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Spring 2008 |
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Spring 2008 |
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Jan 19 Tanglefoot at WPSU 7:30 PM $15
with We're About 9
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One of our most requested return acts! Tanglefoot is a thunderous live band with a reputation for spectacular vocal harmonies. It is also a band of adept songwriters who specialize in portraying the Canadian experience, and recently won the 2007 Candadian Folk Music award for Best Vocal Group.
"Stan Rogers meets Van Halen!" |
"A riveting musical journey with great vocals, outstanding acoustic musicianship and involving songs...you feel the satisfaction of having read an engrossing novel with the added bonus of a memorable soundtrack." -- Rich Warren, "Sing Out!" | |
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The contemporary folk group We're About 9 is noted for the witty lyrics of their original songs and for their moving vocal harmonies. Their songs are often crafted to tell stories from unexpected perspectives -- including those of inanimate objects such as that of a bottle of port wine, or a parking space, or capture the emotion of significant life transitions -- as leaving a lover who has just proposed to you. You'll be left wanting more of this interesting and fun group. |
"Stretches of imagination seldom seen anywhere ... I've just gotten that explosion in my chest that I get when someone new has walked into my life and lit the fuse to another thrill." -- Richard Cuccaro, "Acoustic Live! in NY" (June 2003) |
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Feb 9 Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers at the CWB 7:30 PM $14
with Will Mills & Jeff Howaneck
 "Siobhan sings, and I surrender." Those words sum up the experience of listening to Siobhan Quinn deliver a song. She can blow your hair back with blues, enchant you with a song in the Irish, and make your heart hope or feel longing with a sensitive ballad.
Michael Bowers is known for his songwriting, and his way of delivering the words he writes. He'll tease you, flirt, touch you, and take you into the lives of the characters he writes about--even if the characters end up being you, or himself. He will, alternately, make you laugh, make you cry, get you all excited, and leave you hopeful. Combined, Siobhan and Michael produce rich original and traditional music with strong harmony-laden vocals over acoustic, resonator, & high strung guitars. They'll entertain you, and call you to look at the world, and yourself, in a new and bigger way. That's what good music should do for all of us, and that's what they do best.
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 Will Mills & Jeff Howaneck Will Mills has been hanging around the Brew since he was in high school, serving on the board as our student represtative. He also spent a good deal of time playing at our jams and other local jams and sessions and we're happy to see him coming into his own and making his first appearance on the Brew stage. "Firey" is one of the best words to describe Will's fiddlin', but you'll hear a range of styles ranging from Grapelli to O'Connor. Jeff Howaneck's guitar and backup vocals and percussion rounds out the duo. |
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Mar 1 Richard Smith & Julie Adams at the CWB 7:30 PM $14
with Jud Caswell
Since playing onstage at Her Majesty's Theatre with Chet Atkins at the tender age of 11, Richard Smith has been able to quickly master whatever guitar style captures his fancy. The complex styles of many guitar greats including Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, and Lenny Breau have proved to be no impediment to his voracious musical appetite. Apart from his guitar virtuosity, he is also an accomplished banjo and violin player.
Julie Adams is one of the most diverse cellists on the music scene today.Raised in Dayton, Ohio, she was classically trained at the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Cincinnati Conservatory. Julie branched into folk music, playing with well-known fingerstyle guitarist, Muriel Anderson, and then teaming up both in life and music with Richard. You'll delight in the eclectic mix of Julie's lyrical style and Richard's flawless technique. A must-see show for all guitar fans! "The most amazing guy I know on the guitar. "He can play anything I know, only better" --Chet Atkins | |
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Heralded by Sing Out! magazine as "one of the leading singer-songwriters on the current scene," Jud Caswell's rural roots keep his new folk songs grounded in tradition and essential wisdom. His list of recently-won competitions includes Kerrville New Folk, Wildflower, Boston Folk Festival, and Dave Carter Memorial songwriting contest.
"Maine's Jud Caswell is one of those expert, multigifted folk singers who are surprisingly unknown outside their home territory. Caswell's guitar playing is elegant, his voice both personable and tuneful, his songs neatly crafted, his sound imbued with warm energy." -- Boston Herald |
Sat Mar 22 Joel Mabus at the CWB 7:30 PM $14
with a local showcase
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Joel Mabus is a maverick in the folk music world. He defies any easy pigeonhole. By turns, he picks a mountain banjo to accompany an ancient ballad, sings a witty song about modern life, plays a sweet Irish melody on guitar, swings a hot jazz number, and then reaches deep for a soulful expression of values in a troubled world. He tops it all with a fiddle tune or old Carter family song -- all skillfully blended into a seamless flow. One fan said, "Its music from the heart that hits you right between the eyes." "It's hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess." |
| Our 2008 local showcase selections are the bluegrass group, The Tussey Mountain Moonshiners featuring Steve Buckalew, Karin Hastings and Gwen Stimely, and Daughters of Ann, featuring AnneLiese Nachman, Kerrin Kampa and Brew volunteers Holly Foy and Anna Marie Nachman. | |
Apr 5 Pat Wictor/Danielle Miraglia at the CWB 7:30 PM $14
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Steeped in American "roots" music, Pat Wictor is a contemporary songwriter and interpreter drawing on the rural country, gospel, and blues traditions of our nation. An American by birth, Pat was raised outside of the United States until his teenage years, living in Venezuela, Holland, Norway, and England. This time abroad gave him an unusually deep awareness of being a resident of a country while also a world citizen. Through these early experiences, he gained an appreciation for taking diffferent paths to arrive at the same destination. He can weave a delicate tapestry of melodic slide guitar on his original songs, or play traditional blues with fire and fury. Pat opened for Mike Cross at Acoustic Brew in April 2006. |
"...Pat Wictor walks onstage and sits down. He places a Guild DV-52 flat across his lap and begins playing slide guitar. The sounds are snaky and sizzling...." --Richard Cuccaro, Acoustic Live "He not only is a great guy and a great talent, but I believe he has, follicle for follicle, the best hair in folk music." -- Rob Carlson, Modern Man | |
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A strong steady thumb on an old Gibson guitar is the driving force behind Danielle Miraglia's delta blues influenced guitar style. While Miraglia's (pronounced murr-Ä L e a) style pays homage to blues traditions, her classic rock verve, catchy melodies and eclectic array of song subjects, from deeply personal to socially relevant, give it an original twist that is all her own. A passion for the arts and an outstanding gift for writing lead her to a degree in creative writing from Emerson College. In 2001, she released her debut EP "Bad Poetry," and since 2002 she has headlined some of the most renowned blues and folk music venues in Boston, toured major cities from north to south and beyond, while vigorously busking the streets of Harvard Square. Her latest self-produced release is "Nothing Romantic." |
"Danielle Miraglia is that rare folk/blues songwriter who can at once break your heart, redeem your soul, and move your feet." -- Brendan Hogan, host,'Blues on WGBH' |
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Apr 19 Dry Branch Fire Squad at MNMS 7:00 PM
$16
with The Milroys
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New! Buy tickets online!
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The return of one of ABC's most popular artists! "For more than 25 years Dry Branch Fire Squad has been one of bluegrass music's most popular bands, renowned for its spry mix of front-porch standards, modern ballads, and the old-time sounds from which bluegrass first sprang. The (quartet) is positively adored for its droll, scampy stage shows, fueled by Ron Thomason's cornpone-and-hard-cider wit. On their irresistible new Rounder concert CD, Live at the Newburyport Firehouse...his laconic monologues unfurl like long, laze serpents: When they strike, it's with such suddenness and accuracy that they almost leave you too breathless to laugh. Almost." -- Scott Alarik, Boston Globe
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The Milroys The husband and wife songwriting team of CJ and John takes you on a musical journey through a darker America. Cowboys and carnies, diners and dancehalls, Silvertones and shallow graves are roadside attractions along the way. The duo's plaintive, sweet melodies will draw you in and linger like the cheap cologne of a traveling Bible salesman. |
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May 3 Erik Balkey/Karen Mal at the CWB 7:30 PM $14
Erik Balkey opened for Red Molly last year and "wowed" us with his songs and singing and we're happy to welcome him back for a longer set in this split with Karen! Keeping just a post office box in Philadelphia, Erik has been on the highway since 2002 with his guitar and notebook as well as paint brushes and rollers. He picks up interior house painting jobs to sustain his travels, and performs all over the country from Maine to Texas, Florida to Chicago covering over 50,000 miles annually. Among recent honors, Balkey was named a Kerrville New Folk Winner in 2005 and was selected for a Top-12 DIY feature in the January 2006 issue of Performing Songwriter magazine. His recent recording, "Mission Street Project," caught the attention of Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary) who called the socially relevent collection "important, very important." "A treasure trove of new socially conscious songs that need to be heard." -- Rob Lincoln, cdreviewsonline.com | |
Karen Mal
sings. From raw sensuality to shimmering bell-like clarity, her voice is both tender and powerful, and as effortless as a waterfall. There's a river that flows between Karen and her audience. It's about love. The possibility and the unbearable beauty of it. Elusive and abundant at the same time.Karen has been chosen as a winner or finalist in the following songwriting competitions: Portland Songwriters Association (2002) South Florida Folk Festival (2003) Mountain Valley Arts Festival (2002) Sisters Folk Festival (2002) KRCL/Founders Title Folk and Bluegrass Festival (2002) Kerrville New Folk (2001 and 2002) "She has a gift for intelligent turns of phrase, and narrative songs that introduce details, fleshing out the story-lines in an intriguing way. [...] Her voice is the epitome of what a folk singer-songwriter should sound like -- clear and very appealing." -- George Graham, The Graham Weekly Album Review |
May 17 The Biscuit Burners at WPSU 7:30 PM $15
with Crossing North
Young faces serving up a spicy mix of old time fare! The Biscuit Burners tore up the stage at Hickory Fest '06 with their fiery
mountain music, a fresh approach to acoustic music with roots that date as far back as mountain music can reach. The ' Burners offer innovative instrumentation, resplendent harmonies, and captivating original material. Their unique, yet familiar, material pulls strongly from their respect of traditional mountain music, their love of bluegrass and classic country, and their appreciation of music from the far corners of the world.
"The last (band) I heard that blew me away was The Biscuit Burners." -- A.P. interview with Joe Perry of Aerosmith, July 2005
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"Utilizing sparse yet highly effective acoustic guitars, mixed with sweet and tender two-part harmonies, Crossing North offers a fusion of folk, bluegrass, and roots delivered with passion and sincerity." -- www.indiepro.com |
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