This queen of blue-eyed rock n' soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She's the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band, whose latest CD, 2010's The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others.

She's worked with Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder & others on the Rhythm & Blues Foundation Awards--all the while continuing to torch clubs up and down the Eastern Seaboard in support of her recordings, plus a 2011 concert DVD Live Hive with her band Rebel Montez (Michael Colbath-bass; Cliff Goodwin-guitar; Larry Donahue-drums). "I've come here tonight to set your souls on fire," she'll tell an audience. And she will.

Also appearing on stage with Ohlman & Montez will be Mitch Chakour. Mitch has been playing music professionally since he was 15. He has played with BONNIE RAITT, CHUCK BERRY, HOWLIN WOLF, HUBERT SUMLIN, MATT "GUITAR MURPHY, PINETOP PERKINS, HOUND DOG TAYLOR, KOKO TAYLOR, KATE TAYLOR, JAMES TAYLOR, JAMES MONTGOMERY

Mitch spent 6 years as pianist and Musical director for JOE COCKER. Playing on "Wood Stock In Europe" 1979.. "A Luxury You Can Afford" and many World tours.

Recently Mitch has played with DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA from "Rent", Recorded "Hope" a CD for an event that he performed at with the DALI LAMA in a benefit for The Tibetan Exile.

This is the official opening concert of our 2013 Summer Concert Series. There will be a champagne reception prior to the performance. Please come and help us celebrate the start of another fantastic summer at the Meetinghouse. Arrive a little early (about 6:30-6:45) and have some refreshments. It's always a great pre-concert party!

SPONSORED BY:
Linqsongs Publishing, Royalston, MA

Steven Schoenberg is a dynamic, award-winning composer/pianist whose talents cross into musical theater, classical compositions, film scoring, children’s music, and solo improvisational piano performances. His acclaimed recordings, Pianoworks, Three Days in May, and the newly released Steven Schoenberg Live: An Improvisational Journey are now available on CD. He regularly performs improvisational piano concerts and has appeared at concert halls throughout the United States.
His recent scores include the HBO documentary Monica and David, to air in October, 2010. Monica and David won Best Documentary Feature at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. A Class Apart, for the PBS series American Experience; An Act of Conscience, for Showtime; and Farmingville, which opened the 2005 PBS series POV. Farmingville took home the Special Jury Award from the Sundance Film Festival. Schoenberg has scored numerous Emmy Award-winning films for other PBS series including NOVA and the BBC. For children’s television, he has composed songs for Sesame Street and scored films for ZOOM and the Children’s Television Workshop. Other children’s projects include the Emmy Award-winning Kid Quest, and composing music for the award-winning book and CD My Bodyworks, written by his wife Jane Schoenberg.
He is currently writing two musicals with Jane. (www.learnwithabeat.com)

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National touring artists Joe Jencks, Greg Greenway and Pat Wictor have made their mark as veteran singer-songwriters, but Brother Sun is no songwriter's round.  The trio's harmonies, as much as their lyrics, tell what they are about:  warm as a campfire, stirring as a gospel church, rousing as a call to arms.  Fusing folk, Americana, blues, pop, jazz, rock, and a cappella singing, Brother Sun is an explosion of musical diversity and harmony, in the finest of male singing traditions.
 
From three major points on the map - Chicago, Boston, and New York - Joe, Greg, and Pat have truly blended themselves into Brother Sun, a unique celebration of the amazing power of singing together. As they will tell you, Brother Sun is not resident in any one of them - it exists between them and audiences feel this intimacy immediately. Their combined musical skills make for an unforgettable experience - three rich voices blending on a well-crafted foundation of guitar, slide guitar, bouzouki and piano
 
The response has been tremendous. After main stage performances with standing ovations at both Kerrville and Falcon Ridge Folk Festivals in 2011 and sold out concerts throughout the US, this summer they earned not only return invitations to Kerrville and Falcon Ridge but also invitations to Old Songs Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival. The trio’s self titled album debuted at No. 2 on the Folk DJ Charts (it stayed on the charts for 8 months) and was named the No. 8 album of 2011 on FOLK-DJ.  In addition, Brother Sun made the "Best of 2011" list for over a dozen radio stations in the US, including WUMB (Boston), WFUV (NYC), and WFMT - The Midnight Special (Chicago).   They are currently on a national tour and working on their next recording, with Grammy-winning producer Ben Wisch.

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Southern Rail's bluegrass music is high-energy exuberant fun, with riveting harmonies, irrepressible humor, and sparkling banjo and mandolin solo work. This talented quartet has been performing since 1978, and is about to release their 12th recording. Their reputation for strong original material, heart-stopping harmonies, and infectious good humor has spread to both coasts. The group's performances range from Folk Festivals to Bluegrass Festivals, from Coffeehouses and Concert Halls to Church services, from Art Institutes to Educational Television. Southern Rail is on the Touring Roster for the New England Foundation For the Arts.

Southern Rail on YOUTUBE

Southern Rail on MYSPACE

Artists' WEB SITE

Active as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator, cellist Dr. REBECCA HARTKA released her debut CD Folkfire in October 2010, receiving critical acclaim as well as NPR play including a feature on Paul Elisha's Performance Place. During her international debut tour of Southeast Asia, a performance in Vietnam was reviewed as "... no less than magical and eloquent." As founding member of Trio Lumiere, Hartka performed numerous concerts throughout New England and competed as semi-finalists in the 2012 International Chamber Ensemble Competition. As comfortable in a symphony hall as a folk club, Hartka has appeared in venues such as the Rockwood Music Hall in New York and Club Passim in Cambridge. In the past few years Hartka appeared as a solo recitalist in the North Quabbin Center for the Arts Series, the Exploring the Arts series, the 88 Keys series, and the Jazz and More series, among others. As a Deans Scholar, Hartka earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts and Masters in Music from Boston University College of Fine Arts and her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Oberlin College and Conservatory studying with Andor Toth, Rhonda Rider and Leslie Parnas among others.

GREGORY HAYES has taught piano and harpsichord at Dartmouth College since 1991, where he is a senior lecturer. He is a busy chamber musician and has performed on keyboard instruments of various kinds with the Springfield, Vermont, and Albany Symphony Orchestras and with the regional Baroque ensemble, Arcadia Players. Hayes often performs with The New England Bach Festival, The Marlboro Music Festival, and Mohawk Trail Concerts series.
He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Amherst College and the Manhattan School of Music, and the longtime music director for the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence. A resident of Goshen, he has taught for many summers at Greenwood Music Camp in nearby Cummington.

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Trine Cheile are a mixed media Eclectic Celtic Band with an emphasis on arrangements  of music from the ancient Celtic to  cutting edge contemporary ..Wrapped into all of it are Rosie Caine's compositions about wildness of  the women of the her country of origin  ..Wilde Irish Women ,Women in Arms and the Last High Queen of Ireland. Some of these women had fallen into obscurity  but their stories have not been forgotten as long as someone is  remembering their extraordinary lives and  singing their songs.

Triene Cheile plays an diverse repertoire of Celtic favorites. Always included are the songs of those 'Wilde Irish Women' whose lives and times inspire Rosie to resurrect their music from history, infamy or obscurity.

Under one roof in New England’s Pioneer Valley, Darlingside came together with five songwriters, a mandolin, a cello and violin, guitars and drums, a chorus of voices, and a van named Chauncey. Holed up in their home between a cornfield and the Connecticut River, they forged a seamless, exhilarating sound at the intersection of rock, classical, and folk music. The band just released their debut full-length album ‘Pilot Machines’ and are currently shaking rafters along the eastern seaboard with their vibrant live shows.

In an age of increasingly electronic music, Darlingside still values authentic performance on real instruments. The sound is characterized by multiple lead-vocalists, dreamy five-part harmonies, dominating cello and violin interjections, and a dynamic rock engine at the core. Darlingside traces its diverse sound to an eclectic array of musical origins: Auyon traveled and studied the traditional instruments of Brazil, Turkey and Ireland; Harris picked up the cello at age six, performing twice on NPR; Dave learned guitar as a street musician in Boston; Don toured nationally as a boy alto and played sunset cruises in Maine; Sam took up both celtic and jazz drumming at age seven. Together, the five close friends are a powerhouse of vocal, instrumental, songwriting and performing talent.
Following 2010’s self-recorded EP 1, Darlingside teamed up with producer Nathaniel Kunkel (Sting, Crosby/Nash, Maroon 5) in 2011 to turn their house into a hi-fi recording laboratory and playground. The result was Pilot Machines, an insistently melodic collection of new songs that feel both familiar and ground-breaking. The band is now touring behind an ambitious release, with three 7″ records culminating in a full-length album.

Darlingside is…

Sam Kapala: drums, vocals

Don Mitchell: guitar, vocals

Auyon Mukharji: mandolin, violin, vocals

Harris Paseltiner: cello, guitar, bass, vocals

David Senft: vocals, bass guitar, guitar

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CAITLIN CANTY
Raised in Vermont and now based in NYC, singer/songwriter Caitlin Canty contributes her pure, nuanced singing to several bands in addition to maintaining an active tour schedule of her own. When it’s her own name on the marquis, she often brings along a duo or trio consisting of some of the most respected sidemen in the Northeast scene. Her current collaborations include cowriting and singing backing vocals for several bands, including Darlingside, a string rock band, and serving as one half of the duo Down Like Silver with Peter Bradley Adams, which released its debut EP in 2011. Caitlin has independently released several EPs including Neon Streets (2010) and one full-length album, Green (2007), which she recorded and mixed in her home studio. Canty released her sophomore album Golden Hour on October 2, 2012. The fan-funded album blends Canty’s folk roots with a Western tone, and her Brooklyn-based, Nashville-bred band brings an alt-country flavor to her songs.

Visit Caitlin Canty's WEB SITE

With wit and acumen, Conductor Charles Heffernan leads Quabbin Valley Pro Musica on a jaunty musical tour for its 2013 summer concert. The chorus opens with Martin Shaw's energetic "With a Voice of Singing." Gregorian chant launches a QVPM stroll through the history of music with pauses for moments of Renaissance, baroque, classical, and romantic dash. Winding up in America's twenty-first century via African-American influences, en route the chorus revisits the sounds of Aaron Copland.

The afternoon culminates with new music from nearby Orange: Carolyn Brown Senier's setting of 2010 US poet laureate Kay Ryan's "All Shall Be Restored" and Richard Chase's beatsy, bluesy Stone Man.

Featured soloists include vocalists Candi Fetzer and Allison Pollitt and QVPM's collaborative pianist Judy Johnson.

Dr. Heffernan is professor emeritus of music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His conducting and teaching careers have taken him from coast to coast in the US and Canada as he has groomed choruses, music educators, and solo performers.

SPONSORED BY:
William Howe Oldach, Attorney at Law  |  Athol, MA  |  www.oldachlaw.com
Breezeway Farm Consulting  |  New Salem, MA, Linda Overing & John Ryan; in Memory of Edyth Overing (longtime 1794 Meetinghouse Board & QVPM member).

Step back in time on Thursday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m., as costumed singers from western Massachusetts -- the chorus “American Harmony” -- present the songs that stirred the soul of early America. The concert takes place in the historic 1794 Meetinghouse in New Salem. The program includes rarely heard fuging tunes as well as some of the most popular shape note and sacred songs of the time. The singers are directed by music historian Nym Cooke. Cooke has been leading choruses, choirs and community sings in New England for almost 30 years. He is the author of a new book coming out in 2014 titled “American Harmony.”

The sound made famous by old guard tenor men is a rarity these days. And so we must celebrate when a Michael Zsoldos comes along and reminds us of past heroes with names like Dexter, Little Giant and Clifford Jordan. Zsoldos keeps it right down the center of the mainstream highway, and you get the message from the opening notes of 'Lullaby of the Leaves'. . .Zsoldos delivers the tenor goods in the best of the tradition.

Michael is also lead saxophone in Samirah Evans' Band, The Handsome Devils.

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MIRO SPRAGUE
Young Western Massachusetts pianist Miro Sprague has impressed musical ears with his inventiveness and aplomb, whether in early Vermont Jazz Center performances or responding with authenticity to whatever style Samirah Evans calls for. He’s been out of town and back, with a college education spent studying with Armen Donelian.

Miro is no longer our own local secret. In February, he was accepted as the pianist in a two-year study program at UCLA’s Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance with a full scholarship. He’s one of seven gifted musicians joined for this period, for ensemble and individual work. Among the jurors at his audition were Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Yes, he’ll probably swing through town again, but his band-mates will be of the quality which rarely plays here.

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Tom Knight is a musician, puppeteer and videographer based in Northampton, MA. He grew up in Cupertino, California (home of Apple Computers), and had an early love of music, playing violin and trombone in school. He went to college at UC Santa Cruz, majoring in philosophy, and learned to play the mountain dulcimer while taking breaks from studying. The dulcimer made it easy to create simple songs, and that was the beginning of his songwriting career. 

After graduating from college in 1985, he migrated east, looking for a colder place where the leaves changed color in the Fall. He found a good place to pursue creativity in Ithaca, NY.

In 2009, after almost 25 years in Ithaca, NY,  Tom Knight was well established as a puppeteer and children’s musician, but was feeling creatively stagnant. He decided a change of location would “shake things up,” so he packed up and moved to Northampton, MA. Soon after arriving, he teamed up with puppeteer Amy Dawn Kotel to create the Otter and Moo Puppet Theatre. Knight also began collaborating with Northampton pianist Christine Olson to create pieces that combined storytelling with classical music. Meg Kelsey Wright and Russ Neiman joined later for a production of Peter and the Wolf, and the group became known as The Four Story Players.

Storyteller/puppeteer Tom Knight teams up with pianists Meg Kelsey Wright and Christine Olson to present Peter and the Wolf by Serge Prokofieff, as well as an original story, The Sorcerer’s Cauldron, which is set to colorful piano pieces by William Gillock. Mix one evil sorcerer, a good witch, a dash of humor and a measure of audience participation for a delightful tale appropriate for younger children.

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Boogie, Blues & Bop with a heapin' helpin' of twang, the Twangbusters bust out their own high-energy danceable blend of rootsy jukejoint rhythms and soulful blues! Led by dynamo Paula Bradley (Girl Howdy, Uncle Earl), described as "Patsy Cline meets Bessie Smith" on lead vocals, piano & ukulele, with the inimitable Peter "Dr. Z" Zarkadas - electric guitar (Sarah Levecque Band, Raw Symphony), "Wild Bill" Nadeau-drums (Junior Brown, The Derailers) & Brian Rost-upright bass (Tarbox Ramblers), they mix the best of bluesy country, boogie woogie & barrelhouse into a musical cocktail, shaken & stirred. Guaranteed to make you move yer feet! BOTTOMS UP!

Though new to the music scene, the Twangbusters are a quartet of well-known roots musicians recently named as a band to watch in Worcester Magazine's "Notes on the Rise". With a voice that's been described as "Patsy Cline meets Bessie Smith", the band features dynamo Paula Bradley (Girl Howdy, Uncle Earl) on piano, ukulele and vocals, Peter "Dr. Z" Zarkadas (Sarah Levecque) on electric guitar, Brian Rost (Tarbox Ramblers) on upright bass, and Texas dancehall veteran drummer "Wild Bill" Nadeau (Junior Brown, The Derailers).  The Twangbusters deftly mix their passion for American roots music into a musical cocktail of boogie, blues and hillbilly bop - you'll be shaken and stirred! www.reverbnation.com/twangbusters.

"Pasty Cline meets Bessie Smith" describes the Twangbusters, who combine Honky Tonk, Boogie, Blues & Bop, infused with a heapin' helpin' of twang and sass, into their own high-energy danceable blend of rootsy jukejoint rhythms and soulful blues! They whip up a musical cocktail guaranteed to make you move yer feet; you'll be shaken & stirred -BOTTOMS UP! Retro-cool flair with a modern edge, the band consists of four well-known Northeast professional roots musicians with long resumes that include playing and touring with artists such as Uncle Earl,Tony Trischka, Rufus Thomas, the Derailers, Wanda Jackson & Junior Brown, to name a few. They deliver torch 'n twang for audiences looking to have some fun and know how to select the right song mix for your event. Band size is negotiable; can add or subtract musicians to customize the right sound and accommodate your budget. We want to work with you to create the best event possible! Let's have a party!

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The Jolly Beggars bring the rich tradition of Celtic music to audiences all over the North Eastern United States. Made up of students from the Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, CT, their traditional songs and musical arrangements have exposed many music lovers to the joys of Celtic music.They tell traditional stories from Irish folklore and intersperse their musical arrangements with traditional reels and jigs. Characterized by their tight harmonies and use of mandolin, pennywhistle, guitar, bass, bodhran, spoons, and more, The Jolly Beggars have quickly built a solid following and continue to spread their music through New England and the Tri-State area.

The band performs music that is largely Celtic in origin (Irish and Scottish), with some pieces coming from an extension of that music in other cultures.

Jeff DesRosier: Vocals/Mandolin/Guitar
Christopher Vece: Vocals/Whistles
Greg Wilfrid: Vocals/Guitar/Banjo/Mandoli
David Uhl: Vocals/Double Bass
Matt Torcellin: Vocals/Percussion
Chris Jasinski: Vocals/Percussion

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Natraj seamlessly melds the classical music of India, traditional music from West Africa, and contemporary jazz to create its own unique and infectious style. Hard-driving African grooves and graceful Indian ragas meet in the band's expansive jazz conception. Hailed as Boston's Best Jazz Band by the Improper Bostonian and nominated Best World Music Act in the Boston Music Awards, Natraj captivates and excites audiences with its exotic textures, accessible melodies, and rhythmic energy.

Natraj has delighted listeners throughout the US, Canada, India, and West Africa since 1987. Appearances include India's JazzYatra and Prayojana International Music Festival; Ghana's PANAFEST; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; the Guelph Jazz Festival, Guelph, Canada; and The Boston Globe Jazz and Blues Festival. Arts International, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and Meet the Composer have awarded repeated grant support for Natraj's tours.

Natraj has performed with stalwarts of Indian classical music including Kadri Gopalnath, Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Ronu Majumdar, Shashak, and Trichy Sankaran. In addition, Natraj regularly performs with many other artists including Kathak dancer Gretchen Hayden, the West African folkloric Agbekor Society led by David Locke, South Indian guitarist Prasanna, bamboo-flute maestros V. K. Raman and Steve Gorn, violin master Tara Anand, tabla wizard Aditya Kalyanpur, Bharatha Natyam dancer Jayshree Rajamani, and Senegalese master drummer Lamine Toure.

Numerous radio and TV appearances include featured segments on the USA nationally syndicated program, The World (PRI/BBC/WGBH-FM); Doordarshan (Indian National TV); Maine Things Considered (Maine Public Radio, USA); South Asian Newsweek (CFMT-TV, Toronto); Radio Mid-Day (Mumbai, India); Here and Now (WBUR-FM, Boston); and It's All About Arts (BNN TV9, Boston).

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ALASDAIR ROBERTS has been based in Glasgow for the past ten years. His first releases consisted of home-made four-track recordings of his songs under the name Appendix Out, including four songs on the Up Records (of Accrington, England) compilation 4×4 (1995) and the Ice Age 7” on Drag City subsidiary Palace Records (1996). Many of these early recordings also featured Alasdair’s boyhood friend David Elcock.

He has toured and trodden the boards with such artists as Joanna Newsom, Magnolia Electric Co, Bill Callahan/Smog, The Decemberists, Charalambides and Heather Leigh Murray, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Kiila, Dick Gaughan, Waterson/Carthy, Donald Lindsay, The Yummy Fur, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Eddi Reader (doing the songs of Robert Burns), Eyes and Arms of Smoke, Jack Rose, The Anomoanon, Shirley Collins, Richard Youngs and too many others to mention. Thanks to them all.

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SAM MOSS is a Brattleboro, Vermont based composer, songwriter, and string player. He has released a handful of solo albums, is a member of the old-time duo, The Howling Kettles, and a long-distance contributor to Sewing Machines. He recently compiled Imaginational Anthem Volume Five for Tompkins Square Records. In fall 2012 he was in residence at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. His work has won high praise from NPR, Dusted, Pop Matters, and Blurt Magazine, among others.

Moss’ playing is heavily informed by pre-war American country, blues, and folk (Blind Willie Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers), post-1950 pioneers of outer sound (Morton Feldman, Sonny Sharrock), and contemporary solo guitarists (Jack Rose, Glenn Jones).

In addition to several self-released albums, Moss’ work has appeared on Plustapes and Tompkins Square Records.

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From the Brazilian Rainforest comes an amazing music experience of sound and rhythms...
RIcardo Frota brings you in connection with nature, the rhythms of nature, the sounds of the forest. His music reminds us of the delicate balance of sound vibrations, the power of the forest, and the ecology of life on Earth.
Ricardo is an experienced multi-cultural percussionist and violinist with over 30 years experience. He is deeply connected with the forest and offers educational and musical experiences for children and adults. The children giggle and call him “the forest man” while adults honor him as a musical healer.

Ricardo’s music reflects his diverse style and improvisational approach to sound. He draws inspiration from african, native american, indigenous peoples, south american, and brazilian music. Most importantly, he is inspired by a bird singing, the wind through the leaves, the sounds of a running brook, or the crackle of a fire.

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In the summer of 2010, Tim Harrington and Paul Wright were playing for spare change in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace. In two short years since, Tall Heights has headlined packed listening rooms across New England, toured down to Austin, TX to showcase at South By Southwest Music Festival, and performed alongside national acts like David Wilcox, Ryan Montbleau, and Andrew Belle.

Tall Heights released Rafters, in September 2011, and sold 700 copies in the first 7 days. While many artists in their genre had of late retreated to the wilderness to record, Tall Heights stayed in the city. These five tracks were recorded over a few sweltering months in a small bedroom of their Boston apartment with an SM58 microphone, an iMac, a guitar, a cello and their voices. And, although there was neither cabin nor lake, Rafters spread across their Thoreauvian folk scene like brushfire, with over 5,000 copies sold to date.

With their sophomore release, The Running of the Bulls EP (October, 2012), Tall Heights responded to their fans’ growing hunger to download and relive the enchanting, bottomless ambiance of their live performance. Over four days at Q Division Studios in Somerville, MA, Tim and Paul shut their eyes, breathed and performed, recording their most haunting material to date. Thematically, the EP’s narrative voice, quiet and bold, continually locates the artist as a vigilant figure on a fast-paced and ever changing landscape. Fittingly so, The Running of the Bulls EP, humble and live, has quickly placed Tall Heights as an ever stronger force on this robust folk scene amongst the nation’s most esteemed new artists.

For the duo’s debut full-length effort, Man of Stone (May, 2013), Tall Heights returns to the home studio, sinking deeper into the vast world they’ve meticulously built for two. The title track and first single, Man of Stone, recalls a time when cavemen documented day-to-day existence on the walls of their stone-sheltered dwellings. “Emblems of cavemen they taught me / the importance of typing in bold,” contextualizes the rest of the record and challenges a careful listener to view each song as a vital documentation of what is both banal and extraordinary. The record exists in a fire-lit, shadowy space for their growing army of fans to inhabit. After two powerful EPs, there has been a growing cry for more from these young artists, and Tall Heights delivers with an LP of grand vision and scale.

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Patty Larkin grew up in a musical and artistic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Descended from a long line of Irish American singers and taletellers, her mother was a painter, her sisters both musicians.  She learned at a young age to appreciate the beauty and magic of the arts.  She began classical piano studies at age 7, and became swept up in the sounds of pop and folk in the 60s, teaching herself the guitar and experimenting with songwriting.  An English major, Larkin sang throughout her high school and college career, starting out in coffeehouses in Oregon and San Francisco.  Upon graduation, she moved to Boston and devoted herself to music, busking on the streets of Cambridge and studying jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music and with Boston area jazz guitarists.

Patty is part of the urban-folk/pop music phenomenon that spun off of the singer/songwriter explosion of the seventies, reinterpreting traditional folk melodies, rock, pop, bossa nova, drawing on anything from Dylan (Bob) to Dylan (Thomas).  A self described “guitar driven songwriter,” Larkin has wound her way through soundscapes of evocative vocals, inventive guitar wizardry and imaginative lyrics.  Her songs run from impressionistic poetry to witty wordplay.

In 2010 Larkin released 25, a collection of 25 love songs in celebration of 25 years in the recording industry. Here Patty has reworked 25 of her favorite songs, each "unplugged" and each joined by a friend along the way. 25 is the collectible series of classic Patty Larkin love songs, created with dream team of some of acoustic music’s heroes including Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Bruce Cockburn, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others. In the spirit of camaraderie and musical adventure since 25's release, Patty has been joined on stage by many of the artists who appear on the album.

25 is her first project since Watch The Sky (Critics Choice-NY Times, Brilliant-Billboard) and the ground-breaking La Guitara, a compilation of international women guitarists. Patty is currently writing for her next project.

INTUITIVE SONGCRAFT - "Larkin’s shows are celebrations of song, guitar and voice coming together in perfect unison with a perfect blend of skill and humility. Patty Larkin would never tell you that she’s a great guitarist, but she’ll show you all night long."
–CityBeat

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SPONSORED BY:
ATHOL SAVINGS BANK