This show is completely sold out!  Sorry, no tickets will be available at the door.

The Seattle Harp Duo started when internationally known soloists Harper Tasche and Beth Kollé met at a harp festival in 1996. They began performing together for corporate and individual clients in 2001, and that became the best possible excuse for them to explore making music with two harps, harp and flute, harp and bowed psaltery, and harp and voice.

Beth Kollé and Harper Tasche are multi-instrumentalists, arrangers, and high-level improvisers whose musicianship is informed by classical music training with honors. But it is the passion they hold for traditional Nordic and Celtic music which has shaped their solo careers, as well as their work as the Seattle Harp Duo. These two outstanding artists are splendid as soloists, and performing together their sound is richly woven and breathtakingly expressive.

Whether they are setting your feet a-tapping with traditional dance music, or creating an exquisite moment of timelessness with a haunting medieval ballad, the Seattle Harp Duo will make you smile, delight your mind, move your soul, and warm your heart.

Beth Kollé started arranging music for her toy piano at age four. Lessons on piano were followed by flute and voice, leading to a B.A. in music in 1976. Beth spent a year living in Norway, becoming fluent in the language, immersed in the music, and developing an enduring expertise in Norwegian folk dance. After years of performing Celtic, Nordic, and classical music with numerous other musicians, Beth was captivated by the beauty of the harp. She has shared her sensitive arrangements for “regular” and double-strung harp at folk harp festivals across the USA. Beth’s credits also include nine books of harp music and a critically-acclaimed debut solo harp CD; performances and recordings playing flute, whistle, harp, and singing with the groups Crookshank, Stone Circle, and Greensleeves; and leading two amazing folk harp concert tours to Scandinavia. Learn more about Beth at www.BethKolle.com.

Harper Tasche launched his composing and performing career by creating a video soundtrack for the US Forest Service in Alaska at age fourteen. After earning a B.Mus. degree in 1982, and composing works for a variety of instruments and voices, Harper unexpectedly met a small harp at an Early Music rehearsal and was completely smitten. Harper now holds a unique and prominent place in the folk harp world for his ground-breaking work with the small harp, cross-strung harp, and the buzzy bray harp. His credits include headline appearances at major folk harp events in the USA, Canada, and Ireland; over twenty recording projects and nine music books; international radio, television and feature film work; and the title “Millennium Harper of Washington State” from the Harping for Harmony Foundation. Learn more about Harper at www.HarpCrossing.com, and watch Harper’s videos (courtesy of International Artists) on YouTube.

Sorry, this show has sold out!

Some kinds of music are inherently age-inclusive. KidsAcoustic presents real music that parents can enjoy for its own sake, while the lively tunes and wonderful instruments draw kids in naturally.

For each concert, teacher and early string performer Shulamit Kleinerman joins forces with a duo partner from a folk or early music tradition. A personable forty-five minute program is followed by a hands-on opportunity for all the kids to try out our menagerie of instruments.

Joining Shula this month is not a duo musician but a dancer! Jamia Hansen-Murray turns Empty Sea into an eighteenth century ballroom, performing sprightly dances in a sumptuous period costume she made herself. Jamia is a regular performer with Seattle Early Dance, a seamstress to be reckoned with, and a woman of astonishing energy and good cheer. What is a gavotte, a minuet, or a bourrée anyway? Young music students will love finding out, and everyone (including the littlest ones) will be captivated by the fancy footwork and furbelows. Try on some baroque hats and costumes for boys and girls at the end. (Hint: Bring your camera!)

We’ll have mostly floor seating for this show, to clear some room for Jamia.

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.

Click here to purchase advance tickets.

Based out of Vancouver, BC, Viper Central is a six-piece acoustic string-band that takes that “high lonesome sound” to new places. All six band members contribute original songs, but won’t hesitate to deliver up their take on an ages-old mournful waltz or bring the house down with a barn-burning bluegrass standard. The band first came together through a love for the old timey sounds of such artists as Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe, Hazel Dickens, and the New Lost City Ramblers along with the more contemporary styles of acoustic innovators David Grisman, Béla Fleck, and David Lindley. Everyone brings a colourful resume and a unique sense of creativity to this collaboration. While the members of the band play significant roles in many other roots music projects (The Mountain Bluebirds, The Fugitives, The Blue Island Trio, Whiskey Jar, Headwater, Redgrass, Badgentina), the chemistry of the six members gives Viper Central a one-of-a-kind sound that will stick with you long after the show is over.

In the summer of 2008, Viper Central released their debut album, The Devil Sure is Hard to Please.  Blending instrumental prowess with innovative arrangements and creative vocal harmonies, the album showcases the diverse songwriting talents of every member in the band and is quickly earning them a place among the bands to watch for in Canada’s thriving roots music scene.  The band was also featured on the Whiskey Hollow Bound compilation album, which showcases six Vancouver bluegrass and old time bands and has been receiving rave reviews across the country since its release in 2007.

Charlie Beck, hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, is a highly accomplished musician. His mastery of guitar and banjo come from years of consistent study. He is well versed in jazz and swing, is an avid enthusiast of old American blues and string band music. His repertoire includes a bushel of traditional folk tunes along with many jazz numbers. A talented songwriter, Charlie’s original compositions combine modern approaches with traditional styles, giving his songs a unique sound. Charlie is an outstanding vocalist, and also plays brilliantly on fiddle.

Charmaine “Lady Li-Lei” Slaven, from Stevensville, Montana, is a gifted dancer, and her skill at traditional percussive buckdancing is phenomenal. She is also an adept rhythm guitarist, ukulele player, and vocalist. Her clear, strong singing style is reminiscent of the Carter family. She brings a fine repertoire of traditional ballads to the duet, along with several of her original works.

Click here to purchase advance tickets.

Shannon Stephens was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the daughter of a hymn-singing mother who played the piano with high heels and a hootenanny-hosting father with red pants and a sonorous Roy Orbison voice.  She learned to play the acoustic guitar during the particularly boring summer of 1992.  She moved to Michigan shortly thereafter, and met Sufjan Stevens at a concert.  She became the voice of the band Marzuki, a Celtic-inspired folk-rock ensemble comprised of Shannon, Sufjan, Matthew Haseltine and Jamie Kempkers.  Marzuki played a lot of shows in Michigan, and a few ill-fated shows in New York City.  They released two albums in the five years that they were together, all out of print.

Appearing with Shannon is The Marrying Type (Nathan Smurthwaite, Ryan Weaver and Benjamin Thomas-Kennedy.)

Growing up, Nathan Smurthwaite wasn’t allowed to listen to “new” music because it might be evil.  However, established artists like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were okay. It’s no wonder then, that blurring the line between light and dark is what he does best.  After fronting a metal band (The Abodox) for over 10 years, his new acoustic project, The Marrying Type, balances the scales while making use of all that dexterity won through playing metal.  ”Until Death,” The Marrying Type’s debut, marks Smurthwaite’s long-awaited re-emergence into the folk music scene.

In the late 1990s, Smurthwaite released an album of his acoustic songs under the title The Nathan Smurthwaite Affiliation.  It enjoyed great reviews, including one from The Tablet’s Sarah Baker, who raved that his “…unique blend of country and soft-alt folk will make you weep… This CD is an absolute delight.”

Smurthwaite’s illustrious guitar work and soft lyricism are joined live by subtle keyboard and bass touches, performed by Ryan Weaver (Stradhoughton Echo, Karol Karol) and Benjamin Thomas-Kennedy (Lesbian, The Abodox).  The resulting sound is darkly meditative, punctuated with bright guitar flourishes and joyful images of domestic life.

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Amongst red rocks, dry soil, and clear sky, Cahalen Morrison was reared on Hot Rize, Doc Watson, Norman Blake and Rory Block while running around in a diaper, trying (at times unsuccessfully) not to fall into patches of prickly pear.  Now, he’s got the ears for roots music. Hopping effortlessly from fingerpicking to mandolin, clawhammer banjo to lap slide guitar, Cahalen’s writing encompasses everything from punchy political commentaries, to soul warming serenades, branching out into instrumental rags and fiddle tunes, yet still retaining his subtle musical signature.

Though only 24, he is quite well traveled, having toured nonstop for 2 years.  In June of 2008, Cahalen debuted his first full length record.  Subcontinent has been applauded by his peers, and by spun regularly by DJs and fans across the country. After its release, Cahalen hit the road hard, not spending more than two weeks anywhere for a solid 13 months before taking a break. From Santa Fe to Seattle, New Orleans to Minneapolis, Nashville to Boston, he has played most every nook and cranny of this fine country.

In November of 2009, Cahalen released his second record, a live album entitled Old-Timey & New-Fangled featuring his father Dave Morrison on guitar and fiddle, Santa Fe fiddler Andy Cameron, and Jenny Fisher on harmony vocals. OT&NF was recorded live on August 14th, at the historic Western Jubilee Warehouse Theater in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado by Butch Hause (engineer for Norman Blake, Don Edwards, and Waddie Mitchell.)

Joining Cahalen will be Eli West, former singer and guitarist of the bluegrass band Loose Digits, playing musical chairs on clawhammer banjo, flatpicking guitar, and octave mandolin.

Due to capacity and fire code, 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.

When Angel Snow sings, she hands her heart to the listener, pouring out raw emotion through honest and introspective music. Her unique sound—classic Americana folk with a modern edge—provides a soulful backdrop for lyrics based on everything from personal experiences to vividdreams. The result of this passionate songwriting is her debut album, Fortune Tellers.

Angel settled in Nashville after spending five years traveling and performing, bringing her fervent sound to venues in New York, Atlanta, California, Wyoming, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Chattanooga.

Musical talent came naturally and easily to Angel growing up in tiny Chickamauga, Georgia. It was a third grade homework assignment to write several poems that gave her a first glimpse at her life’s path. Songwriting soon grew to be her most passionate artistic outlet. She recalls, “It was the only way I could truly find out who I was. It’s great when you finally have an idea of what life is about”… At age 15 she began playing guitar and putting music with the lyrics she had been working on for years. It was in high school that Angel began playing in talent competitions and anywhere else she was given the opportunity.

Angel, the youngest of three siblings, was named by her older brothers, who were five and three when she was born. Growing up, her brothers influenced her love for all kinds of music with their own varied tastes. While one brother liked old folk and classical music, the other brother brought home CDs by Faith No More and The Cure. Angel was influenced by all these styles and continues to embrace all genres, listing Leonard Cohen, Robert Smith, Thom Yorke, Otis Redding and Elliott Smith as her own favorite musicians.

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.

Appearing with Beth is Sarah Sample, who dishes up a plate of acoustic folk rock that is salty and sweet.  In an era littered with shoegazing introverts, tragically detached hipsters, and overly stylized pop tarts, she stands out like a big, beautiful sore thumb. She lets the audience in by witnessing to what is known and felt by most of us. And wrapping it up in a way we may never have heard- or felt- it before. Engaging, witty, real. The songs and the moment become everyone’s. Just ask audiences from Austin, Texas to Logan, Utah where Sarah has played coffeehouses, concert halls, amphitheaters, and street corners with artists like Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart, Peter Breinholt, Julie Hill, and Colors.

The last thing Sarah Sample wanted to make was just another folkie -girl-with-acoustic-guitar album. Sure, the songs were born as just an acoustic guitar and a voice. And, in the folk tradition she loves and respects so much, would likely be taken across America that way. But she didn’t want to document them that way. At least not this time.  Enter Scott Wiley (Bonnie Raitt, Tracy Chapman, Elliott Smith) and a new sonic palette. With plenty of reverence for the songs– because, after all, it’s all about the songs– they set out to take Sarah’s music into new territory. The album Never Close Enough is to Sarah Sample as “Flaming Red” is to Patty Griffin: a marked departure from a promising, acoustic debut but never too far away from her soulful folk roots.

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Carl Tosten has a passion for guitars that began when his father bought him his first guitar at age 11. From his early years in a small town in Eastern Washington, his playing centered around the electric guitar, performing with various groups and diverse styles ranging from country to rock to jazz. In the mid 1990’s, after years of eclectic listening and playing, he began to focus fully on the acoustic guitar, creating masterful acoustic fingerstyle compositions which combine alternate tunings, multiple capos, percussive body slaps and right-hand tapping.

Known for his expressive and energetic guitar style, Tosten has been described as an “acoustic one-man band.” His four self-produced solo recordings combine his unique and expressive guitar style with his strong and soulful voice. He writes songs layered with warmth, intelligence, oblique humor and acute observation of human nature. His dynamic vocals and rhythmic, percussive guitar style fill his performances with intense energy, stories and music — weaving a web of writing, singing and playing that captivates and inspires his audiences.

As an artist representative & traveling clinician for several major manufacturers — including Gibson, Dean Markley and Behringer — Tosten has had the opportunity to perform and conduct workshops and product demonstrations throughout the US and in Europe.

Tosten began his solo career in 1999 with the release of his first CD, The Kindness of a Stranger, which features 10 original acoustic guitar compositions, including 3 with vocal tracks. In 2001, his second CD, A Road Less Traveled, was released with 14 tracks of intricate acoustic fingerstyle guitar.   Tomorrow’s Perfect Plan, Carl’s 3rd CD, was released in the spring 2004 featuring 12 tracks of original songs with guitar and vocals. His 4th original recording, American Dream, released in 2006 also features his strong lyrics and introspective views on society, living, and love. The title track, “American Dream,” won 2nd place in the 2006 Woody Guthrie International Songwriting Competition. Carl’s instrumental work is featured on Guitar Masters Vol. 1 from Bohemian Productions.

Colt released his first solo album of original compositions in 2007,titled Straight Ahead.  The album prompted Associated Press reporter Gene Johnson to write, “Colt Valenti is a Seattle-based composer and guitarist who has trained with some of the finest classical guitarists in the world. Utilizing unconventional tunings, unorthodox techniques and a broad musical background provided by a quarter-century of study, Colt pushes toward a fresh musical target, and the result is a fresh sound that will appeal to other musicians and general listeners alike.”  Colt currently performs and teaches in Seattle, and is the founder and director of the Ballard Academy of Music and Dance.

Click here to purchase advance tickets.

There are things you should know about Jes Raymond. Her favorite word is wonder. She loves and laughs. She takes it too far, and she is not sorry.

Her songs have climbed mountains. They meditate on gravity, color and flight. They have gotten their hands as dirty as they get. They are a radio, forgotten in a treetop. They eat their bran cereal (they are good little songs). They are the small stories of our moments that become our days, that become our lives. And they are presented as they are lived, from a whisper to a wail.

Jes is a beguiling performer, combining her voice, poetry, and all the rhythm and sound one can juice from a guitar and feet. She notes her influences as country, old-time, swing jazz, rock and roll, bluegrass and folk. She is backed by Her Famous Band, headed up by Famous Jake (Jakob Breitbach) on fiddle and the Professor (Morgan Thompson) on acoustic bass.

She has performed solo, with Her Famous Band, and as a member of several ensembles including The Blackberry Bushes, and The New Prohibition Band.  She performs in acoustic houses, house concerts, galleries, pubs, cafes, street corners and festival stages. Wherever she is playing, there is a celebration, and an audience who hears a path from tradition to modern illuminations.

Charlie Beck, hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, is a highly accomplished musician. His mastery of guitar and banjo come from years of consistent study. He is well versed in jazz and swing, is an avid enthusiast of old American blues and string band music. His repertoire includes a bushel of traditional folk tunes along with many jazz numbers. A talented songwriter, Charlie’s original compositions combine modern approaches with traditional styles, giving his songs a unique sound. Charlie is an outstanding vocalist, and also plays brilliantly on fiddle.

Charmaine “Lady Li-Lei” Slaven, from Stevensville, Montana, is a gifted dancer, and her skill at traditional percussive buckdancing is phenomenal. She is also an adept rhythm guitarist, ukulele player, and vocalist. Her clear, strong singing style is reminiscent of the Carter family. She brings a fine repertoire of traditional ballads to the duet, along with several of her original works.

Click here to purchase advance tickets.

Some kinds of music are inherently age-inclusive. KidsAcoustic presents real music that parents can enjoy for its own sake, while the lively tunes and wonderful instruments draw kids in naturally.

For each concert, teacher and early string performer Shulamit Kleinerman joins forces with a duo partner from a folk or early music tradition. A personable forty-five minute program is followed by a hands-on opportunity for all the kids to try out our menagerie of instruments.

Lee Inman, one of Shula’s favorite collaborators, has been teaching and performing on the viola da gamba and cello in Seattle and the Midwest for over 30 years.

Together we’ll share music of the renaissance & baroque eras, traditional tunes from America and the British Isles, and even one of Lee’s delightful originals.

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.