Sarah McQuaid
Tickets: $14 advance, $18 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Photo by Alastair Bruce
Renowned for her warm, engaging stage presence, Sarah McQuaid is a versatile and beguiling performer. In addition to her own elegantly crafted originals, she interprets traditional Irish and Appalachian folk songs, Elizabethan ballads, 1930s jazz numbers, surprise covers and lively guitar instrumentals with panache and poignance.
Her deliciously earthy voice delivers a powerful emotional punch that’s matched by her distinctive, eloquent guitar style. Add this to a real rapport with her audience, and you have all the ingredients of a great night out.
Born in Spain, raised in Chicago and holding dual Irish and American citizenship, Sarah was taught piano and guitar by her folksinging mother, and remembers being inspired by meeting her distant cousin, well-known singer/songwriter/storyteller Gamble Rogers, at her grandmother’s house in Indiana. From the age of twelve she was embarking on tours of the US and Canada with the Chicago Children’s Choir, and at eighteen she went to France for a year to study philosophy at the University of Strasbourg.
Sarah moved to Ireland in 1994, and three years later released her debut solo album, When Two Lovers Meet. “Sarah’s voice is both as warm as a turf fire and as rich as matured cognac…. An astonishing debut by a unique talent,” wrote the Rough Guide To Irish Music. Despite the critical acclaim, a long break from the music scene followed, during which Sarah married Feargal Shiels and had two children, Eli and Lily Jane.
When Two Lovers Meet was re-released in Ireland and the UK in 2007, a year that also saw Sarah touring as a solo artist for the first time and moving with her family to Cornwall, in the southwest corner of England. The following autumn she released her second album, I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning, which like its predecessor was recorded in Trevor Hutchinson’s Dublin studio and produced by Gerry O’Beirne.
Sarah is also the author of The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book, described by The Irish Times as “a godsend to aspiring traditional guitarists,” and has presented workshops on the DADGAD tuning at festivals and venues around the globe.
Crow Coyote Buffalo, an album of songs co-written by Sarah with fellow Penzance resident Zoë (author and performer
Photo by Ronald Rietman
of 1991 hit single ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’) under the band name Mama, has also been garnering rave reviews since its January 2009 release; one critic described the pair as “Two pagan goddesses channelling the ghost of Jim Morrison.”
In 2010, Sarah re-released her first two albums in a double-disc package for the North American market, to coincide with her first US tour. The double CD became the No. 1 album, and Sarah the No. 1 artist, on the folkradio.org chart (based on playlists from 195 DJs) for February 2010 (http://folkradio.org/airplay/feb10.html); the final tally at year’s end saw the double CD in the No. 6 slot for the year, beating powerful competition from far more established artists.
Now spending approximately six months of each year on the road in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the USA, Sarah was an official showcase artist at the International Folk Alliance conference in February 2011. She returned to the studio in June 2011 to record her third solo album, provisionally titled The Plum Tree and the Rose, once again with Gerry O’Beirne producing and Trevor Hutchinson engineering.
The focus this time round is on Sarah’s own songwriting: nine of the thirteen tracks on the album are self-penned, three of these as co-writes with Gerry O’Beirne. O’Beirne also guests on the album, alongside Hutchinson on double bass, Bill Blackmore on trumpet and flugelhorn, Rod McVey on keyboards, violinists Máire Breatnach and Rosie Shipley, and percussionists Liam Bradley and Noel Eccles.
Title track ‘The Plum Tree and the Rose’, one of two tracks performed solo by Sarah on vocal and guitar, sets the twin themes of spiritual questioning and the relationship between soul and place – themes that are developed in a trio of songs inspired by buildings: ‘In Derby Cathedral’, ‘Hardwick’s Lofty Towers’ and ‘Kenilworth’.
Other originals include ‘Lift You Up and Let You Fly’, a poignant ballad about the pain of letting go, ‘The Sun Goes On Rising’, a bluesy rumination on hard economic times, ‘What Are We Going To Do’, a song whose old-school structure hearkens back to Golden Age songwriters like Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter, the wistful ‘So Much Rain’ and the six-part canon ‘In Gratitude I Sing,’ on which Sarah is joined by a chorus of guest vocalists – among them well-known Irish singer Niamh Parsons.
Canons are another running theme of the album: ‘In Derby Cathedral’ has a canon by way of a postscript, and one of the album’s four non-original tracks is ‘New Oysters New’, a three-part canon published in 1609 by Thomas Ravenscroft in his Pammelia: Mvsicks Miscellanie and sung here by McQuaid, Parsons and baritone Tom Barry.
Also on the menu are 16th century Elizabethan composer John Dowland’s ‘Can She Excuse My Wrongs’, which like the title track is a spare voice-and-guitar-only arrangement, ‘S’Anc Fuy Belha Ni Prezada’, a 13th century “alba” or dawn song in Old Occitan, and a cover of John Martyn’s ‘Solid Air’. The album is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2012.
Beth Wood
Tickets: $14 advance, $18 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
There must be something in the water.
That’s the inevitable phrase Beth Wood hears any time she talks about growing up in Lubbock, a high plains Texas town with a uniquely rich musical heritage that includes Buddy Holly, Natalie and Lloyd Maines, Mac Davis, and Joe Ely to name a few. Beth doesn’t remember the water tasting particularly funny, so all she can do is nod her head in agreement and say…”indeed!”
It was in Lubbock that this fiercely talented singer-songwriter began her musical journey. Beth’s family demonstrated extreme patience as they supported her classical studies in piano, violin, harp, and voice. With grandiose dreams of becoming a musician, a baker, or a cowgirl, Beth left west Texas to study voice and piano at Brevard College in North Carolina. She then moved on to another musically-blessed town, Austin, where she earned her degree in literature and picked up her first guitar. Living in Austin awakened Beth’s creativity, and it was there that she began writing songs and performing them in clubs and coffeehouses.
Inspired by an electric moment at a Rickie Lee Jones concert, Beth threw caution and her day-job to the wind to become a full-time musician. Twelve years, thousands of shows, seven albums, three cars, and numerous awards later, she has never looked back. Beth’s exceptional musicianship, crafty songwriting, and warm stage presence have been winning over audiences from coast to coast. “It’s really hard to not fall in love with Beth and her music,” writes one Texas music journalist. Thanks to a healthy obsession with words, an ability to drive long distances, an innate musical sense, and keen observational skills, Beth finds herself perfectly suited for the job of modern-day troubadour. This job has brought Beth many diverse opportunities beyond stage performance. She has taught creativity workshops to students young and old, shared her poetry at literary events, contributed to a literary journal, provided music for weddings, and done extensive vocal studio work. Beth also loves combining her love of sports and classical singing to perform our National Anthem for teams such as the Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Fort Worth Cats, and many others.
In February of 2008, Beth released her seventh independent CD Beachcomber’s Daughter aboard Cayamo, a seven-day Caribbean songwriters’ cruise featuring Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, John Hiatt, and many more. Beth collaborates with Dallas’s finest studio musicians on her self-produced Beachcomber’s Daughter, a mature work that elegantly captures Beth’s soulful and versatile voice, her thoughtful and thought-provoking songwriting, her knack for arrangement and song interpretation, and her musical versatility.
If you ask Beth to describe her music, she might just shrug. Some have called it folk, pop, folk-pop, country-folk, Americana, etc. Beth prefers to say it is soulful, organic, free-range, barefoot music delivered through a high energy communicator of joy. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram calls Beth “a superb singer-songwriter whose versatility discourages labeling. So, call it what you will, but listen with mind and heart wide open, and you may just find yourself transformed.
Cahalen Morrison & Huck Notari
Tickets: $10 advance, $14 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Acoustic roots music son
gwriter Cahalen Morrison has a gift for communicating the simple truths of folk music. He hand-crafts songs that sound timeless, and Cahalen clearly knows and loves the early American music from which he draws his inspiration. His guitar picking sounds like the laid-back playing you might have heard at Mississippi John Hurt’s fabled community BBQs back in the 1950s, with maybe a guest visit from Doc Watson. Morrison’s playing fuses the best of country blues and early country picking into an effortless foundation for his songwriting. And it’s his songs that truly shine on his new album, Old-Timey and New-Fangled.
It’s not uncommon for songwriters to tap into earthy, organic imagery to lend their songs a rootsy sound, in fact an entire genre of music was born from this recently, but what we like about Cahalen’s songs is how natural this imagery sounds with his music. He sounds like he’s lived the life and known the life and understands what it means to be connected to the land. Added to his songs, Cahalen’s playing on a multitude of acoustic instruments: mandolin, guitar, clawhammer banjo and slide guitar seems effortless. The fact that his album, “Old-Timey & New-Fangled” was recorded live with family and friends playing along yet sounds as polished as a studio album speaks to Cahalen’s mastery of acoustic music making.
A fixture of Portland, Oregon’s ever-growing roots music scene, Huck Notari has his own unique style of
timeless songwriting and beautiful acoustic guitar playing. After forming his band four years ago, Huck has been turning heads at home and abroad with his soft voice and earthy lyrics. His songs are honest and simple. They reflect his passion for living in the country and his hope for brighter days.
Originally from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Huck Notari made his way south to New Orleans as a young man, where he performed on the street as a Charlie Chaplin mime. He then moved west to Oregon where he joined *The Kitchen Syncopators*, a seminal country blues and ragtime band that also featured *Gill Landry* (now with Old Crow Medicine Show) and *Woody Pines*(now touring internationally with his own band).
Huck began his prolific songwriting journey while living alone in a little house in the Oregon countryside. Surrounded by the lush natural landscape, Huck poured his energy onto the page and set the course for his songwriting career. With the release of his second album, *Very Long Dream*, in 2009, Huck has been busy touring along the West Coast and through Ireland. This new album features a veritable who’s-who of Portland’s roots scene, but throughout, Huck’s earthy voice and soothing guitar/piano playing steer the music towards a gentler side of folk. *Very Long Dream* shows an artist with a firm grasp not only on the rich heritage of American folk music, but the same burning need for truth that originally built this heritage.
David Jacobs-Strain
Tickets: $12 advance, $15 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
David Jacobs-Strain is a slide guitarist and modern roots singer-songwriter whose musical journey begins in the wellspring of Delta blues but ranges far afield from there. In his mid-twenties, he already channels age-old wisdom and heartache with such dexterity, energy, and passion that you feel good, even about feeling bad.
He tours nationally and has numerous festival credits, which include the Strawberry Music Festival, MerleFest, the Lugano Blues to Bop Festival in Switzerland, the Newport 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 2008 and again in 2010 Boz Scaggs chose him to open for his summer tour.
Charlie Loesel
Tickets: $8 advance, $12 at the door.
Sorry, this show is completely sold out! No tickets will be released at the door.
Charlie Loesel is a versatile singer-songwriter with a country-blues voice and deft hand for the acoustic guitar. Loesel’s debut CD, Westfalia, chronicles six years of travels across the states in a Volkswagen camper. Westfalia covers a lot of American ground. Blues. Folk. Country. A craftsman at heart, Loesel ties it all together in songs about loving, drinking and dying.
Loesel developed his sound playing gigs around Traverse City, Austin, and Charlottesville. Starting out, he lived, camped and traveled in his Westfalia. The van was a songwriting retreat that carried Loesel on several trips across the United States. As a solo performer, Loesel mixed his upbeat originals with the cover material he was performing.
During an extended stay in Nashville, Loesel recorded his songs. The experience turned his focus from guitar to songwriting. Looking for a place to write away from the music business, Loesel moved to Seattle.
Loesel spent two years developing his material before hiring a studio band to record Westfalia. The project was mixed in NYC with an all-star lineup of sidemen to fill out the arrangements. The CD was independently released in May 2010 through Incochee Trail Music. Loesel tours and performs regularly in Seattle.
ThorNton Creek
Tickets: $10 advance, $14 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) features Thornton Bowman (songwriter, vocals, guitar) and Don Miller (guitar, mandola, cigar box creations, vocals).
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)
Aimée Ringle: Live Concert Recording
Tickets: $16 advance, $20 at the door
To purchase tickets, click here. Your ticket purchase includes a pre-ordered copy of Aimée’s new CD, to be recorded during the concert!
As a solo performer, Aimée Ringle has been lauded for her “caramel” voice, intricate guitar work, and rejuvenating lyrics. She has sung, played guitar and arranged music for most of her life. She has worked with fellow musicians, dancers, painters, photographers, actors, farmers, elders, children, and families – composing music for weddings, rites of passage ceremonies, dance, theatre, and film.
In the midst of her collaborations on other musicians’ work, Aimée was blessed with a pile of her own songs. These songs cover a wide range of emotional landscapes as diverse as those of her own travels and habitations across the United States – from the mountains and mesas of northern New Mexico to the bluff country of eastern Iowa to the misty forests of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
To hear some of Aimée’s music, check out her EP on iTunes here.
Rain City Tales & Tunes with Kathya Alexander, Ali Marcus, and Auntmama
Tickets: $9.00 advance, $12.00 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.
June 22nd’s show theme is the other side of the coin. When you flip a story over, what surprises do you find? What happens when you’re not sure which side is up, anymore? For the answers to these questions and more, we’ll turn to storyteller Kathya Alexander, singer/songwriter Ali Marcus, and as always, Auntmama. Scroll down to learn more about what’s in store!
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Kathya Alexander is a writer, actor, poet, playwright and dramatic arts teacher. She was a 2007 Writer-in-Residence at Hedgebrook and won the 2002 Fringe First Award for Black to My Roots at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for Outstanding New Production in Edinburgh, Scotland. Kathya’s writing has appeared in Colors Northwest Magazine and she is the author of Angel in the Outhouse, God the Mother: A Creation Story, and the God the Mother Calendar. Kathya’s plays include David & Jonathan (a modern day re-telling of the biblical story) staged at The Seattle Rep in February, 2008; Dream’n (adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream-2007); HumaNature (choreopoem-2007); Homegoing (2006); A Taste of Prison (about the criminal justice system-2005), Three Strikes on Trial (about the WA state Three Strikes Law-2004); Nappy Roots: A Fairy Tale (about hair and African American girls’ self-esteem); and Little Rock Nine (children’s play about the integration of Central High.
Kathya’s goal as a writer is to investigate how living in America affects her life and how her life is influenced by her culture. Most of the stories she’s written are fictionalized personal, social and political situations. Growing up in the south as a child in the 60s, the Civil Rights movement greatly impacted her life and continues to influence her writing. Her novel, Keep-A-Livin’, explores the familial and communal relationships of a Negro girl against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. The main character, Mandy, ponders how to be fully awake and authentic in a world that has rendered her vulnerable and invisible. Like so many young people, she makes decisions that will, ultimately, have a negative impact on her life, but that get her noticed – in all the wrong ways. The novel also explores the spirituality that was an integral part of Kathya’s childhood, especially the church and the spirit world that was an essential part of her early existence.
The Negro writers of her youth, particularly James Weldon Johnson and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, greatly influenced her with their use of iambic pentameter and rhyme. In many ways, they were the rap artists of their generation. The natural rhythms of their writing made their words sing from the page. Her entire novel is written with the rhythms and rhymes typified by these early writers. As resident playwright of Brownbox Theater, she also writes plays commissioned by the company. Because of her status with Brownbox, she is usually working on several projects at the same time. Her latest Brownbox creation was emotionalblackmale, a one-man play that had its debut at Seattle University in June. David and Jonathan is a modern-day retelling of the biblical story of the great warrior king and the man he loved more than he loved his own soul. David and Jonathan is her attempt at challenging the way the Black community perceives homosexuality, particularly homosexuality as it relates to the church.
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Ali Marcus hails from Anacortes, WA, bringing her guitar and suitcase of harmonicas all around America. Over the past seven years and seven albums, Ali has found many exciting musical adventures, such as singing with folk-legend Tom Paxton, hearing her music on NPR, and performing in CMJ. In the last year alone, she has opened for Dar Williams, performed at Seattle’s Triple Door, and had a topical song featured in the New York Times on Election Day. Her newest album, “The Great Migration,” received a 4-star review from Seattle Sound and rumor has it a new record is on the way towards the end of the year.
Catch Ali’s unique take on Americana music, filled with nostalgic 60′s folk influences, crystal-clear melodies bursting with stories to tell, and a Neil Young-meets-Nashville take on the harmonicas. Her performance will play out like a tour of the United States, from the dust bowl to the horse farms in Virginia and back out to the Pacific Ocean. With a voice like an old fashioned folksinger – loud, frank, vernacular – Ali might just make you stop and think a little bit more about the world we live in and the world we would like it to become.
All of Ali’s music is available on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon and many other sites. Please visit www.alimarcus.com for more information.
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Named Auntmama by a nephew of choice, Mary Anne Moorman gathers audiences u
p 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.
Rain City Tales & Tunes with Auntmama, Colin Isler, and Willie Weir
Tickets: $9.00 advance, $12.00 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.
June 15th’s theme is “You Win Some, You Lose Some,” featuring storyteller Willie Weir and singer-songwriter Colin Isler.
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Seattle native Colin Isler began playing music before he could read. As a 4 year-old Colin’s cello was almost larger than him, but as he grew older, and taller, his love for music also grew, prompting him to learn the guitar and
harmonica. Over the years Colin has performed and recorded a wide variety of music, from post rock to classical, with many different Seattle groups including The Head and the Heart, Post Harbor, Conrad Ford, Rebels &
Scientists, and The Tallest Building in the World. Most recently you can find him playing and singing with The Washover Fans, an American roots and folk group who released their debut album in May 2011. Colin, partnered with engineer and producer Steve Aguilar, co-owns and manages Bearhead Studio which recently relocated to a new recording and mixing space in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. When Colin is not making music he designs circuits and professional audio equipment.
www.colinisler.com
www.thewashoverfans.com
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Willie Weir has played the fools of Shakespeare and the nerds of musical comedy. He has worked as an actor, columnist, commentator, photographer, truck driver, bike courier, public speaker and tour guide.
He’s broken a couple of world records and way too many dishes. He has lived in Seattle for 25 years and lived in a billboard for 32 days. He’s received a couple of awards, but has thrown away all of his trophies. His wife’s name is Kat. His cat’s name is Deeter. He’s written two books (*Spokesongs* and *Travels with Willie*) and read a few more than that.
He shares a birthday with President Obama but rarely shares dessert.
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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.
Bluegrass Jam at Empty Sea
Thursday nights just got tastier.
To kick off summer right (and early!), Empty Sea Studios will add a little jam to our regularly scheduled bread & butter. We’re hoping to serve up the perfect blend of great tunes in an intentional, player-focused environment.
Calling all musicians!
Starting May 26th, Empty Sea will host weekly jam sessions, in rotating genres including bluegrass, old-time, and Irish traditional music. Facilitated skill-building sessions will precede each jam.
7:00 p.m. Facilitated skill-building session for musicians of all levels, $5 cash at the door. Each week, an experienced local instructor will cover a topic related to traditional music.
8:00 p.m. Open jam session, free of charge. Music genre varies from week to week.
Upcoming Schedule:
Thursday, June 2nd:
7.00 PM: Tune Workshop: This week we’ll be learning Saint Anne’s Reel and Old Joe Clark — and perhaps even Angeline The Baker depending on time… $5 to attend and learn with us!
8:00 PM: Bluegrass / Old-time Jam! Bring your fiddles, mandolins, guitars, banjos, dobros and basses and play traditional bluegrass and old-time music with us! No electric instruments, brass, or percussion, please!.
Open Seas: an open mic night at the Studio
Empty Sea Studios is not just for listeners.
Ever wondered what your voice would sound like amplified by the stellar acoustics at Empty Sea Studios? Have you been looking for a friendly space to try out your songs, stories, or poems on the mic?
On the first Wednesday of every month, beginning June 1st, Empty Sea Studios will host a brand new open mic night! Musicians, poets, and storytellers are welcome to take a spot on the stage.
Performers can bring two songs, poems, or stories to the mic, totaling up to ten minutes. Performance slots are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis – come early to get on the list. Musicians will be treated to valet parking for instruments, and some of the very best acoustics in town. Each month will present a featured performer, and as the monthly event gets rolling, we’ll be looking to the open mic to find our future features! This month, Amber Flame of Last of the Red Hot Mamas will take the featured slot.
Audiences are invited to kick back with a beer or soda and some snacks – and the door is only $5.
June 1st, doors open at 7:00 for sign-up, beverages, and snacks. Show begins at 8:00. Contact elaina@emptysea with questions. Can’t wait to see you there!
Namoli Brennet and Eric Himan
Tickets: $10 advance, $14 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Award-winning songwriter Namoli Brennet has been touring the country with her own brand of moody and inspiring folk since 2002. Touching on often poignant themes, her music and lyrics ultimately paint a vivid and redemptive portrait. She’s a breathtaking and moving performer, and her sweet, road-weary voice is as quick to deliver her wit and humor as it is a turn of phrase. A 4-time Outmusic award nominee, Namoli has also won the Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Award and was a finalist in the ISC songwriting competition. Her recent release ‘Black Crow’ garnered critical acclaim and was named one of KXCI FM’s top albums of 2010. Her music has been featured in the Emmy-award winning film “Out in the Silence”, which details the struggle of a gay teen growing up in rural Pennsylvania. She’s currently in the studio working on her 9th CD, scheduled for release in October 2011 on Flaming Dame Records.
Eric Himan is an award-winning nationally touring soulful/folk/rock artist based in the Tulsa area. Eric’s music has recently been featured on Sirius/XM’s Coffeehouse radio station with his song, “Save The Afternoon” (from his latest release, SUPPOSED UNKNOWN and version of the Simply Red classic, “Holding Back the Years*”. Since moving to the area, Eric has appeared on Tulsa radio (104.5 The Edge, KMOD), television (KJRH’s New Year’s Eve, KTUL’s Good Day Tulsa, CW’s Explore Tulsa), and in print media (Tulsa World, Urban Tulsa Weekly, Oklahoma Magazine). He has won top honors, Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year at Urban Tulsa Weekly’s Absolute Best of Tulsa Music Awards, Best of the Best in Oklahoma Magazine for 3 years, while nationally winning the Singer/Songwriter Awards and licensing his original songs to MTV, Vh1, Oxygen, and E! He has appeared in The Advocate, newspapers nationwide, and gained a working endorsement with Fender Guitars.
This show is presented by Ingersoll Gender Center. Namoli, Eric, and Empty Sea Studios will donate 10% of ticket proceeds to benefit Queer Youth Space.
Kora kana
Tickets: $10 advance, $14 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Kora kana is a new band playing ancient string music from West Africa, borrowing heavily from griot traditions, rural blues, and mountain music.
Band leader Tyler Richart initially traveled to West Africa to study percussion music with the master djembe player, Famoudou Konate, in 2002. After several weeks of intense study and practice, and then being asked by his teacher to find a more quiet hobby to appease the neighbors, Tyler took up lessons on the 21 string West African harp, the kora.
After learning the basic parts to a couple of songs from his first teacher, Sidiki Yayo, Tyler returned to the states and prepared for his next voyage, a six month trip the the heartland of the kora, The Gambia. Tyler then spent six months during the winter of 2002-2003 studying kora and singing in Brikama, The Gambia, with the family of kora master, Malamini Jobarteh.
A couple of years after his return to the US, Tyler spied a banjo hanging on the wall of a friend, and realized the banjo was a less civilized relative of the kora. Weeks later, his mother called to tell him that she had found one of these primitive drum-guitars at a garage sale, and was buying it for him. Tyler took up a feverish study of the instrument before recognizing it’s inherent limitations and moving on to the guitar and mandolin. In addition, Tyler started to try to sing like the self proclaimed King of Bluegrass, Jimmy Martin, and therefore won over many friends in the bluegrass and mountain music community. One of those friends, Cort Armstrong, had been steeped in the mountain blues styles of the Piedmont region, and was greatly influenced by the Reverend Gary Davis.
Tyler and Cort became fast friends and started playing and singing together. One late night on the porch, after a fair amount of imbibing, Tyler put away his mandolin and brought out his kora, and an old friend of Cort’s, Sean Divine, got out his harmonica. Cort tuned up his resophonic guitar, and the seeds of kora kana were planted. Over the next two years, Tyler would occasionally bring out the kora and show Cort and Sean a traditional song or two. In January of 2011, the final piece of band was added. Kia Armstrong added the upright bass and a badly needed touch of class to the band of haggard musicians. The group started working on arrangements, utilizing the vocal talents of the three men (who are all fantastic singers in their own right), and blending together the sublime vocal harmonies that kora kana has come to be known for.
Kora kana is a real treat for their audiences, blending Americana sensibilities and ancient Manding string music. Tyler sings with a strong emotive voice, tells amusing anecdotes about his travels, and a presents a healthy heaping of the cultural context and meanings of the songs of West Africa. Seeing this band play is a one of a kind experience.
Rain City Tales & Tunes with Mary Bue, Laurie Cox, and Auntmama
Tickets: $9.00 advance, $12.00 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.
May 20th’s show theme is about odd jobs. What have we done to get by, and how have our odd jobs changed us along the way? Read on to learn about the singers and tellers who’ll be treating you with their own stories, soon.
Mary Bue likes creaky clanky pianos and falling asleep playing guitar. She wants to sing to you about what she’s cooking for dinner or what she dreamt about last night. Sometimes carthartic, sometimes joyous and always bittersweet, this newly transplanted Minneapolitan is making a soft winter nest of music for you.
Blend the sound of Ben Folds’ joyous piano pop, Carole King’s earthy soul and Tori Amos’ quirky, intense intimacy and you’ll get an idea of what Ms. Bue sounds like. In her teenage days, songs were born out of locking herself in her bedroom with notebooks and her Fender Squire with a hot pink strap (ask her, she still has it). Eleven years later, the twenty-five year old Bue has been the recipiant of two artist residencies in Florida, nominated for Best Local Folk Act in Providence, RI, toured nationally, led songwriting workshops and independently released two full length albums with the third to be released April 7th, 2007 in Minneapolis. Her first album “Where the Monarchs Circled” (2001), was reviewed by Low’s Alan Sparhawk who said “While the last ten years have seen a good handful of new piano-and-voice artists who are endlessly mimicked, Bue has a unique feel of her own in her songs.” Her latest release is a mash of Mary’s songs and production; a bunch of wonderful musicians from Duluth and Minneapolis and a few super talented sound engineers: Eric Swanson (Sacred Heart – Duluth), Chris Mara (Nashville) and finally Mike Whitney & Tom Herbers from Third Ear Studio in Minneapolis.
This pixie haired troubador will soon be coming to a town near you since she’s paired up with Ripple Entertainment LLC and Cephalopod Records. And more songs are sure to come from her travels as she tends to write lots of poems on the road. Be sure to buy her a coffee or a nice glass of red wine next time she sings in your town!
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Laurie Cox is a humor writer, storyteller and essayist from Seattle. She is a dog walker, foster parent, ex-gay drop ou
t, former teacher and frequent performer on stages all around the Northwest. Laurie has read her gut-bustingly funny — and always earnest — stories on stages including The Moth, TumbleMe Productions, and Bent Writing Institute, where she taught writing classes for several years. Laurie’s fans include David Sedaris, who once sent her a post-card in exchange for a story.
Laurie’s chapbook, Don’t Be a Dogwalker, is full of terribly true tales from the trenches of a writer-turned canine-caregiver.
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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.
A voyage between chaos and order: Kora kana comes to Empty Sea Studios
Interview with Elaina Ellis, Empty Sea Studios.
Click here to purchase advance tickets for Kora kana.
Kora kana will play at Empty Sea Studios on Saturday. We invited band leader Tyler Richart to describe Kora kana’s original blend, and along the way, he told us more about the path he’s taken to a life in uncharted musical territory — including church roots and all-time favorite songs.
Kora kana brings a blend of musical traditions and genres to its sound. What are the primary ingredients, and how did this mix come about?
The primary ingredients are mostly defined by the musicians in the band. Sean Divine brings his background of playing urban blues on the harmonica, while Cort Armstrong is more fluent in rural blues from the Piedmont, and his extensive studies of Reverend Gary Davis’ style on the guitar. I’ve spent a lot of years studying West African music on the kora and percussion music, but am also comfortable playing bluegrass music, funk music, country music, and singing in those various styles. This mix came about by us experimenting with the kora, usually after I put away the mandolin for the evening. It’s a late night sort of music, a bit more meditative and laid back than the blues and bluegrass we were playing.
What kind of experience can first-time Kora kana listeners expect from a concert?
I think most listeners who aren’t familiar with the sound of the kora, a 21 string West African harp, will be surprised to hear how sophisticated the sound is, in spite of its primitive look. I think that people who are familiar with the kora may be surprised at how well it blends with resophonic guitar, upright bass, and harmonica. The vocal arrangements are also a bit different than most standard kora music. I’ve really taken care to try and make interesting harmony arrangements and song forms that move these traditional songs away from the standard versions African music aficionados may be familiar with.
Listeners can expect to really take a voyage between chaos and order. Our music is sometimes soft and soothing and moves into emotional and passionate phrases with complex polyrhythmic shifts. People regularly tell me after shows that they felt like they traveled somewhere in their mind as the songs unfold. Listeners can also expect to hear stories about the songs, and learn about the culture of the Mandingue people of West Africa.
It sounds like you’ve been interested in playing music since an early age – is there anything or anyone who sparked/encouraged that interest for you?
My mom recently told me that I was singing as soon as I learned to talk. I vividly recall being in church when I was very young, and understanding that when the “amen” part at the end of hymns came up, there were two chords, and that there were three notes in each chord. I’m very grateful for that early exposure to harmony, and hearing the alto and tenor parts being practiced at home surely helped me. My parents also pushed me to start taking piano lessons early on. My grandpa George was in a brother harmony singing group when he was a young man as well, and he used to pay me good money to learn a song and perform it for him, so I guess I got a bit of it from all sides. I’ve had some amazing music teachers along the way as well, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my drumming teacher, Famoudou Konate. His attention to beautiful tone is unparalleled.
What are the top five songs on your iPod?
I tend to listen to albums the whole way through, from start to finish. When I know just about every note on an album, I tend to move on to another album. I’ll give a shot at my five favorite songs all time, without necessarily trotting out my iPod.
The Anchor Song by Bjork – This has such beautiful saxophone harmonies and voice. Sparse and beautiful and with some challenging dissonance and resolution.
I Dreamed a Highway by Gillian Welch – This is about as pretty as anything I’ve ever heard. Beautiful and soft and slow, through and through.
Tubaka by Toumani Diabate – A stunning version of this traditional song. I can’t make it through this solo instrumental piece without crying. Toumani is the world’s greatest kora player, and one of the world’s most passionate musicians.
Moanin’ by Charles Mingus – What a hot mess this is! The horn ensemble playing on this makes my brain explode.
Wildflower Soul by Sonic Youth – A great example of chaos and order in music. This song by the legendary punk/experimental noise band ravels and unravels, twists you up and spins you around, but gives you reprieve with an occasional reassuring hug before sending back up that tall roller coaster hill again.
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To experience Kora kana — to listen for all of the influences that Tyler names above — grab a ticket and come to Empty Sea Studios for the May 21st, 8.00pm show. Click here to purchase advance tickets for Kora kana.
