"To promote the enjoyment, preservation and continuation of the living art of folk music."
Concerts
The song that is playing in the background is "Music Speaks Louder Than Words" by Peter Paul & Mary
(Click on an image or name of the artist or group to go to their web site)
Mark Erelli in Concert Friday September 24
With special guest, Meg Hutchinson
First Presbyterian Church 7:30PM
520 E Washington Avenue
Discovered in an impromptu 3 am hotel room jam
at a music conference when he was just 23, Erelli was finishing up a
graduate degree in evolutionary biology when his self-titled debut
was released in 1999. He hit the ground running when he won the
prestigious Kerrville New Folk contest, joining the ranks of past
winners such as Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. With his sophomore
release, Compass & Companion, Erelli embarked on a non-stop touring
schedule, sharing the stage with the likes of Dave Alvin, John
Hiatt, and Gillian Welch. Erelli's albums spent weeks in the top ten
of the Americana radio charts and garnered four Boston Music Award
nominations.
Perhaps more impressive than his initial career trajectory was that
Erelli managed to accomplish so much despite a congenital condition
that caused his lung to collapse three times in a year. "It even
happened once onstage in Philadelphia," Erelli recalls. In
hindsight, Erelli regards the successful surgery to correct the
condition as both a medical and musical turning point. "I started
out really focused on being a 'singer-songwriter," he explains.
"After my health issues, I felt a real urgency to become a more
complete 'musician.' I freed myself from limits I didn't even know
I'd imposed."
Erelli wasted no time in flexing this newfound musical freedom on a
wide-ranging trio of records released over the next six years. He
eschewed the conventional studio environment in favor of recording
live in a Civil War-era civic building for 2002's The Memorial Hall
Recordings, an ambitious mix of originals, traditionals and covers
of tunes by his favorite New England songwriters. Next, Erelli
teamed up with Boston country band The Spurs for Hillbilly Pilgrim,
an entire collection of western swing originals "brimming over with
wry, heartfelt songcraft, invigorating tempos and pedal-steel guitar
dazzling as an Arizona sunset (Paste Magazine)." Finally, in 2006
Erelli and producer Lorne Entress holed up in a basement home studio
to craft Hope & Other Casualties, a brave and searingly honest tour
de force that addresses tough issues with "the grit of John Hiatt
and the melancholy beauty of Ron Sexsmith (Washington Post)."
Lyric-based, contemporary acoustic songwriter. Influences include poet Mary Oliver, songwriter Shawn Colvin, and mood maker David Gray. Originally from rural western-most Massachusetts, Hutchinson is now based in the Boston area. She has won numerous songwriting awards in the US, Ireland and UK, including recognition from John Lennon Songwriting Competition, Billboard Song Contest and prestigious competitions at Merlefest, NewSong, Kerrville, Falcon Ridge, Telluride and Rocky Mountain Folks Festivals. She released "Come Up Full" on Red House Records in 2008, and is now celebrating the release of her new album "The Living Side" February 9th, 2010.
The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.
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David Jacob-Strain in Concert
Saturday October 23 8:00 PM
Ships of the Sea Museum
41 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
David
Jacob-Strain
David Jacobs-Strain is a slide guitarist and
modern roots singer-songwriter whose musical journey begins in the
wellspring of Delta blues but ranges far afield from there. In his
mid-twenties, he already channels age-old wisdom and heartache with
such dexterity, energy, and passion that you feel good, even about
feeling bad.
He tours nationally and has numerous festival credits, which include
the Strawberry Music Festival, MerleFest, the Lugano Blues to Bop
Festival in Switzerland, the Newport Folk Festival, and the Montreal
Jazz Festival. He’s also served as faculty at guitar workshops, most
notably at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch. In 2008, Boz Scaggs
chose him to open for his summer tour.
The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.
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Phil Minissale in Concert Friday November 19
First Presbyterian Church 7:30PM
520 E Washington Avenue
Phil Minissale represents the future for the
acoustic finger-styling of the Piedmont. Dubbed the “Long Island
Blues Boy” when he first appeared in public at the age of eighteen
on Long Island, NY in 2006, Phil is fast becoming one of the
premiere finger-style guitarists on the east coast. At just 23 years
old, Phil is a seasoned performer, appearing at music venues, folk
clubs, festivals and colleges from Maine to Georgia. Phil’s cross
generational appeal has many folks watching very closely as he
exposes his generation to the acoustic folk/blues sound. Combining
contemporary songwriting with the traditional finger styling of the
blues masters, Phil is cultivating a whole new and much younger
audience. For many of his younger listeners, Phil is their very
first acoustic blues experience, while his nostalgic sound is a warm
reminder of the Greenwich Village acoustic scene of the early 60s.
Growing up in the Brandywine Valley of southeastern Pennsylvania,
Phil began listening to Elizabeth Cotton, Sonny Terry and Brownie
McGhee, Jorma Koukonen and Gary Davis at a very young age. His
understanding of the music and its patterns is as complete as it is
for musicians two or three times his age. Out on the circuit, Phil
has attracted the attention of many veteran musicians as he
continues to expand his audience and appeal. Having already shared
the stage with John Hammond, Paul Geremia, Steve Forbert, Little
Toby Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Bill Morrissey, and Eilan Jewel; he is
now sought after as a feature performer, and rightly so, having been
reviewed by magazines, radio DJs, music venues and writers across
the United States, Europe and Australia.
The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.
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Jonathan Byrd in Concert Friday January 14
First Presbyterian Church 7:30PM
520 E Washington Avenue
I started touring full-time in 2000, realizing
that I could do it as a solo performer and actually make a living.
Of course, that's what every other singer/songwriter in America was
doing, too, but I didn't even know what a singer/songwriter was, so
that didn't bother me. I thought I was a folk musician. Over time, I
realized that folk got cross-dressed and don't mean what it used to
mean anymore. I think my friend Aengus Finnan said it better than
anybody I've heard yet, "It's a style of presentation." So that's
just it, as long as you don't put on the razzle-dazzle and shake
your ass in a sequin skirt, you can be a folk musician. Sit there on
a stool and play your tuba, tell a story once in a while and wear
some Birckenstocks. Everybody will think you're a folk musician.
In 2002, I went to the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, where there
are lots of these folk musicians, only mostly songwriters. I
wandered around for a week looking for the dance tent and the fiddle
bands before I realized what I've already said about the word
"folk." It ended up being an amazing and inspiring experience and
I've been for all 18 days every year since. At the 2003 festival, I
won the New Folk competition and got hired on as a performer for the
next three years. I never took to Birckenstocks and my friend Anais
Mitchell helped me find a great pair of boots in Austin. They're
Fryes.
The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.
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Bruce Molsky in Concert Friday March 11
First Presbyterian Church 7:30PM
520 E Washington Avenue
Bruce Molsky is an utterly convincing
"Appalachian" fiddler & banjo-picker, who comes from the Bronx in
New York City. He's many other things too - among them, a phenomenal
fingerpicking guitar soloist, across genres ranging from Nordic
through West African to country-blues. As a singer too, he just "has
it" - an uncanny, seemingly low-key, warm, unassuming knack for
expressing a song's essence. "contented must be" is written in the
lower case, but Bruce's new CD is capital-"e" excellent. Equally
wonderful in its haunting & its exuberant moments, it's the work of
a highly individual & sometimes quite novel "old-timey" musician.
Australia Radio National
The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.
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Danny Santos in Concert Sunday May 15, 7:30PM
Ships of the Sea Museum
41 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Singer/songwriter Danny Santos melds the inspiration of his Tejano heritage, a musical legacy ranging from Hank Williams to the Beatles, and a Texas-sized determination to create a unique mix of country/folk tinged with bluegrass and the blues. His songs illuminate the joys of true love, the woes of love lost, and the weary longing of those still searching for love. It's a style forged from maturity, grit and drive. Danny Possesses a strong expressive voice and a compelling on stage presence, whether appearing solo or fronting his all-acoustic band, Los Bluegrass Vatos. Born in South Texas, Danny began playing the guitar at age thirteen. Singing and songwriting seemed to naturally follow soon after. Heavily influenced by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark & that whole Texas singer/songwriter genre, he continues to create his own brand of quality Texas music.
The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.
For further information, call 786-6953