Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present a double bill of traditional and original folk, with Yann Falquet & Keith Murphy, and The Murphy Beds on Saturday, August 10 at 7:30 pm
Keith Murphy and Yann Falquet are masters of contemporary Celtic guitar, representing the compelling textures, harmonies and rhythms that the guitar has brought to traditional songs and instrumentals since the Celtic music revival in the 1970s.
Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present an evening of folk, roots, and Americana music by California-based trio Rainbow Girls at Next Stage on Thursday, August 15 at 7:00 pm. Children of Divorce open.
Rainbow Girls are an eclectic folk trio hailing from the golden countryside just north of California’s Bay Area. Vanessa May, Erin Chapin, and Caitlin Gowdey seamlessly combine soul-touching harmonies, varitextured instrumentals, and poignant lyrical content into a beautiful sonic tapestry. Throughout their performance, voices are paired with an ever-changing amalgamation of acoustic and slide guitar, keys, upright bass, harmonica, and an array of vocal techniques creating an engaging and emotionally moving live show.
PUTNEY – Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present country swing sextet The Sweetback Sisters at Next Stage on Friday, August 2 at 7:30 pm.
Centered around the charismatic, airtight harmonies of Emily Miller and Zara Bode, The Sweetback Sisters mix compelling originals and unexpected interpretations of country classics. Hints of jazz and ragtime flesh out the Sisters’ unique brand of classic country, as Miller, Bode, and their remarkably versatile band conjure up a singular blend of heart, humor, and virtuosic musicianship. Their rollicking music is as infectious as it is heartbreaking. Like the country artists they admire, the Sisters sing about traditional subjects of heartbreak, revenge, remorse, and staying strong in the face of relationships gone wrong, albeit with a contemporary sensibility.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of Celtic music by high-energy bagpipes/fiddle/guitar quartet Cantrip at Next Stage on Friday, July 5 at 7:30 pm.
From the strong base of its Celtic roots, Cantrip branches out into the music of other European cultures. With swirling border pipes, raging fiddle, thunderous guitar, and three rich voices, Dan Houghton, Jon Bews, Eric McDonald, and Alasdair White take audiences on a cultural journey, putting their own spin on each musical style. Known for their innovative arrangements, high-energy songs and tunes, and dry wit, Cantrip has toured throughout Scotland and the US, expanding the boundaries of Celtic music along the way.
Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present an album release concert for Keith Murphy and Band’s “Bright As Amber”, at Next Stage on Friday, June 21 at 7:30 pm.
For many years, Keith Murphy has been forging a distinctive sound in the world of traditional song. He grew up surrounded by the rich tradition of his native Newfoundland and over the course of his later travels has incorporated elements of many other traditions including the repertoire of his adopted home in Vermont. He is a noted instrumentalist and well known for his playing with Nightingale, Childsplay, Boston Revels, Tony Barrand, Hanneke Cassel, Yann Falquet and his most enduring collaborator, his wife and fiddler, Becky Tracy. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Brattleboro Music Center’s Northern Roots Festival.
Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present singer/songwriter John Gorka at Next Stage on Sunday, June 2 at 7:00 pm.
Rising from a milieu of lovelorn singer-songwriters, John Gorka illuminates instead with his trademark wordplay, twisting, turning, and tying words and phrases in the way a balloon artist creates complex creatures from simple balloons. Few contemporary songwriters coax language as deftly as Gorka.
For over two decades, Gorka’s keen ear has picked up the stories of those along his path, folding them into poetry and song. His keen perceptiveness inspires people from all over the world to share their stories. By involving those tales in his music, he escapes the trap of introspection that hobbles less-gifted singer-songwriters.
Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present singer/songwriter Carsie Blanton, at Next Stage on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00 pm.
Carsie Blanton is a songwriter with hooks, chutzpah, and revolutionary optimism. Inspired by artist-activists including Nina Simone and Woody Guthrie, her catalog careens through American popular song from folk and swing to pop-punk protest anthems.
PUTNEY – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Celtic-American Roots music quintet RUNA on Sunday, April 2 at 7:00 pm at Next Stage.
Celebrating 14 years together as a band, RUNA continues to push the boundaries of Irish folk music into the Americana and roots music formats. Interweaving the haunting melodies and exuberant tunes of Ireland and Scotland with the lush harmonies and intoxicating rhythms of jazz, bluegrass, flamenco, and blues, they offer a thrilling and redefining take on traditional music. RUNA has been honored internationally, winning “Top Group” and “Top Traditional Group” in the Irish Music Awards and three Independent Music Awards including “Best LIVE Album,” “Best World/Traditional Song,” and “Best Bluegrass Song.”
PUTNEY – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of bluegrass and folk music by The Foreign Landers on Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 pm at Next Stage.
Drawing from the musical styles of their homelands, transatlantic, multi-instrumentalist duo David Benedict (from South Carolina) and Tabitha Agnew Benedict (from Northern Ireland) join with Nate Sabat on acoustic bass and Julian Pinelli on fiddle for their 2023 tour to celebrate the release of the CD “Traveler’s Rest.” David and Tabitha’s authenticity and originality in songwriting, instrumental prowess on guitar, banjo, and mandolin, evocative vocals, and unique transatlantic touch all combine to create a unique sound that is inexpressibly foreign and yet familiar.
PUTNEY – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present trailblazing Irish singer/songwriter Karan Casey on Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 pm at Next Stage. For her March ’23 US tour with fiddler Sheila Falls and guitarist Matt Heaton, Karan premieres songs from her brand new album “NIne Apples of Gold,” mixed with favorites from her previous eleven albums.
Singing songs charged with a sense of social responsibility in a career spanning over 25 years, Karan Casey was among the vanguard of the Irish music revival’s “third wave” of the early 1990s, and a founding member of the seminal Irish American band “Solas” before launching her solo career in 1999. Though steeped early on in Irish traditional and folk music, Karan has long followed an eclectic path, whether studying classical music, fronting jazz bands, or working with Frank Harte, a much-revered folk/traditional singer from Dublin. The list of artists that she’s collaborated with is similarly diverse – James Taylor, Maura O’Connell, Karen Matheson, the Boston Pops Orchestra, Liam Clancy, Tim O’Brien, The Chieftains, The Dubliners, and Béla Fleck, among others. A Waterford, Ireland native, Karan has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.
PUTNEY – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of contemporary folk and bluegrass music from near and far by Vermont-based The Stockwell Brothers and Oregon-based Fellow Pynins on Sunday, February 19 at 7:30 pm at Next Stage.
Bruce, Barry, Alan, and Kelly Stockwell’s music spans traditional and progressive styles, but their trademark acoustic sound features new singer/songwriter material recast with banjo, alternative rhythms, and three-part harmonies. Featuring 2005 Merlefest bluegrass banjo contest winner Bruce Stockwell, The Stockwell Brothers have performed alongside artists from Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs to Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Jonathan Edwards and Asleep At The Wheel, recorded with Mike Auldridge and Phil Rosenthal of the bluegrass supergroup The Seldom Scene, and toured throughout the United States and in Canada and Europe.
Twilight Music concludes its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 25 with folk and Americana trio Low Lily. The seventh and final concert of the 2019 series begins at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain.
Twilight Music continues its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 11 with Planet Zydeco performing their high energy accordion/guitar driven dance music of Louisiana. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music’s “Rising Star” concert series continues with Sam Reider and The Human Hands, a “staggeringly virtuosic band” (RnR Magazine) of Brooklyn-based bluegrass and jazz musicians, plus Brattleboro-based world fusion duo Aura Shards, at Next Stage on Saturday, August 3 at 7:30 pm. NSAP and Twilight Music are committed to supporting young, emerging artists, and the new series puts the spotlight on exciting, ready-to-be-discovered performers who are appearing at Next Stage for the first time.
Twilight Music continues its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, July 28 with the Julian Gerstin Sextet performing original jazz influenced by rhythms and melodies of the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Green Mountain Well, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney area businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.
Twilight Music continues its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, July 14 with high energy Scottish music bagpipes/fiddle/guitar trio Cantrip. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain.
Twilight Music continues its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 30 with funk and world beat band Simba. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain.
Twilight Music continues its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 16 with contemporary folk and bluegrass quartet The Stockwell Brothers. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill or the Putney Community Center at 10 Christian Square in case of rain.
Twilight Music begins its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 2 with an evening of hard driving, house rocking, in your face blues by The Chris Kleeman Band. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Green Mountain Well, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney area businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present folk/rock quartet The Sweet Remains, featuring singer/songwriters Rich Price, Greg Naughton and Brian Chartrand, at Next Stage on Sunday, February 24 at 7:30 pm. Based in Burlington, VT, NYC and Phoenix, AZ, the trio has formed a unique musical kinship around three-part harmonies and shared songwriting that transcends geography and three solo careers.
Celebrating 10 years together and over 30 million Spotify plays in 2018, Rich, Greg and Brian each bring strong lyrical and melodic writing and lush harmonies to The Sweet Remains. Rich and Greg first started collaborating for Rich’s 2004 Geffen Records debut – a CD that spawned his single “I’m On My Way,” featured on the multi-platinum “Shrek 2” soundtrack.
