2008 - 2009 SCHEDULE
September 19, 2008 - Dan and Bonnie Milner - Dan Milner and Bonnie live in NY and are favorites of Pinewoods, the NYC folk club. Dan sings regularly at the South Street Seaport Museum. His wife, Bonnie, sings with The Johnson Girls, a terrific, all-woman singing-group that is keeping the sea shanty tradition alive.
Dan sings songs that paint historical portraits--times, places, ships, customs, and characters in the Irish and sailing traditions, sometimes tragic, sometimes humorous, but always entertaining. You may own a copy of his Folk Legacy album, Irish Ballads and Songs Of The Sea. Lou Killen on concertina and Mick Moloney on mandolin back Dan on that album, which also contains an a cappella version of The Loss of the Ship, Jane Maria, a solemn tribute to sailors and passengers lost at sea while fleeing the Irish famine of the 1840s. Be prepared for lots of chorus songs. To hear sample music, check out www.myspace.com/geomusicology
October 17, 2008 - Jeff Warner – Jeff is an old favorite of ours who hasn't performed in Princeton since he was here with Jeff Davis in December of 1993. As a son of the famous folk musicologists Frank and Anne Warner, Jeff has been caught up in the folk world, learning to play many instruments and sing folksongs since he was a baby. Jeff traveled with his parents, who were collecting traditional American music for the Smithsonian collection.
Jeff is a Folklorist and Community Scholar for the New Hampshire Council on the Arts. He has been named an Arts Council Fellow for 2007 and is on the Speaker's Roster for the New Hampshire Humanities Council. He has toured nationally for the Smithsonian Institution and has recorded for Flying Fish / Rounder and other labels. Jeff's 1995 recording Two Little Boys: More Old Time Songs for Kids received a Parents' Choice Award.
November 21, 2008 - Bryan Bowers – March of 2007 featured a severe snowstorm. Only eighteen people showed up to hear the amazing autoharp player and singer Bryan Bowers, but ever-gracious Bryan thanked those of us who were there. He told us that he was grateful to us for showing up and he was honored that anyone at all braved that storm to hear him, and he did a wonderful performance for that intimate little group. Bryan, who is originally from Virginia, was once a street musician in Seattle, so playing to small groups of people was not foreign to his experience. He was so great that we are bending our rules a little to bring him back four months earlier than is our normal minimum return time.
December 12, 2008 - Don White – This will be an unusual concert for us. Don is a singer/songwriter. We have had funny performers before, but it is probably fair to say that Don is a comedian and storyteller first, and a musician second (I hope he doesn't mind my saying that). His website is full of reprints of letters from audience members who say things such as, "I laughed, I cried. Not sure I like you any more, making me cry in front of my wife like that."
Don has performed at the Prallsville Mill in John Weingart's concert series, so if you are a Music You Can't Hear On the Radio fan, you may have seen him at the Mill. John likes him. That's a good recommendation.
January 16, 2009 - Bruce Molsky - Bruce is a fiddler, a very good fiddler. He also plays the banjo, and he sings. Playing the banjo while singing is not so unusual, but Bruce also sings while playing the fiddle, and he is really good at it. His style is usually described as Appalachian, although Bruce's repertoire is broader than that. He is also very good at explaining and describing the history of the music. Although he is originally from the Bronx, Bruce is a real folk musician.
Siobhan Long of The Irish Times (Dublin) wrote: "His urbane introductions reveal a musician who savors the source of the music, whether it's in West Virginia or South Carolina, and the effortlessness with which he melds fiddle and vocals on the field song If The Times Don't Get Much Better reveals an elastine musicality with few peers." Brendan Taaffe of Fiddler magazine says, "His Green Grows the Laurel hits you in the heart." Danny Carnahan of Acoustic Guitar magazine comments, "Molsky is a particular joy to hear ..., with vocal harmonies and gritty, controlled fiddle work."
February 20, 2009 - Anne Hills – Tom Paxton offers: "Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it's understandable people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me, Anne's writing, in songs like Follow That Road and many others, is as direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters."
Anne is one of our "absolute" favorites too, as a singer, a collector of songs, a writer, and a person.
March 20, 2009 - Cosy Sheridan - Cosy was living in the Boston area in 1992 when she first appeared on the national folk scene by winning songwriting contests at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She is someone we had on our wish-list even back then, but somehow we never worked out a date. Over the years, several of our members have requested that we have her perform for us here and, although she now lives in Moab, Utah, this is the year.
Sheridan's songs are "an original brand of honesty" says Catie Curtis, a fellow New England folk alumna. "I always feel like there's a real person behind Cosy's songs. She takes the listener on a journey of emotions throughout a show or recording." Cosy can be funny or serious. Serious is when she says, "There is beauty in even the darkest moments in life, and often, grief gives way to wisdom."
April 17, 2009 - John Lilly - John is different from anyone we've had here in a long time. He's from West Virginia and can most easily be described as a "Country Singer," but he's not a slick, commercial country singer. He's more like a country singer of the Hank Williams generation. He also has a nice, country sense of humor as shown in his song, I'm Roadkill on the Highway of Your Heart. John has a wide repertoire of original, traditional, and classic country music hits. He was everybody's favorite at last year's Folk Alliance Conference.
May 15, 2009 - Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen – Longtime favorites here in Princeton, they're two great people, each of whom was a fine solo performer before they met and started working as a duo. They're wonderful to listen to. Each of them has written some very good songs, but much of their repertoire consists of material they have collected. Steve has also provided the music to some great lyrics written by other people, such as his friend, the poet, Charles John Quarto (Cryin' Don't Even Come Close to the Way That I Feel). Steve's songs have been recorded by too many performers to mention them all here, but, for example, Waylon Jennings, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Denver, Ian and Sylvia, and Doc Watson. Linda Ronstadt has recorded five Steve Gillette songs.
Cindy is a wonderful partner for Steve; an excellent singer and good concertina player. She is also a good writer. She doesn't write much, but when she writes one, it's really good. Inspired by the Australian Aborigine legend that the world was sung into existence, Cindy wrote the very beautiful, Songlines.
