Mar
14
Sat
Laurie MacAllister @ Rose Garden Coffeehouse
Mar 14 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Laurie MacAllister, Member of Red Molly returns to Garden!

In late 2024, Laurie MacAllister embarked on an exciting new chapter, launching a solo career with a sold-out performance at the legendary Club Passim.

Two decades earlier, she co-founded the beloved Americana trio Red Molly, which released seven acclaimed albums and toured both the U.S. and internationally, including appearances at MerleFest, Cayamo, and Boston Symphony Hall.

Along the way, ad executives heard Laurie’s voice on the Red Molly album “Never Been to Vegas” and invited her to sing the iconic Folgers Coffee jingle for a national TV commercial.

Her 2018 self-produced solo album “The Lies the Poets Tell” is a heartfelt tribute to the contemporary folk music scene, celebrating a handful of its best songs and songwriters. It features duets with six male artists, including the late Americana master Jimmy LaFave. SiriusXM praised the album as “Defining. A curated collection packed with emotional vibrancy.”

Laurie’s earlier solo album “The Things I Choose To Do” was produced by folk luminary Cliff Eberhardt and was first released independently. Hearing it, Barnes & Noble re-released it as an exclusive on their label, saying, “MacAllister wholly inhabits these songs as subtly as a chameleon, convincingly taking on the persona’s skin, quite simply singing her heart out.”

From a young girl with a quiet dream of becoming a singer, Laurie’s journey has unfolded one song at a time. Over more than two decades, she’s made her dream into a reality.

Laurie has announced her Solo Debut Tour, headlining shows in 2025 across the Northeast, bringing her soulful, loving voice and presence to fans old and new.

For More Last Dance Productions events, click here.

Apr
12
Sun
The Jon Pousette-Dart Duo @ Mass Arts Center
Apr 12 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Jon Pousette-Dart is best known as an American Classic and Folk Rock songwriter, musician, and performing artist. Growing up in Suffern, NY with a household of artists, including his father, grandfather, and sister, he separated himself by picking up a guitar at the age of 10 and mapping out a life in music before he ever attended a little league game. Since then it’s been a long and well-traveled road in the world of music.

A little bit of time has passed between when Jon Pousette-Dart as a teenager started forging a path in the musical landscape that started in the 60’s and laid a foundation with the original Pousette-Dart Band. Throughout the 70’s and into the 80’s the band earned a loyal national following and produced 5 releases for Capitol that made a deep imprint in the world of album radio, when we all used to only listen to vinyl. When the band parted ways, Jon continued working and slowly began navigating back to where he started writing and recording in earnest with many of Nashville’s finest, and some twenty odd years ago Jon crossed paths with Jim Chapdelaine one of the more formidable musicians he crossed paths with. Jon continued touring as their musical collaboration continued to brew into a satisfying vital musical landscape of it’s own.

Come see Jon Pousette-Dart and Jim Chapdelaine in this intimate acoustic duo setting.

Apr
18
Sat
Craig Bickhardt @ Rose Garden Coffeehouse
Apr 18 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Craig Bickhardt, his songs have been recorded by 100s of artists, including Johnny Cash, B.B. King, and Ray Charles.

By Barry Alfonso

When Craig Bickhardt steps onto a concert stage, he comes equipped with his trusty acoustic guitar. A side musician or two will frequently join him. He’s also accompanied by something invisible, yet ever-present: the stories of a lifetime, vividly translated into words and melody.

From the boisterous club scene of Philadelphia to the country-rock milieu of Los Angeles to the picking parlors of Nashville, Craig has immersed himself in the sights and sounds of American music. His music reflects a life lived as a rock band lead singer, a solo troubadour, a dedicated songwriter, a husband and father. Dreams, heartaches and hard-earned lessons have fed his creativity. There is no other way he could’ve written the eloquent, often bittersweet songs that have become his trademark.

“I start a lot of songs because I feel conflicted,” he explains. “I may begin from a point of darkness, but I usually end up writing towards the light because, for me, hope is the thing worth singing about. The characters in the stories I sing aren’t heroic; they’re very ordinary. But they’re reaching for something beyond themselves, and I find nobility in that.”

Craig is a singer/songwriter of the old school – you can hear echoes of such ‘60s folk revival artists as Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot and Eric Andersen in his work. Added to this is the melodic sophistication of a Jimmy Webb or a Paul Simon, as well as a spare but telling lyric approach. “I admire songwriters like Woody Guthrie and poets like Robert Frost because they created functional art,” he says. “Too much music today is just for the singer, not for Everyman. I think of my work as a ‘Please Touch’ museum – I want my songs to be sung until they’re worn out.”

More Last Dance Productions events here.

Apr
26
Sun
A Healing Garden Concert with Lance Cowan, Irene Kelley, and Antsy McClain @ French American Victory Club
Apr 26 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
A Healing Garden Concert with Lance Cowan, Irene Kelley, and Antsy McClain @ French American Victory Club
The Healing Garden Concert” Brings Renowned Singer-Songwriters to the French American Victory Club
Prepare for an afternoon of world-class storytelling, soulful melodies, and acoustic mastery. A special matinee performance featuring three of Nashville’s most respected musical voices: Lance Cowan, Irene Kelley, and Antsy McClain.
This intimate “In-the-Round” performance offers New England audiences a rare opportunity to hear the stories behind the songs from artists who have shaped the landscape of folk, bluegrass, and Americana.
May
16
Sat
Christine Lavin & our 2026 Performing Songwriter Competition @ Rose Garden Coffeehouse
May 16 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Christine Lavin is a veteran folk artist and fearless musical storyteller.

Christine Lavin started her professional life as a waitress/bread baker at the Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY in 1975 where she met Dave Van Ronk who encouraged her to study guitar with him in NYC. She took his advice and is now a singer/songwriter/guitarist/recording artist/author/videographer based in New York City. Her latest solo album, her 25th, ON MY WAY TO HOOTERVILLE, includes 10 new songs and one re-worked song, “Ramblin’ Waltz,” a re-telling of her time in 1975 when she was an entourage driver for the first week of Bob Dylan‘s iconic Rolling Thunder Revue” tour.

In 2023 Christine released “The Seasons Project,” an 80-song seasonal compilation that features the work of 63 American, Canadian, British and Irish singer/songwriters. Christine assembled this compilation to help guide future historians and folklorists to authentic music being written in the last two decades of the 20th Century and the first two of the 21st Century.

In 2024 she is completing her 26th solo album, DRUM SCHOOL DROPOUT, hoping to have it completed in 2025.

In October 2024 there were 11 performances of “InunDATEd,” a 90 minute theatrical production that showcased nine of Christine’s songs by the York Theatre in NYC. There will be one more workshop production before the show is released world-wide. The most recent production starred two thrilling Broadway veterans, Kate Rockwell and Taylor Crousore

HONORS AND AWARDS: In May 2021 Christine received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from her alma mater, the State University of New York at Brockport. In an odd twist, she has a younger brother also named Chris (born on Columbus Day) who also in May 2021 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from his alma mater, Hobart/William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY.

For more Last Dance Productions events, Click Here.

May
29
Fri
Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room and Johnny A @ Blue Ocean Music Hall
May 29 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Barry Goudreau's Engine Room and Johnny A @ Blue Ocean Music Hall

Barry Goudreau, formerly of Boston, recently announced the release of his new CD, “The Road” from his band Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room. Barry’s blues/rock ensemble includes his former RTZ bandmates Brian Maes on lead vocals and keyboards, as well as Tim Archibald on bass. Both Maes and Archibald were members of Peter Wolf’s House Party Five, playing on two of his records and touring the world extensively. The band is rounded out with “Old” Tony DePietro on drums and Mary Beth Maes, Terri O’Soro and Joanie Cicatelli on background vocals. Expect some favorites like “Smokin” and “Long Time” in their live set, alongside songs from the new CD as well as tracks from “Full Steam Ahead”, the 2017 release from Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room.

The name ‘Johnny A.’ might not be so mainstream, but there’s no doubt that it’s synonymous with guitar.

His passion began at the age of thirteen, when he first saw the Beatles in Boston, followed two years later by an in-person witnessing of Jimi Hendrix. From there, he was hooked, getting a cheap beginner guitar to try and play along with his early heroes — which also included Yardbirds icons Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.
Soon enough, Johnny A. got it.

By the 1970’s, he was forming bands in the New England area, drawing attention from several established musicians, like Derek and the Dominos’ keyboardist Bobby Whitlock and Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Johnny A. became Music Director of J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf’s outfit, coordinating the onstage arrangements, playing on several tours and co-producing Wolf’s 1996 album, *Long Line.* What’s more, he was even asked to join The Yardbirds as their lead guitarist in 2015.