has taken to the road as a solo artist, this time backed by fiance Brooks Miner on keyboards and musicians on both coasts. Armed with a load of new songs, Anna and Brooks are heading into the studio in July 2009, with the help of producer JD Foster (Patty Griffin, Calexico), engineer Geoff Hazelrigg, and longtime drummer Eric Hastings. The summer of 2009 will be a busy one for the couple, with a European tour (featuring a slot at the prestigious Blue Balls Festival in Switzerland), making a record, and finally, their long-awaited wedding.
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Saturday, October 30 SARAH McQUAIDIrish Guitar Workshop and Evening Concert "Sparkling guitar and compelling alto voice ... reminiscent of Pentangle’s best efforts ... a gentle and magical recording that I will return to time and again." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Born in Madrid, Spain, raised in Chicago and holding dual Irish and American citizenship, singer/guitarist and songwriter Sarah McQuaid lived in Ireland from 1994 to 2007. She has since moved with her husband and two children to the home formerly occupied by her parents near Penzance, Cornwall.
I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning, the long-awaited follow-up to her acclaimed debut album When Two Lovers Meet, marked a distinct change of focus for the musician whose rich voice has been likened to “matured cognac”. Whereas her first album was a feast of Irish music, this is an enchanting celebration of old-time Appalachian folk, with Sarah’s arrangements punctuated by her own fine compositions and a cover of Bobbie Gentry’s classic ‘Ode to Billie Joe’.
Crow Coyote Buffalo, an album of songs co-written by Sarah with fellow Penzance resident Zoë (author and performer of 1991 hit single ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’) under the band name Mama, has also been garnering rave reviews since its January 2009 release; one critic described the pair as “Two pagan goddesses channeling the ghost of Jim Morrison”.
Sarah’s third solo album, provisionally titled The Plum Tree And The Rose, focuses both on early music (including Elizabethan material as well as songs in Old French, Old Occitan, Italian, Middle High German and Latin) and on originals inspired by such topics as Bess of Hardwick and the garden created at Kenilworth by Robert Dudley for Elizabeth I. Its release is expected sometime in 2010.
As might be expected of one who has led such a peripatetic existence, Sarah developed a taste for the road early on: From the age of twelve she was embarking on ten-day tours of the US and Canada with the Chicago Children’s Choir. At eighteen she went to France for a year to study philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, where her performance at a local folk club drew a rave review in the Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, saluting the “superbe chanteuse d’outre-Atlantique qui fit passer comme une vibration émotionnelle dans une salle conquise” (superb singer from across the Atlantic who caused an emotional vibration to pass through a conquered hall)!
In 1994, Sarah moved to Ireland, where she became a weekly folk music columnist for the Evening Herald and a contributor to Hot Press magazine. She is also the author of a guitar tutor, The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book, described by The Irish Times as “a godsend to aspiring traditional guitarists,” and has presented workshops on the DADGAD tuning at festivals and venues across the UK and Ireland.
In the autumn of 1997, she recorded her debut solo album, When Two Lovers Meet, featuring traditional tunes and songs along with one original number. “Sarah’s voice is both as warm as a turf fire and as rich as matured cognac.... An astonishing debut by a unique talent,” wrote the Rough Guide To Irish Music. Despite the critical acclaim, a long break from the music scene followed, during which Sarah married Feargal Shiels and had two children, Eli and Lily Jane.
When Two Lovers Meet was re-released in Ireland on 23 February 2007. Sarah’s ensuing nationwide tour was highly successful, thanks in large part to a very well-received appearance on The View, the acclaimed arts television show hosted by John Kelly on RTÉ1. On 30 July 2007, the album had its first UK release. The December 2007 edition of fRoots described it as “a masterclass in restraint and subtlety. Authoritative singing and quietly insistent arrangements make for a sumptuous whole – recommended.” Tracks from the album were included in FolkCast’s December 2007 “artists of the year” podcast and in Crooked Road host Mike Ganley’s Top Ten picks for 2007.
The move to the other side of the Irish Sea was triggered by the death in 2004 of her mother, in whose former home she now lives and to whom I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning (a title taken from the lyrics of album opener ‘The Chickens They Are Crowing’) is dedicated.
Says Sarah: “My first album was immersed in Irish traditional music, which I still love – but this time round, I felt the need to revisit the Southern Appalachian songs and tunes that I learned during my childhood. My mother was my introduction to folk music. She never performed professionally, but she had a lovely natural style of singing and guitar playing.
“All the songs on this recording have powerful emotional resonances for me, and all are connected in one way or another to my mother. Looking back, I guess it was kind of a cathartic process.”
Like its predecessor, I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning was recorded in Trevor Hutchinson’s Dublin studio and produced by Gerry O’Beirne. Both also guest on the album, alongside percussionist Liam Bradley, Máire Breatnach on fiddle and viola and Rosie Shipley on fiddle.
DADGAD Irish Guitar Workshop with Sarah McQuaid
WORKSHOP - $20 Advance/$25 Door, 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Sarah McQuaid is the author of a guitar tutor, The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book, described by The Irish Times as “a godsend to aspiring traditional guitarists,” and has developed a 90-minute workshop entitled An Introduction To DADGAD, which she has presented at festivals, arts centres, private homes and other venues around the UK and Ireland. The workshop presents the basics of traditional Irish playing for intermediate and advanced guitarists. Please bring your instruments. The book is available on Amazon.com for $17.05.
A comment from one attendee:
“I really enjoyed your workshop and I liked the way you made sure there was something for everyone. Each one of us had come along with widely different expectations and experience but you overcame this by adapting to the way the flow was going.
“As someone who has dabbled in open tunings, including DADGAD, for 35 years without really knowing what I was doing I certainly got a lot out of the session, which was also my first ‘guitar lesson’!
“For me it was useful to have read your Irish DADGAD Guitar Book beforehand but this was by no means a necessary requirement for a participant to benefit from the workshop. I liked too the impromptu illustrations using guitar parts taken from songs and instrumentals on your CDs. Your insight into chord structures and scales cast a new light on the reason why an open tuning like DADGAD works, in contrast to my previous hit-and-miss, limited attempts at picking out chords that sound nice.
“I’m sure I speak for other participants when I give a big thank you for an excellent workshop, which I would recommend to any guitarist.”
—Adrian Vranch (Devon, UK)
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Saturday, November 6 THE DEB CALLAHAN BAND"This very nearly flawless debut signals to the rest of the world what those in her home area already know well: Deb Callahan is a major talent ... Bonnie Raitt, Etta James and Aretha Franklin ... Callahan is very nearly in their league." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Philadelphia’s blues and soul drenched vocalist and songwriter, Deb Callahan grew up in the Boston area but has been a fixture on the mid-Atlantic music scene since the late 90’s. During this time she has gained a reputation for writing creative blues, soul and roots influenced original music and using her powerful, emotionally expressive voice and engaging stage presence to deliver a unique, high energy live show. Deb’s 2002 debut CD If the Blues Had Wings, garnered her positive acclaim from the blues and roots community and was featured as the hot debut in the October/November 2004 issue of Blues Revue Magazine . Blues Revue referred to her as the next Bonnie Raitt and raved "Philly’s Deb Callahan has the pipes, the songs and the raw talent to graduate to the next level". Deb she teamed up with Philadelphia producer and song-writer Chris Arms for her sophomore CD The Blue Pearl in November 2005 as well as the release of her latest CD Grace & Grit in September of 2008. The Blue Pearl is a well crafted, contemporary sounding CD with all the elements of timeless blues, soul and rock music. From the New Orleans blues/funk of the title track "Blue Pearl Moon" to the marriage of traditional and modern in the "Credit Card Blues ". Deb incorporates thoughtful and often funny lyrics to tell a modern day blues tale. In a review of The Blue Pearl, Living Blues described Deb as a “gifted song-writer whose voice is matchless in the ring of sultry blues singers”
Her most recent effort Grace & Grit was released in September of 2008 once again working with producer Chris Arms and featuring original music as well as a cover of one of her favorite Ray Charles songs “Hallelujah I love him so” and a few a capella snippets of songs sung by Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell and Aretha Franklin who have all been strong influences. One of the goals of this record was to go for a more live sound and capture the energy and spontaneity that live performance can bring. Thus all the vocal tracks were recorded with the band live in the studio. Grace & Grit has a strong blues base but brings in gospel, soul, rock and jazz elements and the thematic material ranges from songs about being a single mother trying to make it in America on “Food on the Table” to the humorous “No Taxi Driver” about receiving to many wrong number calls from people who are looking for a taxi.
Doing social work in the heart of Philadelphia would be a good place to learn about life’s hard knocks and this urban school ground taught singer/songwriter Deb Callahan well. Her rich, honest and soulful tunes resonate with listeners and run the gamut from soulful ballads to upbeat, dance oriented romps. Deb came up with the idea for the title of the CD, The Blue Pearl from an Eastern spiritual concept which states that when in a state of deep meditation, a person will encounter a tiny, sparkling blue light in the forehead known as "The Blue Pearl". This is the light of the soul within a human being. Deb says "This felt right for this CD, because a lot of the lyrical ideas were about stripping down to the essence of things and not getting caught up in all the internal and external distractions and negativity that prevent us from being truly present with our deepest self. On a lighter note, I also just liked the image of the blues being at the center of the music deep within but it clearly being surrounded by other influences and musical ideas." For Grace & Grit, it seemed like those two word felt right for some of the challenging themes of this CD and a requirement for everyday living in Philadelphia which Deb has always described as a “gritty city” since she moved there in the early 1990’s.
Since 2005, Deb Callahan and her band have become part of the national blues scene with performances at festivals on both sides of the country, including California’s Monterey Bay Blues Festival and Florida’s Springing the Blues Festival, The Boundary Water Blues Festival in Ely, MN Cookin at McCooks in Niantic, CT, as well as many fests in the mid-Atlantic region such as The Western Maryland Blues Festival in Hagerstown, MD, The Heritage Festival in Wheeling, West Virginia, Red Bank Blues Fest in Red Bank, NJ, The Philadelphia Blues Festival at The World Cafe Live, The Berks Blues and Jazz Festival in Reading, PA, Lehigh Valley Blues Fest in Whitehall, PA, The Briggs Farm Festival in Nescopeck, PA, The Greater Eastern Blues Festival in Harrisonburg, VA, The Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival in Anapolis, MD, The Wilmington Blues Festival in Wilmington, DE, The Media Blues Stroll in Media., PA, The Shenandoah Valley Blues Bash, in Luray, VA, The Central Delaware Blues & Jazz Festival in Felton, DE, The Safeway BBQ & Blues Fest in Washington DC, The Belair BBQ & Blues Fest in Belair, MD, The Bucks County Blues Society R & B Picnic in Morrisville, PA and many more. She has toured the club circuit up and down the East Coast from Maine to Florida. Her top notch band consists of Philly greats Allen James on the guitar, Garry Lee on bass and Tom Walling on drums.
Deb’s music has been played at radio stations around the United States and Europe. She has shared the stage with Buddy Guy, Billy Preston, James Cotton, Shemekia Copeland, Hubert Sumlin, Debbie Davies, Savoy Brown, Big Jack Johnson, Sean Costello, The Holmes Brothers, Phil Guy, Deanna Bogart, Ann Rabson, Nick Curran, Southside Johnny, Floyd Lee, NRBQ, Joe Bonamassa, Guitar Shorty, Little Ed and The Imperials, Bob Margolin, Paul Cebar, Tommy Castro, Anthony Gomes, Johhny Lee Hooker Junior, Sister Monica Parker. Marcia Ball, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Duke Robillard, Eric Lindell and more.
Deb Callahan is most often compared to singers such as Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Lydia Pense. She says "for me it is the blues and soul singers that have always gotten to my gut which includes people like Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Billie Holiday, Buddy Guy, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Bessie Smith, Joan Osborne, Ray Charles, Al Green and Mavis Staples and Irma Thomas…to name a few.
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Saturday, December 4 THE DAN MAY BAND"The Long Road Home is substantial work, with haunting, heartfelt tunes and resonant vocals in the tradition of deep pocket singers like Gordon Lightfoot and Randy Travis." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Singer-songwriter Dan May's career path has taken more twists and turns than a corkscrew in a hurricane. He has worked as a grave-digger, television cameraman, short-order cook, nuclear missile security guard, gas station attendant, sold clothing in a big and tall store, driven an ice cream truck, coached track, delivered furniture, wrote feature stories for a daily newspaper, unloaded trucks at an amusement park and labored in a greenhouse; all before the age of 25. While studying music composition in college, he inadvertently stumbled upon an opera career that would see him singing with opera companies across the United States as well as Canada, and leaving a promising future as a songwriter behind.
Cut to 15 years later, and after a vocal chord surgery that left him no longer able to meet the demands of opera, Dan returned to doing what he does best; writing and performing his own songs. Since his cross-over from classical to popular music, Dan has hit the ground running. With two critically-acclaimed albums under his belt, The Long Road Home, is an impressive follow-up that will almost certainly be embraced by fans and critics alike. Produced by GRAMMY-Award winning producer and engineer Glenn Barratt (Melody Gardot, Lizanne Knott, Amos Lee, Jill Scott),
The Long Road Home is a seamless tapestry of unforgettable melodies and clever, engaging lyrics; all delivered in a rich and soulful voice that speaks to both the head and the heart. From the haunting introduction of "Water Under the Bridge" to the lonesome longing of "Nightbird" and the heart-breaking waltz of "Irene," listeners are taken on a musical journey of genres and emotions that will leave them wanting more.
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Saturday, December 11 PEZZETTINO"... a master artist, writing only the best, fully-formed ideas and translating them into beautiful songs." "Tight, well-layered percussion with warm, round bass gave the spirit-filled odes a playful energy. Margaret did her aerobics routine by using the stage space to rock out, jump around and thrash about. Each song ended to energetic cheers. " |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Pezzettino's Margaret Stutt is a force of nature. Her music is ethereal and haunting, bringing a fantastically different, textural sound to what is decidedly not what you would expect to hear coming out of an accordion. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin based artist is an unexpected combination of grace and gravity, with a firm grasp on who she is and an engaging sense of humor; you want to be her friend, and you can't help becoming a fan.
On songs like the plaintive, piano driven Territorial and the darker, more gritty, Walk From Here, Pezzettino's classically trained pianist shines like a beacon to the unbroken, a show of solidarity in survival. Entrenched in life and the living of it, Margaret Stutt has a lot to say. The world would do well to listen up.
Margaret was trained on classical piano at the local convent until age 12, when she quit because she didn't like the pressure of competition. She has a BA in Art History and MA in Oriental Medicine. At age 25 she called off an engagement, joined a band, and taught herself how to play her father's accordion. "The songs just began pouring out, it was like opening a flood gate." Less than six months later, she released her first album and began touring as a solo artist. "Pezzettino" translates to "little piece" or "little square" in Italian, and depending on how strict copyright laws are, it may or may not be a reference to the children's illustration book by Leo Lionni.
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Saturday, December 18 ANDREAS KAPSALIS TRIO"I am very impressed that Andreas could cover on guitar what I had written for piano. It is quite amazing to hear my own music performed by great instrumentalists." |
CONCERT - $16 Advance/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
"Andreas Kapsalis is a real-deal artist with a deep soul and a totally original voice. He has always taken my breath away with his unique and evolutionary style of guitar playing but, now that he's found a forum of expression as a film composer, he has crossed into a new realm with an expanded pallet that's truly awe inspiring."
- Doreen Ringer-Ross, VP of Film and Television Relations, BMI
"For Black Gold, Andreas created the perfected marriage between music and picture. It was always our intention for the music to reflect the juxtaposition and inter-connectedness of the two worlds the film moves between, and Andreas realized this ambition with passion and perfection. By fusing African sounds and rhythms into a distinctly caffeinated score, he produced a cinematic experience which speaks to a global audience."
- Nick and Marc Francis, produced and directed Sundance documentary film Black Gold
The Andreas Kapsalis Trio represents the perfect alliance of eight-fingered guitar virtuosity, outstanding melodic themes, and rhythmic variation on percussion. Backed by drummer Jamie Gallagher and multi-instrumentalist Darren Garvey, the Andreas Kapsalsis Trio’s second album Original Scores is now available.
Original Scores is the Andreas Kapsalis Trio’s follow up to 2004’s self-titled debut. The years between have found the trio touring the country and composing music for film. Andreas was awarded a Fellowship Grant to attend the Sundance Film Composers Lab in 2005 and chosen to compose the film score for the documentary Black Gold which premiered at Sundance in 2006. Other films include Mulberry Street, Mexican Sunrise, and Retaliation.
The film connection has had an obvious influence on the writing of Original Scores. The music morphs from resembling your favorite movie soundtrack to a freak circus to full out thrash to subtle ballads. Elements of Americana, flamenco, Greek, African, and Arabic music are part of the mix, each receiving equal time. The musicianship and instrumentation make this a must-see live performance. Now in its sixth year, the Andreas Kapsalis Trio has become a force in Chicago’s underground music scene.
The PSALM Salon - Philadelphia's Premiere Quality Listening Room
PSALM Salon Technical Information/Booking
"One of Philadelphia's most welcoming and intimate venues in a gorgeous old house in Overbrook Farms.
Going to PSALM has all the virtues of a house concert with a sound system worthy of a club,
inspired booking, and plenty of street parking!"
– Michaela Majoun, WXPN Morning Show Host
"The PSALM is a dream performance space. Perfect acoustics, top quality production values, a visually lovely setting,
and an overall aesthetic ambience that, like a tea ceremony, lifts every gesture to it's highest level.
It's perfection, both for the audience and the performers."
– Pete Kennedy, The Kennedys
"...the PSALM, where artists conduct and discuss their work
in a seemingly nondenominational spiritual space.
The twinkle of burning candles in Depression glass, the scent of sandalwood: It's all here."
– A. D. Amorosi, The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Congrats on a beautiful, intimate, warm and sweet space for music to emerge, inspire and uplift.
Great sound system and first rate performers. I loved the spirit. Just wonderful."
– Andrea Clearfield, composer and pianist; Andrea's Music Salon
"I was first struck by the beautiful space, then by your warmth and generous hospitality and sweet family,
then last but not least, the gorgeous, delicious sound! Thank you for all these gifts you give to bands and audiences weekly!"
– Glen Roethel, Gathering Time
"At the end of our Northeast Tour, we played at... Philadelphia’s PSALM Salon,
which is run by a wise world-wanderer and truly joyful being. We treasured our time at... PSALM"
– Wolff Bowden, The Orphan Trains / Artist / Poet
"Thank you for an amazing evening last night. How inspiring!! Such a rich tapestry of music, love, sensitivity, joy, community and that indescribable thing that happens when these elements occur together. And you make it all quite effortless by creating just the right ambience. Your amazing skill at music engineering takes the music to another level. It is wonderful to see all of your years in designing audio gear morph into your spiritual path and result in all this."
– Michael London, PhD
"I love the PSALM Salon!!"
– Linda Lewis, Creative Entertainment
Read the 09/16/09 City Paper Cover Story and Jamey Reilly Interview by music critic A.D. Amorosi,
and a great 11/24/09 review - "Outta Leftfield" by Mike Morsch, executive editor of the Montgomery Newspapers. View the video interview of master frame drummer, Glen Velez, by Lori Cotler at the PSALM Salon on 11/14/09.
The PSALM Salon is Philadelphia's premiere small space for serious listening. It boasts an audiophile quality sound and multi-track recording system in an acoustically pristine space, allowing guests to experience world class performances with ultimate clarity in a stately old Philadelphia mansion, which is also the home of PSALM Chairman, Jamey Reilly (facebook) and his wife, Suyun.
The professionally appointed salon theater has intimate sight lines from all 60 cushioned seats. It is a space for performers to connect with guests one on one, which inevitably results in stellar performances. Artists accustomed to performing in multi-thousand seat venues enjoy performing at the PSALM Salon because of the warmth, intamacy and wonderfully vibrant atmosphere. The PSALM Salon is proud to be ASCAP and BMI licensed which means that songwriters, composers and music publishers the world over are compensated for their music which is performed in our venue. PSALM is honored to have been selected by Google Inc. as a Google Grant recipient.
The PSALM Salon is reminiscent of the old-world salons of Europe, where the cultural cognoscenti would gather to experience and discuss the works of the leading artists of the day. These salons were typically hosted within the homes of the artist's patrons, and provided a venue for artists to extend their craft, and make important connections with their supporters. The PSALM welcomes musicians, dancers, thespians, authors and performance artists of renown from the the world over representing the full spectrum of style and genre. As such, the PSALM is a crucible where cultures and ideas cross pollinate to produce events of singular depth and beauty. It is in many ways a laboratory, exploring the alchemy of creative shared experience.
Founded in 2004, the PSALM Salon now produces one full season per year. The PSALM Salon has featured the highest caliber performers of local, regional, national and international repute on our humble stage. All performances are multi-track recorded for archives and potential release. Listen to a cut from a recent concert by Australian folk-rocker Anne McCue. Soon we hope to have HD video production capacity in place as well!
Doors Open 7:30 pm - All Performances Begin 8:00 pm. The PSALM Salon is an all ages venue and older children are welcome. Free parking is available on-street and public transportation is easily accessible. High quality refreshments are served at no extra charge, and guests are welcome to BYO beer or wine (21 and older). Hot home-made vegetarian springroll and pot-sticker dinner boxes are sometimes available for $5. The PSALM Salon features gallery style exhibits of fine artwork and photography produced by established local artists. The artists are frequently on hand during performances to discuss and sell their work. Exotic imported jewelry and women's clothing is also on sale. Regular email announcements are sent to our private opt-in mailing list.
Advance price tickets may be purchased securely online or by automated phone service via credit card at 888-241-0769 for a small convenience fee. Advance price tickets plus a service charge equivalent to the online convenience fee may be purchased at the box office by appointment - via credit card, check or cash up to the day prior to the performance. Even with the convenience fee or service charge, there is still a small savings over buying full price tickets. We can hold phoned-in ticket reservations for will-call but only at full price. Full price tickets may also be purchased at the door the evening of the performance via credit card, check or cash.
Cancellation policy: If a show is cancelled due to weather or acts beyond our control, we will post the information on this website for the performance affected. You may also call 215-477-7578 for information. We do not provide refunds, but you may use your tickets for any subsequent show of your own choosing. Likewise, if you call to notify us that you will not be able to attend a performance, for any reason, by 5:00 pm the date of the performance, you may use your tickets for another show, or you may donate them to friends. If however, you do not call ahead and miss the performance, you will lose your tickets, and the band will be paid for your seats.
PSALM Salon Membership Has Real Benefits!
PSALM Members receive a $5 cash rebate at the door for each performance
and a $10 rebate for each workshop (for advance or door sales). That's a savings of over 30%.
...and PSALM annual membership is only $35 per year for individuals or $70 for families!!
Individual Annual Membership |
Family Annual Membership |
Donate to PSALM |
Secure online processing is handled by our production partner VirtuaLux Inc, via PayPal.
PSALM gratefully acknowledges your generous support. Our charitable giving adviser Emily J. Carr wishes to remind you that your donations are fully tax deductible and announces the formation of PSALM's Charitable Giving Annuity Fund. Please contact us for details on how this exciting program can help PSALM to realize its mission while providing you with tax free annuities for your lifetime. Your donations allow PSALM to produce the PSALM Salon, and other worthwhile projects that promote human unity within world diversity.
We wish to thank our volunteer staff: Mallorie McRea, Sherry Somach, Mike Connery, David Sherick and Zach Brown for their much appreciated assistance with the Salon. We welcome new volunteers as well, and always need help with our recording program and office/artist relations management.
PSALM supports "Feed the Muse", a pain free online resource for musicians and other creative types to help fund their vision.
Going West (12 traffic lights from the Route 76 exit): Follow City Line Ave. (Rt 1 South) past the foot bridge at St. Joseph's University and make the next left, which is Cardinal Avenue. Go one block and turn right onto Overbrook Avenue. The house is toward the end of the block on the right. The G bus stops at the corner. Going East (toward the river): Follow City Line Ave. (Rt 1 North) past the Executive House Apartments to the red "St. Joseph's University" sign on your right. This is 59th St. Turn right, go one block, and turn left onto Overbrook Avenue. The house is 4th on the left. The R5 Overbrook train station is about four blocks from the house. |
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