Linden Tree Coffeehouse presents Notable New England Folk Favorites: 

Janet Feld and Esther Friedman   Live Streaming Hybrid Concert

The Linden Tree Coffeehouse will continue its 37^th season of acoustic music with its new hybrid format featuring two of our Notable New England favorites:  Janet Feld and Esther Friedman.  Due to Covid restrictions,  a limited number of folks will be part of the live audience at our Covid location.  Live Streaming will continue on Linden Tree’s Facebook and Youtube channels, from www.LindenTreeCoffeehouse.org.

Janet Feld is a performing songwriter appearing at folk festivals and coffeehouses nationally and internationally since the mid 80s. She has released 5 CDs, the latest one, Messy Beauty, was released in November of 2019, just before the world exploded.Janet is also the Founder and Chief Music Officer at Janet’s Planet: Music Lessons For Humanoids, Inc., offering lessons and classes to people of all ages.  Her goal is to help people experience the fact that you don’t have to be from the “special talented planet” in order to play music.

Esther Friedman is a Boston-based acoustic singer & songwriter. She started writing songs in the mid-nineties after moving to the area from Cleveland, for Lesley University’s Expressive Art Therapy, Master’s Degree program. Inspired by buskers who braved street corners and t-stops she started writing and performing. In 1998, a compilation called Respond picked up her song Moon Over The Water. The compilation, and her song, received accolades from Billboard Magazine. Encouraged, she recorded her first CD, Eve’s Lament, with producer John Sonntag of Thunder Pumpkin Records in 1999. In 2016, she completed a second record, a concept album called Cult Confessions, with Producer, Doug Kwartler, Hollow Body Studio, her original soundtrack to a true story about a cultic misadventure. Today, she provides therapy in a private practice, counseling those in recovery from trauma, while performing and song writing as much as humanly possible.

Watch this streaming concert on YouTube Live

Coming to the New Revival Coffeehouse on Nov. 6 is Zoë Lewis, a Provincetown musician who plays multiple instruments and sings her joyful songs with exciting rhythms from all over the world.

Zoë plays piano, ukulele, guitar, harmonica, spoons and just about anything else she can get her hands on.

“I like to redefine what a musical instrument is,” she says.  “There is music in anything.”

“A masterful combination of song, performance and artistry with a contagiously positive attitude and free spirit.  Probably one of the most charismatic performances I’ve ever seen.” San Francisco Bay Guardian.

“A gorgeous writer – so evocative, tender and thoughtful.  And a mesmerizing performer.” NY Times.

It will be a streaming concert, accessible on YouTube Live on both the FPC and Stow TV YouTube channels.
Viewers will have an opportunity to donate to the artist via PayPal or Venmo or send a check, payable to Zoë Lewis, to First Parish Church, attn: Treasurer, 353 Great Road, Stow MA 01775. The suggested donation is $20.

Zoë performed at New Revival in 2012. To learn more about her and listen to her music, go to zoelewis.com.

Advance tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for youth (age 18 and under). The suggested contribution at the door is $20 for adults, $5 for juniors, and $40 for families. Click here for more information about tickets. IMPORTANT! Click HERE to see the COVID-19 precautions for this concert.

Named after a Victorian children’s game, What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? can time-travel from 1960s New Orleans soul,  back to the minstrels of Medieval France before landing in the Tin Pan Alley era of NYC.  Led by the gender-defying voice of 3rian King, the ensemble delivers their own brand smoky cabaret, neo-soul and acoustic noir, sounding something like Tom Waits and Amy Winehouse performing in a French cafe. What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? is known for its original songs which marry rich lyrical imagery with a cinematic sensibility, exploring themes of love, spirituality, sexuality, and identity.  Mr. Fox brings honesty, energy, and emotional authenticity to every performance.

In summer 2019, the band premiered their new multimedia animated musical “Medusa” in the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Museum of Science, Boston with a completely sold out run and rave reviews.  In the spirit of revisionist works like Mists Of Avalon and Wicked, the story gives a new perspective on Medusa, one of female of empowerment and leadership. The soundtrack album is forthcoming with the first single “Devil Vs. Scarecrow” available now on Spotify, AppleMusic, GooglePlay, Amazon, and more.

Peterborough Folk Music is thrilled to have Le Vent du Nord returning to the Monadnock Region. Their last appearance in the area was at The Keene Colonial Theater last March. A wonderful late afternoon of a band who love to please their audience with their stories and music. Join us for some rollicking good fun.

“ There was a sizable contingent of Quebecers in the audience who probably understood every word. For the rest, it did not matter. While the band put down their instruments from time to time to perform beautifully harmonized a cappella songs, this was definitely a concert that was more about the music than the words.” THIRDCOAST REVIEW( Jan, 8, 2020, Chicago, USA)

The award winning and highly acclaimed band Le Vent du Nord is a leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement. The group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while enhancing its hard-drive soulful music (rooted in the Celtic diaspora) with a broad range of global influences. Featuring button accordion, guitar and fiddle, the bands sound is defined by the hurdy-gurdy, which adds an earthy, rough-hewn flavor to even the most buoyant dance-tunes – Boston Hearld

“ There must be few souls alive who could resist Le Vent du Nord’s boundless joie de vivre.  And there was certainly no resistance in Finstown, as the band raised the roof with a jubilant maelstrom of prodigiously bouncy dance-tunes, also featuring hurdy-gurdy, accordion, bouzouki, piano, jaw-harp, guitar and electric bass, garlanded with lustily compelling five-part vocals, which, in one thrillingly throttled-back a cappella number, recalled the numinous, spine-tingling modalities of Gregorian chant (…) With Brunet [André] on board, their sound’s scale and intricacy are fast evolving into fresh dimensions, manifest in some sets’ looser, boldly freewheeling arrangements; in lashings of red-blooded honky-tonk brio, and in umpteen insouciant virtuoso flourishes, like one medley’s cheeky wee disco-funk intro, dashed off on fiddle, jaw-harp and fat bass licks. ”
— Sue Wilson [Orkney Festival, Scotland], Folk radio (June 2

Southern Rail’s performances are high-energy exuberant fun, with riveting harmonies, irrepressible humor and sparkling banjo, mandolin, and guitar solo work. Southern Rail celebrates over three decades of performing with the long awaited release of their 12th CD , “Voices in the Wind.”

Over the years, Southern Rail’s recordings, featuring their prolific songwriting, have graced Bluegrass Unlimited’s Top Thirty Singles Chart for a combined total of 32 months, climbing to #11. One of Southern Rail’s earlier CD’s, a special Bluegrass Gospel compilation entitled Glory Train, was nominated for Best Gospel Recording of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Southern Rail has been selected by the New England Foundation for the Arts to be included in their prestigious Touring Roster.

Southern Rail includes:

Jim Muller (Richmond, VA. Resides Massachusetts) – guitar, lead vocals. Talented singer, songwriter & humorist. “Jim’s guitar playing is the genuine article.” Bluegrass Unlimited (VA) “One of the most distinctive voices in Bluegrass.” Bluegrass Now (MO)

Sharon Horovitch (Montreal, Que. Resides in Massachusetts)- acoustic bass, harmony vocals. Sharon’s infectious energy has become one of the group’s trademarks. “Marvelously upbeat” Worcester Telegram (MA)

Rich Stillman (New Jersey. Resides in Massachusetts) Banjo and Harmony Vocals. A 30 year veteran of the banjo, Rich has extensive performing and recording experience, including a stint with Southern Rail from ‘85-’89. Rich has won multiple banjo championships (New Jersey champion 1983, New England champion in 2002 and 2003), as well as extensive teaching experience (Banjo Camp North, Boston Bluegrass Union, Phillips Academy in Andover, MA)

John Tibert (Northboro, MA) Mandolin and Harmony Vocals. John started playing guitar at age 14. But once he heard Dave Grisman on”Old and in the Way”, his life was never the same. He’s been addicted to bluegrass ever since.He’s a prolific songwriter and also has taught mandolin for over a decade. John’s mandolin playing isfluid, lyrical and from the heart, and his superb bass vocals are a powerful addition to the group’ssignature quartet harmonies.

Peter Mulvey has been a songwriter, road-dog, raconteur and almost-poet since before he can remember. Raised working-class Catholic on the Northwest side of Milwaukee, he took a semester in Ireland, and immediately began cutting classes to busk on Grafton Street in Dublin and hitchhike through the country, finding whatever gigs he could. Back stateside, he spent a couple years gigging in the Midwest before lighting out for Boston, where he returned to busking (this time in the subway) and coffeehouses. Small shows led to larger shows, which eventually led to regional and then national and international touring. The wheels have not stopped since.

Nineteen records, an illustrated book, thousands of live performances, a TEDx talk, a decades-long association with the National Youth Science Camp, opening for luminaries such as Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, and Chuck Prophet, appearances on NPR, an annual autumn tour by bicycle, emceeing festivals, hosting his own boutique festival (the Lamplighter Sessions, in Boston and Wisconsin)… Mulvey never stops. He has built his life’s work on collaboration and an instinct for the eclectic and the vital. He folds everything he encounters into his work: poetry, social justice, scientific literacy, & a deeply abiding humanism are all on plain display in his art.

In late January 2019, Mulvey and his band, SistaStrings (Chauntee & Monique Ross) with Nathan Kilen on drums, decamped to their home turf, the Cafe Carpe, in Fort Atkinson, WI where they spent just five days making two records in the tiny back room. The live record, “Peter Mulvey with SistaStrings Live at the Cafe Carpe” is out now on Righteous Babe Records. It’s a celebration of a world that is temporarily on hold: a small folk club, packed with listeners, and a band shoulder-to-shoulder, playing and singing with intimacy and abandon.

The other shoe, “Shenandoah” a studio album about love and family in the midst of a dying empire, will drop in early 2021, provided there is still a republic within which to drop it.

After inheriting her grandmother’s guitar and a bag full of handwritten cover songs in 2017, folk singer Lisa Bastoni returned to music after a 10-year absence. The mother of two had taken a break after time spent busking in Boston after college, but finding her grandmother’s lyrics ignited something irresistible inside her: she says she felt the routines of her own life shaking loose. How We Want to Live, released today, chronicles life changes, including songs about the dissolution of her marriage and learning to live a new normal — but more than anything, it finds the songwriter diving deeper into the life she craves.

All of the songs on How We Want to Live were written when Lisa’s marriage was ending — though it’s not a divorce album. Instead, it finds its creator doing the deep work of deciphering what she wants her world to be. Sifting through her thoughts and feelings about her relationships — between her and a partner, both real and imagined; between her and a parent; between her and her children; between longtime friends — and expressing what she would like each of those people to hear and know. It was produced by Sean Staples and recorded at Side Hill Sound in Waltham, MA. The album, which Glide Magazine says offers “expressive, well-crafted folk songs,” also features guest musicians Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, Mali Obomsawin (Lula Wiles); Rose Cousins;  Mark Erelli; and Naomi Sommers.

The first song written for the album, “Pockets Full of Sighs,” was inspired by a line in a hidden notebook of Lisa’s grandmother’s, found after she passed away. As a teenager, Lisa flipped through the pages of her grandmother’s guitar notes, an instrument she learned as a 40-something-year-old. After she died in 2017, Lisa inherited her guitar — a 1971 Gibson J50 — complete with her handprint on the upper bout, where the sweat and oils from her hand wore away the finish while waiting her turn in song circles.

The title track, “How We Want to Live,” with background vocals from Mark Erelli, chronicles her feelings around the time she began digging deeper into her songwriting and recording career, when it was becoming clear her passions and her relationship would not be able to co-exist. The summer after the end of her marriage, Lisa spent a weekend catching up with old high school friends, inspiring “Take The Wheel.” “Silver Line” recalls what it can feel like to end a relationship with someone you love, but need to let go. Billboard premiered “Never Gone To You,” with background vocals from Rose Cousins. The track examines a relationship with a parent who doesn’t have the capacity to stay involved.

Other tracks are a bit more carefree: “Dogs of New Orleans” captures the lesson of being in the moment. “Nearby” is about the moments where love feels just right; Wide Open Country says the song “honors effortless love.” Featuring guest musicians Lula Wiles, “Walk A Little Closer” is a bluegrass-tinged tune about a first date, and aptly premiered with The Bluegrass Situation. “Beautiful Girl,” featuring Naomi Sommers, is an encouragement to Lisa’s daughter — to keep the sometimes-softer edges that can seem like a liability. PopMatters says the “heartening folk song is an ever-present reminder that kindness can be a strength.”

The sole cover on the album is Bob Dylan’s “Workingman’s Blues #2.”

“I keep picturing my grandmother, who was always encouraging me to keep at it — I was just getting started again when she died. I wish she knew what a gift she gave me when she taught me to play the guitar all those years ago.”

It is more than appropriate that Kim Moberg, who won our Performing Songwriter Competition in 2018, returns to split the bill with this year’s winner, to be decided in September 2021. She’ll be joined on March 19, 2022 by fiddler Heather Swanson.

Kim Moberg was born in Juneau, Alaska, the daughter of a classical pianist mother of Alaskan Native Tlingit descent and a US Coast Guard veteran father from Kansas.

Music was the constant in Kim’s childhood, helping her to adjust to the frequent moves associated with growing up in a military family.

At the age of 14, Kim began playing acoustic guitar on a borrowed nylon 6 string. A few years later, Kim taught herself to strum and finger pick to her favorite songs by singer/songwriters of the 1970’s, but debilitating stage fright kept her from pursuing her own dream of becoming a professional performer.

In 2014, Kim set out to overcome her stage fright and wrote her first song.

Kim teamed with Grammy-nominated producer Jon Evans to record both of her CDs. “Above Ground” celebrates the achievement of her goal to bring her music out of the basement and “Up Around The Bend” consists of 13 new original songs and one cover, Cliff Eberhardt’s “The Long Road.” Both recordings have received world wide airplay and critical acclaim, charting on the Folk International Folk DJ and NACC charts.

Kim’s passionate and heartfelt vocals mesmerize listeners while her compositions tug at feelings of melancholy, heartbreak, healing and social consciousness.

Two extraordinary veteran New England singer-songwriters come together for a split-bill show that promises to be one of the most exhilarating musical events we’ve ever experienced. Bill Staines’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. David Mallett’s songs are filled with passion, evocative imagery, and a sense of the inevitable passage of time. The struggle of the common man and the loss of American towns and landscapes are the subject of many of his songs.

To listen to April Verch and Cody Walters is to be immersed in tradition. To watch them perform is to be transported. Be it regional Canadian roots, American old-time, 50’s Country, Scandinavian folk music, or something original that sounds as though it’s been around for a century—the one common thread is their love and reverence for the music and traditions that have been passed down to them.

Husband and wife duo April Verch & Cody Walters is a true partnership of kindred musical spirits, each a world-class musician in their own right. Combining their unique backgrounds from Verch’s native Ottawa Valley and Walters’ heartland roots in Kansas, their music showcases endless creativity and versatility— transitioning effortlessly from traditional Ottawa Valley step dancing and fiddle tunes, to old-time fiddle-banjo duets with tight-knit vocal harmonies, to innovative sandpaper foot percussion, all contrasted against Verch’s sweet soprano voice.

Verch and Walters began playing together in 2007 when Walters joined the April Verch Band as their bassist. Initially formed as a pickup band centered around Verch’s own fiddle and dance stylings in 2000, the band grew and blossomed into an established trio of world-class musicians, spanning several musical traditions and backgrounds, yet all united in their mission to share the music they love. Together they have traveled to four continents, performed in fourteen countries, and played everywhere from tiny pubs and dusty festival workshops all the way to legendary stages such as the Kennedy Center and the Ryman Auditorium. In 2018—fittingly amidst their ever-busy tour schedule—April and Cody were married.

During the heart of COVID lockdowns in 2020, the couple began performing as a duo out of necessity, and learned firsthand that sometimes, art born of necessity can yield unexpectedly beautiful results. They developed new material, arrangements and a concert performance that hum with the ease and playfulness that can only be cultivated through deep understanding and trust—as musicians and as partners.

The duo’s diverse repertoire and unbridled passion come to life on stage with a presence that is versatile, robust, and masterfully executed. Audiences remark at their sincerity in sharing stories between tunes. Verch’s delicate voice, energetic footwork, sand paper foot percussion and stunning playing (sometimes combined all at once!) are jaw-dropping. Walters’ melodic banjo stylings, solid rhythm guitar accompaniment and tasteful vocal harmonies are at once understated and brilliant, dueting with Verch’s skills in glorious harmony. Their ability to preserve the authentic folk traditions of the past and reintroduce them into the musical landscape of the present is a testament to their masterful musicianship and widespread appeal.

Even now, after more than two decades leading her own band and with 14 albums in her name (two of which were nominated for JUNO Awards, among other honors), there is nothing that fulfills Verch or gives her more joy than playing and sharing her music with the world. “It’s like the reward for everything else,” she says.

Together, she and Walters are exemplary tradition-bearing performers: never forgetting the roots of the music, that connection to the people out there in the audience or on the dance floor, to the community sparked by a good song. “It’s about joining together to celebrate everyday life, through music. We’re all in this together.” And so together they press onward: diving deep into musical tradition, bringing people together and forging connections, and sharing their insight and genuine love for the music they play so well.