Friday, May 9th - 9:00 - $15
RISING AMERICANA STARS!
Bearfoot – the name slyly nods to the wilds of their native Alaska, conjuring images of rural string-band musicians, and, in its simple elegance, elevating the quintet to the top of a cultural mountain where they overlook the past, present, and future of Americana music. A mere two years after their initial meeting, Bearfoot earned one of roots music’s most prestigious awards – Telluride Bluegrass Band Champions – an honor they share with artists like Dixie Chicks and Nickel Creek. Now, after years of national touring at top theaters and festivals, Bearfoot joins these iconic pop peers, with the broad horizon of the Americana frontier in their souls. Boasting five distinctive lead voices, the group showcases a remarkable breadth of rich, original songs. Their arrangements soar with smoky, spacious lyricism. The rhythmic bounce and precision of their instrumentation is fiery and inventive, with an earthy focus on blend, harmony, and tone. Bearfoot is sophisticated, vital music. Contemporary guitar voicing set against melodic purity; youthful grit encounters harmonic romance.
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Saturday, May 10th - 9:00 - $20
FOLK/ROCK/ROOTS FAVORITE!
Nearly 28 years since breaking into pop consciousness with his second album Jackrabbit Slim and its infectious Top Ten single "Romeo’s Tune," Steve Forbert remains a master of songs offering clear-eyed insight and plain-spoken, heartfelt eloquence. On his 429 Records/SLG debut, the well-traveled Nashville-based troubadour—who maintains a busy touring schedule of over 100 dates a year — explores subject matters like middle age, funny town names in New Jersey, the war in Iraq, and lost friends with characteristic wit, a sense of social consciousness and the ever-present romantic optimism that has endeared him to two generations of folk/rock fans.
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Friday, May 16th - 9:00 - $15
GUITAR GENIUS!
Matt Smith is one very busy NYC based musician. Any given day he can be found wandering the globe spreading the love, performing, producing, writing, teaching, recording or at giving up the secrets of playing guitar at one of his "Chop Shop" concert/clinics for Ovation and Hamer guitars. Matt is a self-taught singer-songwriter and guitarist who plays a bunch of crazy stringed instruments in just about any style and a simple, friendly way of sharing his knowledge with others. Recently, Matt has performed at the NYC Blue Note as well as Carnegie Hall, Central Park Summerstage and Eisenhower Park with the NY Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Skitch Henderson.. Matt has performedwith, opened for, or recorded with artists like B.B. King, Sheryl Crow, Trey Anastasio, Al DiMeola, Greg Allman, Los Lobos, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Adrian Legg, Ed Gerhard, Portishead and many others. The band, as always, features Tim Ward on Drums, Rich Syracuse on bass, and Charlie Tokarz on horns.
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Saturday, May 17th - 9:00 - $35
THE ONE AND ONLY!
“The hippest thing since Alabama cornbread dipped in Georgia buttermilk; he seeps with Delta blues, inner-city soul, Bo Diddley-fied shuffle-funk & African rhythms.” - Downbeat Magazine
In November of 1999, Olu Dara christened Club Helsinki's stage with two nights of some of the best music Great Barrington had ever seen. Tonight the man that started it all at Helsinki is back for more! His fusion of styles takes the listener on a worldwide tour from the delta Blues of Mississippi to the hip jazz of Harlem to the Fela Kuti inspired rhythms of the African continent. The music, while drawing on these influences, is all its own. Go ahead and try to keep from dancing when the driving pulse and insatiable rhythm of Olu and his band gets going. It is a night like no other and is not to be missed.
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Sunday, May 18th - 8:00 - $10
BOTTLENECK COUNTRY JAZZ
"Natalia Zukerman, comes from a family of noted classical musicians (her mother, Eugenia, is a flutist; her father, Pinchas, is a violinist; and her sister, Arianna, is an opera singer), but she has chosen to forsake grand performance halls for a dusty resophonic slide guitar in small clubs. She has nimble fingers capable of picking upward of thirty notes per measure, and when she sings she can switch from scat to swoon in the course of a glissando." - THE NEW YORKER
"The bluesy folk-rock tunes, burnished croon (and) serious guitar chops of Massachusetts singer Natalia Zukerman demand your attention." - TIMEOUT NEW YORK
Natalia Zukerman’s new album Brand New Frame introduces listeners to her rich layers of top notch guitar playing, contemporary beats and dark, sweet, provocative vocals. Produced by Helsinki favorite Willy Porter, the album is musically sophisticated, intimate and irreverent all at once, highlighting what is best about Americana music and offering it a Brand New Frame. Zukerman challenges listeners to break out of patterns and rhythms that hold them back from reaching the truth. For instance, the title track, Brand New Frame is a wake up call to those who tell the same stories over and over again to anyone who will listen. Better Me presents the idea that the people we are striving to be are there all along, waiting for us to catch up to what we already know we are capable of. Only Trees is a metaphor for what Zukerman’s album is all about – that things change: landscapes, ideas, music. In the song she recognizes the way we live our modern lives at breakneck speed, and invites us to slow down. You may not be able to get over the mesmerizing guitar chops of the talented Natalia Zukerman, but if you can, you will discover layers. Country roads that lead to red barns, antique shops, glass bottles, resonators, lap steels, finger-picking and trembling slides. And alongside these winding roads are back alleys, flagging cabs, and the buzz of a streetlight clicking with kick drums, pleading organs, and speeding electric guitars behind lyrics that delve boldly into work, love, temptation and the journey to personal reinvention. Backing Natalia will be Northern New England's Jason Spooner Band. With their unique blend of roots, folk and blues based around Spooner's tastefully rhythmic flat picking guitar, they are the perfect accompaniment to this wonderful evening of song.
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Friday, May 23rd - 9:00 - $18
NORTH AMERICAN GHOST MUSIC
Alt Country Diva With Her Band!
Shannon McNally is a soulful singer and an entrancing songwriter. Drawing on the defiant spirits of outlaws and visionaries such as Jesse James, Susan B. Anthony, Little Richard, she takes her listeners on a timeless and haunting journey through her self-coined North American Ghost Music. Armed with a spine tingling voice, easy inner beauty, and songs that linger, she almost makes you wish she'd rob your bank. "I understand that music is entertainment, but I'm not entertained by smoke and mirrors. I'm entertained by substance, tone, and a solid groove," says Shannon. Shannon's literate songs inhabit a range of characters, many downtrodden and disaffected. "I write in the folk tradition," she says, "like Woody Guthrie, ballads and things that are universal in style." She also references the work of Bruce Springsteen, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, and John Steinbeck. The fearless songwriter is not afraid to use words like "castigate" and "perpetual" when they fit the songs. Remarkably, Shannon never hides her influences, but she never sounds exactly like them either. While her other Helsinki appearances have been solo shows, this one will feature Shannon with her band. Thus showing her Berkshire fans the deep and true sound that is North American Ghost music.
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Saturday, May 24th - 8:00 & 10:30 - $15
KICKOFF OUR SUMMER BURLESQUE SERIES: TWO SHOWS!
HOSTED BY: SETH HERZOG
FEATURING: LEGS MALONE, RUNAROUND SUE,
NASTY CANASTA & JONNY PORKPIE
New York City's own Sugar Shack Burlesque brings you an evening to remember! Co-producers and performers RunAround Sue and Legs Malone present an evening of burlesque and side show with some very special guests direct from the Big Apple. Sugar Shack Burlesque has been keeping it sweet since 2006, throwing parties and creating intriguing and fun events at a variety of venues including New York City's The Slipper Room, Lotus, The Kraine Street Theater, Jalopy Speakeasy, and Brooklyn's own Galapagos Art Space. Their more outrageous shows include rollerskating go-go girls, fire dancers and aerial artists suspended from the ceiling. The ladies regularly produce NYC's ONLY burlesque dance party at the famed East Village haunt Niagara where burlesque stars both established and rising perform the first Wednesday of every month. From classic to comedic acts, these ladies encompass a wonderful slice of the vibrant neo-burlesque scene in New York City. Come on out and see what the buzz is all about!
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Sunday, May 25th - 8:00 - No Cover
A COMMUNITY MUSIC EVENT
Now in its third year, Forver Young originally was a celebration of Bobby D's 65th birthday. The night was so much fun that we decided to make it a regular May event. Once again, we will honor one of America's greatest songwriters with a community tribute that features local musicians playing Dylan's songs and reading his poetry. Once again the show will feature Dylan biographer Seth Rogovoy and the Roaring Thundering Revue plus other great local acts. Admission is free and the music starts at 8:00.
HOSTED BY ROB SANZONE
AND FEATURING:
THE ROLLING ROGOVOY REVUE
KIKI DUFAULT & FRIENDS
JOHN CLARKE
& POETRY WITH MATT TANNENBAUM
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Friday, May 30th - 9:00 - $22
SIZZLING BLUES ROCK!
Born Ted Horowitz, Popa Chubby is a true native son of the Big Apple. He was born in 1960 in the Bronx and grew up in a neighborhood made famous by Robert DeNiro in the movie A Bronx Tale. His parents owned a candy store on the corner of 181st Street and Arthur Avenue. His early memories of hearing the juke box playing the hits of early sixties soul and R&B - and the neighborhood teens flocking around it - made a lasting impression on him. To this day the musical influence of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye are ever present in Popa's music. The innovative performer and producer's music, forged in the toughness that is New York City, takes blues to the cutting edge, where it highfives its contemporary cousins rock, rap, and hip hop. With his razor sharp, biting guitar, vocals from the gut, and top-notch skill as a songwriter, Popa Chubby artfully combines the rootsiness of blues with the more modern urban elements of today's popular music.
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Saturday, May 31st - 9:00 - $12
THE NEWEST NEOTRADITIONALIST STAR ON THE SCENE!
"Eilen Jewell - say it "EE-lun" - is the most exciting neo-trad songwriter to emerge from the Boston scene since Jake Armerding. Though only 25, the Idaho native sounds like she's been writing songs for at least a couple of centuries. But on her starkly lovely new CD, "Boundary County," she never wears her traditional trappings like an affect. The slow organic sway of her melodies, and the sensual way she rubs against the low end of her register, will remind some of Gillian Welch. Also like Welch, her writing is both intimate and vivid, classically framed and closely observed." --Scott Alarik, Boston Globe
Once in a great while, you put on a CD by an artist you've never heard of before and time stops. The voice is new, yet timeless. The lyrics are original yet feel immediately familiar, lived-in, knowing. And the melodies - expertly performed by a first-rate band - carry an easy, memorable groove. This is what people are saying about Eilen Jewell. Helsinki audiences however, have known her talent for years. While the world gets to know Eilen Jewell, those that saw her get her start are already fans. It has been a big year for the 27 year old talent who got her start on the Helsinki stage. She is celebrating the recent release of her national debut Letters From Sinners & Strangers (Signature Sounds), the album tour has resulted in a collection of great reviews that prove she is on the scene to stay. This fall she opened for the Legendary Loretta Lynn, appeared on NPR's syndicated show Mountain Stage, and reached the top ten on The Americana Music Association's chart. The future is bright, and soon she will be playing bigger rooms than the one that saw her start... be there to say "I saw her when..."
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Friday, June 6th - 9:00 - $18
FOLK/ROCK GUITAR DUO!
Inspiration is where you find it – and where it finds you. Open to every moment, the much-traveled married duo of Pete and Maura Kennedy have spun their personal experiences, musical influences and philosophical beliefs into nine previous albums of winsome original songs, frequently seasoned with exquisitely-performed cover tunes, that blend acoustic-based folk, rock, country, pop and secular gospel into an inclusively delightful sound that’s all their own. With this year's release of their tenth CD Better Dreams, Pete and Maura remain the Energizer bunnies of the folk/rock world. Their touring schedule makes Bob Dylan seem lazy – they’ve played about 1500 gigs in the last 12 years, everywhere from house concerts to major festivals. And when they’re not recording, performing, or conducting monthly guitar workshops, they’re airing their favorite music on their “Dharma Café” show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Inspired by a pair of seminars they conducted on “using dreams to unlock your creativity.” the new album is their first CD of all-original material in seven years. “We found that we were writing really interesting songs in and around the workshop sessions,” they explain. “All of these songs have something to do with the dreamtime,” where “we have a different kind of freedom there.”
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Friday, June 13th - 9:00 - $15
ALT COUNTRY ROCK!
"Belting with conviction over a virtually Nudie-tailored wash of silvered pedal steel and squawky country guitars, Borges consistently sounds more world-worn and wise than her age could possibly allow. The effect is not pastiche when the raw talent bridges that gap and an unbridled musical ambition drives it home." PASTE MAGAZINE
"A powerfully mature singer, Borges ranges through blues, country, and rock 'n roll with stunning poise, and she's got one of the hottest little bands around." LA CITY BEAT
Some folks make music because they want to -- others do it because they have no choice. Sarah Borges clearly falls into the latter category, the kind of person whose DNA would read like a musical chart if you mapped it out on paper. Diamonds in the Dark, Borges’ second album - and first for Sugar Hill Records - spells that out in lush detail, with every plaintive vocal twist and every rollicking guitar turn offering up proof that the Massachusetts native knows her way around American music’s roots (and has her own roots planted firmly in some mighty fertile soil). That terrain, like the landscape she and her band, The Broken Singles have traversed over the past few years, is plenty varied -- taking in scenes as diverse as the roadhouse melancholy of "Belle of the Bar" to the unashamedly guileless romanticism of "The Day We Met." Just like the album, her live shows range through styles and genres with ease, always maintaining the energy and essence of a true star in the making.
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Saturday, June 14th - 9:00 - $25
AMAZING COUNTRY SONGWRITER!
"She's among the best singer-songwriters of her generation, especially when it comes to illustrating ramblers, derelicts and anyone who struggles with demons in the night." - Associated Press/MSN Entertainment
"With songwriting as powerful as hers, there's no need to go looking for qualifiers - there's no need to think of her as pre, post, anti, retro anything. She's a unique, intrinsically valuable musical voice. And there's never a surplus of those."
- Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times
In the case of Mary Gauthier, four words are worth a thousand pictures. Between Daylight and Dark, her new Lost Highway album, finds her aiming her compass at the sky and searching for home. It is from this longing for home that this group of songs has emerged, and they fill Gauthier’s new album with both hope and anguish, with faith as well as fear. Mary Gauthier knows these places well, having traveled through a night that had stretched into years, from a turbulent Louisiana childhood through odd juxtapositions of accomplishment and devastation. The result is reflected in the music, starting as a trickle of songs almost from the moment of her sobriety and swelling into the stream that fed her first two self-released albums (Dixie Kitchen, Drag Queens in Limousines), an indie-label release (Filth and Fire), and her stunning Lost Highway debut (Mercy Now). Acclaim has followed Gauthier. Mercy Now was continuously “discovered” and lauded in the two years following its release, earning mentions on a score of year end “best of” lists in ’05, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and No Depression. The album even received a benediction from Bob Dylan, who included one of its songs on a playlist for his XM Satellite Radio program. Gauthier has always been a unique lyricist, with an ability to illuminate even moments of devastation and despair in beautiful hues. That gift is evident throughout Between Daylight and Dark, though her perspective has shifted somewhat. “As a writer, I’m figuring out what my job is today, in this instant,” she explains, “What I did yesterday does not matter. I am more in the moment. I know instinctively when I’m onto something, and then I have to chase that feeling down until I find what it is I need to say in the song. My songwriting changes as I change, and though it’s odd to admit it, I discover a lot about who I am in my songwriting. I can see how I’ve changed by looking back at how my songs have changed. The songs on this record are a little more fragile, a little more tender, and a lot more hopeful.”
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Friday, June 27th - 9:00 - $15
UNIQUE & ADDICTIVE ORIGINAL POP SONGS
CD Release: Love Songs For Losers
Melvern Taylor writes happy songs about miserable people. His instrument of choice is the ukulele. They go together like milk and cookies. He learned to play guitar with an Eagles song book. He started writing songs in the 7th grade. Mostly they were about dead cats or this girl named Emily Tilghman. So far Melvern has released 3 records, Handsome Bastard, The Spider and the Barfly and Fabuloso. And his newest collection, Love Songs For Losers is being released this spring. We think the folks at Signature Sounds records put it best when they decided to name Fabuloso as one of their "Signature Discoveries." Signature's Review: One day last fall the hardworking crew at Signature HQ were slaving away at our desks when someone on the phone suggested that we check Melvern Taylor & the Mel-tones' MySpace page. Within 30 seconds we were all swooning to Taylor's gorgeous falsetto fueled anthem "Sad & Blue". Taylor's classic tune instantly conjured up comparisons to everyone from Roy Orbison to Harry Nilsson. We then discovered that the rest of his repertoire was just as good.Taylor is the most unlikely of pop geniuses. A middle age guy sporting thick glasses, pork pie hat and a ukulele, Taylor proves himself to be one of the most unique and tuneful songwriters around. Fabuloso is a tour de force of classic song styles, from the Everly Brothers shuffle of "Bettie Lou" to the country heartbreak of "Working Stiff" and the Beach Boys inspired summer pop of "Beer Cans." There isn't a weak track on the entire CD. Highly recommended. -- Jim Olsen
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Saturday, June 28th - 9:00 - $15
THE NYC NEO-BURLESQUE SCENE COMES TO THE BERKSHIRES!
FEATURING: LEGS MALONE, RUNAROUND SUE & MORE!
New York City's own Sugar Shack Burlesque brings you an evening to remember! Co-producers and performers RunAround Sue and Legs Malone present an evening of burlesque and side show with some very special guests direct from the Big Apple. Sugar Shack Burlesque has been keeping it sweet since 2006, throwing parties and creating intriguing and fun events at a variety of venues including New York City's The Slipper Room, Lotus, The Kraine Street Theater, Jalopy Speakeasy, and Brooklyn's own Galapagos Art Space. Their more outrageous shows include rollerskating go-go girls, fire dancers and aerial artists suspended from the ceiling. The ladies regularly produce NYC's ONLY burlesque dance party at the famed East Village haunt Niagara where burlesque stars both established and rising perform the first Wednesday of every month. From classic to comedic acts, these ladies encompass a wonderful slice of the vibrant neo-burlesque scene in New York City. Come on out and see what the buzz is all about!
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Thursday, July 3rd - 8:00 - $15
ROOTS REGGAE!
Vegitation was formed in Ocean Beach, California, in 2002 by a like minded group of people joining in one mission...to make life better. The band brings positive music with a powerful message and universal appeal to the world. Vegitation’s sound is roots reggae mixed with classic rock, blues, and pop, put together to create their own unique, original sound that transcends ages and musical tastes. When you are a part of a live show, you are part of a movement and a family. Let the music bring you peace and the beats move your feet. Vegitation has become a must see act.
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Friday, July 11th - 9:00 - $25
AMERICAN ROOTS MASTER
"With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate fingerpicking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate." - NEW YORK TIMES
"Smither may be the best pure craftsman in the urban songwriter ranks. His latest masterpiece, Leave the Light On, offers brilliantly essential ballads, rippling with earthy melodicism and come-hither groove." - BOSTON GLOBE
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. "Since I started recording again around 20 years ago [22, actually], I've been writing about the same sorts of things; it's just about my own growing perception of it, and how clear can I make it?" Smither explains. "I guess I'm making it clearer, because people don't often ask me what the songs are about anymore. It's a process of engagement. When you write a song, you've got three or four minutes to get a-hold of somebody, and if they can remember one phrase or line when they walk away from it, you've won. And I think I've accomplished that."
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Saturday, July 12th - 9:00 - $15
FUNK UP YOUR SATURDAY NIGHT!
Glide magazine says "If youve heard one funk band youve heard them all.....unless of corse youve heard The Blue Method". This Jersey/Philly five piece takes the stage with the confidence and swagger of seasoned professionals, and bring forth a thunderous sound that has become known by their fans as "power soul music!" The band thrives in the world of good song writing, big riffs, and blazing horns. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Michael Patriarca and saxophone extrodenaire Tom Long, they have been brining their high energy live show to legions of fans across the country for over five years. During that time they have shared the stage with the likes of Soulive, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Raq, John Legend, Benevento Russo Duo, Ween the Disco Biscuits, and Ozomatli. In 2005, Home Grown Music named The Blue Method "Best New Artist". They also were the winners Relix Magazines annual "Jam-Off" award. The Blue Method currently play over 150 dates a year, and have just released their much anticipated second record Kill The Music Vol. 2.
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Friday, July 25th - 9:00 - $20
ACOUSTIC BLUES AT ITS BEST
"Like the best early bluesmen, Guy Davis is, at heart, a storyteller. A master at setting intimate, richly nuanced tales to stomping acoustic blues backing, often with folky accompaniment from mandolin, banjo, and accordion, he helped revitalize the state of country blues in the 1990s with a string of critically acclaimed albums for Red House Records." -Blues Revue
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’. His ‘all’ is the Blues. The routes, and roots, of his blues are as diverse as the music form itself. It can be soulful, moaning out a people’s cry, or playful and bouncy as a hay-ride. Guy can tell you stories of his great-grandparents and his grandparents, they’re days as track linemen, and of their interactions with the infamous KKK. He can also tell you that as a child raised in middle-class New York suburbs, the only cotton he’s picked is his underwear up off the floor. He's a musician, composer, actor, director, and writer. But, he blues permeates every corner of Davis' creativity and most importantly, Guy Davis is a bluesman.
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Sunday, July 29th - 8:00 - $18
CROSS CULTURAL MUSICAL EXPERIENCE!
Sam Lardner & Barcelona is everything that a cross-cultural musical experience should be: artists from different traditions meeting in a place where everyone shines brighter, the kind of eclectic collaboration the world needs now more than ever. Sam, at 44, is a seasoned veteran of the American folk and acoustic tradition. He has performed throughout the U.S. as a solo act, and he has led a smoking hot country band around Europe for the past 7 years. A full-time resident of Barcelona, he is often categorized by fans and critics as a member of the "Why aren't you famous?" club. His voice and writing are reminiscent of James Taylor in the most intimate moments, although he is often compared to John Denver when he allows his voice to soar. Sam's guitar playing is rock-solid, powerful, pure rhythm and provides the energy and pulse around which his band, Barcelona, revolves. Spanish fans wonder at Sam's ability to slide in and out of traditional flamenco structures in the same way that American audiences are wowed by Barcelona's ability to jump back and forth between Latin rhythms and pure funk.
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