Archives: Shows

Best known for his high-profile role as bandleader/keyboardist/producer for Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes and pianist/vocalist with the powerful piano-driven Early Elton Trio—Jeff’s skills have led him through an eclectic career: touring and recording with Rock icons Bon Jovi, Folk/Pop singer-songwriter Dar Williams, cross-country tripping with SNL/Dylan bandleader G.E. Smith,  performing and recording with Roger Waters,  Americana with Southside Johnny & The Poor Fools, exploring the jam-band based frontiers with The Steve Kimock Band, greasing grooves with Stax legends Steve Cropper & The Blues Brothers and vibing with the inimitable Downtown soul of Chocolate Genius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsWNQMXHFDs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khrFqREKV0Y

https://www.jeffkazee.com/

Instagram: @jeffkazee

“…a Marshall Crenshaw-meets-the-Jayhawks kind of vibe, loaded with strong hooks and… harmonies.” – No Depression Magazine

Jon Nolan lives in NH, where summers are a precious reprieve from months of bitter cold and a few muddy weeks in between, but also where fall is a consolation prize to the end of summer. A longtime frontman of New England alt-country pioneers Say ZuZu, Jon explores the dreamier, pop-infused parts of his Americana sensibility in his solo material. Geoff Taylor (bass), Zach Tremblay (guitar) and RIck Habib (drums) —- longtime friends —- formed Good Co. behind a new batch of Nolan songs in a barn in the summer of 2022, focused on infusing the songs with the connection the bandmates found in each other while reconnecting as friends, and with music.

In the early 90s, Newmarket, NH based Jon Nolan and Say ZuZu found their sound in a growing alt-country movement which spawned artists like The Old 97s and Wilco, and inspired a generation of artists including The Avett Brothers, Kacey Musgraves and others. In their road warrior days, the band toured tirelessly from Maine to Chicago, Texas and Georgia, but found their greatest success abroad as minor stars in Italy, developing a European fanbase and signing with Germany’s Blue Rose Records. After more than 10 years, 10 albums, and logging more than 2000 shows in 25 states and four foreign countries, Say ZuZu called it a day, amicably, in 2003 until reuniting in 2019. Nolan is the co-founder of the RPM Challenge, a record producer and coffee enthusiast.

https://jonnolan.net/

Mick McAuley is an Irish musician, composer and songwriter who has recorded and toured internationally for many years. While his music is rooted firmly in the Irish tradition, he has been part of a movement which continues to push the musical boundaries of that tradition to bring Irish music to a wider and more diverse audience around the world. As a long-time member of the Irish-American ensemble SOLAS, he has recorded and toured nine albums with them and received widespread international acclaim. The Boston Herald hailed SOLAS as “the best Irish traditional band in the world”.

A multi-instrumentalist, Mick plays accordion, melodeon, concertina, whistles and guitar and has been a guest on many recordings and performances including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patti Larkin, Paul Brennan (Clannad), Susan McKeown and Mick Hanly among many others. Since 2015, Mick plays melodeons for 17-time Grammy winner STING in his autobiographical theatre production “The Last Ship”

https://www.mickmcauley.com/
Watch Mick on YouTube

Acoustic Guitar and mandolin player Flynn Cohen has performed all over the world with many notable acts in traditional and contemporary acoustic music. He can be seen in concert with the American folk band LOW LILY (formerly known as Annalivia), and legendary Irish Accordion player John Whelan, as well as duo shows playing music from his four solo albums. 

He has performed at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Show starts at 7:00 PM
Recommended Donation: $20

For over half a century SKIP GORMAN has enjoyed singing, playing and performing an impressive and varied palette of traditional American and Celtic folk music. As an accomplished singer, guitarist, fiddler and mandolinist, Gorman has completed over 18 recordings of old time cowboy songs, fiddle, mandolin, bluegrass and been featured on many others, and established his own record label, Old West Recordings.

His recordings have earned a prestigious NAIRD (INDIE) award, and been selected as a top ten folk pick of the year by Amazon.com. Filmmaker Ken Burns has used Skip’s original music on four of his celebrated documentaries. He has appeared on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, toured with the US Embassy in Chile, Argentina and Paraguay, performed at World Fiddle Day in Co. Kerry, Ireland, and taught at numerous music camps in America and the British Isles.

skipgorman.com

Show starts at 7:00 PM
Recommended Donation: $20

“An artist with full command of her voice, which she utilizes beautifully”.
–Red Guitar Music

“Lovely album and a pleasure to share on the airwaves!”
–Fiona Ritchie, NPR Music

Born in San Francisco to musician parents, Liz Simmons spent her early childhood traveling through the wilds of North America in a sky blue VW bus. Her parents were itinerant musicians, moving from California to Oregon, then to Alaska.

Inspired by her beginnings, and after a brief foray into classical music, Liz found her way back to folk and roots music, founding the bands Annalivia and Low Lily with husband Flynn Cohen, as well as performing with Hannah Sanders, Long Time Courting, EVA, and as a backing vocalist for Livingston Taylor, Tom Chapin, Melanie, and others.

2021 saw the release of “Poets” (her first solo album in fifteen years) which has been lauded as “an ageless album” (Irish Music Magazine), “more than the sum of its considerable parts” (RNR Magazine), and “pure poetry indeed” (Goldmine Magazine). The self-produced album features guest musicians such as dobro phenom Andy Hall (The Infamous Stringdusters), pedal steel legend Pete Grant (The Grateful Dead), cello virtuoso Natalie Haas, and her Low Lily bandmates Lissa Schneckenburger and Flynn Cohen, among many others. Though released in 2021, she’s only now touring the record due to pandemic-related delays.

Liz will be joined by Berklee graduate and Rochester native Casey Murray (of the band Corner House), a virtuosic and versatile cello player and educator. Casey’s musical passions find roots in many diverse styles including Celtic, Old Time, New England contra, folk, classical, and improvisation.

Website: https://lizsimmons.net
Videos: https://lizsimmons.net/videos

Show starts at 7:00 PM
Recommended Donation: $10

Flynn Cohen and Matt Heaton are two of New England’s most experienced acoustic guitar players, each having performed with some of the finest performers in folk music. They also double on mandolin and bouzouki and create sophisticated arrangements of traditional and original material, including influences of Irish traditional music and bluegrass. Acoustic Guitar magazine says of Matt, “Powerfully rhythmic playing” and Dirty Linen magazine calls Flynn “a versatile string virtuoso.”

Show starts at 7:00 PM
Recommended Donation: $10

Dean Harlem

Dean Harlem built his life and songwriting on two things: hard work and constant traveling. After high school Dean packed his guitar and some clothes and hitch hiked from his hometown of Roosevelt, NJ to Nashville, Tennessee to find his dreams. With no money, no connections, and no luck, Dean left music city to thumb his way across America for a year. Working odd jobs and playing music in even odder establishments. He found a lucrative life of busking on the sunny streets of California for several years. often times playing eight hours a day. After touring the country multiple times he finally settled in New England where he tours and performs regularly. 

Dean Harlem is a craftsman of song and story telling. His dynamic shows cover many themes and emotions. At times his voice can be booming and powerful and then soft and vulnerable as he takes you from one story to the next. His music has been compared to Bruce Springsteen, Jason Isbell and Steve Earle. Dean is currently living in the Boston area and working on his next studio album which is expected for release this summer. 

Tristan Omand

Tristan Omand’s hard-learned brand of folk songwriting is brimming with stories of offbeat characters, road-worn personal experience, and a healthy dose of subtle humor to even things out. His acoustic guitar style sets a sparse backdrop to distinctly American songs and stories, and his approach to lyricism owes as much to John Steinbeck as to John Prine.

For nearly ten years Tristan has been performing throughout the east coast as a solo act blending old country, blues, and folk while developing a picking style and lyrical delivery all his own. He has released four solo albums, two of which are available on vinyl, with a live record on the way in 2017. With close to a dozen solo tours under his belt, Tristan has performed throughout 23 US states and has had the honor of opening for artists such as John Fullbright, Livingston Taylor, Audra Mae, Dan Blakeslee, The Figgs, Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, Heather Maloney, Tim Barry, Tan Vampires, Larry & His Flask, Brownbird Rudy Relic, Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy, and many more. Just barely 30 years old, Tristan has been a devoted guitar player and music fan since age 9 and currently resides in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

Recommended Donation: $10

She may only be sleeping, but Mama Ain’t Dead. This quartet continues the American roots tradition while infusing contemporary songs with old-time appeal. Multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Betsy Heron, Brie Green, Scott Heron, and Tim Cackett deliver a down-home sound driven by fiddles and banjos that fixes to leave toes tapping and feet stomping.

The group teamed up in the fall of 2018, drawn together by their love for fiddle tunes, bluegrass, and old-time music. Sisters Betsy and Brie have been playing tunes together for most of their lives. The two make up one half of central Massachusetts’ The Green Sisters. Tim, mandolin player for the band Town Meeting, and Scott, who plays in the duo Green Heron alongside his wife Betsy, had both at one point (but separately) played in the New England metal and hardcore scene before trading their half-stack amplifiers for mandolins and banjos.

Today, the band rambles around New England, making a ruckus in whatever bar, coffeehouse, or festival still celebrates the American folk tradition. Mama keeps the live show fresh, digging into ripping fiddle tunes, honoring old bluegrass standards, or belting out original sing-alongs with 3- and sometimes 4-part harmonies.

Mama Ain’t Dead is currently hard at work recording their debut album with engineer Tom Mahnken of Ruckus Studios in Ashfield, MA. The self-produced, 10-song album is expected to make a release by mid-2019.

Sonically founded in bluegrass, jazz and American acoustic music, the virtuosic collaboration between esteemed mandolinist Matt Flinner, guitarist Ross Martin and bassist Eric Thorin is a finely tuned compositional machine. Over the last eight years, the trio has been writing new music the day of any given show and performing it as part of that night’s concert. The resulting push to constantly create new material and challenge themselves to find new sounds and textures has led the trio to a unique sound all their own, and has also stretched the boundaries of what a bluegrass trio can do. Now with over four hundred tunes in their repertoire, the trio released Traveling Roots on Compass Records on January 22nd, a road-crafted sequel to their 2012 release, Winter Harvest.

“We’re building on what we started with Music Du Jour, debuting tunes the day they were written. But I think Traveling Roots is a more mature CD; we’ve done about 150 of these shows now, so we’re getting to choose 12 tunes out of over four hundred. We wanted to choose the few tunes that really defined the group and where we’d gone.”

For many of their 2016 shows, the trio will be continuing their “Music du Jour” project, but they’ll be adding special guests to the mix, writing music the day of the show for the trio plus one. They’ve already collaborated with Tony Trischka, Sam Bush, Darol Anger, Alison Brown, Frank Vignola and several other bluegrass and jazz luminaries as part of the project; coming up later in the year they’ll have Danny Barnes, Joe Craven, Dave Douglas and Tony Furtado, to name a few.

Stylistically, the group is self-defined as “deeply-rooted new acoustic music,” and Flinner himself “blurs the lines between jazz and bluegrass, traditional and avant-garde (Associated Press).” Originally a banjo player, Flinner won the National Banjo Contest at Winfield Kansas in 1990 and then returned and took the same prize the following year on mandolin. Flinner showcased his mastery of the bluegrass style and genre and was driven to seek greater degrees of musical maturity through jazz studies. “Bluegrass and jazz are both improvisational and truly American,” says Flinner. “We strive to advance the (bluegrass) genre and do new things with it, hopefully creating a unique form out of other uniquely American forms.”

Suggested Donation: $30