"He's funny. He's also as serious as an ax handle." - Peter Mulvey
Dylan Patrick Ward is a folk misfit from Vermont's dirty south. Equal parts compassionate and irreverent, his songs delve into the minds and lives of oddballs, outcasts, misfits and people on the brink.
He has a sharp sense of humor and an instinctive sympathy for the underdog, and has been compared to great musical humorists like John Prine and Randy Newman, as well as indie-rock/antifolk legends like the Mountain Goats
and Paul Baribeau.
Since arriving on the scene in 2021, he's become increasingly respected as a writer and performer, and has shared the stage with beloved acts like Bill Callahan, Peter Mulvey, Jeffrey Lewis, Guy Davis, Michael Schneewais
and others.
Here's a sneak preview of Dylan Patrick Ward
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Cosy Sheridan has been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters" She first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at The Kerrville Folk Festival and
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Since then she has released 10 cds, written a one-woman-show and her music has appeared in books and film. She has taught songwriting, guitar and performance workshops at music camps for
the past 15 years, including The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and The Swannanoa Gathering. She is the director of The Moab Folk Camp in Moab, Utah.
"Her user-friendly musical philosophy sets her happily apart from the myopic, self-involved songwriters... she is a wonderfully lively, very funny and enormously amiable entertainer with a keen and wicked eye for the
excesses of our fast-food, tv-happy and noisome culture." - The Boston Globe
"A Buddhist monk in a 12-step program trapped in the body of a singer/songwriter." - The Albuquerque Journal
"Sheridan is frank, feisty, sublimely and devilishly funny. She fuses myth with modern culture, Persephone with Botox." - Cornell Folksong Society
Ian Galipeau is an indie-rock songwriter for hopeful cynics. If you cry at It's A Wonderful Life, despise every TV news channel, and have a moderate-but-not-crippling sense of anxiety about climate change, there's a good
chance you'll appreciate his lyrics. And his lyrics are where his obsession lies - he is not an artist who can just write a simple love song, or a breakup song. He's compelled, for better or worse, to use songs to explore
something out-of-the-ordinary. Sometimes it's a meditation on writers block, or the nostalgia of parenthood, or the perspective of a Ray Bradbury character... but there's always some fragment of the unexpected. Musically,
he leans toward indie-rock, but there are also strands of retro-pop and Americana that will keep you on your toes.
Ian is based in Keene, NH. He's been performing across New England since 2010, and has shared the stage with national touring acts including Arc Iris and Dietrich Strauss. He released two sister-EPs, titled Raze/Raise, in
March of 2018, and followed with the full-length album Like We Were Never Here At All in September 2022.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tom Pirozzoli is well known, much respected on the New England and on the national music scene. Tom's songs have been recorded by artists as varied as Tonto's Big Idea, Willy Porter, and Pam Prior. His co- writes with
Willy Porter have been performed in Carnegie Hall, at Madison Square Garden and The Royal Albert Hall. Original songs recorded by Tom in the 1980's with the Fast Folk Music Magazine (New York) are in the Smithsonian
collection. Tom's skills as a performer and singer-songwriter were honored by Musician Magazine as a winner in their "Best Unsigned Band" contest.
"Pirozzoli offers a vision of the exotic places he visits and straight from the heat sentiment through his songs… a low enchanting voice and a prolific knack for writing lyrics."
— NH Seacoast
Here's a sneak preview of Tom Pirozzoli
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Robyn Macy
MAR 8
Piper Dumont
Piper Dumont
Piper Dumont is a folk singer songwriter from Colorado. She got her start playing classical violin and grew up accompanying her dad to bluegrass jams where she experimented with fiddle. A guitar gifted for her birthday
spurred her interest in songwriting and she began recording songs during lockdown in her parents' basement. She has since released one EP and several singles. Taking inspiration from her classical and bluegrass roots, as
well as contemporary influences, her songs weave tales about herself and the world around her.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
White Mountain Ceilí Band is Dexter Harding on the tenor banjo, Fiona Howell on the flute, Siena Kaplan-Thompson on the fiddle, and Mike Levine on the guitar and occasional concertina. They play Irish, Scottish and Cape
Breton instrumental music with warmth and joy, as well as the occasional song.
Dexter first came to Irish music when he played for contra dances around the valley, and the session at May Kelly’s deepened his focus on the Irish tradition.
Fiona grew up playing flute through Mountain Top Music Center, and went on to study music at Loyola University. While in New Orleans she began playing at Irish sessions, and now plays and sings with a few groups around New
England.
Siena grew up playing classical violin and viola and switched to fiddle in college when she discovered the Boston Scottish and Cape Breton music scene.
Mike has played a wide range of musical styles, from classical to rock, and more recently bebop. He and Siena have both enjoyed branching out into Irish music with the White Mountain Ceilí Band.
Here's a sneak preview of The White Mountain Ceili Band
Wes Aldrich's songs speak to the introvert as he vocalizes the struggles of daily life through his music. With his soft melodies and poignant lyrics, he's reaching out to connect to the disconnected. To help create a safe
space for all of us to be vulnerable.
Inspired by the likes of John Prine, Ryan Adams, Alice in Chains, and more, his music has a distinct familiarity while still maintaining his originality.
Since 2010 Wes Aldrich has been writing, recording, and producing music at Carriage House Studios, in Southern New Hampshire. Playing and touring in the band's Hug the Dog and Ballroom Sofa, he's had the opportunity to gig
all over the US, including SXSW festival in Austin, TX, CBGB Festival in NYC, The Knitting Factory Los Angeles, CA, and more.
After releasing his 2021 solo album "Bullies and Saints", he decided to put a deeper focus on his solo career. In 2022 he produced a second full production EP called "Balance" where he plays bass, guitar, keys, and did all
of the vocal parts/arrangements. He's now ready to share his work from the last two years and he's hitting the road again, excited to reconnect with music listeners.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
For over half a century SKIP GORMAN has enjoyed singing, playing and performing an impressive and varied palette of traditional American and Celtic folk music. As an accomplished singer, guitarist, fiddler and mandolinist,
Gorman has completed over 18 recordings of old time cowboy songs, fiddle, mandolin, bluegrass and been featured on many others, and established his own record label, Old West Recordings.
His recordings have earned a prestigious NAIRD (INDIE) award, and been selected as a top ten folk pick of the year by Amazon.com. Filmmaker Ken Burns has used Skip's original music on four of his celebrated documentaries.
He has appeared on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, toured with the US Embassy in Chile, Argentina and Paraguay, performed at World Fiddle Day in Co. Kerry, Ireland, and taught at numerous music camps in
America and the British Isles.
"Skip Gorman has mastered the rare sound which can only be created by those who have grown up listening to traditional American folk music." — Hal Cannon, Founder Western Folklife Center & Cowboy Poetry
Gathering, Elko, Nevada
Off The Cuff is a semi-acoustic instrumental and vocal quartet, interpreting 100 years of great music from the 20s to the 20s.
Off The Cuff has been delighting audiences across southern New Hampshire and surrounding areas for over 20 years. Cuff plays at the crossroads of American music, where bluegrass meets swing, jazz meets blues, and folk,
rock and country become pals. Cuff blends these elements with tight vocal harmonies and instrumental arrangements to "Cuff" each song, give it that Off The Cuff touch.
Audiences love this music - Americana at its fullest! Whether a bluegrass tune or an old jazz standard, a pop tune or a nugget by some little known songwriter, the music touches a familiar chord in everyone, whether they
grew up dancing to the big bands or to rock bands. It is music that each generation has managed to share; a part of the American musical soul. The music is upbeat, energetic, and fun, and The Cuffers have a great time
playing and interacting with the audience.
In October, 2008 Off The Cuff released its first CD, "Cuffed… At Last!" Recorded live at the Caleidh House in Westmoreland, NH, the CD contains 14 songs covering a broad range of styles that highlight the diversity
and variety of an Off The Cuff performance.
Here's a sneak preview of Off The Cuff
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Eve Pierce is making a name for herself all over the Monadnock region. She's such a versatile singer that she can perform in a variety of situations with a huge repertoire to draw from: she's at home with the music of
Harold Arlen, Taylor Swift, Ella Fitzgerald, Elton John, Brandy Carlise; jazz classics, '60's and 70's folk rock, contemporary pop, and her own inimitable original compositions.
With Gordon Peery she has found an accompanist who is able to dance, as it were, on the keyboard (or guitar), finding just the right groove for engaging song delivery
The result is a musical journey that takes you all over the place, but ends up leaving you right at home.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Anonymous
This completes our Spring Schedule
That's all for now but stay tuned, more is coming in the fall.
"A BANJO-GUITAR ROMANCE" ROOTS - INFUSED CONTEMPORARY FOLK
Monique Byrne and Andy Rogovin perform moving and inspirational songs that are sometimes joyful, sometimes wistful, and oftentimes, poignant, and that reflect a mutual passion for life, family and humanity. Their
intimately blended vocal harmonies are mixed with an expressive and unique instrumental style that is best described as "a banjo-guitar romance." Crowes Pasture’s style of intimate and soulful folk transports and connects
listeners through universal experiences in their “skillfully crafted, emotional songwriting” (Chris Eastburn, award-winning composer).
Crowes Pasture has made waves with two EPs and three full-length albums in just six-years time. Their CD, "Slow It Down", was released in June 2019 at the legendary Club Passim. Since its release, the title track earned
Crowes Pasture a #1 song, and the album debuted at #5 on the Folk Alliance International Charts. Since the release of their first album, "Edge of America," the duo has had eight Top 10 Songs on the Folk Charts, including
"Take Back the Red White and Blue" (January 2022), their cover of Mary Gauthier's "Mercy Now" (June 2019), and the timely and topical song, "Quarantine" (January 2021).
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Martha Naylor
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
Joel Cage is an award winning veteran singer/songwriter from Boston. Once a member of the internationally acclaimed rock & roll group Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, Joel has been performing regionally and
nationally as a soloist for the past 2 decades. He has performed at some of the most prestigious folk & acoustic venues & festivals in the country, including the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas where he was
awarded top prize in the Kerrville New Folk Competition.
A virtuoso guitarist and an impassioned vocalist, Joel Cage's music is both evocative and raucous. He spans the gamut from sounding like a full rock band to 'hear your own heartbeat' intimacy.
Joel Cage is also a master interpreter of other people's music, spanning a wide field of musical genres, garnering him the oft used moniker "Acoustic Rock Song Stylist."
Here's a sneak preview of Joel Cage
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Anonymous
OCT 13
E J Tretter
E J Tretter
E J Tretter, a volunteer with the Sunapee Coffeehouse team for six or seven years, is also a gifted singer, songwriter and guitarist.
He has been playing the guitar for fifty years, has played numerous styles in different bands, and has performed as a solo artist.
He has crafted many original songs, displaying a somewhat unique perspective on the individual's journey through life's challenges and rewards.
As a finger picking guitarist he's also written instrumental pieces in the style of John Fahey and Leo Kottke.
As someone who learned to play guitar in the 1960's and 1970's, there's lots of nostalgia in his playlist of cover songs.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Considered a master of American roots music, Scott Ainslie brings a wealth of personal and musical history to the stage. With engaging stories he provides historical context for a repertoire of Delta Blues and ragtime
guitar, gospel, and music of the banjo and fiddle traditions of the Southern Appalachians. Coming of age during the Civil Rights era, Ainslie studied with elder musicians on both sides of the color line. With a deep
affinity for cross-cultural exchange, he plays this music with affection, authority and power.
Armed with vintage guitars, a fretless gourd banjo, a homemade one-string diddley bow, and carefully chosen historical and personal anecdotes of his encounters with senior musicians across the South, Ainslie brings the
history, roots music, and sounds of America alive.
Scott Ainslie literally wrote the book on the Mississippi Delta Blues legend,“Robert Johnson/At the Crossroads”.
Exploring the African and European roots of American music and culture in every concert,“he lives in the groove ...” says the Durham NC Spectator.
With almost four decades of performing festivals, concert halls, coffeehouses, colleges, and house concerts, along with a half dozen acclaimed CDs, Bernice Lewis has built a solid national fan base. She is also a published
poet, a producer, and an educator extraordinaire. Lewis — who studied vocal improvisation with Bobby McFerrin, guitar technique with Alex DeGrassi and Guy van Duser, and songwriting with Rosanne Cash and Cris
Williamson — has been a featured performer on NPR’s
Mountain Stage program, as well as at the Kennedy Center.She has a forty-year old daily yoga practice, loves good coffee, and her religion is the Grand Canyon.
“Bernice is a voice full of light and hope. She is one of the keepers of the flame of Real Songwriting.” - Rosanne Cash
“Bernice’s life is filled with beautiful, deep things, and she writes beautifully and deeply about them. ‘Good Kind of Love to Be In’ is wonderful; spoke right to my heart! Great, jazzy cover of
‘A Case of You.’ Musically and vocally, she has new wings with the genres she’s been exploring.” -Dar Williams
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
The Lake Sunapee, NH region has always had more than its share of musicians. Maybe it's the mountain air or maybe it's the scenery, but something keeps them coming back. Just ask Click Horning, New London's singer
songwriter who left when he was seventeen for the Big Apple. Twelve years, a record contract and an album later it was time to come back. Early influences were Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Peter Paul & Mary, as well as
rock and roll and R&B that he listened to growing up.
Click's music has taken him across the country several times, to the Rockies and to the deep south . Click has produced two more solo albums and two albums with his band Night Kitchen , a "get up and dance" band composed
of Click on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Gerry Putnam on lead guitar, Dinty Child on electric rhythm guitar and keyboards, Dana Flewelling on drums and Dave Doran on bass.
Click began playing guitar at boarding school, influenced by other guitar playing students, one in particular being Gram Parsons. Click persuaded his grandmother to finance a bottom-of-the-line Gibson guitar (a combination
birthday and Christmas gift). "I had been spending all my spare time practicing on a friends guitar, but soon found I had to have my own."
He began playing folk songs, but after hearing Gram and writers like Bob Dylan, he decided to try his hand at writing songs. "It was the perfect blending of poems and music that intrigued me. I've always loved lyrics that
tell a story."
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Martha Naylor
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Richard “Gil” Patton
Gil's interactive community chat and music live stream can be found Monday nights on:vaughn.live/gil_on_vl
DEC 22
Holiday Open Mic
Come sing with us
Come sing and play with us for a musical magical night
All songs welcome
Holiday and secular alike
Play what moves you
We really love original songs but covers are fine, and if you'd care to lead us in a singalong that's terrific too.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
A CoffeeHouse Fan
This completes our Fall Schedule
That's all for now but stay tuned, more is coming in 2024.
Open Mic Nite at the Sunapee CoffeeHouse is the perfect opportunity for local musicians to showcase their talents and for music lovers to discover new artists. Whether you're a seasoned performer or just starting out, we
welcome all levels of experience to take the stage. Our intimate setting and supportive atmosphere make it the perfect place to share your music with a friendly audience. Don't miss this chance to be a part of the musical
magic at the Sunapee CoffeeHouse — we can't wait to hear what you've got! And who knows, maybe you'll even be the one to create that magic.
Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
Drawing from 50s and 60s pop, American Songbook standards, and much more, this vibrant duo channels and fuses these influences through two voices, a guitar, and violin to bring you a mixture of original songs and dusted
off covers from the past.
The two consist of Brad Bensko on Vocals and Guitar, and Kathleen Parks (of Twisted Pine) on Vocals, and Five-Stringed Fiddle.
Click Horning also known as "Click" is a singer, guitarist and composer
The Lake Sunapee, NH region has always had more than its share of musicians. Maybe it's the mountain air or maybe it's the scenery, but something keeps them coming back. Just ask Click Horning, New London's singer
songwriter who left when he was seventeen for the Big Apple. Twelve years, a record contract and an album later it was time to come back. Early influences were Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Peter Paul & Mary, as well as
rock and roll and R&B that he listened to growing up.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
"Dana Robinson is a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter from Cabot,Vermont who combines an openhearted singing style, with wry humor and astute observations about community and place.
Seven Days writes, “Dana is a master storyteller, spinning his yarns with the precise skill of an artisan loom weaver.”
Here's a sneak preview of Dana Robinson
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
Randy Miller and Jane Orzechowski are both recipients of numerous music and arts awards including the Folk Heritage Award from the Governor and the NH State Council on the Arts. They are both icons in the world of
traditional Celtic Music and Contradance.
Gordon Peery provides piano accompaniment for a wide variety of singers and instrumentalists in many genres of music, including fiddle tunes of Celtic, French Canadian and New England origin, American Songbook, jazz,
blues, rock and roll, and folk.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
On her website Jennifer Curtin says:
“My name is Jennifer and I live in the wilds of central Vermont with my husband Jim and two kids, Finbar and Maeve. I have always had a passion for singing and making music of all kinds. Recently, with the help of Colin
McCaffrey, I released a recording of traditional and contemporary Celtic & British Isles songs titled "Comfort for the Comfortless". I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it (which was a lot!). May the
songs inspire you to go out and make your own music – or at least sing in the shower!”
The press says:
“Curtin has a lovely voice and “Comfort for the Comfortless” is an apt title, as this album never jars the senses nor makes promises it can’t keep. Instead we have a fine singer at home in a genre of music that emanates
from lands far across the sea.”
Erin Ash Sullivan is a Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter who loves a good storytelling song. Drawing from the lives of others as well as her own experiences as a daughter, wife, mom, and artist, Erin's songs harness
language in unexpected ways to reveal the world through others' eyes.
“Melodic, fresh, and easygoing, with storytelling prowess on full display…recalling the likes of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez.” – Unxigned
Here's a sneak preview of Erin Ash Sullivan
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Eric and Janet Peirce (pronounced "purse")
Fans of live acoustic music
Claremont, NH
Bonnie Waters is a songwriter and performer from the New England area (Vermont/New Hampshire), whose music includes: Folk, Pop, Celtic, and Blues, with a focus on New Consciousness themes. Melodic, soulful, and often
haunting - Music from the Heart.
Here's a sneak preview of Bonnie Waters
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
MAY 12
Carl Beverly
Carl Beverly
Carl Beverly is a songwriter from Warner, New Hampshire who recently completed his solo CD “Ordinary Life.” He has been writing and perfecting his distinctive finger picking style for the past ten years. His songs reflect
the sorrow and joy of life, family, friends, and nature. Beverly's passion for songwriting led him to form the Brook House Songwriters' Circle which provides community and inspiration to other local songwriters. When he's
not writing, Beverly is a frequent performer at area coffee houses, open mics.
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tom Pirozzoli is well known, much respected on the New England and on the national music scene. Tom's songs have been recorded by artists as varied as Tonto's Big Idea, Willy Porter, and Pam Prior. His co- writes with
Willy Porter have been performed in Carnegie Hall, at Madison Square Garden and The Royal Albert Hall. Original songs recorded by Tom in the 1980's with the Fast Folk Music Magazine (New York) are in the Smithsonian
collection. Tom's skills as a performer and singer-songwriter were honored by Musician Magazine as a winner in their "Best Unsigned Band" contest.
"Pirozzoli offers a vision of the exotic places he visits and straight from the heat sentiment through his songs… a low enchanting voice and a prolific knack for writing lyrics."
— NH Seacoast
Here's a sneak preview of Tom Pirozzoli
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Tom Pirozzoli
This completes our Spring Schedule
That's all for now but stay tuned, more is coming in the fall.
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
Cosy Sheridan has been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters" She first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at The Kerrville Folk Festival and
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Since then she has released 10 cds, written a one-woman-show and her music has appeared in books and film. She has taught songwriting, guitar and performance workshops at music camps for
the past 15 years, including The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and The Swannanoa Gathering. She is the director of The Moab Folk Camp in Moab, Utah.
"Her user-friendly musical philosophy sets her happily apart from the myopic, self-involved songwriters... she is a wonderfully lively, very funny and enormously amiable entertainer with a keen and wicked eye for the
excesses of our fast-food, tv-happy and noisome culture." - The Boston Globe
"A Buddhist monk in a 12-step program trapped in the body of a singer/songwriter." - The Albuquerque Journal
"Sheridan is frank, feisty, sublimely and devilishly funny. She fuses myth with modern culture, Persephone with Botox." - Cornell Folksong Society
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
OCT 14
EJ Tretter
EJ Tretter
This will be my fourth time performing at the Sunapee Coffeehouse, although it will be my first time since joining the team of volunteers that makes this music venue work so well. In these past few years that I've been
helping out , I've been audience to an amazing array of talented singer-songwriters and musicians. I've watched and listened closely, and learned some things.
I've been playing guitar since I was thirteen years old and have been writing songs since I was around twenty two, give or take a year. I write about life lessons, loved ones, and the changes, challenges and rewards that
fill up the years. ( contrary to persistent rumors, I also have a lighter side ). After forty-plus years of writing and guitar playing, it's still fun. And there are always new things to discover with both music and
lyrics.
Thanks to all the Sunapee Coffeehouse folks; volunteers, audience regulars, all friends..........E J Tretter
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Geoff Bartley (1948 - ?) is a folk-blues guitar player singer-songwriter and recording artist. His last two CDs, 2009's "Put the Big Stone Down" and 2011's "Mercy for the Dispossessed", went to No. 1 on folk radio. In the
1980s, Geoff won four guitars at the National Fingerpicking Champion-ships. Some of his songs and co-writes have been recorded by other artists in New England, Canada, Ireland, and Nashville, and some are included in the
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of the Fast Folk Musical Magazine collection in Washington, D.C.
Since 1994 Geoff has played guitar and sung harmony for folk treasure Tom Paxton. In 2007, Geoff's song A Letter from Prison about Nelson Mandela was recorded by the progressive bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters,
on their CD "Fork in the Road" on Sugar Hill. Subsequently, that recording was used in the independent 2008 Lionsgate film "The Lucky Ones".
Songs and instrumentals he has written have been used on the History Channel, Animal Planet, the Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, NOVA and Nature on PBS and other cable networks, in
private and commercial films and documentaries, and in private and commercial advertising in the US and other countries.
The folk press has called him a world-class guitarist, a brilliant songwriter and the prophet and spiritual godfather of the Boston folk scene.
Dylan Patrick Ward: "Lyrically clever as hell, wicked funny, wicked dark. Monsters, death, and mayhem. Fear, weirdness, and alienation, all wrapped up in love."- Mark Piepkorn, Stage 33 Live, Bellows Falls, VT.
Dylan Patrick Ward has never drank 100 beers in one day, but sometimes he feels like a snowman made of slush from the side of the road, slowly melting as winter turns to spring, so his songs are autobiographical...in a
way.
After years spent trying his hand at acting, stand-up, sketch comedy, film making, fiction writing and cartooning, and many failed attempts at starting bands, Dylan found his niche in the age-old art of sitting alone with
a guitar and writing songs.
Equal parts humor and heart, Dylan's highly specific, melodic tales of lovable losers draw from a wide range of influences, chief among them John Prine, the Mountain Goats, Nikolai Gogol and The Simpsons.
He comes from a part of Vermont he affectionately refers to as “the dirty south”, where Dickensian odd-balls are more common than farmers and ski bums. He fits in...about as well as he would anywhere I guess.
Here's a sneak preview of Dylan Patrick Ward
2ND HOUR
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs.
Amber Wilds is a progressive folk band that blends sensitive instrumentals with evocative lyricism. The group draws influence from American roots and contemporary genres, blending them into songs of modern-day relevance
with lyrics that remind us to find the beauty in the wilds.
Bandleaders Devon Gardner and Adam Gurczak play as a duo, as well as in compliments of three or four with other local musicians. After many moons of quarantine, the band is finally hitting the stages in 2022 with a slew of
new releases underway.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
A live music lover
DEC 9
“A Bowl of Merry”
with Steve Schuch, Kathy Lowe and Kent Allyn
Join three celebrated musicians as they fill your holiday bowl with instrumentals and songs, both original and traditional. Their festive trio, duo, and solo arrangements are sure to delight listeners' ears and warm the
hearts of all.
Steve Schuch
- A Grammy-nominated composer, singer, guitarist, and violinist. He has performed and recorded with Windham Hill guitarist Will Ackerman, folk legend Pete Seeger, and his own Celtic ensemble, The Night Heron Consort.
Kathy Lowe
- Singer, song writer, recording artist, guitarist and dulcimer player. Her Seasonal Holiday CD of original carols, “Wishing You Peace,” has become a family favorite for 20 years. Raised in a Vaudeville /Circus family, one
never knows what she's going to do next. Visit her intriguing world of "Petreflection Photography" and comedic "Qathy Quarantina" videos.
Kent Allyn
Kent Allyn
Kent Allyn
- He's the best side guy player in NH. On bass, guitar and piano, Kent has played with Ben Baldwin and the Big Note (since 1976), Susie Burke, Cosy Sheridan, Cormac McCarthy, Kathy Lowe, Steve Schuch, The Renovators, and
The Rushmores. He's taught private music lessons at Berwick Academy in Maine since 1989. A claim to fame: Steve Tyler's grandmother gave him piano lessons. She would say to him, “Kent, I didn't come here to hear you
practice."
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night for $25? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Martha Naylor for info
This completes our Fall Schedule
That's all for now but stay tuned, more is coming in 2023.
Dylan Patrick Ward: "Lyrically clever as hell, wicked funny, wicked dark. Monsters, death, and mayhem. Fear, weirdness, and alienation, all wrapped up in love."- Mark Piepkorn, Stage 33 Live, Bellows Falls, VT.
Dylan Patrick Ward has never drank 100 beers in one day, but sometimes he feels like a snowman made of slush from the side of the road, slowly melting as winter turns to spring, so his songs are autobiographical...in a
way.
After years spent trying his hand at acting, stand-up, sketch comedy, film making, fiction writing and cartooning, and many failed attempts at starting bands, Dylan found his niche in the age-old art of sitting alone with
a guitar and writing songs.
Equal parts humor and heart, Dylan's highly specific, melodic tales of lovable losers draw from a wide range of influences, chief among them John Prine, the Mountain Goats, Nikolai Gogol and The Simpsons.
He comes from a part of Vermont he affectionately refers to as “the dirty south”, where Dickensian odd-balls are more common than farmers and ski bums. He fits in...about as well as he would anywhere I guess.
Here's a sneak preview of dylan Patrick Ward
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
JAN 14
NO SHOW
Tonight's Open Mic has been cancelled due to inclement weather
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Bill Brink has been playing music for over 20 years. He enjoys playing many different styles of music using 6 and 12 string acoustic guitar as well as bass and electric guitar, banjo, harmonica, kazoo, mandolin and
washboard.
In addition to having an extensive collection of cover songs, he also has many of his own that he has written and produced since the early 90's and is still writing and recording today.
He has received accolades from people such as Richie Havens, John Sebastian, and Tom Ghent.
His songs have been played across the globe.
Vermont's WCAX TV news channel used one of his recorded songs for an on-air photo montage. Vermont Public Radio purchased a song to feature on their radio station and most recently, a local business asked to use one of his
recordings for a commercial ad.
In addition to writing and performing, Bill, along with his wife June, produce music and videos, organize local music events and host live social media performances.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
FEB 4
NO SHOW
Tonight's show has been cancelled due to inclement weather
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
FEB 11
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
In the early days, Mike played bass while Jan sang lead and played guitar. They could often be found kicking around the Boston music scene. They received airplay on several of the city’s radio stations and were nominated
for a Boston Music Award in 2001. They have shared the stage with The Black Crowes, Corey Glover, Fuel, Feeder, and Hum as well as playing the Boston leg of The Vans Warped Tour. Their songs are on numerous compilations
alongside the likes of G. Love and Special Sauce, Jack Johnson, Burning Spear, and The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. Their music has been licensed to television shows on ABC, VH1, MTV, ESPN, and ESPN 2.
Mike and Jan bought land in rural Vermont in 2003 and started building their home, doing most of the work themselves. This is where the humble seeds of The Milkhouse Heaters were planted. Mike bought an acoustic guitar,
and began writing Americana songs. With Jan on bass, they honed their sound and played their first show as The Milkhouse Heaters in 2010.
Mike and Jan have added several notches to their musical belt, including closing for Billy Bragg as part of a WOOL Black Sheep Radio fundraiser and opening for Fred Eaglesmith at The Shoulder to the Plough concert, which
benefitted the farmers devastated by Hurricane Irene. Two of their songs are featured on The Shoulder to the Plough CD, which was recorded live at the Rockingham Meeting House in 2011. Since then, The Milkhouse Heaters
have been playing nearly every weekend around New England and were invited to play the 14th Annual Roots on the River Festival.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
The Occasional Jug Band is a trio of versatile musicians who bring high enthusiasm and years of professional musical performance to a repertoire packed with traditional jug band favorites, blues, fiddle tunes, Cajun
two-steps, and popular tunes with an irresistible ragtime twist. We are: Mary Jo Slattery (vocals, guitar, uke, washboard), Andy Stewart ( fiddle, harmonica), and Joseph Stallsmith (vocals, 4 string banjo, uke, guitar,
kazoo/jug). Our song selection has a bit of everything for people of all ages and encourages audience participation at every turn.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
FEB 25
NO SHOW
Tonight's show has been cancelled due to inclement weather
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Lara Herscovitch is singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem. As described in The Boston Globe, she brings "a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch's
music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit or a dormant creative life." Lara leads with authenticity, integrity, humor and heart. Sound Waves Magazine described her music as "expertly written prose... songwriting at its
best… good for your ears AND your soul." Acoustic Live in New York City added, "She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and
a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is."
Here's a sneak preview of Lara Herscovitch
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Anonymous
MAR 11
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
White Mountain Ceilí Band is Dexter Harding on the tenor banjo, Fiona Howell on the flute, Siena Kaplan-Thompson on the fiddle, and Mike Levine on the guitar and occasional concertina. They play Irish, Scottish and Cape
Breton instrumental music with warmth and joy, as well as the occasional song.
Dexter first came to Irish music when he played for contra dances around the valley, and the session at May Kelly’s deepened his focus on the Irish tradition.
Fiona grew up playing flute through Mountain Top Music Center, and went on to study music at Loyola University. While in New Orleans she began playing at Irish sessions, and now plays and sings with a few groups around New
England.
Siena grew up playing classical violin and viola and switched to fiddle in college when she discovered the Boston Scottish and Cape Breton music scene.
Mike has played a wide range of musical styles, from classical to rock, and more recently bebop. He and Siena have both enjoyed branching out into Irish music with the White Mountain Ceilí Band.
Here's a sneak preview of The White Mountain Ceili Band
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Al Peterson
Retired Sunapee School Music Teacher and Sunapee Cruises Captain
Joel Cage is an award winning veteran singer/songwriter from Boston. Once a member of the internationally acclaimed rock & roll group Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, Joel has been performing regionally and
nationally as a soloist for the past 2 decades. He has performed at some of the most prestigious folk & acoustic venues & festivals in the country, including the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas where he was
awarded top prize in the Kerrville New Folk Competition.
A virtuoso guitarist and an impassioned vocalist, Joel Cage's music is both evocative and raucous. He spans the gamut from sounding like a full rock band to 'hear your own heartbeat' intimacy.
Joel Cage is also a master interpreter of other people's music, spanning a wide field of musical genres, garnering him the oft used moniker "Acoustic Rock Song Stylist."
Here's a sneak preview of Joel Cage
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Sponsored by Victor Reno with greetings from Caher Cottage in Connemara!
New England area Singer-songwriter Chris LaVancher released his third full-length album in November 2021 - “After The Flood” a collection of songs full of heart from a seasoned and skilled craftsman mining life's subject
matter - family challenges, work, love and love lost, childhood memories, and finding one's place in the universe. Chris's performance evokes a mini-movie festival in your head, complete with a full soundtrack. He writes
cinematic, character-driven songs. His song Nostalgia from his second album, Big Fat Love, received an honorable mention in the 2018 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival Songwriting Contest. In 2014 Chris was selected as a Falcon
Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist and performed on the main stage. Chris grew up in the hills of North Central Pennsylvania where he learned to observe the many wonderful characters that inhabited that little town.
The Lied To's are Susan Levine and Doug Kwartler, two Massachusetts-based singer-songwriters who joined musical forces in 2014, released their self-titled debut cd at the legendary Club Passim in February 2015, and have
been playing together ever since. Taking their name from the revered Everly Brothers song, "When Will I Be Loved," The Lied To's (Susan Levine and Doug Kwartler) collaborate to put the challenges of relationships squarely
under their musical microscope with a formidable blend of folk, rock and country-tinged music. Susan has been a finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, and the International Songwriting
Competition, among others. She also was a Tri-Centric Showcase artist at the 2008 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference (NERFA). Doug has had his songs placed on television shows, including CSI , All My Children, The
Young and The Restless, Dark Blue, and was an emerging artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Doug is also a respected music producer who owns and runs Hollow Body Recording Studios in Chelmsford, MA.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Chris LaVancher is sponsored by:
Al Carruth
The Lied To's are sponsored by:
Bob White
APR 8
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Sponsored by Victor Reno with greetings from Caher Cottage in Connemara!
Cormac McCarthy is regarded by fellow musicians and fans alike as one of New England’s finest songwriters. He writes and sings of a heartfelt, sometimes funny, sometimes desperate, sometimes glorious world of common
people, struggles, hope, relationships, madness, and love. He sings the poetry of real life with a silky baritone voice and just enough grit.
“A distinctive songwriter with a warm, powerful, inherently melodic baritone, a fine guitarist and a devastating wit ... enormous writing gifts, capable of putting chills into your spine or a silly grin on your face..." -
Jeff McLaughlin, The Boston Globe
I've been remiss in not mentioning that my friend folksinger Cormac McCarthy's album "Collateral" was my favorite album of 2013. Man does he ever hand the bullshit back to its rightful owners. Barry Crimmins--Political
Satirist and comedian
“A leading light of the urban songwriter revival…”Curious Thing” is a soft-spoken triumph.” - Scott Alarik, Boston Globe
“…a new McCarthy recording is a major listening event, one to spend considerable time savoring…” - Arthur Wood, Folk Wax
“Cormac McCarthy is the closest thing New England’s ever come to having our own Woody Guthrie” - Martin England, Portsmouth Herald, NH
"Top ten Concerts ...- Bob Dylan, Ani DeFranco, Cormac McCarthy...Next time he comes within 100 miles, you must go hear him!" -The Boston Phoenix
Fingerstyle Guitarist Ken Bonfield has performed throughout the United States for over 25 years. Based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Bonfield is a regular at guitar festivals, concert series, and acoustic venues across
North America, and has released eight albums. His latest, Parting Gifts, is an ensemble effort that features Bonfield on standard guitar, baritone guitar, and reentrant tuned guitar along with the otherworldly talents of
Raymond Gonzalez on piano, nylon string guitar, percussion and synths, and Bluegrass multi-instrumentalist, Tim Crouch on mandolin, violin, cello and upright bass.
Although he came out of the 1960’s folk tradition, Bonfield was closely associated with new-age music in the mid 90's. Today his sophisticated Americana compositions feature a solid dose of Celtic, jazz, and traditional
folk influences that might best be described as American Baroque.
Bonfield's work and calling is inspired by a deep love for the beauty, the sound, and the craft of the acoustic guitar. In his open-hearted, welcoming concerts, workshops and master classes, he shares new guitar dimensions
and sonic explorations with his listeners.
Due to a vicious bout of tendinitis Bonfield can no longer play steel string guitar, and now performs on his unique baritone nylon string guitar and standard nylon string guitar in an array of alternate tunings.
Bonfield has been a featured performer at some of the finest acoustic venues, coffee houses, music festivals, and guitar festivals in North America such as Club Passim, Eddie's Attic, Uncle Calvin's, Be Here Now, Acoustic
Sounds Cafe, Kent State Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Montreal Guitar Festival, Newport Guitar Festival, and Healdsburg Guitar Festival, appearing with a wide range of icons and contemporary artists ranging
from Arlo Guthrie to John Mayer,and includes songsmiths Garnet Rogers, Pierce Pettis, Dee Carstensen, Cosy Sheridan, and guitar legends Larry Corryell, Adrian Legg, Adam Miller, Ed Gerhard, Muriel Anderson, Stephen
Bennett, Tim Sparks, Dakota Dave Hull, and countless others.
Monique Byrne and Andy Rogovin perform original music and eye-opening covers that reflect a mutual passion, sense of discovery and celebration of life. Their tightly blended vocal harmonies are mixed with an expressive
instrumental style that is best described as a "banjo-guitar romance."
Crowes Pasture's style of escapist folk transports and connects listeners through universal experiences in their "skillfully crafted, emotional songwriting" — Chris Eastburn, Award-Winning Composer
NYFA (New York Foundation For The Arts) grant recipient Fred Gillen Jr has released eleven full-length albums, to great critical acclaim. He has performed all over the U.S. and Europe as a solo artist. From 2017 to 2019 he
was music director of the Group The Greenheart, traveling to Nepal four times and India once, performing concerts to raise awareness of environmental activism. His songs have been featured on ABC's "All My Children," NPR's
"Car Talk," CMJ's New Music Marathon Sampler, and in 2012 his version of Woody Guthrie's "I Ain't Got No Home" was featured on "Pete Remembers Woody," a collection of Pete Seeger's spoken stories about Woody Guthrie.
interspersed with various artists' renditions of Guthrie's songs. Like Seeger and Guthrie, Gillen's lyrics often reflect both the hope and despair of the human condition, while his music illustrates the diversity of
influences in the air when he was growing up in the 1970's. His live performances are spontaneous and full of storytelling, and he enjoys audience participation.
Here's a sneak preview of Fred Gillan
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Sponsored by Victor Reno with greetings from Caher Cottage in Connemara!
MAY 13
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Tom Pirozzoli is well known, much respected on the New England and on the national music scene. Tom's songs have been recorded by artists as varied as Tonto's Big Idea, Willy Porter, and Pam Prior. His co- writes with
Willy Porter have been performed in Carnegie Hall, at Madison Square Garden and The Royal Albert Hall. Original songs recorded by Tom in the 1980's with the Fast Folk Music Magazine (New York) are in the Smithsonian
collection. Tom's skills as a performer and singer-songwriter were honored by Musician Magazine as a winner in their "Best Unsigned Band" contest.
"Pirozzoli offers a vision of the exotic places he visits and straight from the heat sentiment through his songs… a low enchanting voice and a prolific knack for writing lyrics."
— NH Seacoast
Perhaps it is best to learn about Josh Hall in his own words:
My musical roots are uncommon for a singer-songwriter. Described as a Zen-Metal-Freak-Jazz Guru, I am a classically trained guitarist whose playing style owes as much to Barrios and Tarréga as Mustaine and Monk. I am an
Alternative Folk Artist whose songs engage the listener to feel and think deeply, to find the reverence in everyday life, and to question the stories that define so much of the modern world.
I was born and raised in New Hampshire but my musical life has taken me all over the world, from the Finger Lakes to Mt. Etna to the Narmada River. And although I have chose the life of a Music Educator and have taught
music to thousands of students in Hanover, NH over the past 23 years, I maintain an active performance calendar that showcases my original music for audiences looking for folk music in the spirit of Dylan, Cockburn, and
Taylor.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
This completes our Winter/Spring Schedule
That's all for now but stay tuned, more is coming in the fall.
Lara Herscovitch is singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem. As described in The Boston Globe, she brings "a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch's
music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit or a dormant creative life." Lara leads with authenticity, integrity, humor and heart. Sound Waves Magazine described her music as "expertly written prose... songwriting at its
best… good for your ears AND your soul." Acoustic Live in New York City added, "She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and
a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is."
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Nationally acclaimed performer, composer, arranger, and educator, Jamie Laval is hailed as "One of North America’s finest practitioners of traditional Scottish music" (San Jose Mercury News). Laval's unique approach to
traditional Celtic music blends the simplicity of an ancient art form with stunning virtuosity and contemporary flair that resonates with families, youth, seniors, and devotees of ethnic, jazz, and classical music.
Currently making his home in Tryon, North Carolina (near Asheville), Laval grew up in the Pacific Northwest where he received his musical training at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. During the early years of his career
he was a member of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, the Seattle Opera, and the Victoria Symphony. At that time Laval recorded numerous movie and television sound track recordings including the solo for Emmy-nominated theme
song Everwood which aired weekly for two years on The WB. Laval collaborated on Dave Matthews' platinum album Some Devil and gave a private performance for Her Majesty the Queen.
Warmth, vitality, and spontaneity mark the performances of Susie Burke and David Surette, and have earned them a reputation as one of the finest acts on the lively New England folk scene. Susie's beautiful, complex voice
and David's graceful, nimble-fingered string playing combine to yield a unique blend of contemporary, traditional, and original folk and acoustic music. Together since 1988, Susie and David have built a loyal following for
their music, through a steady series of concerts and well-received recordings.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Al Peterson
Retired Sunapee School Music Teacher and Sunapee Cruises Captain
OCT 8
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
The music of The Twangtown Paramours has been called “Sophisticated Americana”, and is a hybrid of the Nashville and Austin music scenes. This husband ‘n wife acoustic duo is known for their well-crafted and award-winning
songs, top-notch lead singing, and fine harmonies. They have performed at nationally recognized venues such as Uncle Calvin’s in Dallas, Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, and the Bluebird Café in Nashville. They have opened
for Joe Ely, Claire Lynch, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Carrie Newcomer, and Kim & Reggie Harris, amongst others.
The Twangtown Paramours were chosen three times (2011, 2013, and 2016) to be finalists in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk contest and were winners of the Michael Terry People’s Choice Award in the Wildflower Music
Festival Songwriter Contest in 2012. In February, 2011,the Twangers were named Artists on the Verge for 2011 by the Bluegrass Special Magazine.
The Twangtown Paramours are currently working on their third album. Their last record was released to radio in 2012 and reached #2 on the Folk DJ Chart. John Platt of WFUV in New York City listed the album in his top 10
for the year; Lilli Kuzma of WDCB in Chicago listed the album in her top 5 for the year; and Deep Roots Magazine listed the album at #7 for the year. All the recorded music of the Twangtown Paramours can be heard on over
100 Folk, Americana, and independent country station world-wide.
The duo is looking forward to performing at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire commemoration in NYC in March of 2017. Their song, “Chains” was written to bring attention to the circumstances of that fire and of others
like it. One of their newest songs, “Stars Without a Heaven” has not yet been released to the public, but a demo version of the song is already being played in a few holocaust museums, including Yadvashem in Israel.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Doug Farrell and Beth Eldridge are each accomplished NH-based musicians, singer/songwriters, and performers. They both sing and play multiple instruments in their engaging frequent live performances in NH, VT, and MA.
Their diverse styles complement one another and their evolving original acoustic sound will bring a smile to your face, rhythm to your feet, and leave you wanting for more.
Their influences run from traditional/roots to Americana - country, singer/songwriter, folk, blues, and rock - with the focus on the songs, lyrics, and vocals.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lenny Solomon's style has been compared to early Bob Dylan, Guy Clark, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Solomon began his career in the late 1960s. A fixture at the now defunct Idler Coffeehouse in
Harvard Square, Cambridge, he regularly performed there on Friday nights for over eight years. The Idler was a training ground for songwriters such as Geoff Bartley, Paul Rishell, Spider John Koerner, and Ric Ocasek.
During these years as a solo performer he shared bills with many touring performers including Chris Smither, Carolyn Hester, Bonnie Raitt, and Spider John.
From the 1980s through the mid-1990s, Solomon continued to write, but rarely performed in public. He chose rather to raise his family and work in environmental research at Harvard University. From 1978 though 2009 he
managed a research program that investigated ozone depletion in the stratosphere and more general climate change issues.
In 1997 Solomon got back into performing and formed a folk/country band appropriately enough called Solomon. Performing his original material, Solomon has released one EP and five CDs. Since the onset of Covid, he has been
performing solo. His full length albums are available on his website.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Bob White
NOV 5
CoffeeHouse Crew
CoffeeHouse Crew
The CoffeeHouse Crew are the folk who labor behind the scenes to bring our shows to the CoffeeHouse stage. Nobody gets rich so it's all done for the love of the music. And many are fine performers in their own right
Here are some of the denizens of the CoffeeHouse who will escape onto the stage to give us some fine music this Friday.
Al Carruth is a gnome living in north Newport – a luthier of exceptional skill to match his musical skills and wonderful singing
EJ Tretter is an exceptional singer /songwriter with a beautifully gentle musical style and lovely, meaningful lyrics!!
Doc Rogers is a living breathing survivor of the great folk scare. Thumbpicker, folksinger and lover of traditional country music.
Vic Reno has been playing all sorts of music most of his life, but since 2014, nothing but traditional Irish music. Vic will be accompanied by Newport’s Celtic and Contradance fiddle master, Jane Orzechowski.
Judy Thackaberry is best known as our principle emcee but as a vocalist she truly must be heard.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Al Peterson
Retired Sunapee School Music Teacher and Sunapee Cruises Captain
Bluegrass Gospel Project alums Taylor Armerding, Andy Greene, and Kirk Lord have come together to present original, time-honored, and contemporary Americana music to venues throughout New England. Showcasing compelling,
intricately braided vocals, richly textured instrumental work, and solid, innovative rhythm, the three band members bring decades of performing experience to the stage. Through their many years of musical collaboration,
they speak soulfully with one voice.
It's a new day, and The Revenants have arrived. We'd love to share our musical stories with you.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Liz & Ken Tentarelli
NOV 19
NO COFFEEHOUSE
CHURCH PIE SALE
NOV 26
NO COFFEEHOUSE
Thanksgiving Aftermath
&
Recovery
DEC 3
No Show
We are very sad to announce that Bill Staines will be unable to perform as planned.
DEC 10
Santa
CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY OPEN MIC AND SING-ALONG
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Al Peterson
Retired Sunapee School Music Teacher and Sunapee Cruises Captain
DEC 17
RANDY MILLER, JANE ORZECHOWSKI AND FRIENDS
Randy Miller and Jane Orzechowski are both recipients of numerous music and arts awards including the Folk Heritage Award from the Governor and the NH State Council on the Arts. They are both icons in the world of
traditional Celtic Music and Contradance.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
The Naylor Family
This completes our Fall Schedule
That's all for now but stay tuned, more is coming in the fall.
Geoff Bartley (1948 - ?) is a folk-blues guitar player singer-songwriter and recording artist. His last two CDs, 2009's "Put the Big Stone Down" and 2011's "Mercy for the Dispossessed", went to No. 1 on folk radio. In
the 1980s, Geoff won four guitars at the National Fingerpicking Champion-ships. Some of his songs and co-writes have been recorded by other artists in New England, Canada, Ireland, and Nashville, and some are included
in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of the Fast Folk Musical Magazine collection in Washington, D.C.
Since 1994 Geoff has played guitar and sung harmony for folk treasure Tom Paxton. In 2007, Geoff's song A Letter from Prison about Nelson Mandela was recorded by the progressive bluegrass band, The Infamous
Stringdusters, on their CD "Fork in the Road" on Sugar Hill. Subsequently, that recording was used in the independent 2008 Lionsgate film "The Lucky Ones".
Songs and instrumentals he has written have been used on the History Channel, Animal Planet, the Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, NOVA and Nature on PBS and other cable
networks, in private and commercial films and documentaries, and in private and commercial advertising in the US and other countries.
The folk press has called him a world-class guitarist, a brilliant songwriter and the prophet and spiritual godfather of the Boston folk scene.
Singing two part harmonies with their own style and energy, from songs you will remember fondly, “Oxford & Clark” make an entertaining duo performing Americana music made famous by entertainers like: Johnny Cash,
Hank Williams, Roger Miller, The Kingston Trio, The Everly Brothers and many more.
Rob Oxford and Dave Clark have been performing in the tri-state area since they met in 2012 at a performance venue in Quechee, VT. With their upbeat unique on-stage personalities and tight harmonies they draw you into
their performance for an experience you are sure to remember and enjoy.
Some places they have performed are: The NH Building at the Eastern States Expo, Quechee Balloon Festival, Glory Days of the Railroad, Bedford NH town concert series and many more.
Sierra & Andrew are a musical duo from Plum Island, MA. The duo unites soulful vocals and dynamic guitar work for a wide-ranging repertoire of original and cover songs. Sierra & Andrew have been writing and
performing together for 10 years, and they comprise half of the original rock band, Unnamed Colors.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
The Newport Health Center,
Newport, NH
FEB 7
NO COFFEEHOUSE
Cancelled due to
inclement weather
FEB 14
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Martin Grosswendt has been exploring the roots and branches of American acoustic music for more than 40 years. A master of pre-war blues and other southern traditional music, his fingerpicking, bottleneck playing and
singing amaze and move audiences, critics and musicians alike. He’s known at festivals, concert venues and music camps across the U.S., and his instrumental and vocal skills are matched by his knowledge of the music’s
sources and creators, whose stories he weaves into every performance. He’s also a dedicated and passionate teacher, committed to keeping the music alive. Get to know Martin Grosswendt’s music — you’ll be glad
that you did.
In the world of American roots music, Martin Grosswendt is a national treasure. He’s authentic in performance, generous in teaching, and genuine to the core. He has an old soul. No way could he be the great musician he
is without one. — Phil Zimmerman, musician, photographer and author of Bluegrass Time
He's one of the best fingerpickers I ever heard play. — David Bromberg
Zak Trojano is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, a finger-style guitar player, a fly-fisherman, and a beer drinker. He watches more than he talks, the guy at the end of the bar nursing a drink while the afternoon
light angles in, letting the conversation pile up around him like snowfall. He grew up in New Hampshire, outside of town in a cabin built by his parents. His father was a drummer who held down a regular country gig,
and nights after work he would loosen his tie and show his son the finer points of Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones. In New Hampshire they drove around in trucks, and Prine and Dylan cassettes showed up in most of those
trucks. Zak made Eagle Scout, got his knots down. Then it was college and out, wandering the country from the desert Southwest to Great Plains until he ran out of money, washing windows to work up the bus fare home.
After a while it seemed like he ought to write some songs, and he did: heavy songs with a light touch; an AM radio throwback voice and an intricate finger-style technique framed by a drummer’s rhythm and sharpened by
years of immersion in the work of players as various as John Fahey, Merle Travis, and Chet Atkins. In over a decade writing, recording, and performing music professionally - sharing studios and stages with his band
Rusty Belle, or supporting touring acts like Chris Smither, Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault, and Peter Mulvey - Zak Trojano has evolved his own thing: a warm baritone paired with an old Martin guitar, floating above
spare lines of cello and lap steel, horns and brushes, with a deceptively simple lyricism that on repeated listening shows that the fellow at the end of the bar doesn’t say much, but he’s worth hearing.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Kathy Lowe
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
The Newport Health Center,
Newport, NH
MAR 6
CoffeeHouse Crew
CoffeeHouse Crew
The CoffeeHouse Crew are the folk who labor behind the scenes to bring our shows to the CoffeeHouse stage. Nobody gets rich so it's all done for the love of the music. And many are fine performers in their own right
Here are some of the denizens of the CoffeeHouse who will escape onto the stage to give us some fine music this Friday.
Al Carruth is a gnome living in north Newport – a luthier of exceptional skill to match his musical skills and wonderful singing
EJ Tretter is an exceptional singer /songwriter with a beautifully gentle musical style and lovely, meaningful lyrics!!
Doc Rogers is a living breathing survivor of the great folk scare. Thumbpicker, folksinger and lover of traditional country music.
Vic Reno has been playing all sorts of music most of his life, but since 2014, nothing but traditional Irish music. Vic will be accompanied by Newport’s Celtic and Contradance fiddle master, Jane Orzechowski.
Judy Thackaberry is best known as our principle emcee but as a vocalist she truly must be heard.
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
COFFEEHOUSE CANCELED
The outbreak of COVID-19 has led the Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse to cancel the remainer of our Winter / Spring Season. We do this out of concern for the health, safety and well being of our community and our
volunteers.
We hope that you are all safe and well. Please take good care of yourselves and endeavor to maintain equanimity as best you can. We will come out to play once again when it is deemed safe to do so.
One of the most unique guitar players/vocalists, whose style bridges virtually all genres, brings forth his new singer songwriter release "Simple Man." His credits include two #1 songs as a jazz guitarist, his own line
of Pulaski furniture called "Rhythm and Home," and tour credits that span the globe. With ten albums as a jazz and blues guitarist under his belt, the new album "Simple Man" adds his incredibly unique and soulful voice
to the mix.
The new album "Simple Man" features eleven songs. Four co-written with Nashville writers Cara Hogan and country music veteran Steve Dean. Dean’s writing includes #1 hits for Reba Mcentire, Rodney Atkins, Waylon
Jennings, George Strait, Alabama, and many more. The album brings together soulful Americana, retro country twang, sweet melody, and from the heart emotion. Grammy award winning producers Ben Wisch (Marc Cohn) and
Billy Hume (Infamous Stringdusters) bring their refined producing and mixing skills to this album. Eddie Gore (RCA Studio C, Nashville) and Ryan Youmans (Amber Sound) contributed mixing as well.
The Nashville and New York musicians also shine on this release. Michael Webb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlisle) brings the keyboards, Andy Ellison (Jon Pardi) adds the pedal steel guitar, Chris Marshak (Steve Winwood)
lays down the groove, Alex Wright (Brett Eldridge), Pat Falco, Jon Preddice(Miles to Dayton), Sean Michael Ray, Benjie Porecki, Christian Dorn also showcase their talents on the new release.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
The Newport Health Center,
Newport, NH
MAR 20
Wash hands & stay healthy
COFFEEHOUSE CANCELED
The outbreak of COVID-19 has led the Sunpee Community CoffeeHouse to cancel tonights' show. We do this out of concern for the health, safety and well being of our community and our volunteers.
Guitarist Glenn Roth amazes audiences with his fluid fingerstyle originals, jaw-dropping chops, and engaging shows. Glenn’s “delicate, accomplished solo guitar work” has led to tours nationally and internationally,
including annual tours throughout the mid- and southwest and a stint throughout Europe with the Master Guitar Tour. Glenn’s classic, melodic approach to fingerstyle guitar, virtuosic skills, and compelling
compositions, have won him fans worldwide. “Fans of animated fingerstyle acoustic guitar will be impressed by Roth's ability to hold sway with sheer virtuosity.”
A literal “underground sensation,” Glenn performs regularly as a licensed musician in the renowned Music Under New York program, performing his compelling solo guitar originals and ingenious arrangements for thousands
of commuters throughout Manhattan. His YouTube series, Busker TV, chronicles his adventures.
When not touring or bringing his music to the masses in Grand Central and throughout the MTA, Glenn performs frequently at clubs, coffeehouses, and house concerts throughout his home state of Connecticut and across the
northeast.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Ken Lelen performs legendary love songs and plays vintage acoustic guitars for an authentic back-in-the-day sound. By marrying amusing anecdotes, memorable melodies and charming lyrics, his concerts are a hit for
public libraries, life-care communities, museums, social clubs, arts & cultural facilities and senior centers. In the last 20 years he's played 2,000 concerts on the East Coast that combine romantic, musical and
historic themes with great American swing and jazz, his effusive vocals & deft guitar work.
Vintage Music Concerts Hand-crafted ragtime, jazz & swing — sophisticated music for adults to celebrate love — lost, found, denied or discarded. Concerts full of amusing anecdotes, memorable melodies, clever lyrics and vintage
acoustic guitars.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
NYFA (New York Foundation For The Arts) grant recipient Fred Gillen Jr has released eleven full-length albums, to great critical acclaim. He has performed all over the U.S. and Europe as a solo artist. From 2017 to
2019 he was music director of the Group The Greenheart, traveling to Nepal four times and India once, performing concerts to raise awareness of environmental activism. His songs have been featured on ABC's "All My
Children," NPR's "Car Talk," CMJ's New Music Marathon Sampler, and in 2012 his version of Woody Guthrie's "I Ain't Got No Home" was featured on "Pete Remembers Woody," a collection of Pete Seeger's spoken stories about
Woody Guthrie. interspersed with various artists' renditions of Guthrie's songs. Like Seeger and Guthrie, Gillen's lyrics often reflect both the hope and despair of the human condition, while his music illustrates the
diversity of influences in the air when he was growing up in the 1970's. His live performances are spontaneous and full of storytelling, and he enjoys audience participation.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Crowes Pasture is the Boston-based acoustic duo of Monique Byrne and Andy Rogovin.
The duo brings leather and lace harmonies to classic and contemporary folk music in a style that draws from old-time, folk and bluegrass traditions, including such artists as Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Ian &
Sylvia and the Civil Wars.
The duo’s eponymous full-length CD was released in May of 2016, and made the list of Top Folk Albums of June 2016 as compiled on Folkradio.org. The album debuted at #20, and continued to chart in July and August, based
on 13,000 plays per month, on 140 radio programs playing folk, Americana and bluegrass music across the country.
Songs from Crowes Pasture's latest CD can be heard on folk radio stations across the U.S. and on four continents.
Tom Pirozzoli is well known, much respected on the New England and on the national music scene. Tom's songs have been recorded by artists as varied as Tonto's Big Idea, Willy Porter, and Pam Prior. His co- writes with
Willy Porter have been performed in Carnegie Hall, at Madison Square Garden and The Royal Albert Hall. Original songs recorded by Tom in the 1980's with the Fast Folk Music Magazine (New York) are in the Smithsonian
collection. Tom's skills as a performer and singer-songwriter were honored by Musician Magazine as a winner in their "Best Unsigned Band" contest.
"Pirozzoli offers a vision of the exotic places he visits and straight from the heat sentiment through his songs… a low enchanting voice and a prolific knack for writing lyrics."
— NH Seacoast
LINDA SUSSMAN is a Long Island, NY-based singer/songwriter whose music blurs the lines of contemporary folk and blues. With vocals reminiscent of Joan Baez infused with shades of Joni Mitchell and a strong
fingerpicking guitar style with a touch of slide, Linda delivers her songs straight from the heart — honoring the human spirit, celebrating triumphs, rallying for justice, and some just for fun.
Linda has shared her music over the years at a wide range of venues, from NYC’s West Vil-lage folk scene to social justice fundraisers, coffeehouses, house concerts, and more. She inspires audiences to sing along on
her hard-driving relationship-rebuilding song “Layer Me Up,” groove to her “Truckload of Blues” tune, check in at a personal level on “The Change,” and at times step away from the daily news in “Let’s Just Boogie.” She
typically tours as a so-lo artist, though back at home she also performs with any combination of her five-piece band, the Linda Sussman Collective.
“Chasin’ That Train,” from her 2019 album “Pass It On Down,” ranked No. 5 on the Roots Mu-sic Report’s Top 50 Contemporary Folk Chart in mid-Nov. 2019, while the title track, “Pass It On Down,” was No. 10 and three
others were in the top 15. The album itself ranked No. 18 on RMR’s Contemporary Folk Album Chart. “Pass It On Down” is Linda’s fourth full-length album of original music and follows “Every Road” in 2018; tracks from
both albums can be heard on radio programs across the US, UK, Canada, and Europe.
"Linda Sussman makes music worth listening to. Her songs are timely, insightful and pre-sented with passion and conviction. She makes the personal universal and the universal personal.” — DJ Ron Cooke, KTAL (Las
Cruces, NM)
“Good old-fashioned singer/songwriter values…stylishly couched in an all-embracing musi-cal idiom…” — David Kidman, FATEA Music Magazine (UK)
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
White Mountain Ceilí Band is Dexter Harding on the tenor banjo, Fiona Howell on the flute, Siena Kaplan-Thompson on the fiddle, and Mike Levine on the guitar and occasional concertina. They play Irish, Scottish and
Cape Breton instrumental music with warmth and joy, as well as the occasional song.
Dexter first came to Irish music when he played for contra dances around the valley, and the session at May Kelly’s deepened his focus on the Irish tradition.
Fiona grew up playing flute through Mountain Top Music Center, and went on to study music at Loyola University. While in New Orleans she began playing at Irish sessions, and now plays and sings with a few groups around
New England.
Siena grew up playing classical violin and viola and switched to fiddle in college when she discovered the Boston Scottish and Cape Breton music scene.
Mike has played a wide range of musical styles, from classical to rock, and more recently bebop. He and Siena have both enjoyed branching out into Irish music with the White Mountain Ceilí Band.
Marc's life has been about pursuing twin passions: creating and recording his American roots songs, and exploring remote areas of the desert and mountain West. After signing his first publishing contract while in law
school, he fronted rock bands and performed regularly in New York City clubs like CBGB, Wetlands, and The Knitting Factory. All through this period, he'd find ways to get into the West, picking up details from fellow
wilderness junkies about off the beaten path locales and filing them away for future reference. On one of these trips, he became intrigued by the cover of THE BIG IT, a book of short stories by A.B. Guthrie he found on
a revolving paperback rack in a Navajo reservation trading post. It got him thinking about using his travels to create a set of songs in the cultural tradition of writers like Guthrie and visual artists like John Ford
and Frederick Remington. Marc and Co-Producer Mike Ricciardi now present RIDE, ten cinematic recordings reflecting his romantic connection to the American West and exploring the value of its myths to contemporary
culture.
Marc's performed at Austin's South by Southwest Music Festival and The Kerrville and Falcon Ridge Folk Festivals and has opened shows for Bob Dylan and other national acts. His song THE LAST ONE was a staple of Richie
Havens’ concerts for years and has been quoted in the NY Times and featured on The CBS Evening News.
Bluegrass Gospel Project alums Taylor Armerding, Andy Greene, and Kirk Lord have come together to present original, time-honored, and contemporary Americana music to venues throughout New England. Showcasing
compelling, intricately braided vocals, richly textured instrumental work, and solid, innovative rhythm, the three band members bring decades of performing experience to the stage. Through their many years of musical
collaboration, they speak soulfully with one voice.
It's a new day, and The Revenants have arrived. We'd love to share our musical stories with you.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
This completes our Winter/Spring Schedule.
Booking for Fall opens March 1 and booking for Winter/Spring opens the previous October 1
Meeting in 2012 via a chance YouTube sighting and fueled by a once-in-a-lifetime musical chemistry and friendship, Canadian-American Roots-Folk duo Dan Frechette and Laurel Thomsen are “prodigious players with
songwriting that sets them apart.” Now touring in support of their recently released fourth album, Driving By Candlelight, they combine soaring violin, diverse guitar styles, compelling storytelling, a dash of
harmonica and humor, and unique vocal rapport for a dynamic, engaging, polished performance.
Beyond the synchronicity of their meeting, Dan and Laurel’s backgrounds, musical palates, and even their personalities, make both an unexpected and extraordinary match. Fans note the sense that one is witnessing an
outpouring of color, creativity, and artistry far more textured than the sum of its parts. Though each artist had a drastically different style of musical training and were influenced by contrasting musical
backgrounds, their commensurate dedication, experience, and the ways in which they inspire each other to grow and evolve musically, make Dan and Laurel a dynamic and unstoppable team.
Hey got her start in the Lower East Side’s edgy singer-songwriter scene in the early part of this century, in the days before the gritty, artistic neighborhood was taken over by real estate speculators.
Inspired by the fearlessness and sardonic humor of classic punk, the catchiness and wit of 60s Brill Building pop and the quirky fun of new wave, Hey quickly gained a following in bars and listening rooms in New York
including the Fast Folk Cafe, CB’s Gallery, the Bottom Line, Rockwood Music Hall and the Slipper Room. She’s shared the stage with artists including David Massengill, Jack Hardy, Ellis Paul, to name a few.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Jes Raymond and Jakob Breitbach have been traveling the world making music together for more than 10 years. They have distilled the essence of their musical partnership into a sound that honors the geniuses of
chemistry, tradition and innovation. They are a powerful duet, combining skillful flatpicking and clawhammer banjo with virtuosic fiddle, time polished harmonies and top shelf songwriting. They have been finalists in
the prestigious Telluride, Rockygrass and Freshgrass Band competitions, and were awarded the JackStraw Artist Award and Seattle City Artist Award. Jes and Jakob draw from the deep well of American Roots music for a
modern sound that aims to truly stir the spirit with light-hearted rusticity, haunting elegance, and so much soul.
"This Modern acoustic group pairs a love for traditional genius with innovative instincts. The result is a fresh, cohesive catalog of music distinguished by playful twang, artful arrangements, and tight, thick
harmonies." — NORTHWEST MUSIC SCENE
Pretty Saro, burst into the Boston bluegrass scene in early 2016, shaking up the definition of American roots music. Since then the four-piece string band has crafting their invigorating blend of contemporary
songwriting, burnin’ bluegrass traditionals, and pop sensibilities into a sound that is uniquely their own. Dynamic arrangements and high-energy performances enhance the Saro’s (sair-ohs) stories of commitment and
desertion, taking the listener on a journey through their personal experiences.
Pretty Saro draws their inspiration from acoustic giants such as Nickel Creek, Crooked Still, Hot Rize, and John Hartford to name a few. Maxfield Anderson (mandolin), Devon Gardner (fiddle), Alex Formento (guitar), and
Joe Everett (bass) bring together their wide array of musical backgrounds, to create music that follows in the footsteps of their heroes, without fear of wandering off the beaten path.
The band has appeared on stages throughout the Northeast at FreshGrass Festival, Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Club Passim, Daryl’s House Club, and is currently coming off a win in the 2018
Telefunken Band Competition at Podunk Bluegrass Festival.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
grace brockway and Greg Young
OCT 11
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Acoustic guitar & mandolin duo Lindsay Straw & Jordan Santiago create a sound defined by sparse, driving arrangements, adventurous improvisation, and love of tradition. Lindsay comes from a traditional music
background, having spent years performing at Celtic festivals and playing in Irish sessions. She brings British ballads and Irish jigs and reels to the table. Jordan taps into his experience as a bluegrass and jazz
musician, bringing American fiddle tunes, original material, and unrestrained vocal harmonies into the mix. Together, they seek to combine and express themselves through the best elements of their Celtic, bluegrass,
and jazz languages.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Fingerstyle Guitarist Ken Bonfield has performed throughout the United States for over 25 years. Based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Bonfield is a regular at guitar festivals, concert series, and acoustic venues across
North America, and has released eight albums. His latest, Parting Gifts, is an ensemble effort that features Bonfield on standard guitar, baritone guitar, and reentrant tuned guitar along with the otherworldly talents
of Raymond Gonzalez on piano, nylon string guitar, percussion and synths, and Bluegrass multi-instrumentalist, Tim Crouch on mandolin, violin, cello and upright bass.
Although he came out of the 1960’s folk tradition, Bonfield was closely associated with new-age music in the mid 90's. Today his sophisticated Americana compositions feature a solid dose of Celtic, jazz, and
traditional folk influences that might best be described as American Baroque.
Bonfield's work and calling is inspired by a deep love for the beauty, the sound, and the craft of the acoustic guitar. In his open-hearted, welcoming concerts, workshops and master classes, he shares new guitar
dimensions and sonic explorations with his listeners.
Due to a vicious bout of tendinitis Bonfield can no longer play steel string guitar, and now performs on his unique baritone nylon string guitar and standard nylon string guitar in an array of alternate tunings.
Bonfield has been a featured performer at some of the finest acoustic venues, coffee houses, music festivals, and guitar festivals in North America such as Club Passim, Eddie's Attic, Uncle Calvin's, Be Here Now,
Acoustic Sounds Cafe, Kent State Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Montreal Guitar Festival, Newport Guitar Festival, and Healdsburg Guitar Festival, appearing with a wide range of icons and contemporary
artists ranging from Arlo Guthrie to John Mayer,and includes songsmiths Garnet Rogers, Pierce Pettis, Dee Carstensen, Cosy Sheridan, and guitar legends Larry Corryell, Adrian Legg, Adam Miller, Ed Gerhard, Muriel
Anderson, Stephen Bennett, Tim Sparks, Dakota Dave Hull, and countless others.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
A 2017 finalist in both the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest and the Philadelphia Songwriters Project Songwriting Competition, Lynne Taylor has been an important musical voice in New England for nearly 30 years. Her music has
evolved as she has, and is always pushing conventions and boundaries in the realm of social and personal awareness. Her lyrics range from dark and moody to hopeful and uplifting. She is different from any of her
contemporaries – there is really no comparison to be made, either musically or lyrically. The daughter of a folk musician and a poet, Lynne grew up in Kent, Ohio during the sixties and seventies, and absorbed the
social consciousness of that time. She has always felt that music was her calling. She began writing her own songs at the age of fourteen, and has been performing professionally ever since in a wide variety of genres
ranging from bluegrass to punk rock and everything in between. Always, Lynne’s music is characterized by poignant, brutally honest songwriting combined with powerful vocals and unique piano accompaniment. A staple on
the music scene in her adopted hometown of Newburyport, MA, she has been performing professionally across the eastern US since 1985.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Al Carruth
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
NOV 8
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Rod Abernethy’s double album “The Man I'm Supposed To Be” reached No.9 in June 2018 and No.35 for the year 2018 on Folk Alliance International’s Folk DJ chart. He is an authentic southern folk troubadour,
master acoustic guitarist and award-winning soundtrack composer for film, TV and video games.
Rod has returned to his early roots writing both songs and instrumentals that harken back to his early folk artist days with new songs that revolve around family, friends and places across his home state of North
Carolina. Rod’s guitar instrumentals evoke styles of his favorite guitar players like Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges and Tommy Emmanuel.
"Of course, it helps that Rod Abernethy is so darned good, a true troubadour who lays his life out in pure songwriting and some of the best acoustic guitar I have heard."
— Derek Maul - Light, Grace, Invitation and Promise
Abiding by a love for adventure, Corner House finds purpose and solace in the beauty of earth and music. Clinging whole heartedly to studied traditions, the Boston based band has tended to write and arrange music
liberally comprised of Irish, Scottish, Appalachian stringband, and bluegrass influences. The singular roots music scene of Boston, MA has long been a destination for musicians seeking level footing to build upon. On
winter eves most suited for warm tea and blankets, Ethan Hawkins (guitar), Louise Bichan (fiddle), Ethan Setiawan (mandolin), found a musical home in one another. In the fall of 2017, Corner House had debuted at
FreshGrass Festival in North Adams, MA and were making preparations to record an EP and tour Scotland, which they did in the summer of the following year. Returning from overseas, the three found the illustrious
cellist, Casey Murray, living just down the street and invited the contra-dance influenced player to join the fold.
"It’s this balance of simplicity and grace with the actual technical prowess….that really impresses." — Red Line Roots
“...ferocious fiddle, with a couple of the most talented and exciting young string players in the US right now. Any corners you get to turn with them are going to be unexpected fun.” — Darol Anger
From Tokyo to Rome and venues across the US, Ed Gerhard’s music has touched audiences all over the world. Performing on 6-string, slide guitar or Acoustic Hawaiian Lap Slide (Weissenborn), Gerhard’s virtuosity,
generosity and humor shine through. His distinctive touch is unmistakable. Whether performing a lush, sensual ballad or a haunting, bitter lap steel melody Gerhard will mesmerize. His connection with his audience is
palpable.
Gerhard’s releases have all received high praise from critics and guitar fans worldwide, including the Boston Globe Critic’s Poll “Top Ten Albums of the Year.” In 2010 Ed’s CD “Luna” chosen by Acoustic Guitar
Magazine’s 20th Anniversary List of 240 Essential Albums “This soulful album of original compositions rich in melody, chordal complexity and stylistic variety proves why Gerhard is considered to have the most exquisite
acoustic guitar tone on the planet.”
Gerhard was awarded a GRAMMY ® for his inclusion on the compilation CD “Henry Mancini; Pink Guitar.” He arranged and performed “Moon River.” His guitar work can be heard on CDs by Arlo Guthrie, Jorma Kaukonen and Bill
Morrissey and is featured in the Ken Burns’ films “Mark Twain” and “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”
Along with players like Ben Harper and David Lindley, Gerhard’s unique approach to the Weissenborn is playing a significant role in reinvigorating interest in this somewhat esoteric but beautiful instrument. Ed
composes and arranges music for solo Weissenborn with beautiful melodies, complex chords and moving bass lines, unusual for an instrument that normally serves an accompaniment role.
“Gerhard is no superficial tone painter, no bluffer,and no aesthetic lightweight . . . the beauty of the sound became the sharply circumvented truth. This is a precious quality and makes Gerhard a rare ambassador.” —
Urs Grether, Basellandlschaftliche Zeitung (Newspaper), Basel, Switzerland
“Gerhard does not write instrumentals— he writes songs only a guitar can sing.” — Boston Globe
“I am glad to be living in the time of such a great guitarist, when a single note can say so much.” — Seymour Duncan, Seymour Duncan Pickup
Internationally acclaimed folk band Windborne is a group of vocal chameleons who specialize in close harmony singing, shifting effortlessly between drastically different styles of traditional music within the same
concert. Their musical knowledge spans many continents and cultures, but they remain deeply rooted in American folk singing traditions. Praised for “the purity of their voices, strength of their material, and attention
to detail in their arrangements,” Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Will Thomas Rowan, Lauren Breunig, and Jeremy Carter-Gordon share a vibrant energy onstage – their connection to each other and to the music clearly evident. They
educate as they entertain, telling stories about the music and explaining the characteristics and stylistic elements of the traditions in which they sing.
Stunningly powerful vocal harmony floods the room as the four Windborne singers present Song on the Times, their project of working class movements for peoples’ rights from the past 400 years, sung for today struggles.
The group was catapulted to new heights when clip of them singing in protest outside Trump tower went viral:
Bill Staines, a New England native, has been singing his songs and delighting audiences for more than forty years. Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular and durable singers on the folk
music scene today, performing nearly 200 concerts a year. He weaves a blend of gentle wit and humor into his performances. Over the decades, you have heard Bill singing on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion ,
HBO's award winning series Deadwood , and Public Radio's Mountain Stage .
"His gentle lilting voice, spacious melodies and common-chord lyrics give his songs a homespun grace that often belies his mastery of the folk form. He is such a pure pleasure too, people forget to notice how damn
good at the job of singer-songwritering he really is."
- New England Folk Almanac
Marc Shapiro and Billy Corbett are a new-old-time duo rooted in the hills of Vermont and New Hampshire. Marc and Billy forage from a collection of traditional and newer tunes and stew them in a broth of bluegrass and
folk.
Building on a friendship that began many years ago, Marc Shapiro (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Billy Corbett (mandolin, guitar, vocals) quickly established themselves on the New Hampshire and Vermont music scenes,
playing listening rooms, farmers markets, weddings, radio shows and bluegrass festivals.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
FEB 8
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
The Franco-American duo, which includes singer/songwriter Eleanor Kleiner and multi-instrumentalist Elie Brangbour, craft richly immersive folk-rock brimming with evocative lyrics, nature imagery, perspectives from
travel, and a panoramic musicality that encompasses traditional folk, indie rock, classic rock, and 1960s pop and rock n’ roll. The twosome has garnered favorable comparisons to Cowboy Junkies, Over the Rhine and Aimee
Mann.
"The Whispering Tree tastily combine wistful folk, mellow rock and pinches of gypsy jazz and bluegrass into a compelling compilation of tightly written tunes" — Keyboard Magazine
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Davey Davis is a 7th generation Vermonter who grew up on a farm in the shadow of Mt. Ascutney. His songs and poetry emanate from a deep love of the land.
Working various jobs in machine shops and as a ski instructor, fly fishing guide and trail builder, Davey’s songwriting easily taps the lyrical nuances of nature and the stark realities of rural life, with an eye
towards the human characters inhabiting it.
Lindsey Schust is a New Hampshire based singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and drummer. Her group, founded in 2011, plays a blend of Country, Folk, Bluegrass, and some Afro-Cuban styled songs. The repertoire
includes original songs like "Hippie Hill" and "Country Way". The band is made up of family and friends, with Grace Schust (drums and vocals), Jim Schust (acoustic guitar), Paul Currier (Mandolin, Dobro, Fiddle &
vocals), Jim Connell (bass & vocals), Robert Grasmere (harmonica), and Jesse Schust (percussion). Expect a lively evening of songs, stories, and fun!
Will Hatch is a singer-songwriter from Hopkinton, New Hampshire. Illustrating a nuanced take on classic American themes, Hatch’s songs feature honest lyrics about heartbreak and loss, reality and desire. Despite his
melancholic introspection, there is a silver lining. Spinning spider webs on guitar and banjo, his songs meld poetry with detailed finger picking. Fans of Townes Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen, or guitar greats
Mississippi John Hurt and Doc Watson, will appreciate Hatch’s style. Hatch tours New England as a solo act when not playing with his band Will Hatch & Co
Traditional Irish music (the jigs, reels, slides and songs) are intimately connected to the history and culture of the Irish. It is a part of the soul of a people who have come through incredible hardship and
struggles.
An Irish “seisiun” is a gathering of accomplished musicians who not only know many of the traditional Irish tunes and songs, but often know a lot about Ireland – it’s history and culture. There is often one or two
people (the especially accomplished musicians) who are informal leaders. One or two folks will start a tune (music without singing) and everyone who knows the tune will join in – tunes are often played in sets of two
or three tunes in a row.
There is often discussion between sets and tunes about where the tunes came from and who may have written or performed it originally.
Come see and hear what real Irish sessions are like as played by some of the finest Irish music musicians anywhere.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Joyce Andersen is a veteran musician who has enjoyed a varied 20 year career as side-gal, session player, singer-songwriter, and band leader. Her live shows and recordings showcase her versatility as a vocalist and
violinist who thrives on writing and interpreting songs across many genres from old-time, rock & Americana, to folk, pop, & swing. She started getting critical acclaim and radio play in the folk world with her
first full length CD "The Girl I Left Behind" (2000) for it's songwriting, breadth of styles and her unique ability to harmonize her vocals with her violin. Her latest CD "SWERVE!" (Oct. 2011), marks the invention of
her innovative new "violin troubadour" sound which reflects her strengths as an improviser, and her new found interest in using technology (loops, effects etc.) to harness new sonic landscapes and launch into extended
psychedelic jams. Andersen has made 9 CDs: 5 solo and 4 with husband and folk virtuoso, Harvey Reid. She lived and toured out of Boston, Nashville, and NYC before returning to her native New England in 2000 where she
lives with her husband and their two boys, in York, ME. Andersen's music has brought her from the coffeehouses and taverns of her native New England, national & international touring as a solo artist and with
husband, Harvey Reid, Childsplay, and a host of other artists in her side-gal days. She even made it to Carnegie Hall and the Conan O'Brien show.
And Minnesota Public Radio says "Youth and strength flow through her voice. She's got power and conviction. . . She's writing new songs and retelling old stories, and there's" still something mysterious in her music
that sounds like comes from an ancient and pure source."
Cosy Sheridan has been called "one of the era's finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters" She first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won the songwriting contests at The Kerrville Folk Festival
and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Since then she has released 10 cds, written a one-woman-show and her music has appeared in books and film. She has taught songwriting, guitar and performance workshops at music
camps for the past 15 years, including The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and The Swannanoa Gathering. She is the director of The Moab Folk Camp in Moab, Utah.
Seventeen year old Quentin Callewaert has only been on the music scene for a few years now, but he is creating a major buzz as one of the most gifted guitarists around.
Classically trained, Quentin’s interest in fingerstyle acoustic guitar was inspired by Doc Watson, Merle Travis and Tommy Emmanuel. He is also a gifted singer with a refreshingly bluesy voice that compliments his blend
of Americana, gospel and bluegrass.
It’s been an extremely busy year for this singer/guitarist, performing full shows in venues all across the North East. In order to find out how truly versatile this young musician is, you will simply have to hear him
play!
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Liz and Ken Tentarelli
APR 12
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
As local supergroups go, Daddy Long Legs sure keep a low profile. The band features three of Vermont's finest acoustic players. First and foremost is violinist David Gusakov. Gusakov was a member of Burlington's
progressive bluegrass pioneers Pine Island in the late 1970s, presently plays with gypsy-jazz outfit Swing Noire and has logged time in just about every great local acoustic band in between. He's joined by banjo whiz
Rick Ceballos and multi-instrumentalist Matt Witten, who are equally regarded in Vermont trad, old-time and bluegrass circles.
With engaging stage presence and masterfully-crafted music, Boston-based Matt & Shannon Heaton offer well-travelled Irish music from the heart. Steeped in sessions in County Clare and brewed in the acoustic music
scenes of Chicago & Boston, their flute/guitar/bouzouki instrumentals and sweet husband-and-wife harmony singing draw deeply from the Irish tradition.
The Heatons also gently incorporate the Thai music Shannon learned in school as a kid and rootsy Americana sounds that surrounded them during their three years in bluegrass-haven Boulder, Colorado.
Since their move to Boston in 2001, the Heatons have become an integral part of Boston’s vibrant trad music scene. (Shannon co-founded the Boston Celtic Music Fest in 2003.)
Shannon was named 2016 Massachusetts Cultural Council Traditional Artist Fellow. The Irish American News dubbed her Female Musician of the Year (2009) and Live Ireland nominated her Female Musician of the Year 2010
and 2011. She's been compared to Alison Krauss and Altan's Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh for her combination of vocal grace and instrumental prowess on Irish flute, whistles and accordion. She is also an acclaimed arranger and
composer, and has published two instructional Irish music books.
In addition to his acclaimed work as an Irish accompanist on guitar and bouzouki, Matt has also received multiple Massachussetts Cultural Council Grants for his work with kids (he's got two CDs of original
rockabilly-tinged music for children and discerning parents). He fronts surf-rock band Electric Heaters and also holds a master's degree in classical guitar. For his creative chording and driving grooves, Matt has been
called "a combination of Bill Frisell and Arty McGlynn."
Matt and Shannon are poised, passionate American performers with Irish roots and universal appeal. They are comfortable onstage and have a warm connection with their audiences. They move listeners with their love of
traditional music (and each other), and their sense of adventure and fun in exploring new directions and possibilities.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Kearsarge Marines
MAY 17
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
The Hollands! are an internationally touring family band with roots in the US and Australia. They are seasoned performers and are known for engaging audiences and rousing a sing-a-long with their intimate merrymaking.
They are 21st-century nomadic travelers and frolic in the Americana, Folk revival scene.
By the end of their performance, audiences will feel like they are part of the band. This is the experience and magic that happens when The Hollands! come to town.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Martha Naylor
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Phoebe Legere is family-friendly and fun. Her songs are spiced with Cajun, blues, country, folk, jazz, and Native American music. Phoebe Legere is a rollicking blues piano player, an award-winning Cajun accordion
player, a folk-blues guitar stylist, a powerhouse vocalist, and an award-winning songwriter. Phoebe Legere is a standard bearer of the Acadian/Abenaki Renaissance. Legere has appeared on National Public Radio, CBS
Sunday Morning, ABC, NBC, PBS and Charlie Rose. Phoebe Legere is the descendant of Mayflower travelers, Native Americans, Whalers, Voyageurs, Ministers, and Wizards. She is a spellbinding storyteller, seamlessly
weaving tales of ghosts, giant moose, magic fish, flying Abenakis, and shape-shifting trees into her mesmerizing musical celebration of New England history.
"Her voice will take your breath away." - NPR
"She is the real deal." - Providence Journal
"Reminiscent of Edith Piaf...Jerry Lee Lewis" - (NY Times)
...and Frank Zappa." - (Billboard)
"Legere is an expressive and versatile singer whose voice ranges from a dark and earthy alto to a gorgeous dazzling high soprano.She combines intelligent lyrics and a fusion of French musette, Cajun, pop, rock, folk
and jazz into a "roots alternative" stew. - Washington Post
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Julie Snow is a Boston-based singer-songwriter whose songs are infused with heart and humanity. Starting with songs recorded by Lui Collins in the late 1970's and early 80's, it has been her goal to both entertain and
inspire, above all hoping to create connection through her music. Her early songs have been recorded by a variety of folk artists, but Julie has recently released No Ordinary Love, her second album of her own songs.
Her music is funky, funny, and full of love.
"I’ve been a fan of Julie Snow’s songs for a very long time. Her writing is clever, insightful, witty, and her grooves are simply gorgeous!" — Brooks Williams
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Bob White
This completes our Winter/Spring Schedule.
Booking for Fall opens March 1 and booking for Winter/Spring opens the previous October 1
The award winning Ameranouche (pronounced uh-Mare-uh-noosh) plays a passionate style of music they call “Gypsy Flamenco Swing.” They are veterans of the Newport Jazz Festival, Djangofest Northwest, Muzikfest Bethlehem,
PA and the National Press Club. The name is derived from two words: American and Manouche, the gypsy tribe of guitarist Django Reinhardt. The rip-roaring ensemble is a super force of hot acoustic Gypsy inspired music
mixing Flamenco, Bebop and Jazz swing influences. Played on traditional French jazz guitars, the music is rhythmic, vigorous, and elegant. Whether they’re playing a musette waltz from 1930 or an Andalusian inspired
original tune, Ameranouche’s Gypsy Flamenco Swing style is a fresh and highly enjoyable new sound for the 21st century.
Gypsy Flamenco Swing is about coming together and celebrating our shared humanity. Ameranouche is committed to connecting deeply with its audience and sharing joy and peace through its live shows and recorded albums.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Kearsarge Marines
SEP 14
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Andrew Dunn is a songwriter from Jersey, where talent seems to grow in the fertile soil. His poignant wit and infectious melodies are staples of his canon of memorable story songs drawn from everyday theater of life
moments. Raised in the Raritan Valley of central New Jersey, he spent years playing trumpet for school marching band before discovering the acoustic guitar and songwriting in his late teens.
Finding his instrument, he quickly found his network and graduated from Rowan University with a music education degree while trading notes, swapping songs and gigging with rising folk singers of the time, Antje
Duvekot, Jackie Tice and Gregg Cagno, among others. He was an invited participant on the songwriting compilation, Southside Sunday Nights, Vol. 1, which included John Gorka, the preeminent songwriter of that time.
Andrew spent over a decade as a school music teacher while honing his passion for rock and roll, country and folk into an acoustic folk-pop sound all his own.
Dunn has now left the classroom for the stage. In the troubadour tradition, he has been carving his way back as a factory worker, a carpenter, and a Triple-A driver composing lyrics and melodies between calls. His keen
and often surprising observations deconstruct life's complexities, framing them like a poet journeyman on a building site. A favorite on the NJ folk scene, Andrew has been repeatedly featured on the legendary stages of
The Folk Project and Godfrey Daniels. He has opened for folk icon, Judy Collins and shared songwriting nights with veteran songwriters Tice, Bill Hall, and former Melanie sideman, Ron Heacock.
The music, like his point of view, is full of space and completely irresistible. His songs have been called “rare…with a gravity akin to James Taylor.” Dunn’s latest CD, House Above the Factory, reintroduces his
momentum as an artist and places an Americana shine on his unique panorama of everyday experiences.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
The Lake Sunapee, NH region has always had more than its share of musicians. Maybe it's the mountain air or maybe it's the scenery, but something keeps them coming back. Just ask Click Horning, New London's singer
songwriter who left when he was seventeen for the Big Apple. Twelve years, a record contract and an album later it was time to come back. Early influences were Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Peter Paul & Mary, as
well as rock and roll and R&B that he listened to growing up.
Click's music has taken him across the country several times, to the Rockies and to the deep south . Click has produced two more solo albums and two albums with his band Night Kitchen , a "get up and dance" band
composed of Click on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Gerry Putnam on lead guitar, Dinty Child on electric rhythm guitar and keyboards, Dana Flewelling on drums and Dave Doran on bass.
Click began playing guitar at boarding school, influenced by other guitar playing students, one in particular being Gram Parsons. Click persuaded his grandmother to finance a bottom-of-the-line Gibson guitar (a
combination birthday and Christmas gift). "I had been spending all my spare time practicing on a friends guitar, but soon found I had to have my own."
He began playing folk songs, but after hearing Gram and writers like Bob Dylan, he decided to try his hand at writing songs. "It was the perfect blending of poems and music that intrigued me. I've always loved lyrics
that tell a story."
The Click Horning Trio is: Click on acoustic guitar and vocals, Joanie Horning on bass, Justin Ferren on lead guitar, and an occasional gig with Harley Walker on Drums.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
OCT 5
No Show Tonight
Tonight's show was 'overtaken by events'.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
OCT 12
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
Doug Farrell, Steve Dionne, and Jack Henry are each accomplished NH musicians, singer/songwriters, and performers who together are - Decatur Creek. The 2016 addition of Beth Eldridge (The Bradford Bog People and The
Hardtacks) on fiddle, vocals, and guitar has taken the band to another level. Their diverse styles complement one another and the group's evolving original acoustic sound will bring a smile to your face, rhythm to your
feet, and leave you wanting for more. Doug and Steve handle most lead vocals and guitar with forays on harmonica, percussion, and mandolin (Doug). They have written most of the songs posted to date (except Southbound
Train and Rain- by Jack, and Main Street - co-written by Jack and Doug) and most of the band's original tunes. Jack handles the bass, most harmony vocals, some lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, dobro, electric lap
steel, and high-string guitar, so far...! Beth shines on the fiddle and adds rhythm guitar along with her solid lead and harmony vocals. The band's influences run from traditional/roots to Americana - country,
singer/songwriter, folk, blues, and rock - always with the focus on the songs, lyrics, and vocals.
Special Note:
Decataur Creek will be playing up in the sanctuary on October 19. You can still enter through the back door as usual. Signs will direct you to the sanctuary.
Formerly from Nashville, The Rough & Tumble now find themselves living full time on the road, in a 16ft camper with an 85 lb puppy named Puddle. If you ask Mallory Graham or Scott Tyler how their lives ended up
this way they’ll likely respond, "with careful planning, spreadsheets and shoddy cell phone service."
On their new album, We Made Ourselves a Home When We Didn’t Know (February 2018), the Americana duo retrace their mileage back to their footsteps and explore the struggle between going home and being home already when
there's no other home and everywhere is home. The R&T know how the tread wears down on the tires when you play 140 shows in year cross-country. They’re willing to stop, should the music run out of them and the road
end, but until then, they are likely cross referencing a spreadsheet to play your town.
Rupert Wates was born in London and studied at Oxford University. He has been a full time songwriter since the late 1990s, when he signed a publishing contract with Eaton Music Limited. His contract required him to
write material in all kinds of styles and genres, for all kinds of artists. He worked extensively with Jazz vocalist Liz Fletcher, and wrote the album 'Blue Afternoons' (Mainstem, 2002) specially for her voice. Moving
in 2001 to Paris, Wates formed his own quartet and began playing live regularly. In fall 2006 he came to the US. He is now based in New York City and Colorado.
Since coming to the US, Wates has won more than 30 songwriting awards.
His music is an eclectic mix of acoustic, melodic art/folk, with flavors of jazz, vaudeville and cabaret. He has released seven solo CDs. They have been very well reviewed in the online press and tracks from them have
been played on radio all over the world. Wates' songs have been recorded by other artists in the UK, Canada and the US. In 2015, Nashville-based performer Roxie Rogers released Crazy Puzzle, an album of songs from
Wates' back catalog
Despite Wates' British background, and underpinning the universality of his music's appeal, Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange has called him "a prime figure in American music'' and goes on: "This is one gifted
sonofabitch... If you're not hip to this guy yet you're missing out."
Audiences everywhere respond to Wates' brand of melodic art/folk—haunting songs that ring true.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor:
Bob White
NOV 9
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email:
Vic Reno
for info
NOV 16
Doc Rogers
Alan "Doc" Rogers and the Coffeehouse Crew
“Doc” Rogers is a fine guitar picker and singer from the old school American folk/blues tradition. With a gentle sense of melody and an insistent thumb laying down a steady beat, his husky and comfortable
vocals deliver the story of the song with a disarming directness. His performances have easy-chair charm, and dry Yankee wit.
Doc has been a student of the Southeastern American guitar styles for over 40 years. He delivers renditions of songs from Mississippi John Hurt, to Doc Watson, to the Prairie Home Companion's Pat Donohue, with equal
confidence and skill. His repertoire starts in the 30's in the deep south, and covers blues, country and old timey tunes and then skips to the 60's, 70's and even 80's with tunes from the Great Folk Scare, covering
artists such as Tom Paxton, Van Ronk and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. And while performing in the apres ski circuit in Colorado during the 70's, he even picked up pop/rock tunes from the Dead, the Beatles, and the Eagles,
always adding his subtle but confident twists to the tunes he has adopted as his own.
———
Rounding out the evening for the second hour are the “CoffeeHouse Crew” all of whom do yeoman work to keep this coffeehouse alive and running, each of whom is a fine musician in his/her own right. Miss them at your
peril. This will be a truly eclectic mix and it should be a rollicking good time.
Considered a master of American roots music, Scott Ainslie brings a wealth of personal and musical history to the stage. With engaging stories he provides historical context for a repertoire of Delta Blues and ragtime
guitar, gospel, and music of the banjo and fiddle traditions of the Southern Appalachians. Coming of age during the Civil Rights era, Ainslie studied with elder musicians on both sides of the color line. With a deep
affinity for cross-cultural exchange, he plays this music with affection, authority and power.
Armed with vintage guitars, a fretless gourd banjo, a homemade one-string diddley bow, and carefully chosen historical and personal anecdotes of his encounters with senior musicians across the South, Ainslie brings
the history, roots music, and sounds of America alive.
Scott Ainslie literally wrote the book on the Mississippi Delta Blues legend,“Robert Johnson/At the Crossroads”.
Exploring the African and European roots of American music and culture in every concert,“he lives in the groove ...” says the Durham NC Spectator.
From sold out tours of Japan, to festivals in Italy and venues across the US, Ed Gerhard's music has touched audiences all over the world.
Performing on 6-string, slide guitar or Acoustic Hawaiian Lap Slide, Gerhard's virtuosity, generosity and humor shine through. His distinctive touch is unmistakable. Whether performing a lush, sensual ballad or a
haunting, bitter lap steel melody Gerhard will mesmerize. His connection with his audience is palpable.
Gerhard's nine releases have all received high praise from critics and guitar fans worldwide, including the Boston Globe Critic’s Poll “Top Ten Albums of the Year.” Ed's CD “Luna” chosen by
Acoustic Guitar Magazine's 20th Anniversary List of 240 Essential Albums. “This soulful album of original compositions rich in melody, chordal complexity and stylistic variety proves why Gerhard is considered to
have the most exquisite acoustic guitar tone on the planet.” — Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Gerhard was awarded a GRAMMY® for his inclusion on the compilation CD “Henry Mancini; Pink Guitar.” He arranged and performed “Moon River.” His guitar work can be heard on CDs by Arlo
Guthrie and Jorma Kaukonen and is featured in the Ken Burns' films “Mark Twain” and “The National Parks: America's Best Idea.”
“…[his] recordings and live performances have established him as one of the most exciting of the guitarist-composers.” — Scott Alarik, Boston Globe
“I am glad to be living in the time of such a great guitarist, when a single note can say so much.”
— Seymour Duncan
“Gerhard is no superficial tone painter, no bluffer, and no aesthetic lightweight. …the beauty of the sound became the sharply circumvented truth. This is a precious quality and makes Gerhard a rare
ambassador.” — Urs Grether , Basellandlschaftliche Zeitung (Newspaper), Basel, Switzerland
Hiroya is a one-of-a-kind composer, guitarist and singer-songwriter from Kyoto, Japan. He began playing the five-string banjo when he was thirteen, and took up the guitar shortly after.
In 2000, Hiroya received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and came to the United States. He formed own group in Boston "INTEROCEANICO (inter-oceanic)" which consists of unique musicians from different continents
including Latin Grammy Colombian singer Marta Gomez. The group released three acclaimed records ("The Other Side of the World", "Confluencia" and "Where the River Shines"). Hiroya released two solo albums ("Heartland"
and "Places") from Japanese record label 333 discs.
Hiroya has been leading concerts internationally including several appearances at Blue Note in New York City with his group and Japanese National Television(NHK). Hiroya performed, recorded and shared stage with
Esperanza Spalding, The Kennedys, Joe Jencks(Brother Sun), Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Brooks Williams and Jim Kweskin.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Vic Reno
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
JAN 12
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Rachael Kilgour is a Minnesota-born, Boston-based songwriter and performing artist whose sincere, lyric-driven work bravely walks the line between personal and political. The 2015 grand prize winner of the esteemed
international NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition and 2017 winner of the Kerrville New Folk Contest, Kilgour has been featured at NYC’s Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and by the
ASCAP Music Cafe at the Sundance Film Festival. A versatile performer, Kilgour has shared stages with the likes of indie artists Haley Bonar & Jeremy Messersmith as well as folk legends Greg Brown, Cheryl Wheeler
& Catie Curtis.
Kilgour’s third album, Rabbit in the Road, is due out March 3rd, 2017 on NewSong Recordings. It was produced by Catie Curtis, engineered by Crit Harmon in his home studio and mixed by Gar Ragland at Echo Mountain
Recording Studios in Asheville, NC. The album takes an intimate and often painful look at the failed marriage and loss of family. Kilgour’s writing and delivery cut deep, with resolute simplicity. Sorrow, rage,
resilience, and compassion exist side by side within a series of honest and memorable melodies. The collection of work stands tall on a foundation of vulnerability and opens the door to moments of profound connection.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
JAN 26
Second Wind
Second Wind
Terry Ray Gould
& Suzi Hastings
Classy, sassy and always fun, Second Wind is the popular music duo of Terry Ray Gould (guitar and vocals) and Suzi Hastings (vocals, hand percussions and guitar). They have a modern sound with classic roots, playing a
wide range of music people love from classic folk/rock, easy listening, blues, country and modern pop.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
With almost four decades of performing festivals, concert halls, coffeehouses, colleges, and house concerts, along with a half dozen acclaimed CDs, Bernice Lewis has built a solid national fan base. She is also a
published poet, a producer, and an educator extraordinaire. Lewis — who studied vocal improvisation with Bobby McFerrin, guitar technique with Alex DeGrassi and Guy van Duser, and songwriting with Rosanne Cash and
Cris Williamson — has been a featured performer on NPR’s
Mountain Stage program, as well as at the Kennedy Center.She has a forty-year old daily yoga practice, loves good coffee, and her religion is the Grand Canyon.
“Bernice is a voice full of light and hope. She is one of the keepers of the flame of Real Songwriting.” - Rosanne Cash
“Bernice’s life is filled with beautiful, deep things, and she writes beautifully and deeply about them. ‘Good Kind of Love to Be In’ is wonderful; spoke right to my heart! Great, jazzy cover of
‘A Case of You.’ Musically and vocally, she has new wings with the genres she’s been exploring.” -Dar Williams
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
FEB 9
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tom Pirozzoli is well known, much respected on the New England and on the national music scene. Tom's songs have been recorded by artists as varied as Tonto's Big Idea, Willy Porter, and Pam Prior. His co- writes with
Willy Porter have been performed in Carnegie Hall, at Madison Square Garden and The Royal Albert Hall. Original songs recorded by Tom in the 1980's with the Fast Folk Music Magazine (New York) are in the Smithsonian
collection. Tom's skills as a performer and singer-songwriter were honored by Musician Magazine as a winner in their "Best Unsigned Band" contest.
"Pirozzoli offers a vision of the exotic places he visits and straight from the heat sentiment through his songs… a low enchanting voice and a prolific knack for writing lyrics."
– NH Seacoast
Tom with be joined by acclaimed (truly) Vermont fiddler player, Patrick Ross. Patrick is a 5th generation fiddler whose national performances include the Kennedy Center and The Grand Ole Opry This is a rare opportunity
to see Patrick play (it’s kinda being done on a 'special favor' basis). Be sure to come out - it absolutely promises to be a great evening.
Vermont born, fifth generation fiddle player, Patrick Ross won the Vermont-State Fiddle Championship at age fourteen. He has performed at the Grand Ole Opry and shared stages with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Paul
McCartney. In 2012, he was invited to perform at both the Calvin Coolidge Theater and The Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
"It’s not just the technical expertise or the mastery of an amazing variety of styles that puts Vermont fiddler Patrick Ross several steps above and beyond practically all other players; Ross’s eclectic taste and raw
energy make sparks and create musical magic every time his bow hits the strings."
- Robert Resnik – VPR
Lara Herscovitch is a modern American songwriter-poet-performer gem, creating masterful contemporary folk with blues, pop and jazz influences. Former Connecticut State Troubadour, she writes, sings and leads with
authenticity, integrity, humor and heart, delivering performances that inspire, inform, uplift and entertain. Sound Waves Magazine described her music as “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best…
good for your ears AND your soul.” Delivered with a voice Performer Magazine called “clear and smooth like expensive liquor,” Acoustic Live in New York City added, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of
musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect... It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Cathy Todd
Tonight‘s Sponsors:
Steve and Sharon Wood
Claremont, NH
MAR 2
NO COFFEEHOUSE
Cancelled due to
inclement weather
MAR 9
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
MAR 16
IRISH "SEISIUN"
St. Patrick's Day.
Traditional Irish music (the jigs, reels, slides and songs) are intimately connected to the history and culture of the Irish. It is a part of the soul of a people who have come through incredible hardship and struggles.
An Irish “seisiun” is a gathering of accomplished musicians who not only know many of the traditional Irish tunes and songs, but often know a lot about Ireland – it’s history and culture. There is often one or two people
(the especially accomplished musicians) who are informal leaders. One or two folks will start a tune (music without singing) and everyone who knows the tune will join in – tunes are often played in sets of two or three
tunes in a row.
There is often discussion between sets and tunes about where the tunes came from and who may have written or performed it originally.
For this Irish session we will have the following very special performers –
Skip Gorman on fiddle
Jane Orzechowski on fiddle
Deanna Stiles in flute
Grant Taylor on flute
Tim Travers on button accordion
Vic Reno on guitar and others
Come see and hear what real Irish sessions are like as played by some of the finest Irish music musicians anywhere.
Take a step back in time, meet, and listen to the Bradford Bog People. Often aired on New Hampshire Public Radio’s Folk Show, the BBP present mostly traditional acoustic music from the Appalachian Mountains, on banjo,
fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. Beautiful harmonies and clogging, too. Beth Eldridge, Tii McLane, and Woody Pringle.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
MAR 30
NO COFFEEHOUSE
CHURCH EVENT
APR 6
Bob and Sarah Amos
Bob and Sarah Amos
This popular father-daughter musical duo presents a wide ranging program of original and traditional songs in an intimate and engaging style. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Bob Amos has written and recorded over 100 songs
on 12 CDs over the past 30 years. His songs reflect a variety of influences and styles including folk, bluegrass, blues, celtic, pop and rock-a-billy. Vocalist Sarah Amos has been singing professionally for the past 10
years, and currently performs with her father in the bluegrass band Bob Amos & Catamount Crossing. Stepping outside of their regular bluegrass setting, in their duo shows Bob and Sarah perform a wider selection of
songs from Bob’s diverse musical catalog, often adding in some of their favorite traditional tunes as well.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
APR 13
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
White Mountain Ceilí Band is Dexter Harding on the tenor banjo, Fiona Howell on the flute, Siena Kaplan-Thompson on the fiddle, and Mike Levine on the guitar and occasional concertina. They play Irish, Scottish and Cape
Breton instrumental music with warmth and joy, as well as the occasional song.
Dexter first came to Irish music when he played for contra dances around the valley, and the session at May Kelly’s deepened his focus on the Irish tradition.
Fiona grew up playing flute through Mountain Top Music Center, and went on to study music at Loyola University. While in New Orleans she began playing at Irish sessions, and now plays and sings with a few groups around
New England.
Siena grew up playing classical violin and viola and switched to fiddle in college when she discovered the Boston Scottish and Cape Breton music scene.
Mike has played a wide range of musical styles, from classical to rock, and more recently bebop. He and Siena have both enjoyed branching out into Irish music with the White Mountain Ceilí Band.
Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards are clearly inheritors of a timeless legacy, creating music that is both original and evocative of a rich tradition. Blending distinctive voices and a wide range of accompaniment
(guitar, harmonica, ukulele, clarinet, penny whistle, electric bass), their songs have been well-received by audiences around the eastern United States and Canada since 2010. Transcending the genre of folk Americana,
their music echoes inspiration from traditional folk duos and singer/songwriters like Ian & Sylvia, Kate Wolf and Neil Young – combining beautiful harmonies and a lyrical intensity, while establishing a unique
sound of their own.
“The best part of their performance is the undeniable chemistry Mark and Raianne have together; they play with a comfortability and trust that can only come with years of partnership. They allow enough space in their
musical bond to for us to settle in and witness some serious songwriting and playing.” – Fred Knittel, WXPN (Philadelphia)
This group of experienced musicians adds their special touch to an eclectic mix of classic and new Rock, Blues, Folk, Swing, Country and more... with funky grooves, lots of soul and harmony! You’ll hear songs you know
and love and songs you don’t know, but will love! The group’s members consist of Judy Blake on vocals, Ken Hamshaw on guitar and vocals, and Danny Solomon on bass.
Listeners always comment on the wide variety. Dragonfly covers songs from the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Sting, Rolling Stones, Lyle Lovett, Rolling Stones, Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne, Michael Jackson, Darius
Rucker, and even Queen. The list goes on and on and they are continually adding new material. Some songs are covered as originally recorded and some are presented with new and original arrangements.
Singer, songwriter, Judy Blake has been performing many styles with various groups for more than 20 years. She is a former lead singer for The Nines, The Kingsnakes, and Halcyon and performs as a soloist in addition to
singing with the band. Ken Hamshaw is a well known guitar and bass player as well as a singer, who has been performing professionally with numerous groups and for many community events for his entire adult life. Ken is a
former member of The Nines and currently a member of Crazy Love, in addition to Dragonfly. Danny Solomon has a lifetime history with music as a performer and recording artist/producer/engineer. He has been playing piano
since he could walk and electric bass for over 20 years. In addition to Dragonfly, Danny can be seen and heard playing with national Kirtan artists around the country and beyond..
Jimmy Sferes and Jennifer White have discovered an uncommon synergy, blending clear and luscious harmonies with complex and imaginative guitar playing. Their fun and engaging live performances feature an eclectic and
soulful combination of blues, roots and rock. Their song "Small Stuff" won an Honor Award in the Great American Song Contest, and they have appeared on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" radio program as well as
the Hallmark Channel's New Morning TV show. Derek Blackmon from Indie-Music.com says that Sferes & White have, "vocal harmonies that work so well together it sounds almost too good to be true." There latest
collaborative project was to produce the closing song and instrumental soundtrack for the soon to be released modern western "Out of the Wild."
White grew up in a musical family but was a relative late bloomer to the professional music scene. Her first studio effort for the Narrow Gauge Band was produced by Doug Haywood (bass player and background vocalist for
Jackson Browne); she has also performed in acapella groups and country rock bands. Sferes played his first guitar at thirteen and during his diverse music and recording career has opened for the likes of David Wilcox,
Delbert McClinton, Blues Traveler, Larry Coryell, Richard Elliott, and America.
Warmth, vitality, and spontaneity mark the performances of Susie Burke and David Surette, and have earned them a reputation as one of the finest acts on the lively New England folk scene. Susie's beautiful, complex voice
and David's graceful, nimble-fingered string playing combine to yield a unique blend of contemporary, traditional, and original folk and acoustic music. Together since 1988, Susie and David have built a loyal following
for their music, through a steady series of concerts and well-received recordings.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Doc Rogers
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Doc Rogers
Thumbstyle Country, Blues and Folk
This completes our Winter/Spring Schedule.
Booking for Fall opens March 1 and booking for Winter/Spring opens the previous October 1
Alex Smith is a 23-year-old folk singer from the Adirondack Mountains in Northern New York. He is currently touring behind his third record, Hamilton County, and sings honest, thought-provoking songs of modern times
while paying homage to the musical traditions of the past.
"Alex is a wonderful poetic writer who captures words full of meaning, matching them with creative music that creeps quietly into the past at the same time as dancing with the present and sneaking a peek at the
future."
- Bob Everhart: National Traditional Country Music Association
"Alex is a natural storyteller with a rich voice who is creating poignant songs rooted in the heritage of his Adirondack home." - Sarah Craig, Caffe Lena
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Deb Blesedel
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Geoff Bartley (1948 - ?) is a folk-blues guitar player singer-songwriter and recording artist. His last two CDs, 2009's "Put the Big Stone Down" and 2011's "Mercy for the Dispossessed", went to No. 1 on folk radio. In
the 1980s, Geoff won four guitars at the National Fingerpicking Champion-ships. Some of his songs and co-writes have been recorded by other artists in New England, Canada, Ireland, and Nashville, and some are included in
the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of the Fast Folk Musical Magazine collection in Washington, D.C.
Since 1994 Geoff has played guitar and sung harmony for folk treasure Tom Paxton. In 2007, Geoff's song A Letter from Prison about Nelson Mandela was recorded by the progressive bluegrass band, The Infamous
Stringdusters, on their CD "Fork in the Road" on Sugar Hill. Subsequently, that recording was used in the independent 2008 Lionsgate film "The Lucky Ones".
Songs and instrumentals he has written have been used on the History Channel, Animal Planet, the Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, NOVA and Nature on PBS and other cable networks,
in private and commercial films and documentaries, and in private and commercial advertising in the US and other countries.
The folk press has called him a world-class guitarist, a brilliant songwriter and the prophet and spiritual godfather of the Boston folk scene.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Vic Reno
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Ken Bonfield is an internationally recognized performer and composer of American fingerstyle acoustic guitar instrumentals played on guitars of his own design commissioned from master luthier; Alan Carruth.
In his open-hearted concerts, workshops and masters' classes, he shares with listeners new guitar dimensions and sonic explorations. His compositions are performed with his "chamber ensemble " of handcrafted
instruments ranging from standard 6 string guitars to an 11-string harp guitar. Bonfield's work and calling is inspired by a deep love for the beauty, the sounds, and the craft of the acoustic guitar.
Ken Bonfield's instrumental guitar work patently avoids the incessant noodling… instead melody is king and Bonfield's gifted fingers flesh out a beautiful cavalcade of notes that are at times reminiscent of a human voice
singing and often soaring." Frank Rabey, Mountain Xpress
“Ken Bonfield is a child of Leo Kottke. He shares Kottke's intricate finger picking techniques and casts them in an intimate setting that he calls, American Baroque.” John Diliberto, Host of PRI’s Nationally Syndicated
show Echoes
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Al Carruth
Tonight‘s Sponsors:
Anonymous
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Kaitlyn Raitz (cello, vocals) and Ben Plotnick (fiddle, vocals) have been making folk music for the majority of their lives. Though they’ve only started playing Folk, Bluegrass, Appalachian and Stringband music together
this past year, they have a combined musical resume that speaks to a lifetime of dedication to these styles and more. Individually, they’ve made their respective marks playing with countless artists across North America.
From Jazz, to Country, to Classical, and everywhere in between, they’ve appeared on dozens upon dozens of professional albums. They’ve played in bars for 10 people, or at festivals for 40,000.
The relationship between the violin and the cello is age-old and has been proven time and time again, but as soon as Kaitlyn and Ben began to play and sing together, it became clear that something was different. Decades
of experience as chamber musicians helped them to blend instantly, but it’s their spontaneous, energetic yet subtle approach to folk music that sets them apart.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
OCT 13
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Tonight‘s Sponsors:
EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Castlebay treats an audience to a musical journey through time and across the Atlantic as they interweave timeless songs, spritely dance tunes, and haunting aires inspired by the spirit of our rich nautical and Celtic
heritage. Exuberant vocals are supported with Julia Lane's unique self-taught, award-winning Celtic harp style, and Fred Gosbee's expertise on 12-string guitar, violin and woodwinds. Their deep appreciation for the
unique character of their home state of Maine, as well as the Celtic lands, Castlebay blends history, legend and experience into their personable performance style.
Robyn’s musical journey began in the nineteen sixties during "the Great Folk Scare." Early influences included listening to the music of Dave Van Ronk and Mississippi John Hurt whose finger-picking seemed to be
just this side of magical. Over all the years, her love of the fingerstyle blues has persisted and expanded.
After college and grad school, a decades long engineering career interrupted Robyn’s musical pursuits but after a lapse of many years, she returned to music with enthusiasm, studying voice with Karen Simpson and guitar with Jimmy Sferes. Robyn has studied briefly with Harvey Reid. During the past ten years Robyn has performed at open mics in Sunapee, Andover and Warner, playing both covers and some original material. Robyn is therefore a newcomer to the stage, with tonight’s debut performance
being the fulfillment of a dream many years in the making. She aims to make it a good one.
Beyond the blues, Robyn loves songs with some emotional heft and she frequently sings songs that tell a story. Songs that are poignant, wistful, funny, or gritty all reach out to her. So, look for some traditional
fingerstyle blues, some covers that may pull the heart strings and some original songs as well.
Rounding out the evening for the second hour are the “CoffeeHouse Crew” all of whom do yeoman work to keep this coffeehouse alive and running, each of whom is a fine musician in his/her own right. Miss them at your
peril. This will be a truly eclectic mix and it should be a rollicking good time.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Mary Anne Levesque
NOV 10
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Crowes Pasture is the Boston-based acoustic duo of Monique Byrne and Andy Rogovin.
The duo brings leather and lace harmonies to classic and contemporary folk music in a style that draws from old-time, folk and bluegrass traditions, including such artists as Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Ian &
Sylvia and the Civil Wars.
The duo’s eponymous full-length CD was released in May of 2016, and made the list of Top Folk Albums of June 2016 as compiled on Folkradio.org. The album debuted at #20, and continued to chart in July and August, based
on 13,000 plays per month, on 140 radio programs playing folk, Americana and bluegrass music across the country.
Songs from Crowes Pasture's latest CD can be heard on folk radio stations across the U.S. and on four continents.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsors:
EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Harmony Hotel "soothes the soul with unique blends of voices, instruments, and musical styles" and combines the talents of four of the Upper Valley's best loved musicians. Cindy Mahler Geilich, singer/songwriter/guitar
and uke player, was voted one of the Upper Valley's Music Legends for having the most listened to and downloaded music on the YHMedia website; David Indenbaum, stand-up bass player, also a member of Jeannie and the
Hi-tops; Karen Harris, vocals/percussionist; Corey Unger, lead guitar, also a member of the Shugarmakers. The combination of eclectic covertunes, memorable originals, fantastic harmonies, unique rhythms and instrumentals
makes Harmony Hotel a musical experience you don't want to miss. This concert is dedicated to Laurianne Jordan, our bandmate and friend, whose music and spirit will live on in us forever.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
DEC 15
CHRISTMAS OPEN MIC
&
SING-ALONG
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Nancy Graham
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
This competes our Fall Schedule.
Booking for Fall opens March 1 and booking for Winter/Spring opens the previous October 1
From the mountains of northern New Hampshire comes the unique blend of harmonies and guitars of Kathy Bennett and Thom Perkins. They perform songs with stories and music inspired by everyday lives, about lost loves, lost
lives and real life adventure, coupled with haunting harmonies and memorable arrangement of vocals and guitar.
Their music is a regular feature on New Hampshire Public Radio Folk Show and Maine’s folk radio standard WERU. They have performed on the stages of The Cold River Radio Show, Ossipee Valley Music Festival, The Medallion
Opera House, Acoustic Artisans, The Flying Monkey Performance Center, Cambridge’s famed Passim’s, and Stone Mountain Arts Center.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Tonight‘s Sponsor
David Brown
JAN 13
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Etna Old Time is a new-old-time duo rooted on the banks of Mink Brook in Etna, NH. The band forages from a collection of traditional and newer tunes and stews them in a broth of bluegrass and folk. Building on a
friendship that began in college, Marc Shapiro (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Billy Corbett (mandolin, guitar, vocals) became Etna Old Time in 2014, and released an EP Organized Labor that December, along with quickly
becoming established on the New Hampshire and Vermont music scenes, playing farmers markets, weddings, radio shows and bluegrass festivals. In 2015, Etna Old Time ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise money to
produce their first album, entitled 'Lo the Old Pine, which was released in early 2016. The Concord Monitor called 'Lo the Old Pine "a smart, sweeping, well-constructed album jammed tight with banjos and mandolins and a
level of harmonies that does not come around very often."
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
The Page Turners, Carolyn Kendrick and Jake Howard, are an award-winning group (2016 Freshgrass Best Duo) who have a strong foothold in the acoustic music scene. They became musical friends as students of Berklee College
of Music, and started playing together through the Berklee American Roots Program. From those experiences, they began to play music together more and grew from goofy friends who loved BBQ and bluegrass, into goofy band
mates as well. The Page Turners write sharp and adept original music and put new twists on old favorites. They like to blend their love of bluegrass, whiskey-fueled old-time, country music, swing, and fearless
song-writing into one all-purpose seasoning of good ole' fashioned Roots Music.
Testimonial: "The Page Turners harness the best and deepest parts of bluegrass and old-time sounds as their own unique springboard for some wonderful new music. I love what Carolyn and Jake are doing and
can't wait to hear more!" — Bruce Molsky
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
With engaging stage presence and masterfully-crafted music, Boston-based Matt & Shannon Heaton offer well-travelled Irish music from the heart. Steeped in sessions in County Clare and brewed in the acoustic music
scenes of Chicago & Boston, their flute/guitar/bouzouki instrumentals and sweet husband-and-wife harmony singing draw deeply from the Irish tradition.
The Heatons also gently incorporate the Thai music Shannon learned in school as a kid and rootsy Americana sounds that surrounded them during their three years in bluegrass-haven Boulder, Colorado.
Since their move to Boston in 2001, the Heatons have become an integral part of Boston’s vibrant trad music scene.
Matt and Shannon are poised, passionate American performers with Irish roots and universal appeal. They are comfortable onstage and have a warm connection with their audiences. They move listeners with their love of
traditional music (and each other), and their sense of adventure and fun in exploring new directions and possibilities.
Three local woman, Susan Cancio -Bello, Nicole Densmore and Laurie Reeder of Folk Fusion Classics from Indigo Girls, Paul Simon, Kate Wolf, and others along with a selection of Celtic ballads.
Zak Trojano is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, a finger-style guitar player, a fly-fisherman, and a beer drinker. He watches more than he talks, the guy at the end of the bar nursing a drink while the afternoon
light angles in, letting the conversation pile up around him like snowfall. He grew up in New Hampshire, outside of town in a cabin built by his parents. His father was a drummer who held down a regular country gig, and
nights after work he would loosen his tie and show his son the finer points of Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones. In New Hampshire they drove around in trucks, and Prine and Dylan cassettes showed up in most of those trucks.
Zak made Eagle Scout, got his knots down. Then it was college and out, wandering the country from the desert Southwest to Great Plains until he ran out of money, washing windows to work up the bus fare home. After a
while it seemed like he ought to write some songs, and he did: heavy songs with a light touch; an AM radio throwback voice and an intricate finger-style technique framed by a drummer’s rhythm and sharpened by years of
immersion in the work of players as various as John Fahey, Merle Travis, and Chet Atkins. In over a decade writing, recording, and performing music professionally - sharing studios and stages with his band Rusty Belle,
or supporting touring acts like Chris Smither, Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault, and Peter Mulvey - Zak Trojano has evolved his own thing: a warm baritone paired with an old Martin guitar, floating above spare lines of
cello and lap steel, horns and brushes, with a deceptively simple lyricism that on repeated listening shows that the fellow at the end of the bar doesn’t say much, but he’s worth hearing.
This will be my third time performing at the Sunapee Coffeehouse, although it will be my first time since joining the team of volunteers that makes this music venue work so well. In these past few years that I've been
helping out , I've been audience to an amazing array of talented singer-songwriters and musicians. I've watched and listened closely, and learned some things.
I've been playing guitar since I was thirteen years old and have been writing songs since I was around twenty two, give or take a year. I write about life lessons, loved ones, and the changes, challenges and rewards that
fill up the years. ( contrary to persistent rumors, I also have a lighter side ). After forty-plus years of writing and guitar playing, it's still fun. And there are always new things to discover with both music and
lyrics.
Thanks to all the Sunapee Coffeehouse folks; volunteers, audience regulars, all friends..........E J Tretter
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Martha Naylor
Tonight‘s Sponsors:
Robyn Macy &
Anonymous
"Thank you for all that he does, and a good performer"
Joyce Andersen is a veteran musician who has enjoyed a varied 20 year career as side-gal, session player, singer-songwriter, and band leader. Her live shows and recordings showcase her versatility as a vocalist and
violinist who thrives on writing and interpreting songs across many genres from old-time, rock & Americana, to folk, pop, & swing. She started getting critical acclaim and radio play in the folk world with her
first full length CD "The Girl I Left Behind" (2000) for it's songwriting, breadth of styles and her unique ability to harmonize her vocals with her violin. Her latest CD "SWERVE!" (Oct. 2011), marks the invention of her
innovative new "violin troubadour" sound which reflects her strengths as an improviser, and her new found interest in using technology (loops, effects etc.) to harness new sonic landscapes and launch into extended
psychedelic jams. Andersen has made 9 CDs: 5 solo and 4 with husband and folk virtuoso, Harvey Reid. She lived and toured out of Boston, Nashville, and NYC before returning to her native New England in 2000 where she
lives with her husband and their two boys, in York, ME. Andersen's music has brought her from the coffeehouses and taverns of her native New England, national & international touring as a solo artist and with
husband, Harvey Reid, Childsplay, and a host of other artists in her side-gal days. She even made it to Carnegie Hall and the Conan O'Brien show.
And Minnesota Public Radio says "Youth and strength flow through her voice. She's got power and conviction. . . She's writing new songs and retelling old stories, and there's" still something mysterious in her music that
sounds like comes from an ancient and pure source."
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsor
Robyn Macy
MAR 10
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
MAR 17
IRISH "SEISIUN"
St. Patrick's Day.
Traditional Irish music (the jigs, reels, slides and songs) are intimately connected to the history and culture of the Irish. It is a part of the soul of a people who have come through incredible hardship and struggles.
An Irish “seisiun” is a gathering of accomplished musicians who not only know many of the traditional Irish tunes and songs, but often know a lot about Ireland – it’s history and culture. There is often one or two people
(the especially accomplished musicians) who are informal leaders. One or two folks will start a tune (music without singing) and everyone who knows the tune will join in – tunes are often played in sets of two or three
tunes in a row.
There is often discussion between sets and tunes about where the tunes came from and who may have written or performed it originally.
Called "one of New England's best songwriters" by The Boston Globe, Terry Kitchen writes songs that are portraits of ordinary people and emotions, captured with extraordinary compassion, honesty and humor. He has been
performing on coffeehouse and folk festival stages since the 1990s, releasing ten CDs including his latest, The Post-American Century, which reached #19 on the national Folk-DJ chart. His songs have won the Mid-Atlantic
and USA Song Contests and been runner-up in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. His 2013 novel Next Big Thing, based on his experiences with the '80s Boston band Loose Ties, was called "a great debut novel" by The San
Francisco Book Review. Terry's superb guitar playing, warm audience rapport and wide-ranging songs (from "The Seven-Eleven Overture" about small town life, to "The Bonny Lights of Cavendish," about English orphans sent
to Canada, to "Sequel," a sequel to Paul Simon's "America") guarantee an enjoyable experience for all.
"Terry Kitchen begins where Tom Waits and Elvis Costello merge and leave off."-Vance Glbert
"Terry Kitchen's songs deftly reveal the human heart in all its grace and contradictions."-Si Kahn
Bringing fresh energy to traditional Celtic music, Jordan was first recognized as part of New Hampshire’s musical culture at the age of 12, when he was the youngest member of the delegation representing the state in
Washington, D.C. for The Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He grew up on a combination of contra dances and Celtic music, releasing multiple recordings and performing regularly around the state until leaving for college in
Middlebury, VT. After graduating, Jordan spent time in both New York City and Ireland, exploring musical possibilities and honing his craft. He then began to carve out a career for himself back home in NH, touring with
multiple rock bands while continuing to develop his unique approach to traditional Celtic music.
With various groups, he has opened for Irish music legends Tommy Makem, Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones, country superstars such as Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels and Uncle Kracker, and classic rockers Blues
Traveler, The Marshall Tucker Band and Little Feat. He has toured nationally with the Adam Ezra Group (winner of five New England Music Awards including "Band of The Year") and appeared as a guest musician with other
nationally touring bands including The Mallett Brothers, Yarn, The Lost Trailers, Roots of Creation and Hot Day At The Zoo.
Jordan performs more than 200 shows a year with various bands at venues of all sizes, mostly in the Northeast.
OctoPladd is a band that plays music. Their music is melodious and heartfelt while also funky and occasionally goofy, not unlike their name (a complicated story they’d have to tell you in person). United by their roots
in bluegrass, they draw on myriad influences to produce Appalachian melodies tempered with chromaticism and groove. The quartet combines the sweeping lines of Julian Pinelli’s violin with the snap and groove of
mandolinist Ethan Setiawan. Sam Leslie adds tasteful guitar sauce, supported by the powerhouse Noah Harrington on bass. They met in Boston’s thriving roots music scene and their hope is to create music with an electric
edge to its acousticality.
“OctoPladd comprises four of the most exciting instrumental voices now emerging in the acoustic string band world, a collection of monstrous young talent united in their mastery of their craft and their commitment to the
improvisatory moment. They’re updating the string band sound, and I’m excited to hear what they come up with!” — Joe K Walsh
“Remarkably talented young pickers” — Bluegrass Today
Sixteen year old Massachusetts native Quentin Callewaert has been playing guitar since he was nine. He played his first concert when he was ten and has played at many events and venues since then. Despite his young age,
he has already shared the stage with many great guitarists such as Pete Kennedy, Stephen Bennett, Trace Bundy and Tommy Emmanuel. Lyle Lovett saw one of his videos and was so impressed that he invited Quentin to meet him
when he played on Cape Cod a few years ago. They have met a few times since and it was Lyle who encouraged Quentin to start singing.
In order to find out how truly versatile this young musician is, you will simply have to hear him play!
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Tonight‘s Sponsors:
Robyn Macy &
Anonymous
MAY 19
Skinner & T'witch
SKINNER & T'WITCH
Skinner & T'witch are an original, contemporary, folk, acoustic duo with strong vocals, driving rhythms, and a flash of flamenco. Their music moves through a range of eclectic range of styles and influences,
including folk, jazz, the music hall, musical theatre and the satirical tradition. Fans of great vocal harmony should be sure to check out Skinner & T'witch.
Halcyon Canaans is dedicated to the preservation of an ancient breed of dog, the Canaan Dog. This AKC recognized breed is a member of the herding group. They range from 35 to 55 pounds. Smart and independent these
dogs are not for everyone. Information available always, puppies available occasionally.
Rupert Wates was born in London and studied at Oxford University. He has been a full time songwriter since the late 1990s, when he signed a publishing contract with Eaton Music Limited. His contract required him to write
material in all kinds of styles and genres, for all kinds of artists. He worked extensively with Jazz vocalist Liz Fletcher, and wrote the album 'Blue Afternoons' (Mainstem, 2002) specially for her voice. Moving in 2001
to Paris, Wates formed his own quartet and began playing live regularly. In fall 2006 he came to the US. He is now based in New York City and Colorado.
Since coming to the US, Wates has won more than 30 songwriting awards.
His music is an eclectic mix of acoustic, melodic art/folk, with flavors of jazz, vaudeville and cabaret. He has released seven solo CDs. They have been very well reviewed in the online press and tracks from them have
been played on radio all over the world. Wates' songs have been recorded by other artists in the UK, Canada and the US. In 2015, Nashville-based performer Roxie Rogers released Crazy Puzzle, an album of songs from Wates'
back catalog
Despite Wates' British background, and underpinning the universality of his music's appeal, Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange has called him "a prime figure in American music'' and goes on: "This is one gifted
sonofabitch... If you're not hip to this guy yet you're missing out."
Audiences everywhere respond to Wates' brand of melodic art/folk—haunting songs that ring true.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Termed, ‘a prominent guitarist,’ by the New York Times and praised by The Washington Post for his ‘astonishingly florid’ improvisations, David Rogers presents an evening of solo guitar music with strong leanings towards
jazz, world, folk and classical music.
An endorsing artist for GHS Strings, his music has been featured in major guitar magazines such as Fingerstyle Guitar in the United States and Akustic Gitarre, in Germany. His solo and ensemble performances have been
broadcast on American National Public Radio and Bayrische Rundfunk.
David will play a program of Spanish, Flamenco, Up-Tempo Latin, original settings of Leonard Cohen, Rolling Stones, Roxy Music songs, as well as music by the Beatles, J.S. Bach and original compositions. He will also be
premiering an original setting of Tim Buckley’s stunning Song to the Siren.
For over five years, rising folk-stars The Bombadils have been enchanting audiences around the world with their unique fusion of traditional, world and progressive folk.
Endearingly described as “chamber folk,” the group of cinematic storytellers have intertwined their musical chops rooted in classical and jazz music (all trained at Montreal’s esteemed McGill University) around an
approachable performance style that takes listeners on a journey through history and towards the future of Canadian folk.
Each hailing from their own unique corner of Canada, group members Sarah Frank (fiddle, banjo, vocals), Luke Fraser (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Alan Mackie (bass, vocals) and Anh Phung (flutes, harmonica, vocals), first
bonded over a shared curiosity and love of traditional music – but have since solidified their friendship with over 50,000 kilometers of touring and countless performances together.
“The Bombadils have all the elements of a great band – a high level of musical proficiency, deep respect for the traditional roots of their material and an engaging repertoire which holds the attention of the listener
from beginning to end.”- Amy Gajadhar, Canadian Folk Music magazine
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
“The power of one person and one instrument – engaging and exciting in itself. I believe that’s the root of folk music”.
With her third album, Apartments For Lovers, Shawna Caspi taps right into those folk roots, stripping away the session musicians and elaborate arrangements of her previous records in favour of a simple, authentic sound –
her solo guitar and voice. The result is a collection of songs that is close-up and honest, showcasing her warm vocals, classically-trained fingerstyle guitar playing, and intimate songwriting in a genuine, powerful way.
On Apartments For Lovers, Shawna creates delicate, quiet moments that are vulnerable and accessible even when she’s writing about someone else. Her songs are snapshots – moments that may appear small, but which subtly
carry weight and offer greater depth thanks to her well-crafted lyrics.
“Some musicians make songwriting sound less of a craft and more of a life affirming obsession. Caspi’s compositions stand out as beautiful, complex and intricate…” – NOW Magazine, NXNE preview
For 15 years, Shawna has been playing the guitar she bought at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, one of Canada’s best loved music stores. This cherished instrument has accompanied her on tour throughout Canada and the United
States, where she has played festivals including the Blue Skies Music Festival, the Summerfolk Festival, the Deep Roots Music Festival, and the Ottawa Grassroots Festival. It was also her constant companion as she played
on the long haul trains between Montreal and Halifax and between Vancouver and Toronto as part of the VIA Rail On Board Entertainment Program.
Shawna’s Canadian folk roots are an intrinsic part of who she is. In fact, Shawna as a solo musician is exactly who she is as a person – warm, inviting, a storyteller, a traveller, an authentic artist. “And at the heart
of everything”, she says, “I’m just a really big music fan”.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Harvey Reid is most widely known for his peerless acoustic fingerstyle guitar work, but is also a former bluegrass picker, a versatile and engaging singer, a powerful lyricist, a
solid mandolin and bouzouki player, and a seasoned performer and entertainer. His 6-string banjo work is unmatched, and he is certainly among the best autoharp players ever. Reid has honed his craft over the last 40
years in countless clubs, festivals, streetcorners, cafes, coffeehouses and concert halls across the nation, and absorbed a vast repertoire of American music and woven it into his own colorful, personal and distinctive
style. He has released 25 highly- acclaimed independent albums on Woodpecker Records that showcase his mastery of many instruments and styles of acoustic music, from hip-folk to country, slashing slide guitar blues to
bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, ragtime and even classical.
Reid’s skills and versatility on the guitar alone mark him as an important voice in acoustic music. He won the 1981 National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition and the 1982 International Autoharp Contest. He recorded the
first album ever of 6 & 12-string banjo music, and his 1990 album Steel Drivin' Man, was chosen by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as one of 10 Essential Folk CD’s of all time, along with Woody Guthrie and other hallowed names.
His music was included in the blockbuster BBC TV show Musical Tour of Scotland, and Reid was featured in the Rhino Records Acoustic Music of the 90’s collection, along with a “who’s who” line-up of artists including
Richard Thompson, Jerry Garcia & Leo Kottke.
Reid has never ventured into the mainstream, and has operated“below the radar” of the music business, but his reputation as a musician’s musician is widespread. He has been a featured act at many of America's premier
concert clubs and festivals. Radio DJ’s and critics nationwide are discovering his remarkable recordings, and they regularly show up on radio playlists and end-of-the year favorites lists. Music fans coast-to-coast flock
to catch his exciting performances.
You’ll find elements of the traditional troubadour, the modern poet-songwriter, the American back-porch picker, the classical virtuoso, and a bit of Will Rogers style dry humor and satire. Reid has a vast repertoire of
traditional and contemporary songs, and weaves them seamlessly together with his own compositions and wry humor.
The music of The Twangtown Paramours has been called “Sophisticated Americana”, and is a hybrid of the Nashville and Austin music scenes. This husband ‘n wife acoustic duo is known for their well-crafted and
award-winning songs, top-notch lead singing, and fine harmonies. They have performed at nationally recognized venues such as Uncle Calvin’s in Dallas, Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, and the Bluebird Café in Nashville.
They have opened for Joe Ely, Claire Lynch, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Carrie Newcomer, and Kim & Reggie Harris, amongst others.
The Twangtown Paramours were chosen three times (2011, 2013, and 2016) to be finalists in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk contest and were winners of the Michael Terry People’s Choice Award in the Wildflower Music
Festival Songwriter Contest in 2012. In February, 2011,the Twangers were named Artists on the Verge for 2011 by the Bluegrass Special Magazine.
The Twangtown Paramours are currently working on their third album. Their last record was released to radio in 2012 and reached #2 on the Folk DJ Chart. John Platt of WFUV in New York City listed the album in his top 10
for the year; Lilli Kuzma of WDCB in Chicago listed the album in her top 5 for the year; and Deep Roots Magazine listed the album at #7 for the year. All the recorded music of the Twangtown Paramours can be heard on over
100 Folk, Americana, and independent country station world-wide.
The duo is looking forward to performing at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire commemoration in NYC in March of 2017. Their song, “Chains” was written to bring attention to the circumstances of that fire and of others
like it. One of their newest songs, “Stars Without a Heaven” has not yet been released to the public, but a demo version of the song is already being played in a few holocaust museums, including Yadvashem in Israel.
Tonight‘s Emcees:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
OCT 21
KATE MACLEOD
Her voice has been said to sound as pure as water from a mountain stream. And while singing from the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, her highly acclaimed songs often precede her as other artists sing them on stages across the
country. Her songs compel music publications such as Sing Out! Magazine to claim that Kate MacLeod "channels the spirit of the great Carter Family classics." She has opened for artists such as Rosanne Cash, Dan Fogelberg
and Greg Brown, but performs winning concerts of her own across the country. Her songwriting style and live performances display an unbreakable link between traditional music and cutting-edge contemporary songwriting.
Kate has written music based on historic events and personalities, a collection of songs based on books, and some commissioned for cultural projects. Whether in a song or on her violin, she captures our history, our
landscapes, and our lives in the varied music that she creates. This is no more obvious than in current projects she is developing. 2016 marks the release of her songbook, including music notation, chords, and lyrics, of
a large collection of her original songs, many of them inspired by people and places that she has come across while traveling. Kate is also compiling a book of original violin/fiddle pieces.
The Lake Sunapee, NH region has always had more than its share of musicians. Maybe it's the mountain air or maybe it's the scenery, but something keeps them coming back. Just ask Click Horning, New London's singer
songwriter who left when he was seventeen for the Big Apple. Twelve years, a record contract and an album later it was time to come back. Early influences were Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Peter Paul & Mary, as well
as rock and roll and R&B that he listened to growing up.
Click's music has taken him across the country several times, to the Rockies and to the deep south . Click has produced two more solo albums and two albums with his band Night Kitchen , a "get up and dance" band composed
of Click on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Gerry Putnam on lead guitar, Dinty Child on electric rhythm guitar and keyboards, Dana Flewelling on drums and Dave Doran on bass.
Click began playing guitar at boarding school, influenced by other guitar playing students, one in particular being Gram Parsons. Click persuaded his grandmother to finance a bottom-of-the-line Gibson guitar (a
combination birthday and Christmas gift). "I had been spending all my spare time practicing on a friends guitar, but soon found I had to have my own."
He began playing folk songs, but after hearing Gram and writers like Bob Dylan, he decided to try his hand at writing songs. "It was the perfect blending of poems and music that intrigued me. I've always loved lyrics
that tell a story."
The Click Horning Trio is: Click on acoustic guitar and vocals, Joanie Horning on bass, Justin Ferren on lead guitar, and an occasional gig with Harley Walker on Drums
Lindsay Straw
"Hearken(s) back to more innocent times, of Greenwich Village and pure folk." (The Living Tradition)
Lindsay Straw is a singer, guitarist, and Irish bouzouki player who performs traditional songs and tunes from the British Isles. Originally from Montana, she began to explore Boston’s Irish and folk music scenes while
studying film scoring at Berklee College of Music. Her debut solo album My Mind From Love Being Free was released on May 1, 2015. She is a 2015 recipient of Club Passim’s Iguana Fund Grant, which will enable her to make
her second album in 2016.
Lindsay has impressed with her tender singing voice and an extensive repertoire that is rooted in the Scottish and Northern Irish traditions, but which also delves into contemporary songwriters like Richard Thompson and
Bob Dylan. She has also drawn praise for her sensitive, agile accompaniment on bouzouki and guitar at many a local session and in concert as a member of the Irish quartet The Ivy Leaf, with piper Joey Abarta, and with
fellow guitar & bouzouki player Owen Marshall.
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
NOV 11
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
After two decades of performing part-time and regionally, Craig served as the full-time accompanist/co-arranger for three-time Juno Award winner David Francey, starting in the fall of 2006. He co-produced Francey's
"Right of Passage" which won a best album Juno. He toured heavily for nearly 5 years, showcased by David for his own writing and performance skills. With the release of his folk-DJ charting album of original songs, "The
Spokes Man," Craig returned to the stage much more as a solo artist. He has also toured internationally with the highly and widely acclaimed Gaelic-Americana artist, Kyle Carey.
"In concert, Werth shines as a natural story-teller, humorous and poignant, with a keen eye for all our foibles and passions. His instrumental accompaniment is as brilliant as his songwriting. He is a true performer,
a captivating player and singer, not to be missed." - David Francey
Tonight‘s Emcee:
TBD
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
DEC 9
CHRISTMAS OPEN MIC
&
SING-ALONG
SPECIAL SHOW LOCATION
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? Your name, logo and link could be right here. Plus it defrays our costs for the evening! email: Vic Reno for info
Special Show Location
"The Sunappee Livery Building" (58 Main St., Sunapee Harbor, Sunapee, NH 03782)
This completes our Fall Concert Schedule
Stay tuned: we'll be posting our Winter/Spring season soon.
Booking for Fall opens March 1 and booking for Winter/Spring opens the previous October 1
Considered a master of American roots music, Scott Ainslie brings a wealth of personal and musical history to the stage. With engaging stories he provides historical context for a repertoire of Delta Blues and ragtime
guitar, gospel, and music of the banjo and fiddle traditions of the Southern Appalachians. Coming of age during the Civil Rights era, Ainslie studied with elder musicians on both sides of the color line. With a deep
affinity for cross-cultural exchange, he plays this music with affection, authority and power.
Armed with vintage guitars, a fretless gourd banjo, a homemade one-string diddley bow, and carefully chosen historical and personal anecdotes of his encounters with senior musicians across the South, Ainslie brings
the history, roots music, and sounds of America alive.
Scott Ainslie literally wrote the book on the Mississippi Delta Blues legend,“Robert Johnson/At the Crossroads”.
Exploring the African and European roots of American music and culture in every concert,“he lives in the groove ...” says the Durham NC Spectator.
Marylou Ferrante is an artist who performs pre-war blues from the 1920's & 30's on guitar, mandolin & banjo. She covers major artists from the delta to east coast piedmont style players such as Tommy Johnson, Charlie
Patton, Memphis Minnie, Lottie Kimbrough, aka "Kansas City Butterball", Irene "Chocolate Brown" Scruggs and mandolin players such as Yank Rachell. Steeped in traditional music Marylou's performances bring to life these
artist with their stories and songs.
Marylou was described by music critic and writer, Daniel Gewertz, in the Boston Herald, as the Bay State's finest female acoustic blues interpreter.
"Marylou is a killer. I have watched her grow, and now she's taking over. Blues lovers look out!"... GUY DAVIS
On her website Jennifer Curtin says:
“My name is Jennifer and I live in the wilds of central Vermont with my husband Jim and two kids, Finbar and Maeve. I have always had a passion for singing and making music of all kinds. Recently, with the help of Colin
McCaffrey, I released a recording of traditional and contemporary Celtic & British Isles songs titled "Comfort for the Comfortless". I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it (which was a lot!). May
the songs inspire you to go out and make your own music – or at least sing in the shower!”
The press says:
“Curtin has a lovely voice and “Comfort for the Comfortless” is an apt title, as this album never jars the senses nor makes promises it can’t keep. Instead we have a fine singer at home in a genre of music that emanates
from lands far across the sea.”
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Vic Reno
Would you like to sponsor a night? $25 gets your logo and link here, plus it pays for our rental costs for the evening!
First you’ll notice her voice. Then you’ll hear the colorful images painted in her songs, which take you back to your favorite places and remind you of what’s right in the world. Jen Hajj comes from a tiny mountain town
in Southern California, where the pinecones are bigger than your head and Max the Golden Retriever is Mayor. She is a former zoo educator, and spent a lot of time on the road with hawks, falcons and owls before
discovering her voice as a songwriter. Jen is a recent winner of the Tucson Folk Festival Songwriters contest, and has performed as a finalist in many others.
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? $25 gets your logo and link here, plus it pays for our rental costs for the evening!
FEB 19
Judy Blake & Friends
JUDY BLAKE & FRIENDS (Dragonfly)
This talented band, all long time, experienced pros, covers an eclectic mix of classic and new Rock, Blues, Folk, Country and Bluegrass, with funky grooves, rich vocals and stellar harmonies! With Judy Blake on vocals
and percussion, Ken Hamshaw on guitar and vocals, and Danny Solomon on bass.
Singer, songwriter, Judy Blake has been performing many styles with various groups for 15 years. She is a former lead singer of The Nines, The Kingsnakes, and Halcyon, performing many different styles. Kenny Hamshaw is a
well known guitar and bass player as well as a singer, who has been performing with numerous groups and for many community events for his entire adult life. He is currently a member of The Nines, Crazy Love and is always
busy with many side projects. Danny Solomon has a lifetime history with music as a performer and recording artist/producer/engineer. He has been playing piano since he could walk and electric bass for over 15 years. He
can be seen and heard playing at Kirtans around the country and beyond. Known as Judy, Ken, & Danny for many years, Dragonfly has been playing and performing as a band, since 2011.
HILTON PARK is an award winning family trio noted for their earthy, emotionally expressive and superbly crafted Americana, Folk & Blues. Father/son team Bruce and Conor Hilton combined with family friend Gregg Pannier
earned a 2015 New England Music Award for “Best In State: Maine”.
Hilton Park's brand of Americana music, which they have dubbed "Kin Folk", is authentic and endearingly classic, with enough modern grit to captivate today’s audience. Stylish and confident 3-part vocal harmonies fill
the repertoire, combining the ‘blood harmony’ only heard in family acts (from the Everly Brothers to the Avett Brothers) with a melodic skill often compared to Crosby, Stills and Nash. Their songwriting style shows New
England savvy, yet with roots in the Deep South.
“Hilton Park’s new album ‘Strings’ tells its story with a warm, family tenderness that everything is going to be okay so long as you listen closely… like a sweet flowing fabric that catches warm breezes as it dries on
the line out back of your summer home. From rowdy saloon bustling ballads, to soft, candied flowering story, there is something for everyone in this album.” - Megan Gazzo, The Equal Ground
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Deb Blesedell
Would you like to sponsor a night? $25 gets your logo and link here, plus it pays for our rental costs for the evening!
For over a decade, Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards have resonated with the lover of Americana, old country, and harmony singing, commanding crafted melodies and poignant, introspective lyrics, backing them with
delicate arrangements on ukulele, clarinet, guitar and banjo. Over the years, Mandeville & Richards have shared the stage with acts like Garnet Rogers, Melanie Safka, Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, John Gorka, Willie
Watson, Pierce Pettis, Pokey LaFarge, Joan Osborne, Mustard's Retreat, Atwater & Donnely, Antje Duvekot, The Low Anthem, David Wax Museum, Deer Tick and Brownbird.
"The best part of their performance is the undeniable chemistry Mark and Raianne have together; they play with a comfortability and trust that can only come with years of partnership. They allow enough space in their
musical bond to for us to settle in and witness some serious songwriting and playing." - Folkadelphia, WXPN
Tonight‘s Emcee:
Judy Thackaberry
Tonight‘s Sponsor
David Brown
"Off the grid for four years"
MAR 11
OPEN MIC NIGHT
The Tradition continues, Stop by to listen or join in. Sign up on site with the host for your 15 min or three songs. Storytellers also welcome!
Tonight‘s Emcees:
Al Carruth & EJ Tretter
Would you like to sponsor a night? $25 gets your logo and link here, plus it pays for our rental costs for the evening!
Lynne Taylor has been an important musical voice in New England for nearly 30 years. Her music has evolved as she has, and is always pushing conventions and boundaries in the realm of social and personal awareness. Her
lyrics range from dark and moody to hopeful and uplifting. She is different from any of her contemporaries – there is really no comparison to be made, either musically or lyrically. The daughter of a folk musician and a
poet, Lynne grew up in Kent, Ohio during the sixties and seventies, and absorbed the social consciousness of that time. She has always felt that music was her calling. She began writing her own songs at the age of
fourteen, and has been performing professionally ever since in a wide variety of genres ranging from bluegrass to punk rock and everything in between. Lynne’s music is characterized by poignant, brutally honest
songwriting combined with a powerful vocals and unique piano accompaniment. A staple on the music scene in her adopted hometown of Newburyport, MA, she has been performing professionally across the northeastern US since
1985.
Blessed with a warm personality and down-home comfort on stage, Andrew McKnight's powerful and entertaining performances are like one man theatre; the songs are woven together with humorous stories and poetic drama, and
the musical soundscape traverses influences from Appalachia, tasteful slide and jazzy blues, feisty anthems, rustic folk, and even a little fancy flatpicking on a Carter Family tune. While his guitar is clearly the
foundation for a concert, the touches of native American cedar flute, resonator guitar, djembe (African hand drum) and even mandolin add delightful and mesmerizing embellishments to the show. Fans of Darrell Scott, John
McCutcheon and Richard Shindell will find much to like in Andrew's songs and stylings.
"The skillful songwriter's interest in history is revealed in songs such as the Civil War ballad "The Road to Appomattox" and the soldier's elegy "Wind Whispers Your Name."...he avoids stridency by crafting vignettes
told from the point of view of those in pain and keeps dourness at bay ... He also works in true folkie tradition, updating lyrics to classic material such as "Worried Man Blues" or reworking Robert Johnson's
"Crossroads" to place himself mano-a-devil."
- The Washington Post
"With a voice reminiscent of Don McLean, McKnight traverses from old-time Appalachian tunes to contemporary folk and blues, all backed up by his dead-on guitar playing"
- The Boston Globe
Bill Staines, a New England native, has been singing his songs and delighting audiences for more than forty years. Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular and durable singers on the folk music
scene today, performing nearly 200 concerts a year. He weaves a blend of gentle wit and humor into his performances. Over the decades, you have heard Bill singing on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion , HBO's
award winning series Deadwood , and Public Radio's Mountain Stage .
"His gentle lilting voice, spacious melodies and common-chord lyrics give his songs a homespun grace that often belies his mastery of the folk form. He is such a pure pleasure too, people forget to notice how damn
good at the job of singer-songwritering he really is."
- New England Folk Almanac
For over five years, rising folk-stars The Bombadils have been enchanting audiences around the world with their unique fusion of traditional, world and progressive folk.
Endearingly described as “chamber folk,” the group of cinematic storytellers have intertwined their musical chops rooted in classical and jazz music (all trained at Montreal’s esteemed McGill University) around an
approachable performance style that takes listeners on a journey through history and towards the future of Canadian folk.
Each hailing from their own unique corner of Canada, group members Sarah Frank (fiddle, banjo, vocals), Luke Fraser (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Alan Mackie (bass, vocals) and Anh Phung (flutes, harmonica, vocals), first
bonded over a shared curiosity and love of traditional music – but have since solidified their friendship with over 50,000 kilometers of touring and countless performances together.
“The Bombadils have all the elements of a great band – a high level of musical proficiency, deep respect for the traditional roots of their material and an engaging repertoire which holds the attention of the listener
from beginning to end.”- Amy Gajadhar, Canadian Folk Music magazine
WOODCHUCKS' REVENGE "warms folk with sparks of bluegrass, country and blues." (Vox, Burlington, VT) This group, whose name used to embarrass our children (so we kept it) comprised of husband and wife Peter and Kristina
Cady, with Sandy Morse and Mike Lussen, presents an engaging mix of old and new folk, ranging from Carter Family mountain songs and New England fiddle tunes to modern western ballads. We even toss in a few of our own
parodies, including "Two Below" and "Mama Fried'.
Playing guitars, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, bass and bodhran, the Woodchucks entertain their audiences with humor, history, and a variety of traditions from the Amertican folk scene.
"Once again the Woodchucks' phenomenal versatility shows itself, as it does in their concerts. Those who have attended know that roaring laughter is almost guaranteed, yet there are also moments when they touch on
matters of the heart and the pains of living with the same degree of timing, finesse and understanding."
Rutland, VT, Herald
A special combination: the drive of bluegrass and the original lyricism of folk, delivered by one of the finest female vocalists in the region. Vocalist Colby Crehan brings this sound to audiences with the Vermont band
PossumHaw. Formed in 2004 by husband-wife team Ryan (banjo player) and Colby Crehan and lead guitarist Charley Eiseman, the group has evolved into a well-oiled machine with stunning vocal harmonies and stellar acoustic
instrumentation. Mandolinist Stephen Waud joined the group in 2009 and bassist Mitch Barron in 2013.
Jazz and blues influences weave through a repertoire of original music fueled by Crehan's skilled songwriting. Crehan’s song “Road to Mora” was named Vermont Song of the Year, and Crehan named Vermont Vocalist of the
Year (Tammie Awards, Times-Argus).
In addition to finely-crafted music provided by the entire band, front man Ryan Crehan makes audiences feel right at home with wonderful stage presence and wry humor. PossumHaw is what the Northeast folk and bluegrass
music scene is all about—excellent original acoustic live music delivered with skill, sincerity, and personality.
It's no surprise that Buffalo, NY born and bred songwriter Davey O. has been described by Buffalo News critic Jeff Miers as having "a journalist’s eye for detail and poet’s ear for the well-turned observation". Embarking
on a decade-plus journey that has resulted in a collection of justly-earned, highly introspective songs, Davey crafts pure Americana that is not of the social and political consciousness, but drawn from the deep well of
experience and human emotion - no hackneyed story lines, no insincere polish, just an unflinching poet's look at life with the characters woven in seamlessly.
Armed with his Gibson guitar, a battered straw cowboy hat and a no apologies rust-belt work ethic, Davey puts rubber to asphalt, entertaining attentive, diverse audiences at listening rooms, coffeehouses, nightclubs,
festivals, colleges and universities throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and Atlantic U.S. - performances that result in engagement and communion between performer and audience through story and song.
Haley is a pedal and lever harpist based in Boston. In 2013, she completed her Master's Degree in Scottish Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Since her return to the US, she has launched a whirlwind career of freelance harping. In September 2013 she took first place at the US National Scottish Harp Competition and founded the first Celtic Harp department at
New Haven's Neighborhood Music School. In 2014, she released her first EP-length recording, titled "Valentia Suite," in collaboration with British composer Michael O'Sullivan. She keeps a busy schedule of performing,
composing and teaching. Currently she is gathering traditional and original material for her next full-length recording.
Emcee Needed
Would you like to sponsor a night? $25 gets your logo and link here, plus it pays for our rental costs for the evening!
This competes our Spring Schedule, but join us for our Summer Concert Series at the Sunapee Livery Building
Booking for Fall opens March 1 and booking for Winter/Spring opens the previous October 1
