Red Molly

Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 8PM at Emelin Theatre

Red Molly combines the forces of three songwriters with unique character and style, creating a show that is larger than the sum of its parts. Known for their 3-part harmony, their songs and arrangements lay bare a love of vocal blend. The band weaves together threads of American music—from country & blues to folk & bluegrass. Their innovative instrumentation is suited for roots-rock and heartful ballads alike, and the alchemy of their personalities onstage draws even back row listeners into a sense of intimacy. Red Molly is simply a joy to experience.

Singing spine-tingling high notes, Abbie Gardner is a dobro player and improviser from a musical family. A consummate performer, her songs and performance have the punch of rhythm and blues. Playing guitar and tambourine, Laurie MacAllister draws inspiration from classic folk and singer-songwriters. Her voice stretches octaves, warm and romantic one moment, playful and subversive the next. Molly Venter has a smoky voice that is unforgettable, and a moody approach to song-smithing. Quirky and fashion-forward, she moves in step to the music while playing guitar and tambourine.

Formed in 2004, Red Molly has inspired countless female trios and has since reinvented themselves as a high-octane five-piece band in 2017. They remain a dominant force on the Americana/Folk scene due in part to their laughter and spontaneity onstage. Upright bassist Craig Akin and percussionist and electric guitarist Eben Pariser fill out the sound, giving the show a broad range of musical options—from complex and hard-hitting to sparse and delicate.

Accolades:

“A blend of serious harmonizing chops and slick pop savvy” – Time Out NY

“[Red Molly has] cut a niche as sunnyside Americana … immaculate vocal harmonies.” –The Guardian

“From Day One, Red Molly conjured musical magic. A decade later, they’ve honed their songwriting, their covers, their playing and, above all, their harmonies into something joyful and sublime.”– John Platt, WFUV FM, Sunday Breakfast

“Femme Phenom! No root from the grand tree of music is left untouched – classic country heartbreak, undeniable swing, authentic folk, gospel rock with an edge, and Americana stomp. With smart production, a strong thread runs throughout the album and every note sung is upheld on cosmic harmony. Red Molly is unstoppable. Highly recommended.”– Mary Sue Twohy, SiriusXM Satellite Radio

Coco Montoya & Tinsley Ellis

Friday, April 5, 2019 at 8PM at SOPAC

It’s hard to imagine a Blues double bill with two more celebrated masters than Coco Montoya and Tinsley Ellis. Fiery guitar licks and passionate vocals are the hallmarks of these musical wizards. They will leave you breathless with this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The old Willie Dixon adage, “Blues is truth,” perfectly describes the searing, contemporary Blues-Rock of world-renowned guitarist and vocalist Coco Montoya. Taught by the “Master of the Telecaster,” Albert Collins, but with a hard-edged sound and style all his own Montoya mixes his forceful, melodic guitar playing and passionate vocals with memorable songs, delivering the Blues’ hardest truths. He earned his status as a master guitarist and soul-powered vocalist through years of paying his dues as a sideman with Collins (first as a drummer) and then with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, before launching his solo career in 1993. Five years of constant touring with Collins and ten years with Mayall turned him into a monster player and dynamic performer. Montoya has released eight solo albums—including three for Alligator between 2000 and 2007—and has played at clubs, concert halls and major festivals all over the world. Guitar Player says Montoya plays “stunning, powerhouse blues with a searing tone, emotional soloing, and energetic, unforced vocals.”

Since his Alligator debut 30 years ago, Southern Blues-Rock guitar wizard, vocalist and songwriter Tinsley Ellis has become a bona fide worldwide guitar hero. The Chicago Sun-Times says, “It’s hard to overstate the raw power of his music.” Now, he makes his triumphant return to Alligator Records with a powerful new album, Winning Hand. Armed with his signature molten licks, melodic riffs and rousing, intense solos, Ellis, as his legions of fans will attest, is among the Blues world’s best-loved, hardest working and most well-travelled statesmen. He has performed in all 50 United States as well as in Canada, Western and Eastern Europe, Australia and South America, earning legions of fans with his guitar virtuosity, passionate vocals and memorable original songs. Ellis is also revered as a guitarist’s guitarist, with famous friends including Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Oliver Wood, Jonny Lang and members of Widespread Panic calling on him to sit in and jam. “A musician never got famous staying home,” he says.

The Subdudes

Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 7:30PM at SOPAC

Over the course of 25 years and ten albums, The Subdudes have quietly become one of America’s national music treasures.

The New Orleans-formed group is a living encapsulation of American music, a vibrant cauldron of sounds that stirs together meaty grooves and Jazzy dynamics, soulful R&B swagger, easy vocal harmonies, cheeky Rock ‘n Roll attitude and Folky social consciousness — not to mention some of the sharpest musicianship and ensemble playing you’ll ever hear from any five artists.

Led by singer/guitarist Tommy Malone and accordionist, John Magnie, The Subdudes draw most of their inspiration from the sounds of their native New Orleans, blending Blues, Gospel, Funk, and R&B with their own harmony vocals; their sound is also notable for the band’s substitution of a tambourine player, Steve Amedée,  for a drummer. Tim Cook on percussion, bass and vocals and Jimmy Messa round out the band on bass and guitar.

More than just a concert, the “dudes” leave you feeling like they’re having a party and you were lucky enough to be invited.

Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt

Sunday, March 3, 2019 at 7PM at Garde Arts Center

The dynamic duo of Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt re-unite on the Garde stage for an evening of great music and conversation. 

Since his self-titled debut in 1986, Lyle Lovett has evolved into one of music's most vibrant and celebrated performers. A Grammy Award-winning singer, composer and actor, he has broadened the definition of American music, fusing elements of country, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a manner that defies convention and breaks down barriers.

John Hiatt is a talented singer and guitarist best known for his prolific songwriting. His songs have been successfully covered by musicians from Bonnie Raitt and the Neville Brothers to Iggy Pop and Three Dog Night. With 11 Grammy nominations and 24 albums to his name, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.

An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt

Friday, February 22, 2019 at 8PM at Tarrytown Music Hall

A Music Hall/Music Without Borders Co-presentation, supported by WFUV
The celebrated singer/songwriters return to the Music Hall! The concert will feature both artists performing side by side, alternating songs from their respective careers. Utilizing their dynamic chemistry to swap stories and songs, fans can expect a rare “unplugged” evening of entertainment.  Lyle Lovett, singer, songwriter, actor and four-time Grammy Award-winner, has broadened the definition of American music in a career that spans 14 albums over three decades. Coupled with his unique gift for storytelling, the Texas-based musician fuses elements of Americana, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a convention-defying manner. John Hiatt, a master lyricist and satirical storyteller, weaves hidden plot twists into fictional tales ranging in topics including redemption, relationships, growing older and surrendering, on his terms. Hiatt's songs have been recorded by artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt ("Thing Called Love"), Emmylou Harris, Iggy Pop, Rosanne Cash (#1 country hit, "The Way We Make A Broken Heart"), the Jeff Healey Band ("Angel Eyes") and even the cartoon bear band of Disney's film, The Country Bears.

The Wood Brothers

with special guest Nicole Atkins

Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 7:30PM at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY

The Wood Brothers hold a special place in the hearts of fans in the Capital District for their performances at Levon Helm's legendary Midnight Ramble.  This trio - guitarist Oliver Wood, bassist Chris Wood, and drummer Jano Rix - adapts blues, folk, and roots music into their own evocative sound. 

They will be performing songs from their vast catalog, as well as songs off their newest album, One Drop of Truth.  “It’s the freest album we’ve done, the most independent album we’ve done, and was the most fun we’ve ever had making a record,” says Oliver Wood. “And most importantly, this is the most purely Wood Brothers’ album we’ve ever made.”

Indeed, The Wood Brothers’ sixth outing, One Drop of Truth, dives headfirst into a deep wellspring of sounds, styles and influences. Whereas their previous outings have often followed a conceptual and sonic through-line, here the long-standing trio featuring brothers Oliver and Chris Wood along with Jano Rix treat each song as if it were its own short film. The end result is undeniably The Wood Brothers’ most dynamic recording to date.

“Often, when you’re making an album in the traditional way, there will be a unifying concept, whether that be in the approach to the music stylistically or lyrically in terms over the overall narrative. And even though there are some themes that revealed themselves later, this one is all over the place,” explains Oliver Wood. “What I really love about this record is that each one of these songs has its own little world. There are diver-se sounds and vibes from one track to the next.”

Building off the success of their previous studio album, 2015’s ‘Paradise,’ which was dubbed “the warmest, most sublime and occasionally rowdiest Wood Brothers release yet,” by American Songwriter, the band found themselves at a fortuitous crossroads. Following a tour with Tedeschi Trucks Ba­­­­­nd, high profile festival dates and sold out headline shows, the band felt free from the cyclical album release, tour, write, record and do-it-all-over-again pressures of the traditional music business. With all three members living in Nashville affording easy access to each other and a wealth of local independent studios at their disposal, they started work in January of 2017 with a new approach.

“Instead of going into one studio and recording it all at the same time, we picked a couple studios, and started to experiment,” says Chris Wood. “Sometimes we’d just make demos of songs to see if we got anything we liked. There was no pressure, and that really freed us up. We just did one or two songs a day, put it aside, let the songs simmer, and then we’d have a fresh perspective on what was working or not working. You need time to go by to gain objectivity.”

Fittingly titled, One Drop of Truth, the latest entry in The Wood Brothers evolution finds three musicians being true to themselves. At a point in their career where most artists would be looking to strategically position themselves for even greater commercial success, they instead turned to artistic expression in service of the muse. In chaotic times when honesty is in short supply and ulterior motives seem to always be at play, The Wood Brothers put faith in themselves and ultimately their audience by writing and recording a collection of songs that is honest and pure. As they sing on the album’s title track: “Rather die hungry / than feasting on lies / Give me one drop of truth / I cannot deny.”

Video for “Happiness Jones”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKIoiVWwF5A&start_radio=1&list=RDLKIoiVWwF5A

The Wood Brothers Website: https://www.thewoodbros.com/

“A voice that could melt the heart of a devil… When Nicole Atkins sings, she sounds like Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline and Janis Joplin all rolled into one voice.” - NPR

Named Rolling Stone’s "Top 10 Artists To Watch" in 2007 for her debut album Neptune City, Nicole Atkins has appeared on numerous late night TV shows, including  “The Late Show with David Letterman”, “Conan”, and “Later… with Jools Holland”, and featured in media outlets ranging from the New York Times to Time magazine. She has toured throughout the US and Europe, both headlining and also touring with The Black Keys, Mavis Staples, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Primal Scream, Chris Isaak and the Avett Brothers.

Nicole Atkins fourth studio album, GOODNIGHT RHONDA LEE, will be released on July 21st on Single Lock Records. The album, a vintage soul album inspired legendary artists like Dusty Springfield, Candi Staton, Roy Orbison and Janis Joplin, was produced by Niles City Sound (Leon Bridges), with additional mixing by Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes).

Parsonsfield & Sawyer Fredericks

Friday, October 26, 2018 at 8PM at Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington, NY

Parsonsfield is a western Massachusetts based quintet praised for making "the most jubilant and danceable indie roots music this side of the Carolinas" (NPR). Catch them onstage any night and the band's joy is palpable. They trade instruments, share microphones, and shoot each other big grins. They sing in tight multi-part harmonies, their voices blending like they've been doing this together all their lives. That's because Parsonsfield is a family band, not by birth but by choice.

Parsonsfield have been added to Folk Pop, Fresh Folk, Roots Rising and Indie Bluegrass playlists on Spotify, alongside artists like Joseph, The Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and The Head And The Heart.

Sawyer Fredericks, the 18 year old Singer-songwriter hailing from his family's farm in central New York State, is fast establishing himself as an authentic, original, Americana artist with an old soul. His deep, beyond-his-years lyrics and melodies, raw, soulful vocals, and powerful live performances have attracted an ever growing number of devoted fans of all ages, selling out shows throughout the US.

As a folk/blues singer-songwriter, who cut his teeth at local farmers markets, open mics, and iconic New York venues like Caffe Lena, the Towne Crier Cafe, and The Bitter End, Sawyer seemed an unlikely match for reality tv, but quickly won over broad audiences with his genuine delivery and unique arrangements of classic songs, going on to win season 8 of NBC's The Voice.

An Intimate Evening with Bettye LaVette

ft Ed Alstrom on keyboards

Landmark on Main Street | Saturday, Dec. 16th | 8 PM

Bettye LaVette is no mere singer. She is an interpreter of the highest order. Whether the song originated as country, rock, pop, or blues, when she gets through with it, it is pure R&B. She gets inside a song and shapes and twists it to convey all of the emotion that can be wrought from the lyric.

Bettye LaVette is one of very few of her contemporaries who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 1960s and is still creating vital recordings today.

Her career began in 1962, at the age of 16, in Detroit, Michigan. Her first single "My Man - He's a Loving Man", was released on Atlantic Records. She recorded for numerous labels, including Atco, Epic, and Motown, and worked alongside Charles "Honi" Coles, and Cab Calloway in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Bubbling Brown Sugar.

The 2000's started what she calls her "Fifth Career". Her CD, A Woman Like Me, won the W.C. Handy Award in 2004 for "Comeback Blues Album of the Year". She was also given a prestigious Pioneer Award by The Rhythm & Blues Foundation. She recorded 4 CDs for hipster indie label ANTI- Records over the course of 8 years, 2 of which received Grammy nominations.

She has received the Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Female Blues Singer and performed at The Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute to The Who. She then performed "A Change Is Gonna Come" with Jon Bon Jovi for President-elect Barack Obama on HBO's telecast of the kick-off Inaugural Celebratory concert, We Are One.

2012 marked her 50th year in show business and she also released her no-holds-barred autobiography, A Woman Like Me. In 2016, her most recent CD, Worthy, garnered her a third Grammy nomination. She also received the Blues Music Award for Best Soul Blues Female Artist.

This intimate show allows her voice to be the complete center of attention. Bettye performs songs from throughout her 55-year career, including songs that she used to perform in small Detroit clubs before her 21st Century resurgence began.

Bettye has always said that just a voice and one instrument is all you need to sell a song. Hearing Bettye in this setting, stripped down to just her voice and a piano, is a very intense and moving experience.

Paco Pea | Legendary Flamenco Guitarist

Troy Music Hall | 10.22 | 3 PM

Paco Peña embodies both authenticity and innovation in flamenco. As guitarist, composer, dramatist, producer and artistic mentor he has transformed perceptions of this archetypal Spanish art form.

Born in the Andalucian city of Córdoba, Paco Peña began learning guitar from his brother at the age of six and made his first professional appearance at the age of 12. In the late 1960s, he left Spain for London, where his recitals of flamenco music captured the public imagination.

Venues for his solo performances have included the intimate Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and the monumental Royal Albert Hall in London, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam. He has shared the stage with fellow guitarists, singers, and instrumental groups, bridging diverse musical genres, including classical, jazz, blues, country and Latin American.

In 1995 The New York Times declared that: “Mr. Peña is a virtuoso, capable of dazzling an audience beyond the frets of mortal man. He combines rapid-fire flourishes with a colorist’s sense of shading; this listener cannot recall hearing any guitarist with a more assured mastery of his instrument.” It should come as no surprise that readers of America’s Guitar magazine judged Paco Peña as best flamenco guitarist of the year for five consecutive years.

Boz Scaggs | 9.14.17 | 8 PM | Tarrytown Music Hall

Fans who have followed Boz Scaggs’ remarkable career dating back to the late Sixties with the Steve Miller Band; his solo triumphs with such classic albums as Silk Degrees (1976) and Middle Man (1980); and the splendid assurance of late-period high points like Some Change (1994) and Dig (2001), will instantly recognize Scaggs’ characteristically deft touch as a singer. He brings a sly drawl to a funky workout like Li’l Millet and the Creoles’ “Rich Woman,” a conversational intimacy to Bobby Charles’s “Small Town Talk,” and an elegant delicacy to the Impressions’ “I’m So Proud.” He easily negotiates the Latin flavoring of “Last Tango on 16th Street” and “I Want to See You,” both written by San Francisco bluesman (and longtime Scaggs compatriot) Jack Walroth. His soul is effortless and deeply felt, never making a show of itself, but unmistakably evident in every lyric he delivers. “I’m at a point where I’m having a lot of fun with music, more than ever,” the Grammy winner says about his spellbinding new album, A Fool to Care. “It’s like I’m just going wherever I want to go with it.”

Boz Scaggs | Sept 12th | 7:30 PM | Troy Music Hall

“I’m at a point where I’m having a lot of fun with music, more than ever,” Boz Scaggs says about his spellbinding new album, A Fool to Care.. “It’s like I’m just going wherever I want to go with it.”

You can hear that sense of fun, as well as that ability and willingness to wander in any musical direction throughout the album’s twelve tracks. The inspirational heart of those songs lies in the sounds of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma that played such a vital role in shaping Scaggs’ musical sensibility, but they venture forth boldly from there, ranging from the seductive New Orleans rumble of the title track to the wry social commentary of “Hell to Pay” and a heartbreakingly wistful interpretation of The Band’s “Whispering Pines.” As he did on his most recent previous album, Memphis (2013), Scaggs worked with producer Steve Jordan and a telepathic core band consisting of Jordan on drums, Willie Weeks on bass, Ray Parker, Jr. on rhythm guitar and Jim Cox on keyboards. “Steve works on a high energy level,” Scaggs says of his prized collaborator. “It’s relaxed and easy, but also very highly charged. His direction is laser-focused, and his playing is intense. It’s a whirlwind and he’s a strong leader, but it’s also lovely and loose and cool. That’s all a comfort to me. I’ve produced myself and I feel pretty solid in the studio, but it’s really nice for me not to have to do anything but help select the material and be free to be a singer and a guitar player.”

Fans who have followed Scaggs’ remarkable career dating back to the late Sixties with the Steve Miller Band; his solo triumphs with such classic albums as Silk Degrees (1976) and Middle Man (1980); and the splendid assurance of late-period high points like Some Change (1994) and Dig (2001), will instantly recognize Scaggs’ characteristically deft touch as a singer. He brings a sly drawl to a funky workout like Li’l Millet and the Creoles’ “Rich Woman,” a conversational intimacy to Bobby Charles’s “Small Town Talk,” and an elegant delicacy to the Impressions’ “I’m So Proud.” He easily negotiates the Latin flavoring of “Last Tango on 16th Street” and “I Want to See You,” both written by San Francisco bluesman (and longtime Scaggs compatriot) Jack Walroth. His soul is effortless and deeply felt, never making a show of itself, but unmistakably evident in every lyric he delivers.

Two guests, in particular, make definitive contributions to A Fool to Care. Bonnie Raitt duets sassily with Scaggs on vocals, and adds her characteristically sizzling slide guitar to “Hell to Pay,” a knowing indictment of corruption on both the personal and political level that Scaggs wrote himself.  Lucinda Williams closes out the album with Scaggs on “Whispering Pines.” The two perform the song as a kind of prayer for deliverance, each of their voices yearning for a redemption that alternately seems barely within reach or drifting just out of reach.

What ultimately communicates about A Fool to Care is how fully Boz Scaggs inhabits these songs. They seem less like interpretations than realizations, proofs that when you truly make someone else’s song your own, you paradoxically restore something essential to it. Scaggs believes that this album and Memphis, its immediate predecessor, might turn out to be the first two parts of a trilogy, a three-album collaboration with producer Steve Jordan and the band of extraordinarily empathetic musicians they love to work with. Let’s hope so, but let’s also not get ahead of ourselves. A Fool to Care is here right now, and to overlook its many great pleasures by thinking about more that might come in the future would be foolish and uncaring indeed. – Anthony DeCurtis

Boz Scaggs | Sept 10th | 7 PM

Singer, songwriter, and Grammy Award®-winner Boz Scaggs began his career as the lead singer and guitarist of the Steve Miller Band in the late 60s before the success of his 1976 solo album, Silk Degrees, which produced hit singles such as “Lowdown,” “Lido Shuffle,” and “We’re All Alone.” He blurs the lines between genres, often mixing rock, soul, country, blues, and jazz to create a truly unique sound. Most recently, Scaggs released his album A Fool to Care, which rose to number one on the Billboard Blues Album chart.