Molly’s Revenge
Tickets: $12 advance, $16 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Molly’s Revenge is a dynamic, acoustic Celtic band known for its unique and infectious on-stage enthusiasm. The classic combination of bagpipes, whistle, fiddle, and song — set against a backdrop of guitar, bouzouki, and mandola accompaniment — guarantees an enjoyable experience for all fans of Scottish and Irish music. Their arrangements of traditional jigs and reels bring these dance tunes up to date with a driving, hard-edged accent that always leaves audiences shouting for more.
From epic sets on highland pipes and fiddle, to angelic folk songs over bouzouki and mandola, to ripping sets of Irish jigs and reels, the lads of Molly’s Revenge have expanded their range on their seventh release, “The Western Shore.” The new record was produced by John Doyle, a founding member of Irish supergroup Solas. Guest performers include percussionist Fraser Stone (Old Blind Dogs), John Doyle, and vocalist Moira Smiley (VOCO).
David Brewer has been playing whistle and four types of bagpipes for about 15 years. He studied in Scotland at the Ceolas Music School in South Uist under the tutelage of some of the best pipers in the world. His authentic and unique style of playing has earned him the reputation of being one of the most accomplished pipers on the West Coast. David has composed close to 200 traditional style tunes, many of which have appeared on recordings, independent films, and television.
John Weed is a classically-trained violinist who switched to playing Irish fiddle about 10 years ago. John lived in Ireland in 2000 and taught fiddle workshops at the Flowing Tide International Music School in Doonbeg, County Clare. He hones his skills annually by attending the Frankie Kennedy Winter School in Dunlewey, County Donegal where he has studied with Ciaran O’Maonaigh and Dermot Mcloughlin.
Pete Haworth grew up in the Blackburn area of Lancashire County, England, where he collected and sang the local folk songs. He brings an authentic vocal style, a very big bouzouki, and an unflagging sense of humour to the band. He and his family moved to California in 1982.
Stuart Mason has been collecting and performing traditional music for over 30 years. He has appeared on stage from Ireland to China performing Celtic, old time bluegrass, and his original compositions, which have won awards from the West Coast Songwriters Association. He leads workshops and classes in traditional music techniques at music festivals and camps.
Ryan McKasson, Ashley Broder & Dave Bartley
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Ryan McKasson, Ashley Broder & Dave Bartley are all quite well-known in their respective fields, but never before performed as an ensemble. This unprecedented collaboration on the Empty Sea stage will provide a night of music-making never before heard!
Ryan McKasson started his classical violin studies at the age of four and began his viola studies when he was fourteen. At the same time, he switched from classical violin to begin his traditional fiddle journey with the renowned fiddler and teacher, Carol Ann Wheeler. Under her instruction he explored a wide range of American and Celtic styles, but found a new passion in the music of his heritage, Scotland. In 1993 Ryan attended the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School for the first time. There he heard the fiddling of Alasdair Fraser and Buddy MacMaster, who have since been his greatest influences. In 1995, Ryan was winner of the National Junior Championship, and went on a year later to be the youngest winner of the National Scottish Fiddle Open Championship in Loon Mountain, New Hampshire. As a fiddler, Ryan has performed with artist Bobby McFerrin. He has also shared the stage with pop artists Elvis Costello, Beck, Bjork, Galvin Friday and composer Phillip Glass. In 2001 Ryan collaborated with fiddler Richard Greene and the Greene String Quartet in Los Angeles for the Harry Smith Project.
An accomplished classical musician, Ryan attended the University of Southern California in Viola Performance as a student of Donald McInnes. He has been awarded fellowships to many prestigious music festivals, including the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and the Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine.
Ashley Broder began her classical violin studies at the age of eight in Ventura County, California. Her violin teacher, Charl Ann Gastineau, also encouraged her to simultaneously learn mandolin where she became familiar with fiddle styles associated to the instrument. Ashley traveled the west coast competing in fiddle contests, winning several. In 2005, after studying classical violin and cello in college, she met fiddler Jamie Laval and the duo set off on a four year musical touring adventure that took them across the U.S. numerous times and to the U.K. Ashley has worked with renowned mandolinist Mike Marshall at the Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz, CA as well as helped organize his series The Mandolin Method Books. Now pursuing another passion, composition, Ashley is currently working on arranging singer-songwriter, Billy Jonas’, songs for orchestra.
Dave Bartley plays mandolin, guitar, cittern, and numerous other plucked string instruments in numerous bands. He has also written over 250 tunes, some of which are working their way into repertoires around the country. He can provide a quiet foundation, inject a fiery driving rhythm, or pull wicked licks out of thin air. His odyssey from flashy rock guitarist to classical musician to eclectic sideman to tunesmith filters through his fingers.
Dave has played mandolin onstage in the Seattle Opera in the 1999 and 2007 stagings of Don Giovanni and played steel-string acoustic guitar with the Seattle Symphony in 2004 for performances of Naive and Sentimental Music by composer John Adams, as well as mandolin for Mahler’s 7th and 8th symphonys with the same orchestra.
Viper Central w/ Squirrel Butter
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 at the door.
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.
Appearing with Viper Central is Squirrel Butter, the duo of Charlie Beck and Charmaine Li-Lei Slaven. Charlie and Charmaine began performing together in 2005 after meeting at the Portland Old Time Gathering and discovering that they lived merely blocks away from each other in Seattle. The pair began busking, and soon realized that their individual styles, sense of rhythm, and tendency towards the quirky and obscure blended well together. It wasn’t long before they began performing at venues off the street.
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.
Pearl Django
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Entering their fifteenth year of performing, Pearl Django continues to be one of America’s most respected and busiest Hot Club style groups. Though still strongly influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt, Pearl Django’s repertoire now includes many original compositions. Their music reaches out across the divides of taste to a wide variety of audiences. The band’s fervent followers include Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli fans, guitar enthusiasts (and guitarists!), lovers of string music, including bluegrass devotees, who relish nimble, clean, intricate picking, “world music” fans drawn to French and Gypsy accents, plus jazz buffs and aficionados of the new swing music. Transcending simple categorization, Pearl Django packs in enthusiastic audiences at dancehalls and nightclubs, at folk music festivals and jazz festivals alike.
Voted favorite area jazz band 2003,
by Seattle Weekly readers!
“Pearl Django play(s) gypsy jazz…and they do it with such verve, skill and pleasure that
they’re pretty much irresistible to jazz and non-jazz listeners alike.”
—Seattle Weekly
“Pearl Django: The gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt done to perfection!”
—Paul de Barros, The Seattle Times (2002)
Broken Blossoms
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 at the door.
Click here to buy advance tickets.
The beauty of Broken Blossoms is that they are both new and familiar, rooted in tradition, yet rejuvenated by unique arrangements—a happy convergence of traditional bluegrass, gospel, country blues, and folk-pop.
Broken Blossoms is the unification of a group of highly recognizable performers in Boston’s celebrated folk-music circuit—its members gathered by gifted songwriter and guitarist, Andy Cambria, in support of some the city’s most prominent singer-songwriters.
Cambria, mandolin player, David Goldenberg, bassist/hammered dulcimer wizard, Simon Chrisman and banjo player, Charles Rose, performed regularly throughout 2008. The group recruited friend and 2009 National Old-Time Fiddle Champion, Kimber Ludiker, just before the year drew to a close and recorded a four-song EP in early 2009.
Although the members of the band have impressive personal resumes, with performances on such legendary stages as Grey Fox, Wintergrass, The Birchmere, The Grand Master Fiddle Championship, Falcon Ridge and Club Passim to their credit, it is their strength and style as a unit that’s made an instant impact on Boston’s roots-music scene. Talent buyer, Geoff Bartley, operator of Boston’s bluegrass Mecca, The Cantab Lounge, describes them thusly: “Every time I hear this band, they’re tighter, deeper and more poised. The sultry vocals and refined songwriting, steeped in traditional roots and bluegrass, vault the group into another category. Look out—these folks could become well-known very fast.”
Folklife Masters: Kevin Burke & Mark Graham
Tickets: $35 advance / door
Note: The first concert in the Folklife Masters series sold out very quickly. Don’t lose your chance to claim a seat at this one-of-a-kind venue!
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Northwest Folklife and Empty Sea Studios are proud to present the second concert in the 2009 Folklife Masters concert series.
Folklife Masters presents one-of-a-kind concerts which bring master musicians from different traditions together to collaborate and inspire on stage. In our intimate 45-seat listening room, every nuance of these masters’ performances can be savored.
A portion of the proceeds go directly to support Northwest Folklife.
Kevin Burke & Mark Graham
Master Irish fiddler Kevin Burke joins old-time harmonica wizard Mark Graham for an evening of kindred acoustic music. Kevin Burke and Mark Graham founded the popular group Open House in the 1990s, along with percussive dance master Sandy Silva and mandolinist Paul Kotapish. The group was an instant hit, signed to Green Linnet records, and toured extensively. Their blend of old-world and new-world melodies with Mark’s tongue-in-cheek songs, all anchored by Kevin’s dazzling fiddling, was a wonderful mélange and Open House became a seminal group in the traditional music scene. Following the band’s breakup in 1999, Kevin Burke went on to become a National Heritage Fellow (our nation’s highest honor for traditional artists) and to tour with Celtic Fiddle
Kevin Burke
Festival and various guitar masters. Mark founded the Kings of Mongrel Folk with Orville Johnson and released a definitive album of Southern old-time music on harmonica.
Kevin Burke’s partnership with Mark Graham enabled both artists to explore their diverse influences and their love of the West Coast’s musical melting pot. Kevin has made his home in Portland, Oregon for more than 25 years, and Mark was born and raised in Seattle and Renton. Both artists draw from Celtic and Americana sources, as well as Eastern European and South American traditions. Playing together, the fiddle and harmonica blend effortlessly and these masters convey both a deep respect and a great irreverence for their traditions.
Kevin Burke: Master Irish Fiddler
Considered by many to be the greatest living Irish fiddler, we have been uncommonly fortunate to have Kevin Burke as a Northwest resident for the past 30 years. His smooth bowing, virtuosic ornaments, and masterful interpretations of Irish tunes have made him an inspiration to three generations of Irish traditional musicians. He has collaborated with artists as diverse as Christy Moore, Kate Bush and Arlo Guthrie. In 2002, he was granted a National Heritage award; this award is the highest honor our nation bestows on traditional artists. He is now in the company of luminaries like Earl Scruggs, Clifton Chenier, Doc Watson and B.B. King.
Born in London, Burke’s family came from County Sligo in Ireland and his playing retains the dazzling ornaments and smooth bowing of this Irish county. Kevin Burke has been a member of the seminal Bothy Band, as well as Patrick Street, Open House, and Celtic Fiddle Festival, and he has recorded landmark albums with Irish artists like Jackie Daly and Michael O Domhnaill. It is his solo fiddling, however, that holds such a draw for traditional music aficionados. Burke is able to touch the inner depths of Irish music, drawing unheard of subtleties from traditional tunes. His sensitivity to the music is best explored in an intimate, house concert setting, and we are very proud to be able to offer just that.
Mark Graham: Southern Old-Time Harmonica & Topical Songs
Mark Graham (by Mimi Torchia Boothby)
One of the few harmonica players schooled in the melodic and rhythmic intricacies of Southern string band music, Mark Graham plays in a powerful but lyrical, blues tinged style that recalls the feel of the finest banjo and fiddle playing. With over 35 years of harmonicizing, Graham has gained an encyclopedic knowledge of American country and blues styles. As a member of the Hurricane Ridge Runners in the 1970s and Boston’s Chicken Chokers in the 1980s, Graham helped set the standard for hell-raising Southern old-time string band music. As a member of the acclaimed world music ensemble, Kevin Burke’s Open House, he brought new respect to the harmonica in Celtic and world music. Graham is equally as well known for his songwriting as for his harmonica. His songs speak of a singular universe of surreal mountain hilarity and lonesome terror that covers the big subjects. Graham is the author of dozens of comic gems such as “I Can See Your Aura and It’s Ugly”, “Zen Gospel Singing”, and “Life is Hard When You’re Dumb.” His songs have been covered by artists such as Danny Barnes, The Austin Lounge Lizards, Brian Bowers, and The Limelighters.
Lissa Schneckenburger
Tickets: $13.00 in advance, $15.00 at the door
This show will sell out quickly – advance tickets are highly recommended!
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
“World class fiddler… far from just offering one dance tune after another, simple settings allow the true beauty of the music to shine through” – Sing Out
The traditional music of New England can be as warm and comforting as a winter fire or as potent and exhilarating as a summer thunderstorm. Fiddler and singer Lissa Schneckenburger is a master of both moods, a winsome, sweet-voiced singer who brings new life to old ballads and a skillful, dynamic fiddler who captures the driving rhythm and carefree joy of dance tunes old and new.
Raised in a small town in Maine and now living in Vermont, Lissa grew up with music. She began playing fiddle at the age of six, inspired by her mother’s interest in folk music and a family friend who was a professional violinist. Soon she was studying with influential Maine fiddler Greg Boardman and sitting in with the Maine Country Dance Orchestra. By the time she was in high school she was playing concerts on her own, specializing in the sprightly New England dance tunes that combine influences from the British Isles and Quebec with homegrown twists that have been evolving since Colonial days. Another of her major influences was the diverse musical community that she found at fiddle camps, where she had a chance to play with and learn from a wide variety of musicians including noted Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. In 2001 she graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a degree in contemporary improvisation, and since then has been performing around the US and internationally for a growing audience of enthusiastic listeners. She has recorded seven CDs, (four solo and three with various groups).
Lissa’s fiddling is uplifting and lively, and her singing is gentle and evocative. Both in concert and in the studio she is regularly accompanied by some of New England’s best musicians, including guitarists Keith Murphy and Matt Heaton and double bassist Corey DiMario.
Sarah Sample & Kate Graves w/ Michael Connolly
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Sarah Sample 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.
Kate Graves writes little songs….little songs that are raw. She tries to spread them around like wildflower seeds. She 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.
Appearing with Kate is Empty Sea’s own Michael Connolly, a versatile southern-born multi-instrumentalist whose fiddle, mandolin, and accordion have shared the stage with Coyote Grace, Captain Gravel, Korby Lenker, the Barbed Wire Cutters, and the Indigo Girls.
Kate and Michael share tight harmonies, beautifully understated phrasing, and the love of a good novelty song.
Alex Caton w/ Sabra Guzman
Tickets: $10.00 advance, $12.00 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
In celebration of her new CD, Music For The Sinners and The Saved, Virginian Alex Caton is hitting the trail with West Coast’s own Sabra Guzman. Alex and Sabra will take you to the other side and back with driving fiddle tunes, haunting clawhammer banjo, down-home mountain songs and uplifting gospel numbers. They infuse their musical roots with the lonesome sounds from the hollers of Virginia for shows that are original, exciting, intensely personal and always traditional.
Alex Caton first put a bow in her hands at the age of four and played violin through her college years at Binghamton University. As her interest in Irish and Old Time music grew, she changed her tunes (and her instrument name) and began playing and teaching fiddle on the side. But it wasn’t until she moved to the Charlottesville, VA area to work on a PhD in Anthropology that she found her true calling. Alex fell in love with the music scene in Charlottesville and soon cast aside her career as a professional archaeologist (she worked up and down the East Coast of the United States, as well as in West Africa) to focus on fiddle music full-time. Since 2001, Alex has lived in Gordonsville, VA, teaching Irish, Old Time and Gypsy music out of her home and playing with a wide variety of local groups including the Irish band, The Ryegrass Rollers.
Folklife Masters: Dirk Powell & John Doyle
Tickets: $40 advance / door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Northwest Folklife and Empty Sea Studios are proud to present the first concert in Folklife Masters, a new acoustic music concert series.
Folklife Masters presents one-of-a-kind concerts which bring master musicians from different traditions together to collaborate and inspire on stage. A portion of the proceeds go directly to Northwest Folklife.
Dirk Powell & John Doyle
Old-Time and Cajun meet the Irish tradition
Currently on tour as Joan Baez’s backing band, fiddler/banjoist/singer Dirk Powell and guitarist/singer John Doyle will make their way over to Empty Sea after their sold-out ZooTunes gig to present a very special evening of traditional acoustic music.
Dirk Powell’s roots lie deep in the Appalachian mountains, and his recordings and collaborations have been an inspiration to many old-time and bluegrass musicians. John Doyle is one of the greatest living Irish guitarists, and his work with Irish super-group Solas created a whole new style of guitar accompaniment in the Irish tradition. Both of these master musicians are known as much for their innovations in traditional music as for their commitment to the music of their ancestors. Dirk and John are both amazing producers and arrangers, able to rebuild a traditional song or tune from the ground up, imbuing it with new life and energy while never losing sight of what made it so special in the first place. Our greatest hope for traditional music in a new century lies in musicians like Dirk Powell and John Doyle, for they can speak between generations and across divides.
Dirk Powell (fiddle, banjo, accordion, guitar, voice)
Dirk Powell has expanded on the deeply rooted sounds of his Appalachian heritage to become one of the preeminent traditional American musicians of his generation. In addition to acclaimed releases on Rounder Records, he’s recorded and performed with artists such as Loretta Lynn, Sting, Jack White, Levon Helm, Jewel, T-Bone Burnett, Tim O’Brien, Ralph Stanley, and Linda Ronstadt, among others. Dirk founded the Cajun group Balfa Toujours with his wife Christine Balfa and is currently Artistic Director of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. His ability to unite the essence of his culture with modern sensibilities has led to work with many of today’s greatest film directors, including Anthony Minghella, Spike Lee, Ang Lee, Victor Nuñez, Steve James, and Edward Burns.
In his early teens, Dirk formed a musical bond with his grandfather, James Clarence Hay of Sandy Hook, Kentucky, and discovered a personal resonance with traditions that stretch back to Scots-Irish ancestors who came to the mountains in the middle of the 18th century. Dirk learned banjo and fiddle firsthand in continuation of this line. He is equally adept on both instruments, as well as guitar and Cajun accordion. His ability as a multi-instrumentalist has made him one of the most in-demand musicians in traditional American music, and his ability to bring obscure songs and tunes from our distant past into our present has made him an innovator in any number of musical genres. Dirk Powell displays a vibrant creative energy that crosses boundaries while remaining grounded in the rural traditions of his heritage.
John Doyle (guitar, voice)
John Doyle’s gifts as a guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, and producer have played an essential role in the ongoing renaissance of Irish traditional music. As a member of Irish-American supergroup Solas, Doyle pioneered a rhythmic, sophisticated approach to Irish guitar accompaniment, setting a new standard for the instrument. Preserving the tasteful simplicity of tradition, Doyle nonetheless added a contemporary edge, finding fresh life in even the most well-worn of tunes. His playing encompassed hard-driving strumming, inventive chord voicings, precise single-note runs, and powerful rhythmic effects borrowed from traditional instruments such as the bodhran and fiddle.
Born in 1971 in Dublin to a family of musicians and singers, John Doyle was surrounded by traditional music from his earliest years. His father Sean is a remarkable singer and collector of songs, with a vast repertoire of traditional ballads committed to memory. Tommy Doyle, John’s Co. Sligo grandfather, taught him his first instrumental tunes. Two of his three brothers are musicians, as are various uncles, cousins, and other family members. John was playing professionally by the age of 16, and soon moved to New York City, where he began playing with Eileen Ivers and Seamus Egan. He first rose to international prominence with Solas (Gaelic for “light”), the all-star Irish/American band whose emergence heralded the arrival of a new generation of bold, inventive traditional musicians. Now an accomplished producer as well, Doyle has worked with such artists as Liz Carroll and Heidi Talbot. While with Solas, the guitarist also shared stages and studios with Frank McCourt, Linda Thompson, Kate Rusby, Mick Moloney, Brian Conway, Joannie Madden, James Keane, Karan Casey, and Cathie Ryan. He continues to innovate, finding the seeds of his contemporary approach within the tradition itself.
Duo photo by Emma Vasseur.
