Join us for the Monthly Blues Jam at The Hearing Room. We have a house band to back people up as we get the Blues! Woody Carpinella, Roland Ochsenbein and Tim Fiehler make up the regular band with special guests upon occasion. Sign up is in person and first come first to perform. We usually have 3 song sets but move to 2 song sets is the players get too numerous. This is an amazing evening for players and audience members alike!

Featuring but not limited to bluegrass. All ages and skill levels welcome. Hosted by Mark Abare.

Pass the hat event

Crys and Heather have been doing their show “in the round”, so they are on stage together and do their own songs as well as songs together.

Crys Matthews

“Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,”DC resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls “the poster-child for intersectionality,”Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation called Matthews’s gift “a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides.

In her TedTalk about difficult conversations called “Sing, Don’t Shout—An Alternative Approach” Matthews spoke about being born and raised in a small town in southeastern NorthCarolina by an A.M.E.preacher, and how she witnessed the power of music from an early age. A former drum major and classically-trained clarinetist turned folk singer, Matthews is using her voice to answer Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to be “a drum major for justice.”

“I believe in hope,” Matthews said. “As a social-justice songwriter, it is my duty to keep breathing that hope and encouragement into the people who listen to my music.”

https://www.crysmatthews.com/about

Heather Mae

“Modern alternative and pop, as well as vintage ’60s and ’80s sounds, and they range from soulful, choir-driven ballads to upbeat, electric R&B. Mae’s voice is also a standout feature. Sometimes a guttural scream or growl, sometimes smooth and effortless, her voice seems capable of any feat or style.” – Popdust

“Unfazed by what a typical pop artist today is “supposed” to look like and how the typical pop artist is “supposed” to sound, Heather Mae, an award-winning songwriter whose evocative vocals and rhythmic piano style call to mind artists like Stevie Nicks and Sara Bareilles, creates intoxicating music that tackles complex topics surrounding mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, self-love, racial injustice, social inequality, and women’s rights. Inspired by her own personal experiences and identities – a queer, plus size woman living with Bipolar Disorder – and those of her multifaceted fans with whom she has forged connections throughout her many years of touring across the United States, Mae crafts powerful lyrics and unforgettable music about life’s moments–from the quietly chaotic to the explosive.

In 2016, after an eight-month period of silence to recover from vocal nodules, Mae made a vow: she would dedicate her career to solely write music that made the world a better place. Mae, who was dubbed “the new queer Adele” by L-Mag, envelopes her audience with a message of hope. “

https://www.heathermaemusic.com/about

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Join us for the Acoustic ONLY jam at The Hearing Room! We will take the lead in turn on a wide variety of acoustic material. Join your fellow musicians for a great time! 7-10pm!

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

“For Erelli, music is a way to appreciate the world and the people in his life. And perhaps most acutely, the practice of music has taught Erelli the beauty of sublimation and reinforced the joy of helping others achieve their dreams, which, in turn, helps Erelli also achieve his.”
-American Songwriter

“All the things that brought me comfort, they just seem tired and  worn, what always used to work ain’t working anymore,” sings award-winning, Massachusetts-based singer/songwriter Mark Erelli, a few songs in to his newest release Blindsided. It’s a realization that has washed over many of us, like headlights sweeping across the bedroom ceiling on a sleepless night. But for a songwriter, such an appraisal is a call to action.

Erelli rose to the occasion with a writing streak, generating well over 30 new songs to choose from for his newest record. He ultimately gravitated toward those that wrestled with the questions we encounter in the “middle,” the certain point in life when you reflect on your hopes and dreams and what you thought were certainties. “One glance at the headlines and anyone can see that we are questioning the stories we’ve told ourselves and, in many cases, they aren’t proving as durable as they once seemed,” he explains. ”Do the things I took for granted as truth when I was younger still hold up? What can I still lean on? Am I strong enough for the ones I love to lean on me? The answers, if there even are answers, can be both unsettling and reaffirming.”

For much more visit https://www.markerelli.com/bio

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Join us for the Monthly Blues Jam at The Hearing Room. We have a house band to back people up as we get the Blues! Woody Carpinella, Roland Ochsenbein and Tim Fiehler make up the regular band with special guests upon occasion. Sign up is in person and first come first to perform. We usually have 3 song sets but move to 2 song sets is the players get too numerous. This is an amazing evening for players and audience members alike!

Featuring but not limited to bluegrass. All ages and skill levels welcome. Hosted by Mark Abare.

Pass the hat event

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Patchouli & Terra Guitarra is the #1 Charting International Guitar duo of master guitarist Bruce Hecksel and singer-songwriter, guitarist Julie Patchouli.

Zone Music Reporter calls Terra Guitarra “one of the top nuevo-flamenco groups in the world”, Awarded “Best Instrumental Album of the Year” for Of Sea & Stars. Patchouli is a folk festival headliner and Public Radio favorite with pure, sparkling lead vocals and beautiful harmonies.

Their sound, depth and virtuosity is described as “Simon and Garfunkel meets the Gipsy Kings” and City Pages compares it like “taking a yoga class in a field of running mustangs”. With 22 CDs, 5,000 shows played in US, Europe & Asia Patchouli & Terra Guitarra embody the spirit of the 60’s & 70’s and the Romance of the Spanish guitar, with their world class music that uplifts & gives hope in a show that “inspires the Human Spirit” – Chicago Tribune.

website:  www.patchouli.net

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Join us for the Acoustic ONLY jam at The Hearing Room! We will take the lead in turn on a wide variety of acoustic material. Join your fellow musicians for a great time! 7-10pm!

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Join us for the Monthly Blues Jam at The Hearing Room. We have a house band to back people up as we get the Blues! Woody Carpinella, Roland Ochsenbein and Tim Fiehler make up the regular band with special guests upon occasion. Sign up is in person and first come first to perform. We usually have 3 song sets but move to 2 song sets is the players get too numerous. This is an amazing evening for players and audience members alike!

“Bill Staines has been my hero since 1977. He carries on where Woody left off-carrying on the tradition of stories and characters you wish you knew.”
– Nanci Griffith

“Any new song that can live comfortably beside the well-worn songs of folk tradition has a good chance of surviving the test of time. Such, we believe, are the songs of Bill Staines”
— Charles “Sandy” Paton, Folk Legacy Records

Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat.

For more than forty years, Bill has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the BostonCambridge folk scene in the early 1960’s and for a time, emceed the Sunday Hootenanny at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. From the time in 1971 when a reviewer from the Boston Phoenix stated that he was “simply Boston’s best performer”, Bill has continually appeared on folk music radio listener polls as one of the top all time favorite folk artists. Now, well into his fifth decade as a folk performer, he has gained an international reputation as a gifted songwriter and performer.

Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular and durable singers on the folk music scene today, performing nearly 200 concerts a year and driving over 65,000 miles annually. He weaves a blend of gentle wit and humor into his performances and one reviewer wrote, “He has a sense of timing to match the best standup comic.”

Bill’s music is a slice of Americana, reflecting with the same ease his feelings about the prairie people of the Midwest or the adventurers of the Yukon, the on-the-road truckers, or the everyday workers that make up this land.

Many of Bill’s songs have appeared in grade school music books, church hymnals, and scouting campfire songbooks; he is one of only a few songwriters to have eight songs published in the classic song collection, Rise up Singing. Composer David Amram recently described Bill as “a modern day Stephen Foster…his songs will be around 100 years from now.”

Over the decades, you have heard Bill singing on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, HBO’s award winning series Deadwood, and Public Radio’s Mountain Stage. Additionally, his music has been used in a number of films including Off and Running, with Cyndi Lauper, and The Return of the Secaucus Seven, John Sayles’ debut as a writer- director.

In 1975, Bill won National Yodeling Championship in Kerrville Texas. Another important recognition was given to him in 2007. Presented by the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association, The Jerry Christen Award recognized Bill’s contribution to New England folk music

For much more about Bill Staines: https://www.acousticmusic.com/staines/index.htm

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Featuring but not limited to bluegrass. All ages and skill levels welcome. Hosted by Mark Abare.

Pass the hat event

Cheryl Wheeler

“Cheryl Wheeler has to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing you read and nothing you hear from her albums prepares you for how good a performer she is.”

“If your idea of a folk singer/songwriter concert is a bunch of people clapping politely after songs, and then sitting quietly while the performer says things like “This next song is about …”, well, you’ve never seen a Cheryl Wheeler concert before.  ”

“Cheryl’s songs are often emotional portraits of people, leaving you with the impression that you know the characters. You find yourself being dragged into the song rather than standing outside and observing. Other songs by Cheryl are hilarious situation comedies.”

“You may not be familiar with Cheryl, but you have probably heard her music. She is very respected as a songwriter by her peers, which can be seen by how many of them record her songs. Chery’s songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul and Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Boggus, Melanie, Bette Midler, Maura O’Connell, Sylvia, Kathy Mattea, and Holly Near. If they think she is great, then you owe it to yourself to learn more if you aren’t familiar with her.

“From her albums you can tell that she is a gifted songwriter with a beautiful voice. From other people’s comments about her you can learn that she is a natural story teller with a fantastic sense of humor. But until you see her in person, you never really believe what you’ve been told about her. Besides, almost half of the songs she does during her shows haven’t been recorded!”

Cheryl’s concerts are more like what you would find at a comedy club than expect to find at a folk music concert. “She will tell a story that has you rolling in the aisles, and then sing a song that leaves you wiping tears from your eyes. She will talk about some serious current event, and then sing a song that will have you howling with laughter. Her entire concert is an emotional roller coaster.”

http://www.cherylwheeler.com/home/bio.html

Kenny White

“I’d have to say that Kenny White has earned a place among my favorite singer/songwriters … and particularly, lyricists.  As we say in the trade ‘he goes deep.’   A true wordsmith AND musician whoreveals a fine sense of humor, as well. Put on your headphones and listen carefully.”
— David Crosby

“Kenny White is a quadruple threat – a singer, songwriter, pianist and producer with a knack for summing-up the human condition in half a song verse or less. (Take the lyrics “So you might as well put it on the line once in awhile, Maybe leave something more than ashes in a pile,” from his song “Five Girls.” Need we say more?”

Join us for an open mic in the round! We sit in a circle of chairs off stage as we each play one song in turn and continue around the circle. All levels are welcome! We also have either a group activity or feature each week at 3pm. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, this is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with like-minded musicians!

Cheryl Wheeler

“Cheryl Wheeler has to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing you read and nothing you hear from her albums prepares you for how good a performer she is.”

“If your idea of a folk singer/songwriter concert is a bunch of people clapping politely after songs, and then sitting quietly while the performer says things like “This next song is about …”, well, you’ve never seen a Cheryl Wheeler concert before.  ”

“Cheryl’s songs are often emotional portraits of people, leaving you with the impression that you know the characters. You find yourself being dragged into the song rather than standing outside and observing. Other songs by Cheryl are hilarious situation comedies.”

“You may not be familiar with Cheryl, but you have probably heard her music. She is very respected as a songwriter by her peers, which can be seen by how many of them record her songs. Chery’s songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul and Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Boggus, Melanie, Bette Midler, Maura O’Connell, Sylvia, Kathy Mattea, and Holly Near. If they think she is great, then you owe it to yourself to learn more if you aren’t familiar with her.

“From her albums you can tell that she is a gifted songwriter with a beautiful voice. From other people’s comments about her you can learn that she is a natural story teller with a fantastic sense of humor. But until you see her in person, you never really believe what you’ve been told about her. Besides, almost half of the songs she does during her shows haven’t been recorded!”

Cheryl’s concerts are more like what you would find at a comedy club than expect to find at a folk music concert. “She will tell a story that has you rolling in the aisles, and then sing a song that leaves you wiping tears from your eyes. She will talk about some serious current event, and then sing a song that will have you howling with laughter. Her entire concert is an emotional roller coaster.”

http://www.cherylwheeler.com/home/bio.html

Kenny White

“I’d have to say that Kenny White has earned a place among my favorite singer/songwriters … and particularly, lyricists.  As we say in the trade ‘he goes deep.’   A true wordsmith AND musician whoreveals a fine sense of humor, as well. Put on your headphones and listen carefully.”
— David Crosby

“Kenny White is a quadruple threat – a singer, songwriter, pianist and producer with a knack for summing-up the human condition in half a song verse or less. (Take the lyrics “So you might as well put it on the line once in awhile, Maybe leave something more than ashes in a pile,” from his song “Five Girls.” Need we say more?”