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Take a walk down the Country Road of Music with a great collaboration of local musicians as they present a history of this popular music genre. Always a highlight of our performance series schedule, the lineup brings many of our musical friends back to the venue and presents many new participants as well.
Join us for an afternoon of great entertainment and support our local arts center; keeping the live arts alive in the North Country!
Tickets: $15 all seats
The North Country Chamber Players will present their ever-popular “Winterlude” concerts on Saturday, February 15, at 4 p.m. at the Sugar Hill Meeting House, and on Sunday, February 16, at 3 p.m. at Court Street Arts at Alumni Hall in Haverhill. This year’s program will feature Romantic Era masterpieces by Gabriel Faure and Antonin Dvorak, and the brilliantly energetic and good-natured Piano Trio in Eb, Op. 1 No. 1 of Ludwig von Beethoven. This Trio was Beethoven’s first published piece and will kick off a year-long celebration of the 250th Anniversary of his birth.
The concerts will open with Dvorak’s charming, and surprisingly lush Terzetto for two violins and viola, and will conclude with Faure’s beloved Piano Quartet in C minor, a piece that is romantic to its core, filled with delicate sparkle, songful melodies and an impassioned climax.
Now in their 42nd Season, the North Country Chamber Players have been described by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts as “one of the outstanding cultural resources in the state of New Hampshire,” and a critic from the Boston Musical Intelligencer lauded them as “a sophisticated group of experienced, passionate, focused, and obviously talented musicians.” Violinist Curt Macomber, a long-time Chamber Player favorite, who has been praised by the New York Times for his “thrilling virtuosity” and by Strad Magazine for his “panache,” will join Chamber Players members Bernard Rose, piano, Ronnie Bauch, violin, Ah Ling Neu, viola, and Chris Finckel, ‘cello.
Tickets for these concerts cost $25 if purchased in advance, on-line or by calling (603) 444-0309, or may be purchased at the door for $30. Students, age 18 and under, are admitted free of charge. Visit www.northcountrychamberplayers.org for further informatioion.
Modern old-time sounds for those who love bluegrass and folk, that’s how the Lonesome Ace Stringband describes their music. The Great North Woods Committee for the Arts is hosting the band at a concert on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at the Rialto Theatre, starting at 7 p.m.
The Lonesome Ace Stringband is an old-time band with Bluegrass chops that play some righteous folk and country music. There’s a depth of groove and sense of space not often heard in bluegrass today, a level of instrumental interplay and vocal blend uncommon in old-time, and an on-stage rapport that transcends all of this.
Three Canadians lost in the weird and wonderful traditional Country music of the American South, the band members Chris Coole (on banjo), John Showman (on fiddle) and Max Heineman (on bass) are each journeyman musicians and veterans of some of Canada’s top roots music acts (New Country Rehab, The David Francey Band, The Foggy Hogtown Boys, Fiver).
The band has toured internationally, been engaged at some of the largest festivals in North America and Europe (including Merlefest, Rockygrass, Wintergrass, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, Gooikorts, John Hartford Memorial), and recorded four albums. On the first two albums, “Old Time” (2014), and “Gone For Evermore” (2016) the band leaned heavily on the traditional old-time cannon to express what it needed to say musically. In 2018, with the release of “When the Sun Comes Up,” the band showcased its songwriting and studio savvy, offering up a more progressive interpretation of old-time music, and taking its sound to new places. All three albums have been embraced by both fans and critics alike.
The fourth album, “Modern Old-Time Sounds for the Bluegrass and Folksong Jamboree,” showcases the band’s musical range, interpretive skills, and instrumental/vocal “chops blended with maturity.”
Tickets for the Lancaster show are $18 per person will be available at the Rialto Theatre, online at www.gnwca.org, or at Fiddleheads on Main St. in Colebrook. For more information on this and other GNWCA events, call 246-8998, visit www.gnwca.org or find the GNWCA on Facebook.
A great combination of piano and native flute, Dan Kennedy and David Rose combine their talents to present an afternoon of Native American music with a contemporary twist.
To hear a sample, please click here.
All seats: $15
Get ready for some hot Latin jazz! Adonis Puentes’ rich, soulful voice is the perfect front for his all-acoustic orchestra, layering traditional Cuban rhythms with deep bass lines, jazzy horns, and his melodic guitar. A Grammy-nominated vocalist and composer from Cuba who weaves passionate, hypnotic Salsa and Cuban Son melodies through jazz arrangements, Puentes and the Orchestra create a worldly experience that is as emotive as it is danceable!
“Original compositions richly imbued with tradition; superb arrangements with an international flavor; a world class band that delivers with great precision; witty, intelligent lyrics inspired by everyday life and by the greatest power of all: Love.” —Latin Jazz Network
The youngest of 14 children, born in Arkansas and raised in Southern California, Iris DeMent spent her childhood immersed in gospel and traditional country music. Beginning with her 1992 debut, ‘Infamous Angel,’ which was hailed as “an essential album of the 1990’s” by Rolling Stone, Iris DeMent released a series of stellar records that established her as “one of the finest singer-songwriters in America” according to The Guardian. The music earned her multiple Grammy nominations, as well as the respect of peers like John Prine, Steve Earle, and Emmylou Harris, who all invited her to collaborate. Merle Haggard dubbed her “the best singer I’ve ever heard” and asked her to join his touring band, and David Byrne and Natalie Merchant famously covered her “Let The Mystery Be” as a duet on MTV Unplugged. NPR called her “one of the great voices in contemporary popular music” and The Boston Globe hailed her work as “a work of rare, unvarnished grace and power.”
“Iris DeMent makes music that celebrates humanity’s efforts toward salvation, while acknowledging that most of our time on Earth is spent reconciling with the fact that we don’t feel so redeemed. Grounded in hymns, early country songs, gospel and folk, DeMent’s work is treasured by those who know it for its insight and unabashed beauty.” —NPR
Bluegrass and Hip-Hop may sound like an odd combination, but don’t tell that to Producer Rench, who birthed the fusion in 2006, with Gangstagrass. “There are a lot more people out there with Jay-Z and Johnny Cash on their iPod playlists than you think.” says Rench, who had previously made a name for himself as an in-demand Brooklyn country and hip-hop producer and singer/songwriter. He should know – he’s toured the country with a band of bluegrass pickers and hip-hop emcees to the delight of standing room crowds everywhere.
When FX Network came to Rench looking for the Gangstagrass sound for the theme song to their new series Justified, he had bluegrass players lay down an original track with rapper T.O.N.E-z, the younger brother of early hip-hop legends Special K and T-LaRoc. The result was “Long Hard Times To Come,” the song that opened every episode of six seasons of the hit series. “Long Hard Times To Come” was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2010, contending for best theme song after critical praise and massive fan response.
The same live bluegrass band approach was used to make Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic, a full length album of with T.O.N.E-z, the emcee featured on the Justified theme song. Two years later the Gangstagrass sound was expanded with the release of Rappalachia, a 15 song album featuring a variety of rappers, including Kool Keith, Dead Prez, Nitty Scott MC, T.O.N.E-z, BROOKLYN35, R-SON, and Dolio The Sleuth. Country singers Brandi Hart from the Dixie Bee-Liners and Jen Larson added gritty harmonies alongside Rench’s choruses. Broken Hearts and Stolen Money was released in 2014 featuring performances by legendary rap team Smif-N-Wessun, Juno award winning rapper Liquid (of BranVan 3000), Brandi Hart of the Dixie Bee-Liners and Alexa Dirks of Chic Gamine in addition to the now regular crew of emcees and pickers. The album received universal critical acclaim including the Boston Globe labeling the raucus single Two Yards “essential.” A fourth official album titled American Music was released in April 2015. Featuring a collection of standout original cuts and traditional folk anthems the band once again broke new ground, while also paying tribute to their cast of American songwriting heroes, and debuted at #5 on the Billboard bluegrass charts.
Gangstagrass has toured internationally, blowing minds on main stages from SXSW to Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, with a live stage act taking full advantage of the improvisational aspects of both hip-hop and bluegrass. With two emcees R-Son and Dolio The Sleuth trading verses, Dan Whitener on Banjo, Landry McMeans on dobro, and Rench on guitar, and frequent 3 part harmonies, the Gangstagrass live show has garnered a reputation among fans for its dynamism and spontanaety. Currently touring across the US, Gangstagrass is using live performances to organically develop new material for an album that will further explode the boundaries between genres generally thought to be incompatible.
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, “the king and queen of the banjo” (Paste Magazine), have a musical partnership like no other. Béla Fleck is a fifteen-time Grammy Award winner who has taken the instrument across multiple genres, and Abigail Washburn a singer-songwriter and clawhammer banjo player who re-radicalized it by combining it with Far East culture and sounds. The two met at a square dance, began collaborating musically and eventually fell in love. Over the years, they played together most visibly in the Sparrow Quartet alongside Ben Sollee and Casey Driessen and informally at a pickin’ party here, a benefit there, or occasionally popping up in each other’s solo shows. Fans of tradition-tweaking acoustic fare eagerly anticipated that Béla & Abigail would begin making music together as a duo.
Fleck has the virtuosic, jazz-to-classical ingenuity of an iconic instrumentalist and composer with bluegrass roots. His collaborations range from his ground-breaking standard-setting ensemble Béla Fleck and the Flecktones to a staggeringly broad array of musical experiments. From writing concertos for full symphony orchestra, exploring the banjo’s African roots, to jazz duos with Chick Corea, many tout that Béla Fleck is the world’s premier banjo player. Washburn has the earthy sophistication of a postmodern, old-time singer-songwriter who has drawn critical acclaim for her solo albums. She has done fascinating work in folk musical diplomacy in China, presented an original theatrical production, and has contributed to singular side groups Uncle Earl and The Wu-Force. In addition to being named a TED Fellow in 2012, Abigail was recently named the first US-China Fellow at Vanderbilt University, in addition to Carolina Performing Arts/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s DisTil Fellow for 2018-2020
With one eye on using the banjo to showcase America’s rich heritage and the other pulling the noble instrument from its most familiar arena into new and unique realms, Bela & Abigail meet in the mean, head-on, to present music that feels wildly innovative and familiar at the same time. Whether at home, on stage or on record, their deep bond, combined with the way their distinct musical personalities and banjo styles interact, makes theirs a picking partnership unlike any other on the planet.
Fueled by the belief that classic jazz feeds the heart and soul, THE HOT SARDINES are on a mission to make old sounds new again and prove that joyful music can bring people together in a disconnected world.
In the last two years, the Hot Sardines have been featured at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreal Jazz Festival, have sold out NYC venues from Joe’s Pub to Bowery Ballroom, and have released two albums to critical raves and a No. 1 slot on the iTunes Jazz chart in the U.S. and internationally.
These mischief-makers of hot jazz have been described as “potent and assured” (The New York Times) and “simply phenomenal” (The Times, London). “Everything in our DNA is about connecting with the audience. That’s where we feel most at home,” says Elizabeth, of playing live with the eight-piece band (including one wildly percussive tap dancer).
The Gawler Family is a fun-lovin’ folk-singin’ family from Maine. Ellen, John, Molly, Edith Elsie Gawler and Bennett Konesni bring you an assortment of old and new sounds from many folk traditions. Admission $10/Students $5.