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28th SEASON
Winter 2009 Calendar
Tickets bought at the door for all shows are $15.00 unless otherwise noted. Doors open 1/2 hour before the concert.
Tickets reserved through PayPal are $1.00 more than the door price and must be purchased by 8:00PM the day before each concert. Tickets prepaid online through PayPal will be available at the door; they will not be mailed. Please bring your confirmation from PayPal with you to each show.
All seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
PAYPAL TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL SHOWS
December 6
Double Bill: Meg Hutchinson and Ryan Fitzsimmons
Meg Hutchinson was raised in the small town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts by English teachers, so it is no surprise that she is a writer with an uncanny perceptiveness about the natural world and the human condition. Performing Songwriter called her “A master of introspective ballads filled with understated yearning and an exquisite sense of metaphor.” Garnering a loyal following during the last few years, Meg Hutchinson has won fans through her lyric-driven folk/pop songs and riveting live performances.
Originally from Syracuse New York, Ryan Fitzsimmons first gained attention at age 14 playing lead guitar in an alternative rock band called Anodyne which was nominated for a Syracuse Area Music Award (SAMMY). But after performing in a number of electric bands, Ryan decided to give up the amplifiers to see what he could do with just wood and steel and voice. It seems that his choice paid off, as Ryan was nominated for Best Folk Act in the Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll for 2004. He went on to win the 2007 “Best Male Vocalist” award in the same poll, and has gained many other accolades along the way. From Montana to New England, Ryan has been engaging audiences with his distinctive songwriting and dynamic performances.
Two area musicians, great songwriting and performing artists - this is a show that is not to be missed!
December 13
Canticle of Barnacle: Christmas at Sea
Early in 2006 Everett Brown, Mary Audette, Tim Reilly, and Priscilla Malone formed Barnacle--a high energy Celtic/nautical/folk group. They have appeared throughout New England at venues such as Rhode Island School of Design Museum; Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival in 2007 and 2008; and at the Windjammer Festival in Camden, Maine. Jon Cannon, the newest member of Barnacle, was shanghaied at the Windjammer Festival, where he astounded everyone with his effortless improvisational skills on the fiddle. Come on by for a warm and comforting evening of coffee, sea shanties, Celtic fiddle and Yuletide songs at Stone Soup.
HOLIDAY BREAK
January 3
Guy Davis
Whether Guy Davis is appearing on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” or nationally syndicated radio programs such as Garrison Keillor’s, “A Prairie Home Campanion”, “Mountain Stage” or David Dye’s,“World Café”., in front of 15,000 people on the Main Stage of a major festival, or teaching an intimate gathering of students at a Music Camp, Guy feels the instinctive desire to give each listener his ‘all’. He's a musician, composer, actor, director, and writer. But most importantly, Guy Davis is a bluesman. The blues permeates every corner of Davis' creativity. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to reviving the traditions of acoustic blues and bringing them to as many ears as possible through the material of the great blues masters, African American stories, and his own original songs, stories and performance pieces.
January 10
Double Bill: Chris O’Brien and We’re About 9 (duo)
Boston based singer/songwriter Chris O'Brien is an artist on the rise. Since the release of his CD "Lighthouse," Chris has caught the attention
of many. He was chosen from a pool of nearly 1,000 contestants to appear on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" in the "People in Their
Twenties" talent contest, he was one of Falcon Ridge Folk Festival's Emerging Artists, and also was a finalist in the Mountain Stage New
Song competition.
Find yourself bursting aloud with laughter, dazzled with thought-provoking metaphors, lifted to the heavens with soaring harmonies, and moments later with tears in your eyes, and you are likely enjoying the witty musicianship that is We’re About 9. The We're About 9 duo of Katie Graybeal and Brian Gundersdorf is focused on complex songwriting and big wall-of-sound harmonies. They take turns on lead vocal, sing on every song, and accompany their voices with thoughtfully conceived acoustic guitar and electric bass. Simultaneously playing and writing for a diverse, intelligent audience is what has given this duo a distinctive, edgy, fun, articulate, professional style.
It’s our good fortune to have Chris O’Brien and We’re About 9 performing on the same evening.
January 17
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion
Sarah Lee and Johnny make an exhilarating kind of modern folk-rock music that is timeless and natural. Their music is rich in tradition yet fresh, poignant and up-to-date with our turbulent times. That’s how some describe the folk-rock sound created by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion (eye-ree-un). The musical richness and psychological depth of their initial collaboration, the fittingly titled Exploration, is irrefutable proof that the disarming granddaughter of Woody/daughter of Arlo and the prodigious South Carolinian quite naturally bring out the best in each other. Since simultaneously releasing solo albums in 2001, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion have been busy traveling back and forth across America and overseas, too, winning new fans and earning raves for their heartfelt acoustic music. And now we’re lucky to have them at Stone Soup. Come by to experience the excitement of Sarah Lee and Johnny.
January 24
The Bluegrass Gospel Project Tickets: $20.00
Taylor Armerding: (Mandolin, vocals),Paul Miller: (Guitar, vocals), Steve Light: (Banjo, vocals, guitar), Gene White, Jr.: (Fiddle), Colby Crehan: (Vocals), Kirk Lord: (Bass)
Gene White assembled the BGP in 2001 for what was intended to be a one-time event at the First Night celebration in Burlington, Vermont. The promoter asked him to bring together a group of musicians to offer a performance centered on a theme of his choice. White chose bluegrass gospel because of its haunting beauty and the uplifting message of its lyrics. Seven years and four CDs later the BGP is still performing concerts across New England and New York. The BGP is six of the Northeast's finest bluegrass, country and folk musicians. Their music is solidly based in the American bluegrass tradition while paying homage to the beautiful and inspirational message of gospel lyrics. Their concerts include classic and original tunes carefully selected to showcase the band’s textured vocal harmonies and instrumental virtuosity. Each member brings many years of musical experience to the band’s sound. Their multiple vocal and instrumental talents allow BGP concerts to feature a diversity of lead singers and styles as the band members take on different vocal and instrumental roles for each selection.
January 31
Catie Curtis
Opener: Marc Douglas Berardo
With her intoxicating brand of folk pop music, smart and enduring lyrics and engaging personality, Curtis has created a dedicated following that has grown steadily over the course of her 15-year career. With 9 albums and recognition that includes a 2006 International Songwriting Competition Grand Prize, Curtis has proven that she’s the real deal: a musician with the kind of raw talent and artistic maturity that makes her a force to be reckoned with, albeit a sweet force. It’s not all that hard to find a musician willing and able to offer a guided tour of life’s dark clouds -- but making the acquaintance of someone able to hone in on the silver lining, well, that’s an altogether rarer occurrence. It’s an experience to savor, as is a concert experience with Catie in an intimate Stone Soup setting.
February 7
Chris Smither Tickets: $20.00 in advance; $22.00 at the door
Opener: The Jason Spooner Trio
Some artists continually reinvent themselves; others identify their muse early on and spend their careers single-mindedly pursuing it, remaining recognizably themselves through a career-long process of refinement, growth and discovery. Chris Smither belongs to the latter group. “Leave the Light On,” Smither's masterful twelfth album—the first he's released on his own Mighty Albert label—stands as the quintessence of his life's work while throwing in some new wrinkles that reflect where he's been and what he's encountered since the last time around. But Smither's central theme as he enters his 60s is clearer than ever. What is immediately recognizable to anyone who has encountered Smither on record or in live performance during the course of the last four decades are his been-there, done-that voice and the crystalline, wordlessly eloquent sounds of his fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Familiar, too, are the writer/artists whose songs Smither has selected to intermingle with his own.
February 14
Antje Duvekot
Opener: Allysen Callery
Antje has won some of the top songwriting awards including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the prestigious, Kerrville (TX) “Best New Folk Award” and in one of the nation’s top music markets, she won the Boston Music Award for “Outstanding Folk Act”, three of the top prizes in the singer songwriter world. Antje has extensive touring experience, crisscrossing the US and Europe several times. She is a compelling live performer and has been invited to play some of the top festivals including The Newport Folk Festival as well as the Mountain Stage, Philadelphia and Kerrville Festivals. Internationally, she's headlined the The Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland and the Tonder Festival in Denmark. Antje’s fast growing fan base, the viral spreading of her music and a track record of sold-out shows are a testament to her growing popularity. Neil Dorfsman, the producer of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Sting says, "When I first heard Antje I knew I was witnessing something very special. She creates an entire, detailed world in verse, and takes you there with beautiful and understated melody. Her songs are stunning paintings of color and shade and always generate the heat and light that real art should. In an unpoetic and 'in your face' world, she is lyrical and subtle."
February 21
Double Bill: Three Tall Pines and The Homegrown String Band
Three Tall Pines is a four piece co-op that relays the emotions of early American rural life through the sounds of impassioned harmonies and progressive instrumentations. Dan Bourdeau, Joe Lurgio, Gian Pangaro and Emily Rideout make up this harmonic co-op and play to the classic sounds of acoustic guitar, mandolin, upright bass and fiddle. Their music is influenced by singer-songwriters from Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, and Jimmy Rogers to the bluegrass styles of Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley, and the Scottish fiddling of Tim O'Brien and Bonnie Rideout. Keep your ears open for this up-and-coming quartet.
The Homegrown String Band is a 100% “Naturally Organic Grown” band. Inspired by the early 20th century rural string bands, this high energy 21st century incarnation of the traditional family band is America's premier purveyor of family style original & neo-traditional acoustic American roots music. Georgianne and Rick Jakofsky and their two daughters, Erica and Annalee form the band that is a true "Nuclear" Family that Radiates Fun!
February 28
Alice Peacock
Opener: Ray Cooke
Alice Peacock's original hometown is White Bear Lake, Minn., where she grew up swimming in the lake, manning her paper route and daring her friends to stand near the Indian burial ground next door. She was also an avid reader. "I never really traveled when I was a kid, but I could travel in books. Books allowed me to dream. I think that's partly why I became a writer." Reading began stoking Alice's creativity about the same time the family piano did. "I was a curious kid," she says, "and we had a piano in the house, so I figured out how to play it. I made up songs, little melodies." Genetic predisposition likely played a role; Alice's maternal grandmother was a German cabaret composer and performer She does not indulge in the kind of vocal gymnastics that have made so many pop divas indistinguishable from one another. Her human-scale singing draws the listener closer, provides communion, fosters the feeling that we are not alone. Warm as faded flannel, her latest album “Who I Am” recalls the golden age of singer-songwriter pop. It is impeccably crafted, but what's most affecting is how easy and organic it feels, how directly Alice's voice connects with the listener.
Tickets for the Alice Peacock show will be available at the door.