Tag Archive for: Folk

A Celebration of our friend: Dick Pleasants

This will be THE folk singer/songwriter event of the year.  Tickets Here

Lori McKenna, Patty Larkin, Cliff Eberhardt, Garnet Rogers and Mark Erelli

Saturday, April 7, The Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA  Info Here

This is a Celebration of our friend Dick Pleasants…  Getting together to say, “Thanks!”

For over forty years, Dick Pleasants was a mainstay on Boston radio, as well as part of the Boston and New England music community.

Proceeds from this concert will go to “The Richard E. Pleasants Supplemental Needs Trust.”

Lori McKenna
Lori McKenna
Lori McKenna puts a magnifying glass on un-championed lives. She doesn’t just notice the quiet and ordinary, she delights in it – effortlessly transforming the average to extraordinary. Lori is one of the most sought after songwriters in the industry with her songs recorded by top artists including Reba, Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. McKenna’s songwriting credits include the 2x Platinum Billboard No. 1 hit, I Want Crazy, by Hunter Hayes. She penned the 2015 massive Little Big Town hit, Girl Crush, which reached 11 weeks on the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and netted McKenna a CMA Award, NSAI Songwriters and her first Grammy. She wrote Tim McGraw’s hit, Humble & Kind. The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart marking the first time in more than four years a song written by one writer topped the chart.

 

Patty Larkin
Patty Larkin
Patty Larkin redefines the boundaries of folk-urban pop music with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics. Acoustic Guitar hails her “soundscape experiments” while Rolling Stone praises her “evocative and sonic shading.” She has been described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune), “hypnotic” (Entertainment Weekly) and a “drop-dead brilliant” performer (Performing Songwriter )
Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt

Cliff Eberhardt knew by age seven that he was going to be a singer and songwriter. Growing up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, he and his brothers sang together and their parents played instruments. His dad introduced him to the guitar and he quickly taught himself to play. Fortunate enough to live close to the Main Point (one of the best folk clubs on the East Coast), he cut his teeth listening to the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, and Mississippi John Hurt — receiving an early and impressive tutorial in acoustic music. At the same time, he was also listening to great pop songwriters like Cole Porter, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hart, which explain his penchant for great melodies and clever lyrical twists.

Garnet Rogers Photo -Steve Ide
Garnet Rogers Photo -Steve Ide

Garnet Rogers has established himself as “One of the major talents of our time”. Hailed by the Boston Globe as a “charismatic performer and singer”, Garnet is a man with a powerful physical presence – close to six and a half feet tall – with a voice to match. With his “smooth, dark baritone” (Washington Post) his incredible range, and thoughtful, dramatic phrasing, Garnet is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the finest singers anywhere.

Mark Erelli
Mark Erelli

Mark Erelli has won several prestigious awards, including the Kerrville New Folk Contest and the International Song Contest, where a song he co-wrote with Catie Curtis (“People Look Around”) bested 15,000 entries to win the grand prize. He has maintained a rigorous touring schedule, appearing onstage everywhere from coffeehouses and major folk festival stages (Newport, Philadelphia) to Fenway Park, where he once sang the national anthem before a Red Sox game. In recent years, Mark has gained notoriety as a multi-instrumentalist sideman and producer, accompanying GRAMMY-winning artists such as Lori McKenna, Paula Cole and Josh Ritter everywhere from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry to London’s Royal Albert Hall.

More information and tickets here.

Presented by:

Barnes Newberry of My Back Pages Radio & Brian Quinn of Last Dance Productions

The Healing Garden

Experience some fantastic music while helping to support two very worthwhile organizations.

The Last Waltz Live!
A Special Benefit Concert for “Mended Little Hearts of Boston”

Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St.  Arlington, MA

Friday, September 30th at 8:00pm

Information and tickets: click here

The Last Waltz Live!

The Last Waltz LIVE is a re-creation of The Band’s classic concert film featuring The Rev Tor Band as The Band (accompanied by a full horn section) and one dozen or more local, regional, and national artists as special guests.
Not a tribute show, but rather a powerful community event, each Last Waltz Live concert features a local lineup of guest artists making it a unique, all-star experience.

More info here

The Last Waltz Live will be a benefit concert
for “Mended Little Hearts of Boston”
Did you know that about 1 in 110 babies are born with a congenital heart defect each year?

Mended Little Hearts, a nonprofit organization, works nationally and in communities to empower children with congenital heart defects and their families through support, education and awareness.

More on Mended Little Hearts of Boston Here

Our second Music with a Heart Concert is:

The Healing Garden Music Fest
The 20th Anniversary Concert!
Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St.  Arlington, MA

Saturday, October 15th at 7:30pm

Information and Tickets: Click Here

Sponsored by Patio Records this benefit concert is geared towards raising funds to build healing gardens at hospital treatment centers.
Musicians include: Garnet Rogers, Barbara Kessler,
Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick.
Plus an All-Star band that features Dave Mattacks on drums, Richard Gates on bass, Matt Leavenworth on fiddle, and Scott Neubert on guitars

More info here

This is a very special concert to help build a Healing Garden at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Patio Records is home to great music, a community of talented and caring artists, and Healing Garden Music Fests – all dedicated to the creation of natural healing environments for people undergoing the rigors of cancer treatments.

More on Patio Records and the Healing Gardens: Click Here

“Live Music Is Better”

Dar Williams

“Dar Williams is a songwriter of immense talent” – Telegraph UK

Last Dance Productions is please to present Dar Williams in concert with special guest Catie Curtis, February 5, 2016 at the Regent Theatre, Arlington MA at 7:30pm.  This will be a benefit concert for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Ticket information here.

Dar Williams

Dar Williams

Williams growth as an individual over her almost two-decade-long career has gone hand-in-hand with her evolution as an artist. Raised in Chappaqua, N.Y., and educated at Wesleyan University, Williams spent 10 years living in the thriving artistic community of Northampton, Mass., where she began to make the rounds on the coffeehouse circuit. Joan Baez, an early fan of her music, took Williams out on the road and recorded several of her songs.

Every new album from Dar Williams represents her thoughts and feelings about both her own life and larger forces in the world. But her ninth studio record, Emerald, marks a particularly dramatic confluence between her experiences and broader contemporary culture—and what it means to be a songwriter at this moment in history.

“I’m now experiencing the fruits of the alternative culture I was part of in the ‘90s,” she says. “I think I’ve made choices about how I lived my life, outside of the world that was going to fit me among the mainstream norms, and I chose to stay with my friends, to stay with my culture. That turns out to have been the sturdiest structure I could have built for myself. And that’s in my songs, it’s in my teaching. I’m a believer in what can happen when we make music together.” – Dar Williams  More on Dar Williams here.

Catie Curtis

Catie Curtis

Very Special Guest Catie Curtis is a veteran on the singer/songwriter folk scene. She’s performed at the White House, two Presidential Inaugural Balls, with Lilith Fair, and at Carnegie Hall. Winner of several Boston Music Awards, she also took the Grand Prize in the 2006 International Songwriting Competition (out of 15,000 entries). The New Yorker called Catie a “folk-rock goddess.”  More on Catie Curtis here.

Ticket Information Here

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan organization that lobbies, educates and litigates in order to preserve the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. More info here.

 

The Kennedys

New Bedford, it’s the first weekend in July, you’re on the historic cobblestone streets, music fills the air, the sent of the food court is calling your name and the crafts inspire and amaze.

Alan and Helene korokenko

Festival Directors Alan and Helene Korokenko

The New Bedford Folk Festival celebrated it’s 20th anniversary this year. On July 4th and 5th, under perfect summer skies

the festival community came together.

Take a look at Neale Eckstein’s wonderful slice of the festival.

Click on Banner below for video

New Bedford Folk Festival

Photographs say so much more than words about capturing the spirit and the community of the festival.

Thanks to Jake Jacobson and Neale Eckstein

Danielle Miraglia

Danielle Miraglia

The Kennedys

The Kennedys

Vance Gilbert

Vance Gilbert

 

 The New Bedford Standard times said it nicely.

“The New Bedford Folk Festival further cemented its reputation in the musical world Saturday

with a jam-packed Day 1 in the downtown national park district.”

Read More Here

Workshop at The Z

Workshop at The Z

The Food Court

The Food Court

Crafts

Crafts

 

Sadly this might be the last one. Here is a note from Alan:

After 20 years of the New Bedford Folk Festival (Summerfest), Helene and I have decided to retire from festival presenting. This decision has been in the works for several years. The festival is an all-consuming project and we did not want to wait for burnout to set in or any other issue that could impact negatively on the festival. The only question was when and after a successful 20th Anniversary festival we decided this was the right time.

We have notified City officials of our ‘retirement’ and at this time we do not know what, if anything, the City plans for next year.

We could not be more grateful to all of our staff, volunteers, sponsors and Community Partners for their support, often above and beyond expectations. As for the festival audience, whether from across the country, other countries or right down the street, the show of support and devotion to the festival has been overwhelming. Presenting this festival has been a highlight of our lives.

We look forward to spending time on a variety of interests and attending concerts and festivals as audience members. We will not completely leave music production as we are starting a small concert series in the City. But, we will miss seeing you all on our annual busy Fourth of July weekend. We wish you well and remember to keep music in your lives.

What a loss…..

 

Men at Words. Songwriting Heaven? Three of the most respected songwriters come together for the first time ever for this tour.

At the Performance Hall at the Somerville Armory, April 9th. Tickets Here

Three of the world’s finest songwriters and most respected singers have decided to take their friendship on the road. Having come together for several years while on a cruise they found that their music has a great synergy.  James has toured separately with Archie and Jez and when they again all found themselves staying in the same house last Fall the idea for the tour was born.

A Benefit Concert for FOLK New England

Archie Fisher

An avid horseman and master guitarist, singer and songwriter Archie Fisher is Scotland’s foremost Folk music troubadour. He is known in his homeland for a 27-year tenure as the host of BBC Radio Scotland’s award-winning “Travelling Folk” show. Recognized for his contributions to Scottish folk music, he was inducted into the Scots Traditional Music Hall of Fame and in 2006 was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire), a prestigious honor nominated by his peers and bestowed by Queen Elizabeth.

James Keelaghan

Called Canada’s finest singer-songwriter by one of the most respected and lauded music journalists of the last 50 years, James Keelaghan is an artist who has proven to be a man for all seasons. As the calendar pages have turned, for almost a quarter of a century now, this poet laureate of the folk and roots music world has gone about his work with a combination of passion, intent and intensity, and curiosity.

Fusing his insatiable appetite for finding the next unique storyline Keelaghan also forges his pieces with brilliantly defined craftsmanship and a monogrammed artistic vision, making him one of the most distinctive and readily identifiable voices of not only the Canadian scene, but as a member of the international singer-songwriter community.

Armed with a songbook that has enlightened and enthralled, and been embraced, by audiences around the world, Keelaghan’s life as an artist is one that is a perpetual journey on so many levels.

Jez Lowe

Jez Lowe has built an enviable reputation as a songwriter and performer in the world of acoustic music, and as a recognised musical ambassador for his native North East England, with more than a dozen albums and countless live performances around the world over the last twenty years.

Among those who have recorded their own versions of Lowe’s songs, are Fairport Convention, The Dubliners, The Tannahill Weavers, Cherish The Ladies, Gordon Bok, The Black Brothers, Liam Clancy and literally hundreds of others. Songs like BACK IN DURHAM GAOL, THE BERGEN, GREEK LIGHTNING and THESE COAL TOWN DAYS have generated scores of cover versions around the globe, and are now classics of their kind.

He has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world, both solo and with the Bad Pennies, including the main stages at Edmonton Festival (Canada), Tonder Festival (Denmark), The Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian (US), Port Fairy and Byron Bay Festivals (Australia) and at concerts and festivals in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Ireland, Holland, Germany and Spain.

At the Performance Hall at the Somerville Armory, April 9th. Tickets Here