Amy Speace and The Sea The Sea will perform this special event to benefit The New England Folk Music Archives.
Produced by Last Dance Productions
The New England Folk Music Archives is pleased to welcome Amy Speace and The Sea,The Sea to one of the great listening rooms in town.
AMY SPEACE
Amy Speace has been quietly but steadily making waves in the Americana/folk world for a few years now, and in the journey, gaining support from the likes of Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark and other icons in the songwriting community. A self-described ‘late bloomer’ to songwriting, Speace landed in New York City after college to pursue a life in theater. She studied acting at The National Shakespeare Conservatory, toured the US with the National Shakespeare Company, started her own theater company to direct and produce the plays she had written, and in the midst of her early 20’s, picked up a pawn shop guitar, wrote her first songs, and found herself with steady gigs at such storied venues as The Bitter End and The Living Room.
On April 16, Wind Bone Records/Tone Tree will release “How to Sleep In A Stormy Boat” an 11 song album, produced by Neilson Hubbard, with collaborations with John Fullbright, Mary Gauthier and Ben Sollee.
THE SEA, THE SEA
The Sea The Sea weave their many voices into one. Since the Fall of 2011, Chuck e. Costa and Mira Stanley have been touring the country, making new friends and evolving their sound. Now a playful mix of old and new, acoustic and electric, raw and graceful, TSTS has created an inspired trove of harmony-rich, lyric driven songs. Dynamic and sincere, simple and true, their live shows will leave you stirring.
No Depression Says:
Last night, inside a cold Dobbs Ferry church with the snow falling outside, I sat and listened to a young couple who just this week recorded their first album together. If their performance is any indication, the April release will bring a welcome relief to a cold winter. To say I was taken with Chuck E. Costa and Mira Stanley who perform as The Sea The Sea would be an understatement. On top of well-crafted songs, commanding stage presence and instrumental abilities, their voices in close harmony evoked for me a sound landing somewhere between Bowling Green and Bakersfield.
Les Sampou performs Saturday. Reserve your campsite now for the 27th Annual Spring Gulch Folk Festival. A weekend-long event of excellent music, sing-a-long campfires, workshops, dancing, and crafts. The 2013 Folk Festival will run for four days, Thursday through Sunday
More information here.
Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat.
Last Dance Productions is pleased to welcome Bill Staines to one of the great listening rooms in town, the New England Folk Music Archives. The event takes place on on Wednesday, July 17th at 7pm. We’ll have a conversation with Bill recording his thoughts about the Folk Scene in New England over the past years that will be deposited into our growing oral history collection.
After the conversation we’ll be treated to a performance by Bill Staines.
For more than forty years, Bill Staines has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston-Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960′s and for a time, emceed the Sunday Hootenanny at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. From the time in 1971 when a reviewer from the Boston Phoenix stated that he was “simply Boston’s best performer”, Bill has continually appeared on folk music radio listener polls as one of the top all time favorite folk artists. Now, well into his fifth decade as a folk performer, he has gained an international reputation as a gifted songwriter and performer.
The New England Folk Music Archives is thrilled to have Deborah Holland and Cidny Bullens perform this special benefit concert.
Produced by Last Dance Productions, only 40 tickets will be sold for this performance.
DEBORAH HOLLAND was introduced to the world as the lead singer and songwriter of Animal Logic, (with Stewart Copeland of The Police and jazz bassist Stanley Clarke). She went on to record 4 solo albums, 2 with the folk-Americana “super-group” The Refugees, scored 5 films, and wrote and performed dozens of songs for film and TV. Her new solo album, VANCOUVER, was released on June 4th, 2013 and is already getting airplay on over 75 US and Canadian radio stations.
CIDNY BULLENS began a music career touring with Elton John and in the studio with mega-hit songwriter/producer Bob Crewe. A 30+ career includes the breakthrough hit “Survivor”, (Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance), three lead vocals as part of the Grease movie soundtrack album (also Grammy-nominated), and 6 critically acclaimed albums featuring a who’s who of Americana artists including Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell, Bryan Adams, Beth Nielsen Chapman, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, and Emmylou Harris, and Delbert McClinton. In 2007, Cidny formed the super-trio The Refugees.
“Powerfully expressive, Les Sampou has been tested in the trenches of life and survived brilliantly. Her new album, “Lonesomeville,” is a personal Top Ten favorite of the year. She invests many songs with the emotional honesty of Lucinda Williams, probing love in all of its complexity while belting the heck out of the music. She has a passionate, rockabilly-blues edge that lifts your spirits high, followed by ballads that dig into your soul like few artists can.”
STEVE MORSE Boston Globe Correspondent & Contributor to Billboard and Rolling Stone
A Benefit for FOLK New England.
Peter Yarrow. “We all know the music of Peter, Paul and Mary—folk classics that remain the soundtrack for generations. But our patrons were thrilled to experience the relevancy of that music, and how it resonates through today’s headlines, when Peter Yarrow brought his solo show to the Tower Theatre. It was so much more than a nostalgia show. Peter connected with the sold-out audience in ways that went well beyond a normal concert: he encouraged sing-alongs and audience participation; he signed autographs at intermission; he personally greeted each and every one of our VIPs and members; he even auctioned two personalized guitars to raise money for our educational outreach programs. Peter turned our theatre into his living room. He created an inclusive atmosphere, encouraging each of us to change our part of the world. It was a memorable evening rooted in the historic milestones of his past, yet focused on the current issues that continue to call him to activism. We all know how all the songs of Peter, Paul and Mary sound; what a rare treat to hear what Peter thinks of them. “
–Ray Solley, Executive Director, Tower Theatre Foundation, Bend, Oregon
Peter Yarrow’s talents as a creative artist—both with the legendary trio Peter, Paul & Mary and as a solo performer—are frequently directed at using music to convey a message of humanity and caring. His gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs from Peter, Paul & Mary, including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done”, “Light One Candle” and “The Great Mandala.” As a member of the renowned musical trio, Yarrow has earned multiple gold and platinum albums, as well as numerous GRAMMYs.
Over the years, many issues have moved Peter to commit his time and talent: equal rights, peace, the environment, gender equality, homelessness, hospice care, and education. All have utilized his skills as both a performer and an organizer. Peter Yarrow’s life and work – culminating in the founding and leadership of Operation Respect with its “Don’t Laugh At Me” initiative – is based on his passionate belief that music, with its power to build community and catalyze change, can be a particularly powerful organizing tool.
“Yes, it will be nostalgic for many. But on another level, it will bring them a sense of what is still possible. Yes, they will sing ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ and I will give them a sense of the current history of what this music is doing, and why it’s important. So it will be a history lesson, it will be a singalong that inspires, but it will also assert the importance of the continuation of this kind of music in people’s lives today. And where we’re going from here in those terms. It’s not necessarily a big lecture — it’s inherent in the music. They’ll get it. I know it, ’cause that’s what I do.” – Peter Yarrow
Very special guest Michaela Anne will open the show.
Information and Tickets: Click Here
