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Our 2011-2012 Season Concerts
Dala
with special guest Heather Masse (of the Wailin' Jennys)
Saturday, October 22, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
Debut PFMS appearance.
Juno nominees and winners of the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine of Dala have come a long way in a short time. These two best friends met in their high school music class and wrote their first song together in 2002. Since then they have released five albums and toured extensively across North America. Darlings of the Canadian music scene, Dala are now poised to bring their fresh brand of acoustic pop music to the world.
Drawing upon influences like The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Dala write songs that are both catchy and insightful. Amanda's ethereal soprano voice blends seamlessly with Sheila's velvety alto, creating the lush harmonies that have become their trademark.
Dala on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/BZYns2ZTuQA
Heather Masse: Debut PFMS Appearance
New York City singer-songmaker Heather Masse grew up in rural Maine and began singing at an early age. Trained at the New England Conservatory of Music as a jazz singer, she is steeped in the jazz tradition, which informs her distinct approach to singing folk, pop and bluegrass.
A member of the Billboard-charting folk supergroup The Wailin' Jennys, Heather has performed at the top venues, sharing the stage with the world's most acclaimed pop, classical and jazz acts, including Elvis Costello, Wynton Marsalis, Sheryl Crow and the Boston Pops Orchestra. She has been a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, both as a solo performer and as a member of The Jennys. Heather has performed with the renowned contemporary bluegrass band The Wayfaring Strangers and in 2006, recorded an eponymous album with Joy Kills Sorrow, a contemporary stringband from Boston. She also released Tell Me Tonight with the Brooklyn-based collaboration Heather & the Barbarians. For much more go to her web site, HeatherMasse.com.
Heather Masse on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/SkW1qAjuDV0
Tickets: $18 advance/ $21 day of the show
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
 | Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
Cheryl Wheeler
with special guest Ellis
Friday, November 11, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
It has always seemed as if there were two Cheryl Wheelers, with fans of the New England songwriter relishing watching the two tussle for control of the mic. There is poet-Cheryl, writer of some of the prettiest, most alluring and intelligent ballads on the modern folk scene. And there is her evil twin, comic-Cheryl, a militant trend defier and savagely funny social critic. The result is a delightful contrast between poet and comic. Brilliant, hysterical performances and beautifully crafted songs. "Rare artist...strong poetry, complex melodies, clever wit."—SingOut!
Cheryl Wheeler on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/KcI1FGdIkrU
Ellis: Debut PFMS appearance
Ellis may not yet be a household name, but once you've seen her perform you're not likely to forget her. Described as a mix of folk artist, dharma teacher, and comedienne, her music is best described by the effect it has on her audience rather than a particular genre. Simply put, she leaves audiences better than she finds them, with softened edges & opened hearts. With compelling songwriting and engaging performances, Ellis is quietly amassing a loyal following of supporters across the country.
Ellis on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/TiWOZTQe7Lg
Tickets: $20 advance/ $25 day of the show
| Golden Key/WUMB Share the Warmth Clothing Drive collects warm clothing at UMass Boston and in the community through its special partnership with WUMB and BACHA (Boston Area Coffee House Association of which PFMS is a member.) Collected clothing at the different venues between Nov. and Feb. is donated to various non-profit organizations in the Greater Boston area that serve the homeless and those in need. Please bring clothing in good, clean condition and in exchange you will be entered in a raffle for 2 tickets to the March 10th concert with The Sweetback Sisters and Eilen Jewell. |
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
| Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
David Wilcox
with special guest Meg Hitchinson
Friday January 27, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
Debut PFMS appearance
"For David Wilcox, music is a personal compass for finding his way home. Lining it up with something deep inside, his words become image-filled poetry that dance to an internal rhythm. Challenging situations, elusive ideas, and long-suppressed feelings are directed into inspiring metaphors of hope. Coupled with a seamless melody, it is all delivered in the language of his heart."—Performing Songwriter
"I have always sung the songs that kept me sane. I love music that moves me, but only if it moves me forward. I don't want to sing songs that stay stuck in the same old illusions that fooled me before. I trust that when a song really moves me, it moves me because it is coming from a place I am going. Each song is like a postcard that inspires me to travel, but instead of just a snapshot of a place, it's a preview of a whole different way of seeing. Through songs, I get to know who I might become, because I experience a joy and peace and gratitude that I know are possible; all I have to do is go the distance," says Wilcox.
David Wilcox on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/Jk3ecZBGFGI
Meg Hutchinson: Debut PFMS Appearance
Meg Hutchinson is an award-winning songwriter who artfully documents the human condition. With a poet's ease, she makes the personal universal, allowing people's stories to come alive through her unique vocals and haunting melodies. Since the release of her Red House Records debut COME UP FULL, she has won high praise for her songwriting and has been featured nationally on NPR Music, XM/Sirius Radio and several times on the syndicated show Mountain Stage. Publications like The Winnipeg Free Press have compared her songwriting with that of veterans Dar Williams, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Joni Mitchell.
Meg Hutchinson on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/xODb39DFudE
Tickets: $18 advance/ $21 day of the show
| Golden Key/WUMB Share the Warmth Clothing Drive collects warm clothing at UMass Boston and in the community through its special partnership with WUMB and BACHA (Boston Area Coffee House Association of which PFMS is a member.) Collected clothing at the different venues between Nov. and Feb. is donated to various non-profit organizations in the Greater Boston area that serve the homeless and those in need. Please bring clothing in good, clean condition and in exchange you will be entered in a raffle for 2 tickets to the March 10th concert with The Sweetback Sisters and Eilen Jewell. |
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
| Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
Catie Curtis
with special guest Alastair Moock
Friday, February 10, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
Debut PFMS Appearance.
The Boston-area folk music scene is a vibrant one, boasting a variety of diverse artists. But if pressed to name the region's defining musician, it would have to be singer-songwriter Catie Curtis, who has called it home for nearly all of her twenty-year music career. Since the release of her last album in 2009, Curtis has toured extensively, playing a number of diverse venues ranging from Chicago's legendary Old Town School of Folk Music to the White House. She's also spent that time writing and testing out new material, developing a collection of masterfully written lyrics that serve as the heart of her newest record, Stretch Limousine on Fire (out August 30).
On the new album, Curtis, a Lilith Fair alum who's been dubbed a "folk-rock goddess" by The New Yorker, delivers some of the finest material of her career: ten original songs that push at her own musical boundaries and explore "the difficult edges of passing events" in life, harsh realities that are tempered with moments of fleeting beauty. This temporary nature of life is a theme that pervades the album from the first notes. Opening song "Let It Last, which features folk powerhouse and former tour mate Mary Chapin Carpenter singing harmony, finds Curtis pleading "I know it can't last/And all I ask is let it last a little longer."
Catie Curtis on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/_EpOF540NxA
Alastair Moock Debut PFMS performance
"… Moock is an anachronism in the best sense. He's a young man with the wizened sound of someone much older, often sounding a lot like Steve Forbert in both voice and arrangements, and he mixes his rootsy, confident originals with covers of old songs... Moock knows both his history and how to tell a good story."—Dirty Linen
"Alastair Moock is the second coming of John Prine."—Ellis Paul, Songwriter
Fifteen years into his career on the international folk circuit, Alastair Moock has managed to carve out a unique niche for himself: He is an artist committed to celebrating the roots of American music while knocking down the walls between different audiences, genres and musical traditions. Today, his audiences range from adults all the way down to preschoolers, and he plays everything from nightclubs to theaters to schoolrooms. Like his boyhood hero, Woody Guthrie, Moock believes in the power of music to reach all people—young and old, far and wide, for all occasions.
Alastair Moock on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/RwklTEmx3xY
Tickets: $18 advance/ $21 day of the show
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
| Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
The Sweetback Sisters & Eilen Jewell
in a co-bill
Saturday March 10, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
Sweetback Sisters
Emily Miller and Zara Bode may not be blood relations, but their precise, family-style harmonies recall the best of country music from the Everlys to The Judds, as well as the spirited rockabilly energy of Wanda Jackson, one of the band's role models. Like the artists they admire, the Sweetbacks are concerned with the traditional subjects of heartbreak, revenge, remorse and staying strong in the face of relationships gone wrong, albeit with a contemporary sensibility. "We're a renegade retro band that mixes up country, swing and honky tonk," explains Bode. "Sometimes what we deliver is straight out of the 50s; other times it's BR549 meets The B52s."
The Sweetback Sisters on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/705cFouS8U4
Eilen Jewell Debut PFMS appearance
It is the battered cassette jammed in the tape deck of the getaway car, the music Ida Lupino cues up on the roadhouse jukebox as she counts the till after close. This is Queen of the Minor Key by Eilen Jewell, a smart cookie with a heart of burnished gold and enough stories to keep even the rowdiest crowd hanging on her every word. Though its long shadows and dark corners make her kingdom feel intimate, her sovereign domain stretches as far as the imagination. Its denizens seek refuge in padded rooms, abandoned automobiles. and strong spirits. They defend their territory by any means necessary: weird voodoo, sawed-off shotguns, broken bottles.
But beware, savvy observer. There is more to Eilen Jewell than meets the ear. Do not confuse the singer and her songs. The drama and darkness that give Queen of the Minor Key its gritty texture are in short supply in the Boston-based songwriter's personal life. And in a curious twist, these fourteen originals actually took shape in a sunny, idyllic location that contrasts strikingly with the album's moody, film noir atmosphere.
Eilen Jewell on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/xg72GHPoPeA
Tickets: $20 advance/ $23 day of the show
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
| Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
Red Molly
with special guest Mark Erelli
Saturday, April 7, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
The dynamic female trio that began as a happy accident around a campsite (at the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival) is now drawing invitations from renowned historic national events like Merlefest, and is winning over audiences around the country. Spurred onward by an ever-growing and devoted fanbase, and the desire to commit themselves to touring farther from home, Red Molly is at the start of a new and exciting musical chapter. After six years of touring, the band announced that guitarist/bassist Carolann Solebello will leave the group in August 2010 to spend more time with family and pursue solo opportunities. Remaining founding members Laurie MacAllister (bass, banjo) and Abbie Gardner (Dobro, guitar) welcome the newest "Molly", Austin-based singer/songwriter Molly Venter, to fill out their lush, distinctive three-part harmonies. Over the last month of rehearsals and impromptu live performances in Hamilton Park, near their rehearsal space in Jersey City, the three women quickly nailed the essence of the Red Molly sound, while hinting at inspiring new musical possibilities in the months of touring that lie ahead. "We are busily reinventing fan favorites from our current recordings, while adding new material and collaborating on songwriting for the first time," says Gardner. "This is an exciting time for the band; we're so thrilled that Molly has joined us," adds MacAllister.
Red Molly on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/rzQjccr8wQA
Mark Erelli:
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.
Mark Erelli on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/RSeE8y8vzEI
Tickets: $20 advance/ $23 day of the show
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
| Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
Greg Brown
Friday, April 27, 8:00pm
Peterborough Players Theater
"Greg Brown has long established himself as one of the best songwriters in any style, marrying rugged roots music to quirky, obscure and frequently sharp-witted lyrics that belie the simplicity of his music."—Hartford Courant
Greg Brown's mother played electric guitar, his grandfather played banjo, and his father was a Holy Roller preacher in the Hacklebarney section of Iowa, where the Gospel and music are a way of life. Brown's first professional singing job came at age 18 in New York City, running hootenannies (folksinger get-togethers) at the legendary Gerdes Folk City. After a year, Brown moved west to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where he was a ghostwriter for Buck Ram, founder of the Platters. Tired of the fast-paced life, Brown traveled with a band for a few years, and even quit playing for a while before he moved back to Iowa and began writing songs and playing in midwestern clubs and coffeehouses.
Brown's songwriting has been lauded by many, and his songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Shawn Colvin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. He has also recorded more than a dozen albums, including his 1986 release, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, when he put aside his own songwriting to set poems of William Blake to music. One Big Town, recorded in 1989, earned Brown three and a half stars in Rolling Stone, chart-topping status in AAA and The Gavin Report's Americana rankings and Brown's first Indie Award from NAIRD (National Association of Independent Record Distributors). The Poet Game, his 1994 CD, received another Indie award from NAIRD. His critically acclaimed 1996 release, Further In, was a finalist for the same award. Rolling Stone's four-star review of Further In called Brown "a wickedly sharp observer of the human condition." 1997's Slant 6 Mind (Red House Records) earned Brown his second Grammy nomination. His latest CD, One Night (Red House), is a re-release of a 1983 live performance originally on Minneapolis' Coffeehouse Extemporé Records.
Greg Brown on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/YmVNTDM4nHc
Tickets: $27 advance/ $30 day of the show
| Tickets are non refundable. Seating is on a first come first served basis. There is no reserved seating. Tickets are available three different ways: | |
| Tickets to all PFMS concerts may be purchased any time |
| For other ticket purchase options, click here. | |
| The theater is handicapped accessible. Please notify us if you have any specials needs with which we can assist you. | |
| The Folk Fun Package includes lodging, dinner, concert and more! Click here to book your reservation | |
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Peterborough Folk Music Society's video page and other interesting Peterborough activities.
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