Korby Lenker
Tickets: $14 advance, $16 at the door.
Sorry, this show is completely sold out! No tickets will be released at the door.
How does a quietly intense singer-songwriter reconcile the weathered box of snapshots from his past that includes a mortician father in Idaho, snake-handling religious revivals in West Virginia and live performances ranging from burnished bluegrass standards to arcane Cure covers? If you happen to be Korby Lenker, you make sense of it all by conjuring music every bit as eclectic and compelling as the improbable path that lead you to the stage.
Yes, Korby does indie pop. But at the same time, his voice and pen are both profound enough to appeal to fans of Americana poet laureates like Willie Nelson, Steve Earle and Ray Lamontagne, all of whom he’s shared the stage with. Like Lenker himself, this music is intricate, multifaceted, heartfelt, brilliant.
His electrifying live performances swing effortlessly between moments of rocked-out abandon and intimate, aching tension. It all adds up to one of today’s most important new voices, as a growing legion of followers in North America and the U.K. can eagerly attest. One listen to his eighth self-produced work, Lovers and Fools, will leave no doubt. Do yourself a favor and discover Korby Lenker.
Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers
Tickets: $12 advance, $15 at the door.
Sorry, this show is sold out! No tickets will be released at the door.
Join Seattle roots country sensation Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers for an evening of straight-up country twang. Zoe swept the Seattle scene by storm with her uncanny debut album in 2009. Now she’s garnered the attention of others across the nation, signing to Signature Records for her follow up album to be released in April 2011. Join us tonight to get a special preview of her new album and new songs. This is a rare chance to catch such an amazing songwriter in an intimate venue like Empty Sea Studios, so don’t miss out!
Zoe Muth comes to you from the rainy city of Seattle, but the twang in her voice is from the deepest veins of country singing. She sounds like she grew up under the lights of the Grand Ol Opry, but in fact she burst onto the Northwest music scene in 2009 with a debut album that took everyone by surprise. So what makes her such an exciting discovery? Perhaps it’s her voice. A voice which floats between a heartbreaking whisper of regret and a razor-sharp blast of anger. Or maybe her virtuosic songwriting that draws from images of gritty, urban Seattle.
The Next Gen Folk Series is jointly presented by Hearth Music, Victory Music and Empty Sea Studios.
And definitely it’s her backing band, the Lost High Rollers, which is a who’s-who of Northwest country talent. This is music to calm your urban cowboy, to nurse a fresh hangover, to lull you to sleep in your neon-lit apartment. This is real music for real people, just the way country music should be.
Salton Sea Presents JIVE
Tickets:$8 advance, $10 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
The Salton Sea Recording Company presents the vocal jazz group JIVE. This live session will be recorded and released by the Salton Sea Recording Company as the first in a series of live recordings to be conducted at Empty Sea Studios in 2011.
Salton Sea presents the vocal jazz group ‘JIVE’. This live session will be recorded and released by the Salton Sea Recording Company as the first in a series of live recordings to be conducted at Empty Sea Studios in 2011.
The official vocal jazz group of Bothell High School, JIVE consists of:
Alyssa Fox
Anastasiya Golubovich
Blaine Rigdon
Brieanna McGie
Cedar Russell
Daniel Juchau
Jesse Sullivan
Kristianna Malmstrom
Levi Messner
Seth Watkins
Sydney Howard-Staples
Timothy Nelson
Musical Director: Mrs Sheri Erickson
We asked members of the group to tell us a little about themselves. Here are some of the responses we received back:
Tell us about yourself…
My name is Sydney Staples-Howard and I have been singing since I was in kindergarten. I have been in many musical groups and performances. I was in band in elementary school playing the drums and piano. I still play some piano.
What are you currently doing?
In high school, I have been in the auditioned Bel Canto Women’s Choir and am currently in the auditioned Madrigal Choir as well as JIVE. I hope to continue with singing throughout my adult life.
How about you?
My name is Kristianna Malmstrom and I am seventeen years old. I have participated in choir every year at Bothell High School, as well as two years in junior high. Music runs in my family. I am self-taught in guitar and bass and plan to learn the drums next.
What’s next for you?
After high school, I plan on studying psychology in college and continuing music for the rest of my life. It is my passion!
How about you — it’s Seth, right?
I’m Seth Watkins and and I was born and raised in Seattle, WA. Both of my parents were musicians so I was destined for greatness. I had dabbled in guitar and violin before picking up a bass guitar. This is where I found my passion.
Wow, destined for greatness. Tell us more…
I’m self-taught since seventh grade and like to think of myself as the next Geddy Lee. I also enjoy angel food cake, Dr. Pepper, and a nice back massage.
Well, you have superstar written all over you. So what’s next?
I plan on attending Shoreline Community College and want to study music and Criminal Justice.
Ok, Cedar you’re next. Can you top Seth?
I’m Cedar Russell. What makes a man? Musical integrity? Structural integrity? I have both, and good looks to boot. I spent the first eight years of my life honing my skills singing RUN-DMC songs.
Very cool. What’s in your future?
I plan to attend college at some point. In the meantime, I’m working on my skill-craft of guitar, violin, vocals, and hand-claps.
What do you have to say to Seth?
I will be really famous, probably.
I have no doubt that you will be. Ok, who’s next?
I’m Levi Messner and I was just a young lad at the age of 7 when I got my first guitar. It sat in my room for 5 years while I dreamed of an astonishing music career and plotted my life. Then, inspiration struck and I got a teacher that showed me how to play.
Showed you how to play what?
Now I can play a variety of instruments including electric guitar, acoustic guitar, guitar guitar, ukulele, bass, drums, cajone, djembe, shaker, piano, voice, and foot stomp.
That’s a lot. What do you do when you’re not playing?
I enjoy spending my time listening to music, watching music, playing music, and talking about music. I’ve got a lifetime achievement award from the prestigious Jeffrey Baldwin Guild, and am planning on attending a college that is similar to the ranks of Harvard.
Jeffrey Baldwin Guild? I’ve never heard of that. Have you thought about going out now, while you’re on top?
No, I will dabble in fame and fortune for a while and then settle down with a wife, probably.
Good to have a plan. Blaine, how about you? Your background?
My name is Blaine Rigdon and I’ve been singing since eighth grade at Canyon Park Junior High. Currently I am in three choirs at Bothell High School, including the jazz choir. I plan to participate in music throughout my life.
Are there big things in your future?
After high school I will be leaving for Air Force Basic Training. I will then be starting a career through the Air Force while getting my education. Once I get my degree, they will cross-train me into a chaplain’s position. Hopefully I can get into the choir that will be at my base. In the long run, singing and being a part of different choirs and ensembles has changed my life and given me skills in leadership and a work ethic that I can use while serving my country.
Very impressive, I see much happiness in your future. Ok Jesse, let’s finish with you.
I’m Jesse Sullivan and I’m a senior at Bothell High School. I’ve been playing the guitar for four and a half years and have been in Bothell High School’s top Jazz Band and Jazz Choir ever since I was a sophomore.
You’ve also done some other things, want to elaborate?
I’ve studied with Rick Azim and have previously taken lessons with Jay Thomas and Greg Glassman. Also, in 2009, I had the honor of playing in the 2009 MENC All-Northwest Jazz Band and the 2009 Edmonds Jazz Connection All-Star Bing Band.
I think I heard about some awards…
I’ve received awards and honors at various music competitions throughout the Northwest. This year I was selected to play in the 2011 MENC All-Northwest Jazz Choir. Aside from playing in groups at Bothell High School, I have performed with musicians in the Seattle area such as Reuel Lubag, Diana Page, Matt Page and Nathan Parker.
And the future?
Next year I hope to pursue a music degree at the University of Southern California or California State University at Northridge.
Thanks everybody. It’s been great chatting with all of you. I can’t wait to see the show on February 11th.
Long Gone: A Tribute to Utah Phillips
Tickets: $12 advance, $16 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
As Duncan Phillips travels around the country doing tribute shows for his late father Bruce “Utah” Phillips, he enlists the help of friends old and new to accompany him on stage. Side by side they sit, swap songs, tell stories and reminisce. It’s an evening of songs and stories from Utah’s vast body of work, shaken but not stirred with a mix of the songwriters’ own original material. The door’s open — swing onboard and enjoy the ride!
This sole Seattle performance will feature Duncan Phillips, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch and Gigi Love.
Kate McCleod & Duncan Phillips
Kate MacLeod composes classic American music while living in the state of Utah; home of rich folklore, the roaming grounds of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, the place where legendary social activist Joe Hill was executed, and the land from where Utah Phillips took his name. Kate is a sought-after performer, studio musician, and leader of master classes and workshops, who is best known for her original songs and her unique fiddling style. Her songwriting style and live performances display an unbreakable link between traditional music and cutting-edge contemporary songwriting.
She has been hailed as one of the “Ten Acts to Watch” by the editors of the MusicHound Folk Essential Album Guide. Originally from the Washington D.C. area, she is based in Salt Lake City and tours throughout the United States and Europe. Her music has been described by reviewers as reflecting the panoramic western landscape, perhaps due to her long residence in Utah. Kate’s songs have been featured on nationally syndicated radio shows including Tom May’s “River City Folk,” the holiday program hosted by Judy Collins, “Peace on Earth,” and have been sung by others on “A Prairie Home Companion.” You’ll find fans of many music genres in an audience gathered to hear Kate MacLeod perform.
Doug Wintch
Shunning the label “songwriter,” as a bit pretentious, Doug Wintch describes himself as “a guy who makes up songs and plays guitar and harmonica.” It’s a bit like saying Ernest Hemingway was a newspaperman who pounded out some good stories: true, but not accurate. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Doug rambled across much of the U.S., as a ski-bum; cook, carpenter, and yes, songwriter.
Doug’s interest in Bob Dylan’s songs is evident, as are the influences of blues, pop and rock. Although his songs pay homage to these influences, they are not limited by them.
Opening for such sterling performers as Karla Bonoff and John McCutcheon, Bill Staines and The Story, Doug has a strong regional following-especially at ski resort music venues in Grand Targhee, Park City and Snowbird (where he also teaches disabled skiers). .
Many of Doug’s songs are based on his own experiences, some of which are very small slices of life that planted the seed of a song. “I think of myself as a good listener,” he said. “Sometimes a song will come from part of a conversation, or something I overhear. Though my friends know they can trust me, they would also tell you that nothing is safe-I take ideas from wherever and whenever they come.”
Gigi Love
If the name Gigi Love sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because you were among the thousands listening to her open for the Dave Matthews Band at the Columbia River Gorge, or playing for the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Closing Ceremonies.
Maybe her infectious sound? Those smoky vocals and revealing songwriting loaded with energy, vulnerable passion and delicate poise burn a memory. Whether armed with an electric guitar or her worn acoustic, Love leaves an indelible imprint vocally, while juggling blues and rock with country and folk. Close on the heels of her hero, the great Bonnie Raitt, Love’s influences include Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin, and Neil Young.
Like Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt, she earned her honky-tonk chops in Texas. At the age of seven, Love began performing and playing guitar. By 12, she was filling venues with names such as Johnny High’s Country Music Review in Ft. Worth, and the Grapevine and Stevenville Opry Houses in Texas.
Rain City Tales & Tunes: Coyote Grace, Greg Brisendine, Auntmama
Tickets: Sorry, this show has sold out! No tickets will be available at the door.
Rain City Tales & Tunes is a brand-new radio show which brings the Northwest’s best storytellers and musicians together onstage. Taped in front of a live audience at Empty Sea, the show features acoustic music and tale-telling. Each episode features a unique theme, and audience members are invited to volunteer for the storytelling spotlight.
Produced jointly by Empty Sea Studios and KBCS storyteller Auntmama (Mary Anne Moorman), Rain City will be available to public radio stations this fall.
For our February 2nd show, we welcome storyteller and Bitter Single Guy Greg Brisendine back to our stage after his amazing debut performance. Acoustic roots stars Coyote Grace will provide the musical threads to weave our stories together.
Girl meets Girl. Girl becomes Boy.
Girl and Boy become a band.
Meet COYOTE GRACE.
If you want a lesson in organic chemistry, take notes as you watch the sparks fly between the acoustic downhome duo, COYOTE GRACE. This folktastic phenomenon is the result of combining one guitarist Joe Stevens, a transman from Northern California, with one upright bassist Ingrid Elizabeth, a sassy femme originally hailing from the hills of Southeastern Ohio. Together, they have captured the eyes and the hearts of live audiences nationwide with their bluesy folkroots sound, sweet harmonies, and poignant songwriting. The duo’s path over the past few years has taken them from traveling the coffeeshop circuit in their RV to multiple tours with the Indigo Girls, Melissa Ferrick, and Girlyman.
Joe Stevens, who has been writing songs since the age of fifteen, comes from a lineage of studio singers and choral conductors, as well as old time rock & rollers. He received a Bachelor of Music from CornishCollege of the Arts in 2004 with a focus on composition, while also composing music for modern dance & avant-garde theater. Also heavily influenced by choral performance, Ingrid Elizabeth was steeped in the world of musical theater, which armed her with a signature sound of brassy soul. Since relocating to the west coast, Ingrid has been involved with various musical ensembles, from bluegrass to psychedelic rock to choral groups, as well as burlesque, spoken word, and cabaret productions.
Greg Brisendine is a writer and performance poet based in Seattle. Greg has performed on stages across the Pacific Northwest and is the author of two chapbooks: One Lap Around and A Cautionary Tale.
Greg’s work will make you better at parallel parking. It will make you appreciate yogurt more – the fruit on the bottom kind. His work is always fat free and carb-free with only a small hint of cheese. When not writing, Greg is dispensing relationship advice through his alter ego: The Bitter Single Guy.
Named Auntmama by a nephew of choice, Mary Anne Moorman gathers audiences up in her blend of music, and storied southern
lore. Her voice is a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains at dusk, rolling and misted sweet. These stories are conversations with memory as well as with the audience that’s enjoying them.
“I’d be a singer if I could sing, but I like music too much to mess it up,” she says. Her Appalachian roots are intertwined with the music she grew up with, many of her stories reflecting that harmonic heritage through influences from Gershwin, Cole Porter, Flatt & Scruggs, and Porter Wagoner.
The Stranger has written of Auntmama’s tales: “As a precious, southern belle, she’s conflicted and her extremes and voice boil out the sweetest words I think I’ve ever heard in my life. A real gem, she is. Glad I saw it, haven’t stopped hearing her lilting voice in my head.”
Moorman, a former machinist, management consultant and journalist, teaches storytelling at Washington State’s famous Wintergrass festival, Northwest Folklife Festival, Hugo House’s Write-O-Rama, as well as offering workshops throughout the country. She is the recipient of grants from Artist Trust, 4Cultural and the City of Seattle. Her three albums are available through her website, in local bookstores or through iTunes. She can be heard every Sunday morning on KBCS 91.3 FM.
ThorNton Creek
Tickets: $8 advance, $10 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
ThorNton Creek (acoustic) is the honed-down version of the full band ThorNton Creek. Thornton Bowman’s lyrics and wistful Southern voice are at the heart, and listening to them in this form accentuates the lyrics and the stories. Bowman grew up in Virginia near the Tennessee border. Many of his songs have a Southern, front porch feel. The band began performing in 1996 shortly after Bowman released his solo album In the Kitchen of the Blacksmith. His music has been used in several documentaries and around very many kegs and at least once in a Playboy video.
ThorNton Creek (acoustic) usually features:
Thornton Bowman (songwriter, vocals, guitar) and Don Miller (guitar, mandola, cigar box creations, vocals)
Sometimes it features:
MJ Bishop (mandolin, vocals, accordion, percussion), Eric Smith (dobro, mandolin, banjo, slide guitar, etc.)
About In the Kitchen of the Blacksmith, the Rocket said:
“…if you like Neil Young, Bowman will have you beaming. The man isn’t a clone by any means, but there’s enough in his voice to get you harking back to old Neil’s acoustic work. As far as his writing goes, the songs are a much more slippery beast, lyrically dense, sometimes even serpentine, uncoiling soul the way a good song should and that little kernel of truth, the way the best songwriters should.” (Chris Nickson)
About Whiskey, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:
“…ThorNton Creek has been a reminder of the days when Seattle clubs were ablaze with good-time country rock ‘n’ roll. A good song, a danceable beat and some hot licks are the recipe for all the 14 tracks on the band’s new release, “Whiskey.” Thornton Bowman sings in a straightforward high tenor reminiscent of Country Joe McDonald. His vocals are sweetened by MJ Bishop’s harmonies. Don Miller’s versatile guitar playing ranges from the laid-back swing of “Laugh Away,” the roots rock of “Mind Like a Window,” to “New One’s” psychedelic fire.” (Bill White)
Mary Bue & Kate Graves
Tickets: $8 advance, $10 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
What do songs sound like that come from a girl who loves seaweed, seals and cats, bartends at a busy breakfast joint, has a bachelor’s in psychology, teaches yoga, used to attend rave parties in the late 90’s, adores Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and still hand-writes letters? You’ll get songs that run the gamut of curious human experience. From the epically melodramatic pop stuff of Rufus Wainwright, to the crunchy strumming of an acoustic guitar with driving, aching melodies akin to Neko Case; to the lovably raunchy poetry of Regina Spektor, the magical fairy never-never land of Tori Amos and the meloncholy lullabye drawls of Sarah McLachlan or Lucinda Williams — Mary Bue draws from these influences to create her own home of sound. This is soothing, cathartic and quirky piano and vocal music, full of melodies with symbolic tendencies and the potential to “emotionally sucker-punch” you!
Since 1998, Mary Bue has been performing her extensive list of original songs all over the United States – 38 to be exact. Growing up in small town Minnesota, where the winters are frigid and long, Mary used the hours spent indoors writing thousands of stream of consciousness poems over the years eventually morphing into songs — completing the poems at last.
Mary’s second record, East to the Sea, was recorded at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Duluth, Minnesota with the help of Alan Sparhawk (Low, Retribution Gospel Choir, Subpop). “If intimacy intrigues you and makes you into a skittish peeping tom, then be sure to catch Bue at her next performance,” said Mr. Sparhawk in the now defunct Ripsaw News back in 2000. After the release of this record, Mary decided to make one of many major life changes. Graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, she left her beloved college town of Duluth for Providence, Rhode Island where she threw herself into some odd and wonderful jobs. There, in the state which spans only about 40 miles (and has over 140 Dunkin’ Donuts!), she did clinical research at a women’s prison, HIV prevention outreach work at a needle exchange, fell deeper in love with yoga, and shared the stage with amazing musicians (Anais Mitchell, Emm Gryner, Vetiver, Rose Polenzani, Kristi Martel, Ryan Fitzsimmons).
Moving on to Minneapolis, Mary teamed up with Paul Gillis – Ripple Entertainment LLC – as a booking agent with the release of her 3rd record Boat With No Oars. Ripple booked her to open for many fantastic artists from around the nation including Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), Nicole Atkins and the Sea, Jeremy Messersmith, Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons.
The craft of songwriting to Mary is a phenomenon that seems to come from a secret place. Her heart? The heavens? The collective unconscious? Sometimes worried that the channel will close, but mostly trusting that the words will come, Miss Bue is open to possibility and the experience of being human. The stressful graspings and yearnings of her late teens/early twenties of wanting to “hit it big” as a Rock Star have eased into an interesting story to recall — and to launch from into her thirties. These are all adventures, and the songs she sings and the stories she tells at her shows reflect a lover of life.
Appearing with Mary is Kate Graves, who likes wildflowers. If she could be a plant, she would be a thistle branch. She sometimes worries that by saying she would be a thistle branch, she is saying that she symbolically pricks things, but she still picks the thistle branch as her flower totem.
Kate Graves is neurotic. She’s okay with this term and generally uses it as a term of endearment…or when somebody is really bugging her.
Kate Graves likes kissing. And singing. And trying to explain to the world that her chihuahua is just scared and not really cold-hearted.
Rain City Tales & Tunes
Tickets: $8.00 advance, $10.00 at the door.
Click here to purchase tickets.
Rain City Tales & Tunes is a brand-new radio show which brings the Northwest’s best storytellers and musicians together onstage. Taped in front of a live audience at Empty Sea, the show features acoustic music and tale-telling. Each episode features a unique theme, and audience members are invited to volunteer for the storytelling spotlight.
Produced jointly by Empty Sea Studios and KBCS storyteller Auntmama (Mary Anne Moorman), Rain City will be available to public radio stations this fall.
January 7th’s show theme is about families and the roles we play in them. You’ll hear as a baby sister becomes a wise elder, the family jester becomes the family hardass, and the ancient bigot becomes something else entirely. Neo-oldtime prodigies Cahalen Morrison & Eli West will share their tight harmonies and banjo-driven tunes with us, telling their stories through haunting melody.
Cahalen Morrison is not like many other 20-something musicians out there. He is genuinely old-time, but from a region (rural New Mexico) not often associated with a thriving string-band music scene. His multi-instrumental and songwriting talents were developed in small circles, privately, over many years, far outside the mainstream. He shows definite influences of kindred old spirits like Norman Blake, Greg Brown, and Doc Watson that were obviously instilled at a young age and not picked up in a “back-to-acoustic” fad. But he is very much his own man, traveling and playing with a determined Western independence and an easy hospitality towards those he encounters along the way. And so it was that along came Eli West – another unique twenty-something who came by this music more circuitously, but sharing the same authenticity and Western spirit – and their mutual musical easy-goingness found some common ground in which wonderful things grow. The roots are strong, the branches are shady, and the guitars, banjos, mandolins and voices carry you far off the beaten path to a Good Place out under open Western skies. -Kevin Brown (KPBX, Spokane Public Radio)
A Suzuki violin kid that took a left turn early on, Eli West has been busy multi-instrumentalist since, sitting in with members of the Wailin Jenny’s, Crooked Still, Michelle Shocked, and others. He was the voice and guitar behind the Seattle-based Loose Digits, and now finds it quite comfortable to be in a Duo with Cahalen Morrison.
Greg Brisendine is a writer and performance poet based in Seattle. Greg has performed on stages across the Pacific Northwest and is the author of two chapbooks: One Lap Around and A Cautionary Tale.
Greg’s work will make you better at parallel parking. It will make you appreciate yogurt more – the fruit on the bottom kind. His work is always fat free and carb-free with only a small hint of cheese. When not writing, Greg is dispensing relationship advice through his alter ego: The Bitter Single Guy.
Named Auntmama by a nephew of choice, Mary Anne Moorman gathers audiences up in her blend of music, and storied southern
lore. Her voice is a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains at dusk, rolling and misted sweet. These stories are conversations with memory as well as with the audience that’s enjoying them.
“I’d be a singer if I could sing, but I like music too much to mess it up,” she says. Her Appalachian roots are intertwined with the music she grew up with, many of her stories reflecting that harmonic heritage through influences from Gershwin, Cole Porter, Flatt & Scruggs, and Porter Wagoner.
The Stranger has written of Auntmama’s tales: “As a precious, southern belle, she’s conflicted and her extremes and voice boil out the sweetest words I think I’ve ever heard in my life. A real gem, she is. Glad I saw it, haven’t stopped hearing her lilting voice in my head.”
Moorman, a former machinist, management consultant and journalist, teaches storytelling at Washington State’s famous Wintergrass festival, Northwest Folklife Festival, Hugo House’s Write-O-Rama, as well as offering workshops throughout the country. She is the recipient of grants from Artist Trust, 4Cultural and the City of Seattle. Her three albums are available through her website, in local bookstores or through iTunes. She can be heard every Sunday morning on KBCS 91.3 FM.
KidsAcoustic: A Medieval Christmas
Tickets: $14 advance, $16 at the door for each child or adult. Infants (not yet walking) are welcome for free. Space is limited, so please buy ahead.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Seattle Historical Arts for Kids is proud to present our second season of family concerts at Empty Sea Studios, offering a truly unique, up-close musical experience.
The KidsAcoustic series offers real music for grownups, enchanting tunes for kids, and a chance for all the children to try the instruments afterwards! For each concert, teacher and early string performer Shulamit Kleinerman joins forces with a duo partner from a folk or early music tradition.
Noel as it’s meant to be sung! This favorite program from last season returns. For songs of Yule and Christmas, Shula is joined by her frequent collaborator Jacob Breedlove, multi-instrumentalist, craftsman, storyteller, and beloved co-teacher of many of Shula’s historical arts classes. He’s making a new fiddle just for this show! Songs in Middle English are accompanied by the ever-popular hurdy-gurdy and by medieval fiddles large and small — and we’ll have bells on, literally.
Shulamit Kleinerman first added family house concerts to her offerings for children in 2007, and the audience quickly outgrew her teaching studio. The new space at Empty Sea is still welcoming, relaxed, and intimate enough for kids to scootch right upto the musicians’ feet… but now there’s also room to dance! Shula is passionate about bringing the arts of earlier ages alive for kids. From Mozart operas to baroque minuets to Shakespeare skits to medieval songs, her historical arts workshops connect kids with the sparkle of the past. More information about her performances and classes for kids and adults can be found at shulamitk.net.
David Jacobs-Strain: Live Concert Recording
Tickets: $12 advance, $16 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Please join us as we help David Jacobs-Strain record a live album for an upcoming release!
Slide guitarist and singer-songwriter David Jacobs-Strain grew up in Oregon, far from Mississippi, but found his first musical home in the Delta blues. “I’ve always been drawn to the dark stuff,” David says. This young roots musician channels age-old wisdom and heartache with such energy and passion that you can’t help but feel good, even about feeling bad.
You also wonder how one man with one acoustic guitar (at a time) can rival the sonic density of a jam band. “I really like getting a big acoustic guitar sound—not loud but with a lot of depth and space. It’s all about having the flexibility to convey all different kinds of emotion,” he says.
There are various references in his music—bluesmen Skip James and Charlie Patton, Afro-pop star Salif Keita, Indian slide guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, rock icon John Lennon—but his work as a whole falls neatly in the gaps between multiple genres. Dirty Linen says that “he doesn’t just rock out: he’s learned the art of crossing musical boundaries from the masters.” Ask David what you should call his style. He grins. “Gangster-grass?” he suggests. “One-man arena rock?” A prankster peeks out from under long, dark lashes before disappearing behind the lanky singer’s polite manner.
His latest release, Liar’s Day, was produced by Kenny Passarelli (Otis Taylor, Stephen Stills), who’s also featured on bass. He’s joined by Joe Vitale on drums. “I wanted a big, aggressive drum sound—a Neil Young or Tom Petty sound—that still allowed space for the Traugott acoustic and National steel guitars. I got it with Joe and Kenny, Joe Walsh’s rhythm section in the 70s.” Together the three lay down solid grooves that massage away the sorrow of lost love.
The music isn’t only about love, though. Long before being green became a corporate cliché, David grew up in a community in Eugene that was centered on cultural change and the health of the environment. He sees a distinct connection between the communal base of his upbringing and the democracy of folk music. “I’m really into hand-made culture—and real people making real music. The voice. One guitar. Even at its simplest, folk music like the blues has always been a vehicle for expressing your own situation, whether as an individual or a community. There’s such power in that.”
In his mid-20′s, David is already a veteran of the national club and festival circuit. In 2008 he was chosen by Boz Scaggs to be the opener for his tour. David has also shared the stage with T-Bone Burnett, Bob Weir, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Taj Mahal, Etta James, Dave Mason, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. His festival credits include the Strawberry Music Festival, MerleFest, the Lugano Blues to Bop Festival in Switzerland, the Newport Folk Festival, the Telluride Blues Fest, the Vancouver Folk Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. He’s also served as faculty at guitar workshops, most notably at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch. In 2009 he worked on a new album of mostly original songs produced by Nashville-based Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Ray Davies).
Zumbido
Tickets $12 advance, $16 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Zumbido matches instrumental prowess with a deep affinity for the traditions of Brazil. While paying homage to Caetano Veloso, Rosa Passos, Tom Jobim and many other Brazilian composers, John, Ginny & Joel play their arrangements with their own voices, their own harmonies, their own kick, bringing fresh vitality to every performance. No strangers to outdoor summer festivals, jazz clubs, house concerts, weddings, restaurants, intimate cafes, stages large and small, each member of the band has individually logged decades of professional playing around the country and abroad.
John Miller has been a professional guitarist and guitar teacher for 40 years. He began his recording career as bass player with the trail-blazing bluegrass band, Country Cooking, and went on to record five solo albums of country blues and Jazz Standards while still in his twenties. Since then, John’s work has balanced performing and teaching. He has had long teaching stints at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Port Townsend Country Blues Workshop, B.C. Swing Camp and the European Blues Association’s Blues Week, and has released 9 instructional DVDs for Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. In the past 18 years, John has released CDs with the acoustic Jazz trio, Catwalk, singer Rebecca Kilgore, in duos with mandolinist John Reischman and violinist Ruthie Dornfeld, the Finnish-American quartet, Freshet, the French cabaret group, Rouge, the country blues trio, Johnson, Miller & Dermody, singer Ginny Snowe, and two solo CDs.
Ginny Snowe’s musical training includes a Bachelor’s degree in piano and vocal performance from Albion College and a Masters degree from Catholic University in piano pedagogy. She has maintained a private teaching studio for over thirty years, both in Washington D.C. and in Bellingham, Washington, and her teaching practice continues to flourish. Ginny is a well known bassist in the international contradance community, and has played as a charter member of such bands as Uncle Gizmo, the Reckless Ramblers with Larry Unger, Sam Bartlett and Nat Hewitt and Funhouse with Ruthie Dornfeld and Forrest Gibson, touring extensively from coast to coast. She has taught at such music camps as Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the American Festival of Fiddle Tunes, Lady of the Lake Dance Camp, and Pinewoods Camp English and American Dance Week, and for years was a fixture at the Augusta Swing Week, where she served as an accompanist for Frankie Manning’s Lindy dance class. Ginny’s discography includes CDs with Uncle Gizmo, the Reckless Ramblers, two Waltz Time CDs with Larry Unger, her collection of original solo piano pieces, “Traveling Home”, and “You Fascinate Me So”, with John Miller on guitar.
Known for his creative and innovative style, Joel Litwin is a favorite drummer/percussionist among acoustic artists and regional bands in and around Seattle and the West coast. His credits include projects with some of the most innovative artists on the West coast, including Tucker Martine, Amy Denio, and Michael Manring. Joel performs and records with many top acoustic artists in Seattle and the West Coast, including Erin Corday, Hand to Mouth and Incendio. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Joel grew up playing jazz in downtown clubs. He lived on the East Coast for several years, where he studied African rhythms with master drummer Richard Hill and jazz drums with Bob Moses. Joel then found a home on the West coast, where he developed a love for Brazilian music and began applying traditional rhythms to non-traditional instruments. His style has made him a favorite in the Northwest acoustic music scene, and his creative use of hand-made and found instruments (including a slightly battered briefcase) makes for some unique sounds on stage and in the studio.
Kane Mathis & Andrew Oliver
Tickets: $10 advance, $14 at the door.
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Seattle-based musician Kane Mathis is one of the country’s leading performers on the Kora, a traditional 21-string harp of the Mandinka people of West Africa. On Nov. 19, he will perform in a duo setting with Portland-based pianist Andrew Oliver. The duo forms part of the 5-piece Kora Band, also led by Oliver, which has been quickly gaining recognition since the September release of their new album Cascades (OA2 Records), which has peaked at #12 on the Mediaguide World Music Radio Charts.
This will be an opportunity to hear the kora and piano in an intimate duo setting outside of the full band. The unlikely combination of these two stringed instruments creates a unique texture of rhythmic and melodic counterpoint which Oliver and Mathis have developed over several years, drawing from jazz influences as well as the traditional repertoire of the Mandinka people and other West African sources.
Dunava
Tickets:$12 advance, $16 at the door.
Sorry, this show is completely sold out! No tickets will be released at the door.
Dunava (Bulgarian for “the Danube”) is a Seattle-based women’s vocal ensemble specializing in a cappella folk music of the Balkans. They perform “village” songs that are centuries old as well as contemporary arrangements of traditional folk melodies. Dunava’s goal and mission is to share the beauty and power of Balkan folk songs with authenticity and exceptional quality.Their first CD was released in 2009, and can be previewed on CDBaby.
Dunava was founded in 2005 and has performed at various venues throughout the Seattle area, including Town Hall and the Seattle Folklore Society concert series. The choir has been an audience favorite with the Blue Moon Concert Series in Shoreline for five years, and has packed rooms of all sizes at Northwest Folklife Festival. This year, Dunava will be featured on the Northwest Folklife 2010 CD, Roots and Branches. Dunava has also collaborated with other local groups, such as Balkan Cabaret and Dave and the Dalmatians.
Dunava singers come from diverse musical backgrounds that include classical, American folk, improvisation, and blues. Their repertoire includes songs from the cities and villages of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Russia, and Serbia. All singers share a passion for the distinct and beautiful harmonies of Eastern Europe, and individual singers have travelled to the Balkan countries on song-learning missions. The group regularly consults with professional singers and native speakers from the Balkans to ensure the performance is culturally authentic.
Dina Trageser, founder and director of Dunava, has been studying and singing music from the Balkans for over 13 years. Her background includes years of studying classical music and performing with renowned choirs such as the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble and Seattle Pro Musica. She currently is also a member of Orkestar RTW.
Visit Dunava online at www.dunava.org and www.myspace.com/dunava.
The Golden Tree Story, Thousands
Tickets: $8 advance, $12 at the door.
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Coming from many colorful traditions, The Golden Tree Story’s natural instrumental sound and memorable melodies create an eclectic listening experience for folk, classical, and jazz lovers alike.
Long-time friends and collaborators, the band includes songwriter Cynthia Marie at the piano, with Cameron Peace on guitar, Birch Pereira on bass, and Dave Bush on drums. Live and in the studio, the Golden Tree Story attends to each song with thoughtful arranging and tasteful instrumental playing.
At live shows, the group performs compositions spanning the musical spectrum. Drawing from their personal musical journeys, they create inspired and fresh settings for poetry, classical pieces, and modern-day originals.
Their new album, Openings, features original songs recorded between 2008-2010 in Seattle, WA.
Appearing with The Golden Tree Story is Thousands, the duo project of Seattle residents Kristian Garrard and Luke Bergman.
The two met while students at the University of Washington school of music (where Luke is now an instructor) and began working together on songs Kristian had been writing on his own. They found they had some pretty happening chemistry, and kept playing together. Eventually they moved in together and worked on their music extensively for two years, working on intricately arranged guitar parts and close vocal harmonies.
Thousands plays quiet, intimate shows at houses, studios, galleries, and the like. The band also has an album coming out worldwide next March and will be touring extensively in Europe and North America.
The Chart-Topping Blackberry Bushes
Earlier this year, stringband The Blackberry Bushes recorded a full album project, Little Bit of Grace here at Empty Sea. I engineered the album and co-produced the album with Matt Sirceley. Since then, the album is in its second pressing and climbing the roots and bluegrass charts due to extensive radio play.
I had brunch with Jes Raymond and Jakob Breitbach from the Bushes to see what they’re up to, and over some delicious green chile eggs at the Four Spoons Cafe, they told me what they were up to.
Jes Raymond (Blackberry Bushes)
So, in March of this year, you guys recorded an album with me called Little Bit of Grace . That album is now released to the world and doing pretty well – tell me what’s going on with it.
JES: Well, we’ve been touring that album and doing pretty well with it at shows, and we also did a radio promotional campaign with Hearth Music which has caused us to move up the charts in the last three weeks. We started out at #54 on the FolkDJ-List chart, and then we appeared on the Roots Music Report chart the next week at #36 on the bluegrass chart – pretty exciting because that’s an international chart. And then this past week we moved up to #19 on that chart – we beat out Rhonda Vincent, that’s our claim to fame. We’re also #1 on that chart in the state of Washington.
That’s really awesome. Where have you been traveling on tour?
JES: This spring we went down to Telluride, Colorado, then we did a loop back and around up the coast. We’ve been out to the Midwest, the Mississippi River Valley, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Now we’re about to leave for the East Coast – we’re going to tour our through the Midwest again, then take ourselves from New England down to the Southeast and back.
So from your most recent tour, what were your most favorite and least favorite gigs?
JAKOB: Oof! That’s easy. (laughs)
JES: On our last tour, we did a really wonderful small festival called the Boats and Bluegrass Festival that was right on the Mississppi River in Winona, Minnesota. There were some really great bands – I was really impressed with them. The people that put on the festival did a really good job for a startup festival of making it have the right energy!
JAKOB: You know a festival organizer spends time at the festival when he makes sure that the porta-potties are lit at night – and there was an exciting undercurrent to the whole festival because the river was rising one inch per hour – so two days after the festival finished the entire campgrounds were under about two feet of water.
Jes Raymond & Jakob Breitbach looking dapper
JES: So there was kind of a feeling of commitment for the people who were there.
JAKOB: Impending doom.
JES: Many of the artists camped, and we stayed up all night and created some memories we’ll keep, which was really great.
JAKOB: And the low point of the last tour was a no-turnout show in Des Moines, Iowa at 11 on a Sunday night.
Zero turnout?
JES: Well, it would have been zero which we were thinking would be kind of cool, because we had a video camera. There was a nice stage, a good sound system, and we thought, “we’ll get a good video of this.” But then these four kids who’d seen the poster came in – they thought we looked cool, and they wanted to see the show. They stood right up front and we played to them! But then when we looked back at the video it made it very obvious that there were four people watching us.
Four people clapping in an empty room. (laughs)
JES: It was a low point without being a bummer.
JAKOB: We set ourselves up to have low expectations.
JES: There was a pool in the hotel.
So do you have future album plans? Are you going to ride this one for a while?
JES: Really, we’ve already got enough tunes for another album, and our plan right now is to start working the songs that we’d like on our next album into our live set, and start playing with those in performance and see what happens by next spring.
There’s always that debate between recording fresh songs versus songs that you’ve polished up on tour.
JAKOB: We definitely did the unproven route on this last record. It was good in a lot of ways.
JES: I like that in some ways. I like the process of discovering in the studio. But [the next record] is a different one and we’ll try it a different way this time.
Click here to purchase Little Bit of Grace on CDBaby.
JAKOB: I think everyone’s a little more ready to go in and lay it down this time – to be more polished and prepared from the get-go.
JES: Really, [Little Bit of Grace] is what’s brought us into this fulltime touring mode I feel like we grew so much in the studio creating this album, and then since then as we’ve taken it out, we’re really on a learning curve as a group of musicians still. I feel like we’re almost a new band in the way we approach things. The process of recording this last album really influenced the way we approach our stage show and rehearsal.
Thanks guys. Have fun out there on the road!
JES: Thanks Michael.
