2007 Performers
8:30 on All Star Drum Circle!
7:30-8:30 Fungus Amungus
5:30-6:45
Girlyman
4:00-5:00
Pendragon
2:30-3:30
Kris Delmhorst
1:15-2:00
Superchief Trio
12:00-12:45
The Gnomes
|
|
|
Girlyman
Imagine
a modern-day Peter, Paul & Mary
– only edgier, and with a quirky sense of humor. Girlyman's harmony-driven
style veers from contemporary folk to country rock to pop. Each member switches
off songwriting duties, lead vocals, and a range of instruments, including
acoustic guitar, djembe, banjo, baritone guitar and mandolin.
|
|
Pendragon
 New England has long had a rich tradition
of Celtic-inspired music.
Looking forward to their 24th anniversary
in 2007, the Rhode Island- based ensemble
Pendragon has embraced that tradition
and created a timeless sound of its own,
performing roots music with an unmistakable
contemporary edge.
Pendragon's music celebrates the lives
and lore of generations of New Englanders
who brought traditions from Ireland,
Scotland, French Canada and other distant
shores to the banks of the Blackstone
River. While drawing on the ethnic music
of the Blackstone River Valley, Pendragon
fashions the music of tradition into
the music of tomorrow, performing their
original songs and dance tunes on an
exciting combination of fiddle, flute,
bouzouki, concertina, banjo, guitar,
whistle, bass and percussion. In performance,
Pendragon elaborates on the cultural
and historical context of the music while
projecting a relaxed and humorous stage
presence that comes from over two decades
of performance together.
Pendragon is comprised of Bob Drouin on fiddle, bouzouki and tenor banjo; Russell
Gusetti on guitar and concertinas; Josh Kane
on flute and whistles; Ken Lyon on vocals,
guitar and bass; Mary Lee Partington on vocals,
and step dancer and percussionist Kevin Doyle,
a U.S. champion dancer who has now performed
throughout the New England area for over
30 years. Past tributes include three straight
Boston Music Award nominations for Outstanding
Celtic Act and a 1991 Governor's Tourism
Award. Pendragon has been voted Rhode Island's
Best Celtic Act in the 2007, 2006 and 2005
MOTIF Magazine's Best Music Poll. Pendragon
was voted 2005 Best Local Folk Act of the
Year in the Providence Phoenix' Best Music
Poll, the 8th time they gained that recognition.
Pendragon
released their seventh CD, "Artistic License," on Blackstone River Theatre's RiverFolk Productions label in 2005. A 66- part
video project called Along the Blackstone
utilizes Pendragon's music for its soundtrack
and has won several awards for public service
in education at the New England Cable Television
Assn.
Awards. Many of the episodes have aired nationally
on A&E's
The History Channel. Since 1995, members
of Pendragon have also been the driving force
behind the Blackstone River Theatre, bringing
traditional and ethnic music to northern
Rhode Island on a weekly basis. |
The Gnomes
 The Gnomes play a lively blend of Irish and World Music.Their music features
a wide range of styles - Irish, Scandinavian,
eastern European, and original. The members
are Cathy Clasper Torch, Phil Edmonds, Otis
Read, Ron Schmitt, and Peter Breen. Instrumentation
includes accordion, fiddle, whistles, guitar,
bass, percussion, bass, and vocals. They are
local music icons that have become acoustic
favorites across Rhode Island and beyond.
|
| |
|
|
Fungus
Amungus
The soulful sounds of Fungus Amungus
have been spreading like wildfire throughout
the jam/funk scene in the Northeast. These seven funky brothers hail from Providence,
RI, where they have been dropping the funk since the summer of 2002. From performing
at festivals such as Camp Creek and Wormtown’s Garden of Eden to sharing the
stage with the likes of Max Creek, the Spin Doctors, the Violent Femmes and the
Bomb Squad, Fungus Amungus has been setting the pace for live music in southern
New England. For two consecutive years, Fungus Amungus was selected “Best
Jam Band” in New England by the Providence Phoenix. Also, in 2005, the Fungus
was selected to be a finalist in WBRU’s annual RockHunt. Their sound is an eclectic
mix of funk, soul, reggae, groove and a hint of Irish whiskey. In the winter
of 2004, their first full-length CD was introduced to the public: “All Banged
Up”. Since that time, the band has been mastering the art of the live show, with
one highlight being a 7-hour performance at Wormtown’s StrangeCreek festival.
With a hunger for bringing up the live music scene in New England, Fungus Amungus
intends to stick around and throw down some dirty funk for years to come.
|
| |
Kris Delmhorst
Kris Delmhorst's fourth studio release, Strange Conversation (Signature Sounds,
June 2006), is a vital and celebratory meditation on art and its ability
to speak across time and distance. After several albums of genre-bending
original work, Delmhorst found inspiration in the work of various well-known
poets. Some of the poems are set verbatim to music, some dismantled and
reassembled in significantly new renditions, others merely used as the
jumping-off point for Delmhorst's own literate lyrical take.
The fact that the album feels modern, cohesive, and joyful is testament
both to the inherent timelessness of the poems and to the skillful adaptations
that bring them to life as songs - not to mention Delmhorst's wine-deep,
honey-bright voice, which can deliver even a centuries-old phrase directly
to the doorstep of the listener's soul.
|
| 
|
Superchief
Trio
Superchief
Trio features a unique combination of
two-fisted piano, red hot trombone, powerful
vocals and frenzied percussion antics,
all rolled up into one small package.
Swing, New Orleans R&B, jump blues, boogie-woogie - it's all in there. And with a repertoire of tasy
original tunes and carefully selected
covers by Professor Longhair, Huey Smith,
Smiley Lewis, Wee Willie Wayne and a
raft of others, this group is the ultimate
dance-party band.
Pianist Keith Munslow met trombonist Pam Murray at Providence arts incubator
AS220, where they performed together in
the Smoking Jackets and the Neo 90s Dance
Band. Keith and drummer Johnny Cote played
together in the Big Nazo band, and soon
Johnny became the drummer for the Neo 90s.
Having cut their teeth on rough-and-tumble
dance blues with the Smoking Jackets, Keith
and Pam began playing gigs at a dim and
smoky basement bar (now defunct) called
The East Bay Regatta Club. Owing to safety
in numbers, Johnny Cote was recruited,
and Superchief Trio was born. The casual nature of the place and its heckling denizens encouraged recklessness
and experimentation with new songs, new
arrangements and inspired a higher level
of daredevil musical abandon. Emerging
from this subterranean honky-tonk, Superchief
Trio continues the tradition of good-time
music and barrelhouse hijinks. |
|
|
|
