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Event
Bill Staines and Sally Rogers / with special guest Amanda Maffei at the me and thee coffeehouse
Bill Staines:
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 Boston-Cambridge 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 Fosterhis 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.
Currently, Bill has recorded 26 albums; The Happy Wanderer and One More River were winners of the prestigious Parents' Choice Award, taking a gold medal and silver medal respectively. His songs have been recorded by many artists including Peter, Paul, and Mary, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, The Highwaymen, Mason Williams, Grandpa Jones, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, Glen Yarborough and others.
As well as recordings, over 100 of Bill's songs have been published in three songbooks: If I Were a Word, Then I'd Be a Song, Movin' It Down the Line, and Music to Me, the latter published by Hal Leonard Corporation. His song, All God's Critters, has been recently released as a Simon and Schuster children's book with illustrations by Caldecott honor-winning artist, Kadir Nelson.
"Folk music is rich in the human spirit and experience. I've always wanted to bring something of value to people through my songs." With these thoughts, Bill continues to drive the highways and back roads of the country year after year, bringing his music to listeners, young and old.
Sally Rogers:
Sally Rogers performs an evening of traditional, contemporary and original ballads and song, interwoven with stories taken from her life as a performer, a wife and a mother. Throughout her concerts, she accompanies herself on guitar and Appalachian dulcimer, or performs without accompaniment in a voice that needs no further enhancement. Reviewers have described her voice in superlatives ranging from "remarkable" to "mesmerizing." As one critic summarized, "it's really next to impossible to do justice to a voice of that quality." Much of the material performed by Sally includes compositions of her own, many of which are considered classics of the folk and popular genre.
Rogers began her career as a full-time touring musician in 1979, after encouragement from Stan Rogers, the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter. That was followed by an invitation from Garrison Keillor to appear on A Prairie Home Companion. She appeared more than a dozen times on that show, which launched her performing career. Her travels have since taken her to Europe, China, Hungary and Poland, England and Scotland and across the United States.
Sally has released thirteen albums, not including several collaborative projects with other artists. Her first album, The Unclaimed Pint, has stood the test of time and continues to be a big seller. Her second album, In the Circle of the Sun, received the Best Folk Album of 1982 award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD). Her 1987 album, Closing the Distance, recorded with fellow singer/songwriter Claudia Schmidt, was voted by many public radio stations throughout the country as among the ten most popular albums of the year. Sally reached a new audience with her first children's recording, Peace by Peace, in the spring of 1988. As one of the first albums to introduce children to the concept of peace on a day to day basis, Peace by Peace received wide critical and popular acclaim. Sally's second children's album, Piggyback Planet: Songs for a Whole Earth (Round River Records), featuring environmental songs for children, received the 1990 Parents' Choice Gold Award for Audio Recording. Sally's latest recording, What Can One Little Person Do? (Round River Records), offers empowerment to young people, teaching them that each and every one of them is important as an individual. That recording won the 1993 NAIRD Award for Best Children's Recording and yet another Parents' Choice Gold Award. Soon afterwards, Sally released a compilation of traditional and original lullabies for toddlers and infants called At Quiet O'Clock (Round River Records). This recording too has received its share of awards including the NAIRD Award for Best Children's Recording of 1994.
In 1994 Rogers released a children's video produced by Academy Award-winning cinematographer George Pickow. Her children's picture book, Earthsong, was published by EP Dutton of New York (the people who brought us Winnie the Pooh). Sally's long-awaited recording for adult audiences, We'll Pass Them On (Red House Records) is her most recent solo endeavor. On this recording, Sally performs half original material and half traditional ballads and songs. Her latest album with Claudia Schmidt, Evidence of Happiness will be released in May 2012.
Although much of Rogers' time is spent teaching music in the public schools and being an artist-in-residence these days, she continues to perform in concerts as opportunities arise. Her gorgeous singing voice, boundless energy and good humor are welcomed from coast to coast.
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Locationme and thee coffeehouse (View)
28 Mugford St
Marblehead, MA 01945
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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