Artists

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Performers: Jesse Terry, Mare Wakefield, Alastair Moock, Jason Spooner Band, Jay Ottaway.

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

Performers: Bread and Bones, Lowell Thompson, Mare Wakefield, Alastair Moock.

Saturday, September 3, 2011 Performers

Jesse TerryJesse Terry (Saturday 2-3 p.m.)
With his down-to-earth appeal and deceptively sharp writing, Jesse Terry plants himself firmly among the most promising singer-songwriters of his generation. His 2009 debut, The Runner, which was licensed to popular MTV shows The Hills and The City, introduced him as an inspired prodigy with the potential to score big on the Americana scene. Michael McCall of the Nashville Scene lauded Terry for offering “a sophisticated melodic touch to his tender musings about love and finding his place in the world.” Jesse recently performed a Premiere Showcase at Far West Folk Alliance and is a regular at some of the finest listening rooms in the country, including the Bluebird Cafe, Nashville’s premiere venue for emerging musical talent. He also recently performed at Florida’s 30A Songwriting Festival, alongside such songwriting luminaries as Rodney Crowell, Dar Williams, Mary Gauthier and Mat Kearney. Jesse is currently finishing up the songs for his second album, which will be recorded by heralded producer/engineer/mixer Neilson Hubbard (Kim Richey, Matthew Perryman Jones, Amy Speace, Glen Phillips).
www.jesseterrymusic.com
Mare WakefieldMare Wakefield (Saturday 3-4 p.m.)
Mare Wakefield is a Nashville star that has been called the sonic love child of Emmylou Harris and John Denver. Residing in the wide-open spaces between contemporary folk and alt-country, Mare — pronounced “Mary” — Wakefield has a voice that’s “Oregon cafes, small Texas towns and twangy Nashville rolled into one” (Cranky Crow, Seattle, WA).The girl from Southeast Texas went from playing Oregon coffee shops to headlining major Northwest festivals before a songwriting scholarship brought her to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, which boasts alums such as Gillian Welch and Aimee Mann (two of many artists that Mare has been compared to). Currently based in Nashville, Mare continues her upward trajectory by co-writing with hit songwriters and burning up the highways with her fourth studio album in tow. All four of her studio albums are receiving airplay on stations nationwide and in Canada, Australia, and Europe. She will also be performing on the Plymouth Folk’s Kids’ Stage on Sunday.
www.marewakefield.com
Alastair MoockKids Stage with Alastair Moock (Saturday 3:15-4 p.m.)
Alastair Moock has been working with and performing for kids for many years between stints on the road as an award -winning performer and songwriter. In 2002, he brought his roots hootenanny, Pastures of Plenty, to the family stage at the Newport Folk Festival and for the last several years, he has been doing educational performances and workshops on Woody Guthrie and songwriting at schools from Massachusetts to Poland. He has also been playing to full houses of enthusiastic families throughout New England. The shows, generally performed with his Rowdy Roots band, are high energy romps that get kids singing, jumping, and dancing. His kids’ CD, A Cow Says Moock, won high praise from such standard-bearers as the School Library Journal, Midwest Book Review, and Sing Out! magazine, has won a 2010 NAPPA Gold Award and Parents’ Choice “Recommended” Award, and was a Boston Children’s Music Favorite Album of the Year. Jeff Bogle of Out With the Kids put it in his running top ten list for the year, calling it “classy, stunning work.”
www.moockmusic.com
Jason Spooner BandJason Spooner Band (Saturday 4-5 p.m.)
The ingredients behind northern New England’s Jason Spooner Trio read like a bizarre musical science experiment. Start with an award-winning singer/songwriter (Jason Spooner) with heavy roots, folk & blues influences. Add a classically-trained bassist (Adam Frederick) with foundations in jazz, a drummer (Reed Chambers) with influences rooted in funk, soul & reggae, and you’ve begun to scratch the surface of this unique, energetic band. The Spooner Trio’s latest album Sea Monster is currently in rotation at over 50 Triple A stations nationwide and has been featured on Sirius/XM’s The Loft and The Spectrum channels, on NPR’s All Things Considered and at over 11,000 Starbucks retail locations nationwide. Jason and the band have toured extensively over the past few years, sharing the stage with artists including Ray LaMontagne, Brandi Carlile, Guster, Peter Rowan, Susan Tedeschi, Amos Lee, Blues Traveler, Martin Sexton, Ryan Montbleau, Josh Ritter, Jackie Greene, Kathleen Edwards and more.
www.jasonspooner.com
Jam Session/Open Mic with Jay Ottaway (Saturday 8 p.m. at Ramuntos Pizza in the Bridgewater Mall)
Jay Ottaway is an award-winning songwriter/producer who studied songwriting and guitar at the Berklee College of Music (Boston) and cut his teeth in Nashville as a singer-songwriter and producer. He has been honored by American Songwriter Magazine, the USA Songwriting Contest, the International Songwriting Contest, the U.K. Songwriting Contest, and the Peacedriven Songwriting Contest, and has won multiple awards from the Berklee College of Music, both as an arranger and a songwriter. He tours throughout Europe and the U.S. with his electric, Jay Ottaway Band, and as a solo acoustic act. He has co-produced the Plymouth Folk and Blues Fest in Vermont since 2003.
www.jayottaway.com

Sunday, September 4th, 2011 Performers:

Bread and Bones bandBread and Bones (Sunday 2-3 p.m.)
Bread and Bones is an award-winning Vermont-based acoustic trio performing original music that is steeped in tradition, but of its own time. It is music that pulls you in and paints its landscape in your imagination. Their songs have been called well crafted, soulful, rootsy, haunting and intelligently infectious. They were selected for the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival’s 2009 Emerging Artist Showcase. Their CD I Know Stories was named Vermont’s Best Traditional Album of 2008. Bread and Bones is Richard Ruane on vocals, guitar, tenor and 5 string banjos, mandolin and ukulele; Beth Duquette on vocals and Mitch Barron on fretless, fretted and upright basses and vocals.
www.breadandbones.com
Lowell ThompsonLowell Thompson (Sunday 3-4 p.m.)
Dark winters up north, an encyclopedic knowledge of Americana mixed with punk rock sensibilities, and a heart easily broken (and re-broken) make for songs and shows that are crushing and redemptive.It’s easy to understand why Lowell Thompson and his band Crown Pilot are getting hailed as the “next big thing” for the alt-country set. It’s hard to find a review that doesn’t include favorable comparisons to the likes of Gram Parsons, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, vintage Rolling Stones, and the various Americana revivalists that used to grace the cover of No Depression. While there’s truth to the hype, the fact is that Thompson’s music is informed as much by the names above as it is by less expected sources like Fugazi and Elvis Costello.

Thompson’s latest album entitled “Lowell Thompson and Crown Pilot” features volunteer contributions by local Vermonter’s like Phish’s Page McConnell (piano), Grace Potter (backing vocals) and Son Volt’s Mark Spencer (lap steel). The record has been garnering positive media attention at home, nationally (including Rolling Stone) and in the press across the Atlantic.

Recent accolades:

  • Best Male Vocalist, Seven Days “Daisies” Readers Choice Award, 2010
  • Top Albums of 2009, Burlington Free Press, 2010
  • Top Ten Albums of 2009, Seven Days, 2010
  • Best Shows of 2009, Burlington Free Press, 2010
  • Best Albums of 2009, Vermont Public Radio, 2009
  • Best Band, Seven Days “Daisies” Readers Choice Award, 2009

www.lowellthompson.com

Mare WakefieldKIDS STAGE with Mare Wakefield – (Sunday 3:15 p.m.)
Besides her regular singer-songwriter work, Mare also writes and performs children’s music. Together with Eve Fleishman in the duo Eve & Mare was named Best New Artist finalist in the 2007 Children’s Music Web Awards and earned a top 10 ranking from Gooney Bird Kids Radio for The Best Music of 2007 for Kids and Families. Their CD, Daddy’s Moonlight Alligator Boat Ride has received airplay on radio stations across the country, including XM Kids. For three years Mare was a faculty member at the Oregon Festival of American Music’s Summer Guitar Camp, where she taught songwriting classes to children aged 8-17. She is also performing on Plymouth Folk’s Main Stage on Saturday.
www.marewakefield.com
Alastair MoockAlastair Moock (Sunday 4-5 p.m.)
Alastair Moock is a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter from Boston. Since 1995, he has toured throughout the US and Europe and won top honors at many of the country’s most prestigious songwriting contests, including those at the Falcon Ridge, Sisters, and Great Waters folk festivals. In 2007 he was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer/Songwriter of the Year. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post says “every song is a gem.” Alastair Moock was first inspired to pursue a career in folk music after reading Woody Guthrie’s memoir Bound for Glory in high school. In addition to touring, Moock does school performances and teaches workshops on American roots music. In early 2010, he released his first album for kids, A Cow Says Moock. He will also be performing on the Plymouth Folk’s Kids Stage on Saturday.
www.moockmusic.com