Nine past performers

2005-2006 Concert Series

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CraigMorganRobson

Craig; Morgan; Robson (House Concert)

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005, 8pm
W. Newton, MA
$10 for all; reservations required.
Email Suzanne Mrozak (suzanne@smrozak.com)
for reservations/directions.

Since joining forces in November 2003, Craig; Morgan; Robson have been astounding and delighting audiences with their enviable repertoire of songs and ballads from England, Scotland, Ireland and America, and with their outstanding a-capella singing. All three are accomplished and experienced soloists, and when they sing together their combined voices complement each other in spellbinding harmonies from the exquisitely delicate to the richly powerful. Their performance has a variety and capability that produces real musical excitement as they move with ease from dramatic ballads, through sensitive songs of love and longing, to heart-lifting choruses. Craig;Morgan;Robson have been on the receiving end of accolades not only from audience members but also from club and folk festival organisers, fellow performers and the folk press..

Moira Craig is from East Kilbride, where her family have lived for generations. Her grandfather, father and brothers were all singers and musicians. At family parties her brothers and she took turns singing and entertaining. Everyone sang or played and it could be anything from the latest "pop" song, the old songs and ballads to music hall or whatever anyone fancied singing. Moira moved to London in 1983 to work as a nurse and singing has taken up most of her life outside of work since that time. She has long been recognised by club and festival goers for her superb interpretations of Scottish. Irish and English songs and ballads. A former winner of the "Sidmouth Singer of the Year" award, Moira became more widely known through her contributions to the Pastimes albums. She also has a solo album, "Ae Bonny Day". Moira has appeared in Britain, Germany and the USA, charming audiences with her clear ringing voice and wonderful repertoire.

Sarah Morgan has more than thirty years experience as a performer of folk music. As a harmony singer, her experience includes working with American singer Mary Eagle, with Bread and Roses, and with Hen Party (described by English dance and Song as "unaccompanied harmony at its best"), as well as with Mick Ryan and others in Fieldwork's production of "A Tolpuddle Man" and "A Day's Work". As a soloist (unaccompanied or with English concertina), Sarah sings with warmth and conviction, and has developed an enviable repertoire of traditional and more recent songs. She has a particular interest in songs from her adopted county of Hampshire.

Carolyn Robson is a professional singer and musician specialising in traditional folk song and dance. Her extensive repertoire consists mainly of songs from her native Northumberland and Scotland as well as from other parts of the British Isles. She has worked as a radio presenter and regularly sings on radio. In 1981 she made her first album, 'Banks of Tyne' on the Dingle label and can be heard singing on Kathryn Tickell's CD 'The Northumberland Collection'. Her recent albums, 'All the fine young men' and 'Dawn Chorus' were produced by her own company, Reiver Records. Carolyn has a wealth of singing and teaching experience and has made countless club and festival appearances. She is now widely recognised as one of country's finest female singers.

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Bob Fox

Bob Fox (House Concert)

Friday, September 30, 2005, 8pm
Malden, MA
$10 for all; reservations required.
Email Suzanne Mrozak (suzanne@smrozak.com)
for reservations/directions.

In 1975, after spending 5 years as a floor singer around the many folk clubs in the North East of England as well as being a resident singer at the famous Davylamp Folk Club in Washington, Bob Fox met fellow North Easterner Tom McConville and his career as a professional folk singer/musician began. In the duo with Tom he toured the vibrant folk club scene of mid 70's Britain playing a mixture of Irish and Scottish dance music and singing mainly traditional songs primarily from their native North East, Tom on fiddle and Bob playing guitar and piano. After 2 very successful years Bob and Tom parted company and the duo with ex Hedgehog Pie man Stu Luckley was formed. This proved to be one of the most innovative and highly acclaimed collaborations ever seen on the folkscene and led to Bob Fox and Stu Luckley releasing their first album "Nowt So Good’ll Pass" which was voted folk album of the year and remains a unique and classic album.

Bob Fox has been Folk Artist in Residence for the District of Blyth Valley and Music Development Worker for Easington District Council during which time he was inspired by the discovery of a photographic archive to produce a songs/slide show with Benny Graham celebrating the rich and varied culture of the coal mining communities of Durham and Northumberland "How Are You Of For Coals?" This project brought Bob back to recording after almost 15 years when he and Benny produced a CD collection of mining songs "How Are You Of For Coals?" and the following year re-recorded 14 songs from his albums with Stu Luckley on the CD "Box of Gold".

In the year 2005 Bob celebrates 30 years of singing folk songs professionally and is planning a number of tours both in the UK and abroad, starting with appearences as 'special guest' on the Fairport Convention tour and continuing with folk club tours in Britain, Holland and Canada.

"Fox always was one of the scene's superior singers and his voice is as confident and ebullient as it ever was . . ." Colin Irwin - Folk Roots

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Dave and Anni

Dave Webber and Anni Fentiman

Saturday, October 29, 2005, 8pm
First Parish of Watertown
35 Church Street, Watertown
$15.00 general admission, $10.00 FSSGB members
Children 7-15: $5, Children 6 and under free
(Members' children 15 and under free)
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

The Folk Song Society is pleased to present a special concert with the British duo Dave Webber and Anni Fentiman. Dave and Anni are well-known in traditional music circles, and have developed a talent and firm commitment to unaccompanied singing. Both were members of the British a capella quartet Beggers Velvet during it's eight year existence and many highly successful U.S. tours. This is a powerful singing duo not to be missed.

Dave and Anni's enthusiasm sparkles in their powerful vocal performances which have developed from their involvement in traditional and traditional-style music for over 25 years. Their first love is accappella singing, both solo and in harmony, and they present a varied cross section of material from the delicate solo to the rousing chorus.

Anni's intuitive harmony adds colour and depth to the duo whilst her solo performance is clear and sensitive. From the North East of England Anni is a "Geordie" and presents an unusual repertoire featuring dialect songs earning Anni a well deserved reputation in English traditional music circles. Dave sings with a rich and powerful style. His love of this music is clear in his performance, from the gentle and plaintive traditional ballad to the stirring chorus song which inspires even the most reticent audience to join in. Dave is also a song writer of note with many of his better known songs often assumed to be traditional. Foremost among these is probably "Lady of Autumn" and many of Dave's songs have been heard as far afield as Australia. Dave has published a book of his self penned songs all of which are written in the traditional idiom.

Apart from their concert work, Dave and Anni's recordings are frequently featured on national and local radio and have been used for television. They occasionally combine their talents with other performers in musical and theatrical productions, the most widely acclaimed of which is probably 'The Widow's Uniform', a musical play in which Dave and Anni play leading roles. This show has toured provincial theatres throughout England, and has been favourably reviewed by BBC Radio 4.

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Robbie OConnell

Robbie O'Connell

Saturday, November 19, 2005, 8pm
First Parish of Watertown
35 Church Street, Watertown
$15.00 general admission, $10.00 FSSGB members
Children 7-15: $5, Children 6 and under free
(Members' children 15 and under free)
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

Rescheduled from January due to snow!

Our November concert featuring Robbie O'Connell promises to be a pleasure. Robbie is known as a performer who ably bridges the traditional and songwriting worlds. A nephew of the Clancy Brothers, he began to play guitar and sing at age thirteen and soon became a regular performer at weekly folk concerts held at his parents' small hotel in Tipperary, Ireland. Later, during school vacations, he toured folk clubs in England and -- as an Irish entertainer -- in the United States. This latter experience he would later recall in his well known satirical song "You're Not Irish," based on all the requests he got for songs like "Danny Boy."

O'Connell has a rich and varied performing history. In 1977 he joined the Clancy Brothers and two years later moved to Massachusetts. Since then, in addition to his solo career, he has also performed with Jimmy Keane (as Aengus), as well as with his uncle Liam Clancy and Liam's son Donal.

He participated in the Festival of Mountain Music and Dance on a five nation tour of Latin America, and he won a prestigious Boston Music Award as Outstanding Celtic Act. He was also featured in the critically acclaimed TV series and album called "Brining It All Back Home," and in 1994 he headlined a celebration of Boston-based Irish music at Lincoln Center in New York.

In addition to his strong traditional credentials, O'Connell is a talented songwriter -- sometimes employing his keen sense of humor, and sometimes evoking more contemplative feelings. As one reviewer indicated, throughout his songs he demonstrates his "ability to take an everyday experience or thought and turn it into an effective structured song. All his material is melodic and accessible." In fact, his second solo album, The Love of the Land, was voted the #1 acoustic album of 1989 by WUMB's staff and listeners. He has performed on a number of albums, singing both solo and as part of a group.

In the past few years, O'Connell has taught songwriting classes at the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshop in Elkins, West Virginia. He also taught at WUMB's first Summer Acoustic Music Week, where I had the pleasure of working with him. He is warm and accessible, sharing his music and his insights with his students, and pulling his audiences into the spirit of his music. Expect opportunities to sing, to laugh, and to be moved by a variety of good songs!

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Midweek Singers at the Members' Concert

Annual FSSGB Members' Concert

Saturday, January 28, 2006, 7:30pm
First Parish of Watertown
35 Church Street, Watertown
$10 General Admission, $8.00 FSSGB Members
Children 7-15: $5.00, children 6 and under free
Members' children 15 and under free
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

Wondering what to expect?
Listen to some sound clips on CDBaby.com!

The annual FSSGB members' concert is always a popular event. Our members perform songs which range from traditional ballads to original compositions, and from instrumental to a cappella pieces. Some of the instruments that have been played at this concert in the past include violin, cello, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, keyboard and concertina. Some FSSGB members who have performed at this event have gone on to have successful performing careers, such as Elijah Wald, Mark Ryer, Fool's Errand and Merle Roesler.

Many new musical relationships have formed as a result of the members' concert, including our hosts for the evening, Two for the Show - Ellen Schmidt and Jake Kensinger! They began playing together many years ago for a members' concert, and have since become very active performers in the local folk music scene.

Members are invited to sign up to perform - one song or a spoken word piece. You may perform alone or with others. Some performers have been participating for years; others will do so for the first time. Children are most welcome. The program will feature professional musicians as well as living room folk enthusiasts. All are welcome. The Midweek Singers are an important part of the program as are the many members who show up especially for this event. The audience is always supportive and lively.

To sign up, you may contact Ellen by email at eschmidt01742@yahoo.com by January 18th.

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Priscilla Herdman

Priscilla Herdman

Saturday, February 25, 2006, 8pm
First Parish of Watertown
35 Church Street, Watertown
$15.00 general admission, $10.00 FSSGB members
Children 7-15: $5, Children 6 and under free
(Members' children 15 and under free)
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

For many years Priscilla Herdman has been delighting Folk Song Society members with her rich voice and unerring choice of material. She is an extraordinary finder of powerful songs, as well as an eloquent performer who pulls her audience members in and encourages them to sing with her. Priscilla has an absolutely gorgeous voice with a three-octave range, fantastic clarity, and a silky smoothness. She is a singer's singer and one of the most admired interpreters of contemporary folk music. Audiences know her as an extraordinary song finder and an eloquent performer. They come to hear her sing and to sing with her. They are embraced by her warm and powerful performance.

In addition to a wide variety of American songs, Priscilla also interprets Australian and Canadian contemporary folk music. Her repertoire includes songs by Eric Bogle, Cathy Fink, Anne Hills, Connie Kaldor, Henry Lawson, John McCutcheon, David Mallet, Bruce [Utah] Phillips, Stan Rogers, Richard Shindell, Judy Small, Bill Staines, Nancy White, and many others.

In 2003 Priscilla recorded her most recent solo album, "The Road Home", which was her first solo album in almost 10 years. She has been touring and recording with her good friends Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen and has recorded three albums with them, including the "Voices of Winter" live concert album and a new recording called "At the Turning of the Year." They also sing backup on each other's albums. Priscilla has recorded three albums of children's music, called "Moondreamer", "Daydreamer" and "Stardreamer", which between them have won six awards for excellence in childrens' music. For more information about Priscilla, see her web site at http://www.priscillaherdman.com.

As you can see, Priscilla is highly talented and productive. At the February concert we will have the chance to share in her new discoveries, as well as rediscover old favorites. Come join us there!

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Michael O'Leary and Bridget Fitzgerald (House Concert)

Saturday, April 1, 2006, 8pm
W. Newton
$12 for all; reservations required.
Email Suzanne Mrozak (suzanne@smrozak.com)
for reservations/directions.

Bridget Fitzgerald is a sean nos (old style) singer in the Irish language. The sean nos style of singing is highly ornamented and generally unaccompanied. The repertoire is old and deep, varying by region in Ireland. It is said to represent the heart and soul of the Irish-speaking people. Sean nos is not as widely practiced in Ireland as it was when Fitzgerald was growing up, because the number of people in Ireland whose first language is Irish has been steadily declining and an older generation of singers is passing away.

Fitzgerald is one of a handful of sean nos singers now living in the United States. She was a founding member of the all-women ensemble Cherish the Ladies and has taught master classes at a number of folk music camps. She worked with apprentice Michael O'Leary, a fine traditional singer, who is eager to learn songs in Irish. They will concentrate on the regional style of Connemara, the Irish-speaking area of Fitzgerald's birth in County Galway, Ireland.

Michael O'Leary has studied traditional Irish singing with, among others, Bridget Fitzgerald, Andy Irvine, Niamh Parsons and Aoife Clancy and has performed at the New England Folk Festival, the Irish Connections Festival and the Gloucester Seaport Festival. He has also been a guest singer with the groups 'leven and Bluegate.

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Johnson Girls

The Johnson Girls

Saturday, April 8, 2006, 8pm
First Parish of Watertown
35 Church Street, Watertown
$15.00 general admission, $10.00 FSSGB members
Children 7-15: $5, Children 6 and under free
(Members' children 15 and under free)
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

The Johnson Girls is an energetic all-woman a cappella group performing folk music with an emphasis on songs of the sea and shore. Each member of the group brings a specialty and style to the ensemble. The Johnson Girls’ extensive repertoire of both traditional and contemporary music includes songs with an Afro-Caribbean influence, of the inland waterways, of fishing, Irish, Anglo-American, Italian and French Canadian ballads and work songs, and much more. With a sound that has been called "exciting", "haunting", "uplifting", and "full of harmony", the Johnson Girls give "hair-raising" performances of powerhouse chanteys, tender ballads and just plain fun songs, bringing audiences to their feet wherever they go. The audience becomes part of the show, singing along with many of the songs. The Johnson Girls have performed for standing room only crowds at UK festivals and have appeared on Oscar Brand’s radio show.

In addition to powerful performances, The Johnson Girls have led participatory workshops and demonstrations during festivals and folk weeks/weekends on many topics including but by no means limited to: women and the sea, contemporary sea songs, harmony, sea chanteys 101, work songs: old and new, fishing: then and now, Afro-Caribbean songs, ballads, collecting, landsmen, sailors and ladies, and more.

One newspaper account of The Johnson Girls at the Wadebridge Festival in Cornwall, UK said: "The Johnson Girls, shanty singers from America, took the place by storm." "Those who thought a shanty singer had to be male, bearded and with a beer gut, had better think again."

Following their performances at the Mystic Seaport Museum’s Sea Music Festival in Connecticut, Festival Director Craig Edwards wrote: "The Johnson Girls turned in magnificent performances at the 22nd Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, including a powerhouse main stage slot on Saturday night that demonstrated that you’re not great female chantey singers, you’re great chantey singers, period. " A world class act."

The Johnson Girls have 2 CDs, "The Johnson Girls", and the recently released "On the Rocks". Both have received rave reviews in the US and UK in such publications as Dirty Linen, Sing Out, Traditional Music Maker, and Living Tradition magazines, and the Folk Music Society of NY newsletter.

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Ed Trickett

Ed Trickett

Saturday, May 6, 2006, 8pm
St. John's Methodist Church
80 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown, MA
$15.00 general admission, $10.00 FSSGB members and dulcimer festival participants
Children 7-15: $5, Children 6 and under free
(Members' children 15 and under free)
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

In conjunction with the CCAE Spring Dulcimer Festival

The Folk Song Society is very pleased to present Ed Trickett in a rare New England solo concert. Ed Trickett has been collecting and interpreting traditional and traditional-based folk songs for over 30 years, and has appeared on over 40 recordings and appeared on Garrison Keillor's “A Prairie Home Companion” and other public radio broadcasts. Ed is known as a "song interpeter". By day he is a professor of psychology. He looks for the hidden truths in songs, and sings them to us in a manner that gives us a new meaning to old songs. Usually playing guitar, and singing in a very gentle manner, Ed is also an accomplished piano player. He doesn't consider himself as a "professional" musician, but he is indeed a professional in every sense of the word.

His repertoire includes a wide range of ballads, sea songs, songs of love and protest, and an occasional song of no consequence whatsoever. Ed has appeared on more Folk-Legacy recordings than any other individual artist, backing first one singer and then another with his excellent harmonies and his fine guitar.

Ed Trickett is well-known to New England audiences, primarily due to his singing with New Englander Gordon Bok and Ann Mayo Muir. He accompanies himself on 6- and 12-string guitar and hammered dulcimer, an instrument that he helped popularize. Ed has a beautiful unaffected tenor voice that lulls you into enjoying a marvelous evening of music, as if joining him in his living room.

Please join us for this wonderful concert!

Jacqueline Schwab  Reinmar Seidler

"New Rigged Ship - Neotraditional Scottish and Shetland tunes and tales"
Benefit Concert featuring Jacqueline Schwab and Reinmar Seidler

Saturday, May 20, 2006, 8pm
First Parish of Watertown
35 Church Street, Watertown
$20.00 general admission
(See map and calculate directions on MapQuest)
For public transportation, check the MBTA web site.

Proceeds will benefit Girl Scouts Beyond Bars,
a girl scouting program for the children of inmates at MCI Framingham

Jacqueline Schwab is a folk and classical improvisational pianist who plays "gorgeously spare piano" (The Boston Globe) yet "sounds as if she has an orchestra at her fingertips" (Sing Out). Chosen by the renowned Ken Burns for numerous public television documentaries due to the emotional expression in her playing, Jacqueline has performed on the soundtracks for the Grammy award-winning Civil War, the Emmy award-winning Baseball and Mark Twain, among others. She has performed at the White House for President Clinton in 1997 to celebrate Burns' Lewis and Clark series and also at the Smithsonian in 2000 celebrate its exhibition on the Presidency.

Jacqueline's signature style defies easy categorization, fitting somewhere in the crossover between folk, traditional, classical and new age music. Although many people connect improvisation with jazz, Jacqueline's inspirations are traditional music of England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, blues, vintage tangos, Bach's dance suites, nineteenth-century parlor piano, and the turn-of-the-twentieth-century sounds of Satie, Debussy and Bartok for starters. In the unique Third Stream program at New England Conservatory of Music, from which Jacqueline received a Bachelor of Music degree with honors, she was encouraged to meld different musical traditions into a personal style. She has "an uncanny sensitivity to the moods and proprieties of music from other eras," wrote New England Folk Almanac reviewer Scott Alarik.

Jacqueline performs solo piano concerts of vintage American and traditional English and Scottish music, creating the intimate feeling of an old-fashioned parlor setting. A Lexington Minuteman solo concert review said, "(Her playing was) full of colors and introspection which drew the listener into a musical reverie from which it was hard to return."

Well known as a classical and Baroque cellist, Reinmar Seidler is a member of a new generation of string players delighting in a wide variety of traditional playing styles. Reinmar has recorded alongside Jay Ungar, Matt Glaser and Jacqueline Schwab for three of Ken Burns' PBS documentaries, including a recent session for Ken's upcoming documentary on WWII. He has long experience of playing for Renaissance and Baroque dance, and can be heard with the dance band Renaissonics on a CD of Italian and French Renaissance dances. Reinmar also performs across the US as a member of the Cleveland-based sextet Scarborough Fayre (with David Greenberg on fiddle), which has recorded Scottish and Cape Breton dance music for Koch International. He has appeared in concert and on recordings of 20th-century chamber music, Turkish and Hungarian village dance music, and contemporary tango. With pianist Jacqueline Schwab he presents duo programs based on an eclectic mix of Scottish airs and dance tunes.

In this new duo featuring nontraditional instrumentation, Jacqueline and Reinmar will stop playing second fiddle but still aim to satisfy fiddle-philes, with soulful airs and stirring strathspeys, reels and jigs. This concert, co-sponsored by the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston and First Parish Watertown, benefits Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, for the children of inmates of MCI Framingham.

Barry O'Neill (House Concert)

Sunday, June 4, 2006, 2-4pm
Cambridge, MA
$12 for all; reservations required.
Email Suzanne Mrozak (suzanne@smrozak.com)
for reservations/directions.

Irish Festival logo This house concert is being held in conjunction with the Irish Connections Week of activities leading up to the Irish Connections Festival (www.irishculture.org/festival/index.html)

Barry will be singing traditional Irish songs and songs of Irish origin that have migrated elsewhere in the world (to the U.S. and Canada, for example); he accompanies himself on the concertina. As a teenager in his native Toronto, Barry sang anti-nuclear songs to accompany demonstrations for disarmament. He became interested in traditional songs and performed at the Bohemian Embassy and often at the Mariposa Folk Festival. In graduate school in Ann Arbor Barry was a devotee of the Ark Coffeehouse, a great place for group singing and listening to traditional performers coming through town. His singing buddies were Michael Cooney, Joe Hickerson and Roger Renwick.

Now Barry favours old songs from Canada, Ireland, England and the northern United States. He like lumbering songs more than most other people do. Barry O’Neill is a splendid concertina player, an excellent singer, and knows a lot of songs. His material is unusual and he has done a lot of scholarly digging after old songs and often can tell you quite a bit that is interesting about them and their inter-relations and their provenence. This is one singer not to be missed!

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Alistair Brown

Alistair Brown (House Concert)

Thursday, July 20, 2006, 8pm
W. Concord, MA
$12 for all; reservations required.
Email Suzanne Mrozak (suzanne@smrozak.com)
for reservations/directions.

There will be a potluck dinner before the concert (6pm) for anyone who's interested.
Please RSVP to salliesatt@comcast.net.

Alistair Brown has been singing the old songs, and new songs written by people who like the old songs, since he was fifteen years old. His career began helping out in the folk clubs of his native Scotland during the great folk scare of the 60s, opening bottles (and occasionally concerts ) for many of the great names in folk music, and performing guest spots whenever the sound man wasn't looking.

Audiences at concerts and festivals across North America and the UK have responded enthusiastically to his performances, covering the field from big ballads, comic ditties, songs of struggles (usually unsuccessful) against temptation, odes to conviviality and songs of unashamed sentimentality to outrageously funny stories from a master of the art - all this accompanied by anglo concertina, button accordion and harmonica. One minute he has them enthralled with a Child ballad, and the next, falling about as he describes the communication difficulties of a Glasgow holidaymaker and a Spanish barman.

He has entertained groups of elementary and secondary school pupils from 20 to 300 with songs and stories, been MC at many festivals and concerts, including hosting a symphony concert for a audience of 5000, has been guest on numerous radio and television programmes. He has called dances and has played in numerous dance bands. He has run courses on folk music in university and summer music camps, and has taught folk dance for many years.

Alistair has two solo recordings, and has appeared on recordings with many other artists including Grit Laskin, Margaret Christl, Ian Robb, David Parry, and as a member of Friends of Fiddlers Green. Recently, Alistair has joined up with Niall Timmins (Hunter's Moon) and Hudson Swan (Tannahill Weavers) to form feague.

Please join us for a lively and entertaining evening!

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