Introducing The 2009-2010 Influences Season
Influences explores how stories, styles, cultures, and legends inform today's folk music. The season will offer over 30 events including monthly concerts, PFS Presents..., workshops, master classes, and PFS Welcomes...
House Concert with
SpiTune CD Pre-release Party Saturday, March 13, 2010 Potluck -7; Show -7:30
SpiTune is a seemingly loose collective of musicians playing their own twisted brand of Rock and Roll, Bluegrass and Americana. In actuality, SpiTune is an assortment of originally twisted songwriting by a a group of guys who are definitely old enough to know better.
DISCLAIMER: SpiTune is not for the faint of heart. This is not your granddad's bluegrass! In fact it really isn't bluegrass at all. It's original rock and roll with a bluegrass twist. SpiTune's originals are in turns ridiculous, reflective, angry and funny, with a heaping helping of adult content. SpiTune has been described as "Punk Rock Bluegrass", "Rotting Grass" and "Sod Music" by various critics.
Old Goats Sunday, March 14, 2010 - 7pm
Old Goats began in a West Philly bar in January 2007. The Wednesday night jazz band was away, so Jack Ohly started singing songs he had learned in Bahia with his friends Gregg Mervine and Todd Erk: chulas, reisados, work songs, traditional songs from Northeastern Brazil, along with some classic sambas. The group recorded in Ohly's living room and made a small edition of CDs available through Cloud Recordings with singers and percussionists Nayami Ventura from São Paulo, Tanya Nagahawatte from North Jersey and Ashley Deekus from South Jersey.
George S. Britton, revered by generations of folk music lovers in Philadelphia, died February 12, 2010, at the age of 94. Born in Reading, PA, George’s earliest memories were of singing harmony with one of his eight siblings. He was a naturally gifted, self taught musician with an unshakeable belief that everyone has musical ability. George coached and cajoled music from generations of guitar students in his Lafayette Hill studio, from school kids to senior citizens. In his 70 years of performing and teaching, George introduced people of all ages and backgrounds to the elemental pleasure of making a joyful noise with instruments and voice.
His folk music legacy lives on through the Philadelphia Folksong Society and the Philadelphia Folk Festival, both of which he helped to found, along with the legendary Main Point coffeehouse in Bryn Mawr.
George is survived by his wife, Charlotte and their four children, all musicians: Ellen Britton and husband Bob King (Nashville, TN), Wendy Young and husband Peter (Wayne, PA), sons Kerry (Philadelphia) and Timothy (Fairfield, IA); seven grandchildren; and a sister, Kay Hartman (Pinole, CA). He leaves his love of music to the thousands he taught to play guitar, and to many more thousands who, since its founding in 1962, have enjoyed memorable performances and camaraderie at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. George’s circle of friends was wide and lively and always ready to count off a tune.
Please join PFS and the Britton family for a Song Celebration on April 11 from 2- 5pm (preceding the PFS Fundraiser with Livingston Taylor) The Song Celebration will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Flourtown. Click here for directions
The George Britton Memorial Fund
George Britton added so very much to Philadelphia music and to the Philadelphia Folksong Society. His gift for teaching has touched many lives and PFS would like to see his legacy continue. Help us by making a donation to the George Britton Memorial Fund below. All gifts will benefit educational programs including music classes, our Odyssey of American Music elementary school programs, and workshops. Your generous gift will be acknowledged at the April 11 fundraiser with Livingston Taylor. Thank you in advance for your contribution to keeping traditional music alive.
Click here to donate to The George Britton Memorial Fund Click here to spread your gift over 6 or 12 months
PFS Fundraiser with
Livingston Taylor Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 8pm Elkins Estate, 1750 Ashbourne Rd., Elkins Park (directions)
Livingston Taylor's career has rattled along for over thirty years, having toured with such major artists as Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, Fleetwood Mac, and Jethro Tull. He has recorded eleven albums, and currently maintains a performing schedule of more than a hundred shows a year. Now a full professor, Livingston has lectured regularly at the Berklee College of Music in Boston since 1985 and has taught a performance course there since 1989. He has written most of his music repertoire, including such Top Forty hits as "I Will Be in Love with You" and "I'll Come Running". In 1988 he received the Boston Music Award for outstanding folk artist. He has a new CD in the works, tentatively titled, Last Alaska Moon, and is hoping for a Fall 2009 release.
This special fundraiser will feature an auction with a Deering Banjo and other great gifts for bidding, as well as a wine and hors d'oeuvres meet and greet with Liv himself! All proceeds benefit PFS programs directly!
PFS Presents and WXPN Welcomes
Hoots and Hellmouth with John Francis Saturday, May 8 – 8:00pm Yards Brewing Company 901 N. Delaware Avenue, Philadelphia
Describing their style as "new music for old souls," Hoots and Hellmouth are a roots music act bringing together the passion of alt-country and the rustic tone of acoustic folk. Sean Hoots and Andrew Gray (aka Hellmouth) began making music together in 2005 and were eventually joined by Rob Berliner on mandolin and Tom Celfo on upright bass. After a breakthrough appearance at the 2006 Philadelphia Folk Festival, the group established a loyal local following, and frequent touring through the South earned the band a large fan base there as well. In April 2007, they released their debut album, Hoots and Hellmouth and a second album, Holy Open Secret, followed two years later.
www.hootsandhellmouth.com
Philadelphia and Nashville based John Francis conjures the spirits with his eloquent brand of songwriting, drawing on the deep waters of rock ‘n' roll, folk, country and gospel music. Jonathan Takiff of the Philadelphia Daily News writes, "Artful and brooding, Francis paints rich, atmospheric portraits of a troubling world in songs like 'Johnny Cash is Dead' and 'Love in the Fallout Shelter'. John Francis serves up 'Strong Wine & Spirits' and I say make it a double." On the heels of his 20 date European tour, Francis returns ready for the July release of his 2nd full-length record, "The Better Angels", produced by John Carter Cash (son of Johnny Cash and June Carter) in the Cash Cabin Studio, Hendersonville, TN.
www.johnfrancismusic.com
Master Class and Concert with
Tony Trischka Sunday, May 16 The Elkins Estate - 1750 Ashbourne Road - Elkins Park, PA
Tony Trischka is not only considered among the very best banjo pickers of the roots music world, but, having created numerous instructional books and videos, he's also one of the instrument's top teachers. The musicians he has mentored and with whom he has played reads like a "who's who" (Bela Fleck, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen to name a few) of popular music. Trischka's interest in banjo was sparked by the Kingston Trio in 1963 and he's been performing and recording ever since. In October 2007, his album, Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular, earned him numerous International Bluegrass Music Association awards a Grammy nomination. With his fearless musical curiosity as the guiding force, Trischka's latest critically acclaimed release, Territory, roams widely through the banjo's creative terrain.
workshop
Burning Bridget Cleary: Celtic Concepts Workshop Saturday, May 22 – 2:00pm The Rotunda - 4014 Walnut Street - Philadelphia
Burning Bridget Cleary took form on St. Patrick's Day in 2006 when Genevieve Gillespie joined forces with father/daughter duo, Lou and Rose Baldino. The young ladies, both college students, front the band with their fiery fiddles, bringing a lively flair of youthful intensity and exuberance to traditional tunes. Lou‘s guitar bestows the dynamic rhythm and bass end, tastefully embellished with distinctive chording. Weaving in some choice vocal numbers and building the energy with some spirited stepdancing, Burning Bridget Cleary sparks a blaze of Celtic sound that is perceived way beyond the sum of its parts! Their debut CD, Catharsis, was released in September 2006 and was followed by Everything is Alright, released in November 2008.
concert
Joe Pug with Birdie Busch Saturday, June 12 – 7:00pm The Rotunda - 4014 Walnut Street - Philadelphia
The day before his senior year as a playwright student at UNC, Joe Pug sat down for a cup of coffee and had the clearest thought of his life: "I am profoundly unhappy here." He then packed up his belongings and drove to Chicago, working as a carpenter by day and practicing his guitar at night. Using ideas originally slated for a play he was writing, he began creating the sublime lyrical masterpiece that would become the Nation of Heat EP. With his bare-boned sincerity dripping off every note he sings, he is fast becoming one of the most respected songwriters of his generation. Audiences were captured by performances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and the Philadelphia and Newport Folk Festivals over the summer of 2009.
The music of Philly's own Birdie Busch is natural. There isn't pretense, nothing forced or processed – just delicate melodies and deceptively simple lyrics that resonate upon further discovery. Her 2005 recording, "The Ways We Try", has all the warmth, atmosphere, open emotion and rosy feeling in songs that leave her audiences feeling a little less troubled and a little more comforted.
