Music

Twilight Music continues its 14th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, July 24 with Celtic world beat quartet The Gaslight Tinkers. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 21. 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, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, Green Mountain Well, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.

Samirah Evans and the George Kaye Quintet will make summertime living easy with a jazz concert featuring the music ofGeorge Gershwin at Historic Memorial Hall in Wilmington, Vermont. Show time is at 8:00pm on Saturday, July 30. 

Vocalist Evans and bassist Kaye will be joined by Miro Sprague (piano), Michael Zsoldos (reeds), Eric Miller (trombone) and Claire Arenius (drums). The first set will consist of Gershwin’s popular jazz standards, while the second set will feature selections from the composer’s opera, “Porgy and Bess”  covered in the style of the 1958 recording of the work by Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra. 

Learn to play the ukulele from scratch in a small group class. We will learn tuning, basic chords and strumming techniques, and a bunch of fun easy songs to play.

Class runs for 6 Wednesday evenings, from 7:15-8:15pm, at Neighbor’s Hall in Brattleboro. There will be no class on Aug. 17, and the final class will be Aug. 31. Sliding scale tuition $140-160.

Taught by Lisa McCormick. More info and registration: http://bit.ly/UkeClass

Twilight Music continues its 14th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, July 10 with contemporary bluegrass and folk music quartet The Stockwell Brothers Band. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 21. 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, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, Green Mountain Well, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present singer, songwriter and guitarist Michael Johnson, plus the Vermont-based Americana duo Laura Molinelli and Ben Campbell, at Next Stage on Friday, July 8 at 7:30 pm.

Michael Johnson began playing guitar at age thirteen, and over the next ten years, he won an international talent contest, recorded for Epic Records, studied classical guitar with Graciano Tarrago at Liceo Conservatory in Barcelona, Spain and joined the Chad Mitchell Trio for a year, spending some of that time co‐writing with fellow band member John Denver. After a short stint as an off‐Broadway actor, he released his first album “There Is A Breeze,” produced by Peter Yarrow and Phil Ramone on Atlantic Records in 1971.

(If There Were No Rich Men – Capitol Steps)

Learn to play the ukulele from scratch, with instructor Lisa McCormick.

In this beginner-friendly class in Brattleboro, you’ll learn all about tuning, playing basic chords, basic strumming techniques, and how to play several fun classic Folk and Boomer songs, in an easy-going small group setting.

Class will run for 6 weeks, at the Marlboro Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., Brattleboro, featuring off-street parking and wheelchair accessibility. Tuition is a sliding scale between $140-$160. 

Guilford, Vt. – Now in its 50th concert season, Friends of Music at Guilford is staging its series finale at a hilltop property in Guilford, not far from the junction of Hinesburg Rd. and Carpenter Hill Rd. The main house and yard overlook an impressive view of neighboring and distant hills, and the recently constructed barn offers shelter in case of inclement weather. The festivities are set for 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 25.

As usual, the annual A Cappella à la Carte menu offers three distinct elements: a membership meeting, a community potluck, and a vocal concert. The brief and entertaining Annual Membership Meeting sums up the year’s events, introduces plans for the following season, and offers a slate of trustees for a vote, among other agenda items. The gathering is open to all interested folks, but only members can participate in any voting; one can join the organization on the spot to participate fully in the meeting.

Twilight Music continues its 14th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 12 with Brattleboro-based, rockabilly quartet Cadillac Envy. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 21.

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, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, Green Mountain Well, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney 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.

Mole Hill Theatre presents contemporary bluegrass and folk music quartet The Stockwell Brothers Band on Friday, June 10 at 7:30 pm.

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. They cover straight ahead bluegrass songs, finger picked acoustic guitar ballads, full tilt breakdowns and traditional mandolin tunes mixed in with more unusual fare – Americana melodies riding world beat grooves and Celtic, jazzy, even neo-classical instrumentals.

Twilight Music begins its 14th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, May 29 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 21. 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, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.

Twilight Music and Next Stage Arts Project present Quebecois duo Yann Falquet & Pascal Gemme, plus Newfoundland/New England solo balladeer Keith Murphy, for an evening of traditional songs in French and English as well as highly crafted traditional fiddle music at Next Stage on Friday, May 27 at 7:30 pm.

The pairing of Yann Falquet & Pascal Gemme with Keith Murphy offers a rare breadth of musical ground, from Keith’s beautifully spare solo songs with elegant guitar accompaniment to the breathtaking level of musical interplay between Yann and Pascal. This twin bill also offers a unique and long awaited chance for these three musicians to explore some musical collaborations based on their shared passion for the music of Quebec.

Guilford, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG), now in its 50th Anniversary Season, has been presenting a series of programs with Baroque-era works from Bolivia that have been hidden away for centuries. Since presenting the new, the unusual, and the underperformed is a central mission of the organization, this project has been a fitting element of its half-century season.

The third and final event in the series is on Sunday, May 29, at 3 p.m. in the intimate barn at Tree Frog Farm, where FOMAG now hosts concerts on both Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends. Located off Packer Corners Rd. in idyllic rural Guilford, the barn is home to the organization’s c. 1897 Tracker Organ. One of FOMAG’s founders, the late A. Graham Down (1929-2014), purchased the instrument in Maine, moved it to the barn, invested in its restoration and improvements over the years, and performed the first concerts on it.

Singer/songwriter and guitar instructor Lisa McCormick is offering a brand new Women’s Easy Acoustic Music Ensemble Class, beginning June 7, in Brattleboro.

The class invites women to experience playing acoustic Folk and Boomer classic songs together, in a fun easygoing group ensemble.

A world-renowned guitar instructor, McCormick specializes in teaching adult beginners through intermediate level students.

Women with basic functional skills on an acoustic instrument are encouraged to join. Instruments may include guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass, keyboards, and others. Singing is optional, and encouraged.

Keene, NH — Savings Bank of Walpole (SBW) is pleased to announce the dates and bands scheduled to perform at the annual “Concerts on the Green” summer concert series held on the town green in Walpole, New Hampshire.

The nine-concert series will kick off on Sunday, June 26 with a performance by The Springfield, VT Community Band and conclude with two concerts on August 14th featuring the Hope Haitian Choir (who are being sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Walpole) and The Jazz Express. All of the performances will take place on Sunday nights from 6:30-8:00 PM except for August 14th when the first show starts at 4:00 and runs until 5:30 PM followed by the second show which will begin at 6:30 PM. The concerts will be held rain or shine.

Main Street Arts presents a contemporary folk and bluegrass twin bill featuring Antje Duvekot and The Stockwell Brothers Band at Main Street Arts on Saturday, May 21 at 7:30 pm..

Antje Duvekot is a German-born, American-raised singer/songwriter whose songs have been critically praised for their hard-won wisdom, dark-eyed realism and street-smart romanticism. Her bicultural upbringing and relative newness to English have helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original poetic palette. They are the keys to the powerful, even revolutionary, empathy that informs everything she writes. She has won some of the top songwriting awards including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the Kerrville Folk Festival Best New Folk Award and the Boston Music Award for Outstanding Folk Act.

Perhaps the only upside to Prince passing on is that YouTube has exploded with Prince videos. At least for the moment. Let’s enjoy one.

Tonight we will travel back in time, prior to Purple Rain. At this First Avenue show in the summer of 1983, Wendy makes her debut with the band and a series of new songs are debuted. I Would Die For U, Computer Blue, Purple Rain, Let’s Go Crazy, and Baby I’m a Star are played for the first time live.

Prince fans will enjoy hearing that these new songs aren’t completely finalized.

The Vermont Jazz Center will welcome bassist Ben Williams and his group Sound Effect to the stage on Saturday, May 14th at 8:00 PM. Sound Effect is Ben Williams, bass; Marcus Strickland, saxophones; Alex Wintz, guitar; Willerm Delisfort on piano and Rhodes; John Davis on drums.

Ben Williams is the winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition on bass. He is also the recipient of a Grammy Award for his work with Pat Metheny’s Unity Band and was voted as top overall rising star in Downbeat’s 2015 Critic’s Poll. Most recently, Williams was chosen as bassist for the White House’s celebration of International Jazz Day. After introductions by President Obama, Irina Bokova (Director General of UNESCO), and Herbie Hancock, Williams accompanied Chucho Valdéz, Paquito D’Rivera, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Trombone Shorty, Lionel Loueke, Robert Glasper, and Herbie Hancock in a moving example of how music unites the entire world. Williams’s consumate ability to support a wide range of styles is reflected in the numerous recordings he has appeared on with Pat Metheny, Jacky Terrasson, George Benson, The NEXT Collective, Eric Reed, and many more. He is an in-demand sideman and has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Mulgrew Miller, Chaka Khan, Terrence Blanchard, Stefon Harris, Pharrell Williams, and Herbie Hancock; he appears with Don Cheadle in the new tribute to Miles Davis – “Miles Ahead.”

Make music together with other women in a fun easy-going environment. Learn to play some great classic Folk and Boomer tunes, in a group ensemble. Experience level: functional beginner (some knowledge of basic chords). 

Get that guitar (or banjo or uke or…) out from under the bed and come make some music with other women!

Saturday, May 14 get on up to Headroom Stages and get down with funky local favorite the Fantastic Partnerz. (thefantasticpartnerz.com) A benefit for BrattRock-the Brattleboro Youth Rock Festival. Alternative rock duo Wicked Thirsty opens the show. Doors open at 7:30.

Advance tickets $8 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2543375 or $10 at the door. Don’t miss this fantastic show for a great cause!