Bluegrass Related Events for January 2017

Ease on into 2017 by joining the Barn Burners String Band for some great music, food and drink at the famous (and cozy) Stone Church in Newmarket, New Hampshire. A great way to spend a cold Sunday afternoon!! Happy New Year!!

Dietrich Strause and The Blue Ribbons, Boston based folk and rock artists, will be performing together on Friday, January 13th at Riverwalk Cafe & Music Hall in Nashua, NH. It's a classic love story. A young doe-eyed literate songwriter meets a dangerous avant-garde rock and roll band. Such is the story of Dietrich Strause and The Blue Ribbons' burgeoning collaboration. They met seven years ago sharing back to back Tuesday night residencies at Toad, a small rock club in Cambridge. Now with funding from Passim's Iguana Grant, Dietrich Strause and The Blue Ribbons are recording together in Maine in January 2017. Immediately following the session they are collaborating live for the first time, with three shows throughout New England, bringing the magic and glow of the record making process straight into the venue. The Boston Globe has said The Blue Ribbons “combine upbeat disillusionment and celebratory fatalism with musicianship." An unlikely and exciting match for Dietrich Strause’s meticulously crafted songs - which WBUR says are a mix of timeless melody, literate lyricism, and a "virtuosic command of imagery." Boston Music Award winning four piece band, The Blue Ribbons have a fearless sound; evolved over a decade of tirelessly and joyously playing bar rooms, clubs, and festivals. Their influences are rooted deeply in the jazz and rock and roll anti-traditions, described as “Ray Charles and Tom Waits on a pirate ship with Sun Ra and Captain Beefheart." In his eight years living in New England, Dietrich Strause has evolved in his own parallel way, from writing Appalachian nostalgia porn to mid-century modern pop in the vein of Nick Lowe and Randy Newman. He spent the fall living alone in London and traveling extensively throughout the United … Read More »

Southern Rail brings their upbeat brand of Bluegrass and happy mayhem to the First Encounter Coffeehouse on Saturday Jan. 14th. This promises to be another packed house, featuring high-energy exuberant bluegrass with lush harmonies, irrepressible good humor, and sparkling banjo, guitar and mandolin. Southern Rail will be celebrating the release of their eagerly anticipated 12th CD, “Voices in the Wind”.

Get ready for Rick and the Rick tones at The Blue Moon Coffeehouse in Rockland, MA on January 14th! This brand new band has some members I bet you already know and love. At the center of the music is banjo master Ricky Mier, co-founder of the band Twisted Pine, Cat and the Moon and a former member of Hot Day at the Zoo. He is accompanied by other incredibly talented musicians: bassist Charles Berthoud, JD Williams,  Meg Griffith and Thor Davidson. Their music is rooted in bluegrass, but has elements of Celtic, funk music, jazz, rock, classical, blues, and gospel. Ricky Mier is winner of the gold medal at the 2014 Freshgrass Banjo Contest and, with his band Twisted Pine, has won band contests at Freshgrass, Thomas Point Beach and tied for first place at Rocky Grass. Mier has performed on the main stages of other major festivals such as Grey Fox, Celtic Connections (Scotland), The Green River Festival, and Joe Val. He has performed with Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten and has shared the stage with acoustic heavy weights such as The Punch Brothers, Peter Rowan, Alison Brown, Hot Rize, The Gibson Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Sam Bush Band, Del McCoury Band, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, and more. Charles Berthoud is a world-class bass player who has won awards such as 1st place at the New Hampshire Bass Solo Competition. JD Williams, multi-instrumentalist with the acoustic Americana band, Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters, has completed over a dozen international tours, been honored with the Sam Eisenson Award for Country Music. Here's a video of the band to check out: https://youtu.be/8xEkK686Xa. Hope you can make it! It's going … Read More »

Boston based Carolyn Kendrick and Jake Howard blend bluegrass and whiskey-fueled old-time into new roots music. Won 2016 Freshgrass Best Duo award. Performing as trio w/bass.

On Saturday, January 28th, The Blue Moon Coffeehouse in Rockland features The Page Turners. Winners of the 2016 Freshgrass Best Duo Award, Carolyn Kendrick and Jake Howard have a strong foothold in the acoustic music scene. They became musical friends as students of Berklee College of Music and started playing together through the Berklee American Roots Program. The Page Turners are known for their solid harmonies and soaring fiddle runs. They like to blend their love of bluegrass, whiskey-fueled old time, country music, swing, and fearless song writing into one all-purpose seasoning of good ole’ fashioned Roots music. They are have played at The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, the Berklee American Roots Roadshow and will be featured on the 2017 FressGrass stage. Tickets are $10 at the door; children 12 and under are free. The show starts at 7:30 pm. Between sets by the band, there will be an open mike.  The address is 45 Webster Street, Rockland, MA