notloB Parlour Concerts announces its Fall season
at the historic Loring-Greenough House, Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain, MA ~ notloB Parlour Concerts returns to the historic Loring-Greenough House to present five acoustic concerts over a four month period.
date |
artist |
url |
Wednesday, September 08 |
Jenee Halstead & Robby Hecht |
http://www.myspace.com/jeneehalstead, |
Friday, September 17 |
Tashina Clarridge |
http://www.clarridgefiddlers.com/ |
Wednesday, October 27 |
Dave Rovics |
|
Saturday, November 06 |
A world-renowned artist whose name, due to contractual obligations cannot be revealed until the end of September. |
|
Saturday, December 04 |
Julie Metcalf and Mariel Vandersteel |
All times are doors 7:30pm, concert 8:00pm
Artists, dates and time are subject to change, current information can be found
at the notloB website - http://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/ and/or by joining
the mail list at http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic or by sending an
email to notlobreservations@gmail.com
The Jamaica Plain series is in addition to larger concerts presented at the Unity Church of God in
Davis Square, Somerville. That series' artists will be announced soon.
About the artists
Jenee Halstead
"You'll hear strains of Emmylou Harris ..."
Meredith Goldstein - Boston Globe
A year-and-a-half removed from the release of her debut full-length The River Grace, Hollow Bones is a bold step forward for someone years ahead of her time.
With a relentless and renewed spirit Halstead has a firm grasp on her abilities, never once pushing her
limits. Much of the credit for said maturation goes to time spent in the
bluegrass band The Broken Blossoms, an
experience that she freely admits led to her maturation as a songwriter.
"Being in the Broken Blossoms was an important part of me growing as a songwriter, it allowed me look to the
future and figure out what I want to do. In the end, I realized I had to
hone my own voice in songwriting and continue telling great stories."
Utilizing a roots backdrop once again, Hollow Bones draws heavily on the
strengths of its session players, including guitarist Lyle Brewer,
harmonica extraordinaire Jim Fitting, fiddle player Julie Metcalf and
lap steel veteran Adam Ollendorf. Recorded live in producer David
Piper's studio, the EP has a defined sense of intimacy and timelessness
that allows its charms to leap from the speakers. Opening cut
"Damascus," has a well-worn, earthy sentiment that seems primed for AAA
charts. Halstead's full-bodied alto, give the song's arresting narrative
a sense of conviction that is felt immediately. "Good Lookin' Boy,"
builds on the momentum of "Damascus," but carries it forward. "La Luna
Roja," spins a yarn that is both poetic and undeniably romantic.
On the album closer, the swampy "Banks of the Mississippi," she melds a story that seems plucked from a Faulkner novel.
Now in her fourth year in Boston, Halstead, a Washington State native,
seems supremely comfortable and firmly established in her new locale.
Hollow Bones has the confidence and professionalism that seems certain
to propel her into the national spotlight. Make no mistake about it, the
release of Hollow Bones is the emergence of a bona fide talent coming
into her own, and the unwavering sense that she won't be Boston's secret
for long.
Robby Hecht
“A beautiful, soulful voice…” –Jeff Coffin, Dave Matthews Band
The music of Robby Hecht represents a return to the early 70s golden era of
acoustic pop where thoughtful, well-crafted lyrics were blended with
timeless melodies to impact mainstream music and culture. His 2008 debut
album Late Last Night, produced by Lex Price (Mindy Smith) and mixed by
Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Josh Rouse) features an impressive list of
guest performers including Mindy Smith, Jeff Coffin, Thad Cockrell,
Jill Andrews of The Everybodyfields, John Deaderick (Patty Griffin),
Andrea Zonn (James Taylor) and more.
Raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Robby first began writing and performing while
attending The University of Wisconsin-Madison, developing and pairing
his soulful voice and unique finger-style guitar. After spending time
living in Paris and San Francisco including a period fronting the band
AllDay Radio, he eventually returned to his home state, settling in
Nashville.
A 2008 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winner, Robby has played folk/roots
festivals and venues across the country, sharing the stage with such
legendary artists as Richie Havens, Greg Brown, and Patty Griffin, and
garnering comparisons to early James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Amos Lee.
Like these celebrated artists,
Robby Hecht is a unique voice -- one that is stirring, instantly recognizable, and truly original.
-Winner, Telluride Bluegrass Festival Troubadour Contest 2010
-Winner, Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition 2008
-Winner, Wildflower Music and Arts Festival Songwriter Competition 2007
-Winner, Great Waters Music Festival Songwriter Competition 2006
-Winner, Riverbluff Music Festival Songwriter Competition 2006
-Selected, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase 2008
-Finalist, Mountain Stage International NewSong Competition 2008
Tashina Clairridge
"Tashina is taking her music very seriously to the point where she will make a
lasting impact on the people she touches with her talent in the future.
She is in music for the right reasons
and we as listeners will benefit from it". -Mark O'Connor
Tashina Clarridge has played Fiddle for 22 years - since the age of two. She has performed throughout the
western United States, taught hundreds of lessons and workshops, and won
countless awards.
Raised in the mountains of northern California, Tashina studied with Megan Lynch and Rob Diggins. Her
musical horizons were greatly expanded by frequent visits to Nashville
for Mark O'Connor's fiddle camp where she studied with many fiddle
heroes such as Darol Anger, Natalie MacMaster, Buddy Spicher, Matt
Glaser, and
Mark O'Connor. She is the current Grand National Fiddle
Champion, a 6-time Grand National finalist, 6-time California State
fiddle champion, and 2-time Western Open Grand Champion. Though her
contest history clearly distinguishes her as a sparkling clean, studied
player in the genre of Texas-style fiddling, it is her enthusiasm for
many diverse styles of music that brings such a high level of creativity
to her playing.
Tashina has performed at Carnegie Hall as part of Grammy winning bassist Edgar Meyer's young artists concert,
and will be touring with Mark O'Connor this fall. She travels and
performs throughout the western United States with her brother Tristan,
the Bill Evans String Summit, and the contemporary bluegrass outfit, Due
West. Together Tashina and Tristan have taught many lessons and
workshops and have instructed at Mark O'Connor's Strings Conference for
the past 5 years.
David Rovics
“the musical version of Democracy Now!” -Amy Goodman
“the peace poet and troubadour of our time.” -Cindy Sheehan
David Rovics grew up in a family of classical musicians in Wilton, Connecticut, and became a fan of
populist regimes early on. By the early 90's he was a full-time busker
in the Boston subways and by the mid-90's he was traveling the world as a
professional flat-picking rabble-rouser. These days David lives with
his family in Portland, Oregon and tours regularly on four continents,
playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities,
churches, union halls and protest rallies. He has shared the stage with a
veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had
his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other
networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere,
and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been
downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really
good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the
revolution irresistible.
Julie Metcalf
Fiddler Julie Metcalf began as a classical violinist in Worcester, MA. Coming from a family of musicians,
she was encouraged to make music from an early age; Julie picked up the
violin for the first time when she was 4 years old and has been playing
ever since. When she was twelve, Julie discovered fiddle music and jazz
through PBS and country radio, and began learning Celtic tunes on her own.
Julie studied classical violin at Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Recently, she has immersed
herself in the study of both traditional folk and contemporary styles of
music, including Celtic, Appalachian, bluegrass, jazz, and Latin music.
She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in Violin
Performance.
Julie plays viola in the Paper Star Trio, formerly the Folk Arts Quartet. The Paper Star Trio is a grooving chamber-folk string ensemble that
plays contemporary arrangements of world fiddle music. She can also be
spotted playing violin with Mariachi Palenque.
Mariel Vandersteel
Mariel Vandersteel grew up in the rich musical scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. She spent high school
playing for local contra dances as well as performing and touring with
Alasdair Fraser and the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers, and the Black
Brothers (the brothers of Frances and Mary Black), while she immersed
herself in the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland. She received a
cultural grant from the Milwaukee Irish Festival in high school and
spent several summers studying traditional Irish music at Scoil
Samhraidh Willie
Clancy in Co. Clare and at the Irish Traditional Music Archives in Dublin, Ireland.
Mariel moved to Boston in 2005 to attend Berklee College of Music as a scholarship student and has now
received a Bachelor’s in Violin Performance. At Berklee she studied with
cellists Eugene Friesen and Natalie Haas, violist Melissa Howe,
violinist Mimi Rabson and mandolinist John McGann. While at Berklee, she
was a founding member of the eclectic contemporary Scandinavian-Old
Time string band, Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers (BMUZ).
BMUZ has since gone on to perform at the Kennedy Center, the Freight and Salvage (CA), Club Passim (MA) and
on the Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour (KY). In 2008 they were selected
out of 400 applicants to perform in the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival’s
Emerging Artist Showcase. They were voted back to play in the Most
Wanted Artists songswap at the 2009 FRFF. The band is currently working
on recording a full-length album. In the summer of 2009, Mariel joined
The Folk Arts Quartet, which has now changed their name to the Paper
Star Trio. The PST is Julie Metcalf on viola, Emma Beaton on cello and
Mariel on fiddle.
Inspired by her summers spent studying traditional music in Ireland and across the United States, Mariel
decided to study music in Norway after graduating from Berklee. She is
studying the hardingfele and Norwegian folk music at Høgskolen iTelemark
Rauland. While in Norway, she has performed at outdoor festivals and
in the local elementary school where she taught children about American folk music.
Mariel has taught at Alasdair Fraser’s Sierra Fiddle Camp, has been an assistant teacher at Fiddlekids, a SF
Bay Area fiddle camp for children, and has shared the stage with
Alasdair Fraser, Laura Risk, Hanneke Cassel, Natalie Haas, Tristan and
Tashina Clarridge, Nic Gareiss, Andre Brunet, and Philip Bailey of Earth
Wind
and Fire.
She currently lives in Norway and will return to Boston in 2010 where she will teach the fiddle and
hardingfele and perform with Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers and
the Paper Star Trio.
About the series
Since June, 2007, notloB Folk Concerts has produced 75 not-for-profit concerts in the greater Boston area.
Allowing for production expenses, 100% of the donations go to the
musicians. The series is 100% volunteer-run and new applicants are
always welcome.
About the venue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Loring-Greenough House is the last surviving 18th century residence in Sumner Hill, a historic section of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston. It is located at 12 South Street on Monument Square at the edge of Sumner Hill.
This mid-Georgian mansion was built as a country residence and farmstead in 1760 for wealthy British naval officer Commodore Joshua Loring on the original site of John Polley's estate established in the 1650s.
Originally, the Loring-Greenough house was situated on a 60-acre (240,000 m2) estate. Loring, a Loyalist prior to the American Revolution, abandoned
the house in 1774, just prior to the conflict, and he fled from Boston
in 1776. The house was confiscated by colonial forces and in 1776 served
as a headquarters for General Nathaniel Greene and, soon after, a
hospital for Continental Army soldiers following the Battle of Bunker
Hill.
In 1780, the house was sold to Isaac Sears, the rebel leader from New York, and was then purchased in 1784 by Ann Doane, a rich widow, who soon
after married David Stoddard Greenough. Their descendants lived here for
five generations until 1924. At that time the Jamaica Plain Tuesday
Club (until 1993 a ladies'-only club and today a community group)
purchased the house, along with almost two acres of landscaped grounds,
to convert it into a museum and save it from development.
The Loring-Greenough House is a very well-preserved structure of almost 4,500 square feet, on property that
includes sweeping lawns, historic flower beds, handsome trees, and the
two-and-one-half-story house itself. The property is fenced and gated
with wrought-iron restricting access except for times when the building
is open to the public. The Tuesday Club has been careful to preserve the
house and grounds over many decades. The most recent restoration
occurred with a $350,000 grant and included painting and other repairs.
The Loring-Greenough property is now a historic house museum still owned and operated by the Tuesday Club,
which offers tours and other events throughout the year. It is listed on
the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Massachusetts Landmark and a Boston Landmark.
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“In this era of pop-driven acoustic music, notloB is keeping the folk tradition alive.” ~ Jack Hardy
notloB Folk Concerts (Somerville and Jamaica Plain) are volunteer run and not for profit.
Mailing list~ http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic
Facebook~ http://www.facebook.com/pages/notloB-Folk-Concerts/118395891509908
