2003 - 2004 Schedule:

• September 20 - Lisa McCormick
  
• October 18 - Turkey Hollow
  
• November 15 - Tarbox Ramblers
  
• January 17 - Meredith and Chris Thompson
  
• February 21 - Vance Gilbert, Bobby Darling opens
  
• March 20 - Louise Taylor
  
• April 17 - Tracy Grammer and Slaid Cleaves
  
• May 15 - A Celebration of Peace and Justice 
  starring Work o' the Weavers (Tribute to The Weavers)

Contact:

Diane Dix (413) 773-5018
music@uugreenfield.org
or
coffeeandsoul@yahoo.com

September 20, 2003: Lisa McCormick 
Clayton Sabine opening

Up to the minute retro with a playful bohemian twist. Open Mic begins the show.

The Washington Post says, "This is one singer-songwriter who is really worth hearing!"

"This woman is an absolute genius. She is funny, sexy, smart, literate, sardonic, witty, ironic, and she sings with all the power of a rock diva."

— New England Performer Magazine, Boston, MA

"Lisa's strong stage presence, self-effacing humor, witty material, and full guitar sound won the audience over quickly...She is one of those rare performers who is every bit as entertaining in a solo performance as in a fully orchestrated recording."

– MIXX Magazine, New Haven, CT

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Lisa McCormick Website

October 19, 2003: Turkey Hollow

An acoustic trio with a uniquely Maine kind of acoustic country-folk music that combines bluegrass, folk and country with dashes of blues, Cajun and Celtic, Bass guitarist Tom Rowe is also a member of Schooner Fare. Son Dave Rowe and Denny Breau join him on banjo, mandolin, piano and tin whisle to form Turkey Hollow. Open mic begins the show.

Turkey Hollow performs primarily original tunes, written by all three members, which are included on their two recorded albums, "Turkey Hollow Consort" and "Live Turkey"—as well as covers of Bob Dylan, Townes van Zandt, and other legendary folk and country artists. Their uniquely appealing stage presence includes great picking and soaring harmonies, humor and energy, and ability to tell a good Maine story. "Turkey Hollow quickly grabs an audience and doesn’t let go," says Dick Cerri, Director of the World Folk Music Association.

"Turkey Hollow gave a great concert-my audience was wowed by them. I knew they’d be good, but they were beyond my wildest expectations!"
– Sonny Ochs, Helping Hands Concert Series, Schoharie, NY

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Turkey Hollow Website

Drawing from both hillbilly and blues repertoires, this quartet blurs the boundary between America's black and white musical traditions, wowing audiences across the country with their pre-World War II blues, hillbilly songs and fervid hymns, updated with rockabilly energy. Open mic begins the show.

"It's hard to imagine a sweeter blend of blues, string band music, and old-school hillbilly than the debut album by Boston's Tarbox Ramblers…Michael Tarbox's striking slide guitar work and unmannered, engaging vocalizing highlight the group's work."
– Billboard Magazine

"The band's debut album is filled with early-twentieth century blues and back-country music. Between the fiddle, string bass, drums and slide guitar, you won't know what hit you."
– The New Yorker Magazine

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Tarbox Ramblers Website

January 17, 2004: Meredith and Chris Thompson

With the release of their fifth CD, Clearwater, twin sisters Chris & Meredith Thompson establish themselves as artists of consequence, showcasing the variety of their compelling harmonies, lyrical expression and arrangements and well penned lyrics. Chris & Meredith Thompson achieve a vocal harmony known uniquely to siblings. At times, their voices effortlessly combine in harmony as if they were two parts of one whole. Then, just as effortlessly, the individual voices will emerge, creating a vocal sound that has become their trademark.

The Thompson's love of World Music is evident from the Latin and World instrumentation and melodic themes throughout Clearwater. Meredith layers congas, djembe, talking drum and percussion alongside Chris' guitar to create a rich rhythmic foundation. Meredith also adds flute to evoke sounds ranging from Andean pan pipes to Celtic melodic lines. This refreshing instrumentation and production combined with their poignant lyrics creates a musical foundation that draws the listener deeper into the story. Wildest Sea, the leading track on the album, features the duo's powerful vocals and infectious percussion. Inspired by the story depicted in the book "The Perfect Storm," the lyrics express the lure of the sea that draws people back to the ocean even after tragedy and loss.

"One of the most innovative acts on the Boston area acoustic music scene."
– Laura Kiristys, Worcester Phoenix, Worcester MA

"It is their mix of intriguing stories of people's hopes and histories that makes the Thompson's music so compelling."
– MaryAnn Robertson, Spotlight, Portsmouth NH

"Clearwater alone is enough to define the duo as a success. The dozen tunes on the album are beautifully arranged folk songs, full of acoustic guitar, flute, and elements of world music percussion."
– Eric Danton, Hartford Courant, Hartford CT

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Meredith and Chris 
Thompson Website

It's all in one seemingly impossible package. His spellbinding live show. His deliriously virtuosic singing. His accomplished guitar style. His outrageous, edgy humor. And the songwriting. Don’t question it, just come listen! Open mic begins the show.

Vance Gilbert burst onto the singer/songwriter scene in the early 90's when the buzz started spreading in the folk clubs of Boston about an ex-jazz singer who was knocking 'em dead at open mikes. The word spread of this Philadelphia-area born and raised performer to New York; Shawn Colvin invited Vance Gilbert to be special guest on her Fat City tour. Gilbert took audiences across the country by storm ("With the voice of an angel, the wit of a devil, and the guitar playing of a god, it was enough to earn him that rarity: an encore for an opener" wrote the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in it's review of a show from that tour). Gilbert's three albums for the Rounder/Philo label - Edgewise (1994), Fugitives (1995), and the celebrated, arrestingly sparse Shaking Off Gravity (1998) - are all essential additions to the American singer-songwriter collection. With guests as varied as Tuck and Patti, Jonatha Brooke, Patty Larkin, Dee Carstensen, Vinx, and Jane Siberry, all three albums found significant niches on NAC (New Adult Contemporary) and Non-Commercial A3 (Adult Album Alternative) radio. These discs were followed by the self-released Somerville Live (2000), his live recording lionized by the Boston Globe as the disc "young songwriters should study the way law students cram for bar exams".

One Thru Fourteen (his most recent CD) is Vance Gilbert at his most fearless, timeless, compelling best. These examples of classic songwriting, presented with deep humanism and bravery, stunning artistry and soul, and unbridled joy are inarguably the blue ribbons that tie and seal the seemingly impossibly package that is…Vance Gilbert.

Opening act is Bobby Darling. 

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Vance Gilbert Website

March 20, 2004: Louise Taylor

Husky vocals reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt with Carole King’s passion for melodies. A songwriter confident in her artistry, Louise Taylor moves you in a deep way — with intensity and sweetness. Open mic begins the show.

Her voice comes calling. At times like a wind out of Canada, bearing icy truths, other times, a warm, languid breeze, carrying the promise of desire. A husky alto, with an edge. Down through years… ages… timeless… bearing tales from the deepest parts of the heart. Her entire body forms the sounds filtered though those vocal chords. Every fiber telling the same truths. All the fears, the longings, the hope and the regrets.

Louise Taylor's music is inherently sincere, drawing on her multifaceted life experience for sustenance and inspiration. She juxtaposes simultaneous truths — power and vulnerability, hope and fear, danger and security, pain and comfort. She herself has done some hard living, and her songs mirror the elation and hardships of early independence. She picked up the guitar at age twelve and by the time she was sixteen left her home in Vermont and moved to Florida; a young musician and artist playing music for spare change on the boardwalks of Key West. For years she's traveled, never stopped rambling around. She has experienced the deprivation and strangle- hold of poverty; the toil of hard, menial work, and tri- als of being a responsible single mother. Through it all she's remained true to her music, living, growing, and lovingly raising her son. It's easy to see why her music is more emotional than mindful, the expression of a mature artist more involved with what her songs say than what rewards they will bring her.

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Louise Taylor Website

April 17, 2004 Tracy Grammer and Slaid Cleaves

Since the untimely death of partner Dave Carter last year, Tracey Grammer’s mission has been to keep his songs alive, which take on a new life with Grammer's clear, velvety voice. She says, "I have no choice but to go on singing, and to go on telling our story, on behalf of my brilliant partner, and on behalf of every dreamer who stumbles, as I did, upon a profound calling."

As Carter once said, "If I can bring the magic of the deep unconscious into the all-too-predictable realm of the daily grind, well that’s like bringing water into the desert. I need this to live fully; I suspect we all do." Not only do we need it, but we need it in the refreshing light, musically and lyrically, that the duo has crafted, and will continue to craft through Grammer. The music of Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer is a spiritual home, just like their song "Gentle Arms of Eden" describes: "This is my home, this is my only home/This is the only sacred ground that I have ever known/And should I stray in the dark night alone/Rock me goddess in the gentle arms of Eden."

Slaid Cleaves started his career by singing to anyone who would listen. His first stage: the streets of Cork, Ireland (where he was attending college), 1985. While passers-by tossed pence and the occasional Irish pound note into his guitar case, he grew into a stronger and more confident performer. Upon returning to New England, he put together the Moxie Men – a tight three-piece that drew from roots-rock, punk, country, and folk influences to become regional favorites. They even placed as a semi-finalist in Musician Magazine’s "Best Unsigned Band" competition. But by 1991, Slaid was feeling confined by the self-contained New England music scene. So he headed south . . .

Austin, Texas is the perfect place for Cleaves’ music. Long the center of a rich roots-music revival, Austin’s taut mixture of creativity and competition spurned him to write, sing, and perform as often as he could, wherever he could. No coward when it comes to a little effort, Slaid used the demands of Austin to his favor: his singing and stage presence became more natural, while his songwriting became deeper, more visceral, economical, and immediate.

"One of the finest singer-songwriters from Texas."
– The New York Times

"The beguiling (Slaid) Cleaves has fashioned a timeless yet fresh sound rooted in the best storytelling tradition of the great singer-songwriter."
– Chicago Sun-Times

Tracy Grammer Website

Slaid Cleaves Website

All Souls invites peace and justice groups throughout the Pioneer Valley to take part in this special evening. For more information on tabling at the May 15th event, call Diane Dix at the All Souls church office — 413-773-5018 or email coffeeandsoul@yahoo.com.

"The Weavers in historical context and the sound so purely resurrected–what a wonderful treat."
– Bill Hahn, WFDU-FM, New Jersey

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Work o' The Weavers 
Website

[2002-2003 C&S] [2001-2002 C&S] [2003-2004 C&S]

All Souls UU Church
399 Main Street, P.O. Box 542
Greenfield, MA 01301
413.773.5018
uugreenfield@uugreenfield.org