The Clarks – Kent Stage Debut
The Clarks – Kent Stage debut Early on, The Clarks were once described as a bunch of out of tune country hicks. The band took irreverent offense to the comments, saying they were never country hicks. Eleven studio albums and a couple of guitar tuners later, The Clarks have struck again with Madly In Love At The End Of The World, a lively ride down a rural lane, laced with love, mourning, and questions about where it all goes from here. The band recorded the eleven song album in a converted A-frame church, which helped highlight a series of warm, rock and Alt-Country tunes. The four original members, Scott Blasey (vocals, acoustic guitar), Rob James (6 and 12-string electric guitars, vocals), Greg Joseph (bass, vocals) and David Minarik (drums, vocals) are joined by fellow touring mates Gary Jacob, Skip Sanders and Noah Minarik, tossing out some spanking pedal steel, Hammond organ and tasty guitar. “We’ve never had more fun composing and recording songs,” says bass player Greg Joseph. “With our storied recording history, it’s really heartening to know that music can still captivate the band as much as it has on this album.” With a highlight reel that includes the Late Show with David Letterman, The Simpsons, and others, The Clarks are enjoying their stage time together now more than ever. “It’s one big extended family,” says guitarist Rob James. “Dave’s son Noah plays on this album, and with us live, so saying that isn’t just a metaphor, it’s fact!” Singing and playing the songs of Madly In Love At The End Of The World has rekindled a fire in The Clarks’ sometimes broken, sometimes mended hearts.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Creole Christmas
Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Creole Christmas Celebrate the season as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band returns with A Creole Christmas concert, Join us as the band performs New Orleans classics as well as some of our best-loved holiday selections – with at twist! At a moment when musical streams are crossing with unprecedented frequency, it’s crucial to remember that throughout its history, New Orleans has been the point at which sounds and cultures from around the world converge, mingle, and resurface, transformed by the Crescent City’s inimitable spirit and joie de vivre. Nowhere is that idea more vividly embodied than in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has held the torch of New Orleans music aloft for more than 50 years, all the while carrying it enthusiastically forward as a reminder that the history they were founded to preserve is a vibrantly living history. Preservation Hall Jazz Band BEN JAFFE – Bass (upright), Tuba, Percussion CHARLIE GABRIEL – Saxophone (tenor), Clarinet CLINT MAEDGEN – Saxophone (tenor), Percussion RONELL JOHNSON – Trombone WALTER HARRIS – Drums, Percussion KYLE ROUSSEL – Piano, Wurlitzer, Organ BRANDEN LEWIS – Trumpet
An Evening with Vienna Teng
An Evening with Vienna Teng “I was in a long-distance relationship with music for many years,” jokes singer-songwriter Vienna Teng. Long-distance, perhaps, but long-running. In 2002, Vienna released her debut album Waking Hour, landing her on NPR’s Weekend Edition, The Late Show with David Letterman, and the top of Amazon’s music charts. Four more albums followed, most recently Aims in 2013, as well as the music for The Fourth Messenger by playwright Tanya Shaffer. Together with Vienna’s captivating live performances and thoughtful online presence, her work has built a devoted following across generations and continents. Still, other pursuits have always beckoned. Vienna returned to academia in 2010 to study environmental sustainability, which led to a new career working on climate change, energy and waste issues. She also became a bonus parent to her partner’s two kids, and in early 2020 welcomed a newborn addition to the family – just in time for pandemic lockdown. “I learned a lot about what it means to hold two truths in your head at the same time, as the saying goes,” Vienna says of that period. Out of that idea emerged some of the most intricate and impassioned songwriting she’s ever done: a pair of songs called “We’ve Got You,” about leading and leaning on one’s community. When she performs it on stage – solo, live-looping her voice, keyboards and percussion to layer the two songs together – the audience response is electric. “We’ve Got You” also marks a new chapter of merging her musical and environmental vocations. In 2022, she launched a “music x climate action” community on Patreon, combining monthly livestream shows with Zoom climate action sessions, and hosting workshops between concerts that participants have described as “life-changing,” “rocket fuel,” and “the perfect antidote to despair.”Vienna Teng’s Climate Action Workshop”Vienna will also be leading a climate action workshop from 4:00pm – 6:00pm prior to the show, designed to help people find practical, impactful ways to advance climate solutions that match their interests and talents. For more information and to register for the workshop:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1214-climate-action-workshop-with-vienna-teng-kent-stage-tickets-720108161897?aff=venue “
An Acoustic Evening With Over The Rhine
One December, not long after Over the Rhine began recording and touring, we were invited to perform some seasonal songs on a public radio station in Cincinnati. It was Christmastime and apparently they thought we were up to the task. We worked up a few carols and traditional tunes and Karin even read a poem by Thomas Hardy called, The Oxen. It actually felt really good and conjured up an unusual mix of feelings from childhood: innocence, loss, wonder, joy, sadness. I think we were surprised. People must have tuned into the radio broadcast, because we began receiving inquiries as to whether we had recorded any of our Christmas songs. I don’t think we had considered it at the time, but any young, struggling songwriter is open to the suggestions of the marketplace, and people were persistent. In December of 1996 – can it really be over 25 years ago? – we recorded and released our first song cycle of some of the Christmas carols that still haunted us. We included a few original tunes and called our wintry mix The Darkest Night Of The Year. We played a special “darkest night” release concert on winter solstice in an old 1300-seat theater in Cincinnati. Every last seat was full. Folks began snatching up copies and seemed to agree that they hadn’t heard anything quite like it. We began playing concerts around the Midwest every December and found that the rooms were usually packed full of people who had bundled in out of the cold with prized compatriots. Hats and scarves abounded. If you stepped outside during intermission, you could make ghosts with your breath in the crisp night air. And it was dark – oh so dark: a time of year with its own music. A decade later, in 2006, we released our first full collection of original Christmas/holiday songs called Snow Angels. What is it about Christmas music and the undeniable gravitational pull it ex-erts on some songwriters? So many Christmas songs have already been written. I think we are genuinely curious about the ones that haven’t yet been written. We continued to tour every December and these special year-winding-down concerts began to feel like an annual tradition – gatherings of extended musical family, without whom, we’d be homeless.By the time we released our third holiday album of original songs, Blood Oranges In The Snow, in December of 2014, Karin suggested we had discovered a new genre of music: Reality Christmas. It’s true: if you’ve buried a loved one, or lost a job, or battled a chronic illness, that stuff doesn’t go away during the holidays. It can be a complicated season for many of us. And then there’s family. When Karin and I make the annual holiday pilgrimage home to visit family and pull into the drive-way and turn off the car, one of us inevitably looks over at the other and says, “Tie a rope around my waist, I’m goin’ in.” In 2023, more than 25 years after releasing our first holiday CD, we are still at it. This year, we will be leaning into some harmonies and making an intimate but hopefully holy ruckus. It won’t be all Christmas music: we’ll certainly mix in tunes from many of our records along the way. But hopefully it’s still true: hopefully you haven’t heard anything quite like it. Maybe a midnight snow will fall and turn each streetlight into its own private snow globe. Maybe, regardless of whatever reality Christmas brings, we’ll hear a faint echo of a song once rumored to have been sung by angels, a song of peace on earth, goodwill toward all… We’ve never heard anything quite like it. We hope you’ll join us, Linford Detweiler With Karin close by
An Evening with Madeleine Peyroux
Thirty years after her formative busking days Peyroux is the proud curator of nine beguiling albums and an accomplished performer with sell out worldwide tours under her belt. Her atmospheric version of Serge Gainsborough’s La Javanaise was used in the soundtrack of Oscar Winner The Shape of Water and her countless accolades include the coveted BBC International Artist Of The Year honor. Madeleine’s thirst for creative exploration is unfading and her willingness to face creative challenges remains as solid now as it was three decades ago. With endearing passion and great curiosity, the unstoppable genre-defying virtuoso continues her search for the good and examines life with the treasured William Congreve belief that Music has charms to soothe the savage beast. Madeleine might attribute her success to “mostly luck” but to the industry and loyal fans alike, it is the immense talent and utter dedication to her craft that shines through. “Peyroux is a tremendous talent and almost a total intuitive” reflects Larry Klein, “she has the capacity to get the magic. When she sings and plays her guitar, great things happen.” 2023 finds the prolific musician continuing her world tour around the 2021 release of Careless Love Deluxe Anniversary Edition. As part of Rounder’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, the label is offering a re-release Deluxe Edition of the 2004 album with additional live performance material to be released worldwide on 21 August 2021. Peyroux’ Careless Love Forever World Tour, begun in September of 2021 continues into 2023 with several more performances in the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. Madeleine is debuting her new symphony program with performances beginning in April in the US and extending through the summer into fall of 2023 with several more to be added to her 2024 touring season. This concert is with her quartet.
Alex Bevan and Friends
Alex Bevan will return to the Kent Stage to wander through a list of songsspanning the years from 1971 to 2023! The first set will be primarilyacoustic visiting the Springboard, Grand River and Watersongs catalog tobe followed by a long ensemble set. Joining Alex will be a time tested trioof friends to flesh out the music from the new release “Sparrow” as well asof favorites with a “band” flavor. Dave Young will handle the keyboards,Leonard DiCosimo will be on bass and Tommy Dobeck will be tapping onthe drums…. Perhaps there will be a guest or two dropping in… we shallsee…..If the name Alex Bevan means anything to you.. it probably begins with thesong “Skinny”… the 1976 Summer Anthem that filled the airwaves of radiostation WMMS and brought the Cleveland folksinger’s career into sharpfocus “back in the day”.Perhaps too, it might conjure the melody of “The Grand River Lullaby”,Hearkening back to lost years of innocence and first love in a simpler andmore romantic time… a time when the Woodstock Generation found it’srhythm in the album oriented rock infused soundtracks that still echo in therivulets and streams of Spotify and iTunes music delivery systems.Alex Bevan has been picking up his guitar and going to perform foraudiences for over fifty, yes…fifty years… singing primarily songs of hisown crafting and supported mostly by his deft guitar picking and agileimprovisational wit…. In short… he is a troubadour of the journeyman classwho brings a fresh perspective and unabashed enthusiasm for storytellingto each and every member of the the audience he interacts with. A trulyanalog entertainer for a digital time!
Darkside Of The Moon – 50th Anniversary of Darkside of the Moon
Join Darkside of the Moon’ celebration of the 50th Anniversary of one of rock’s most influential albums – Darkside Of The Moon!Beyond a tribute, Dark Side of the Moon is a testimonial to the unique music of Pink Floyd and the emotions they stir. Dark Side of the Moon recreates, to a higher degree, the mystic and terrestrial sounds of the phenomenon that is Pink Floyd. We offer a pleasant distraction from the mundane. Enjoy a pleasant encounter with those sights and sounds, while Dark Side of the Moon emulates the magical and emotional experiences that Pink Floyd created for so many years. Close your eyes; it’s like being there again. Let Dark Side of the Moon reawaken your authentic concert experience or create a new one.
Magpie – 50th Anniversary Concert
Well known to folk music audiences all over the country, Terry Leonino & Greg Artzner met and began singing together in Kent, Ohio in 1973, 50 years ago this year. For five decades Terry & Greg have entertained, uplifted and inspired audiences around the world with their music, with their amazing versatility, powerful voices in harmony, and their provocative, captivating and moving songs, many of their own composition, all brilliantly accompanied on guitars, harmonica, mandolin, and dulcimer. They have performed on stages from major folk festivals, to intimate folk club and small concert settings, to school auditoriums and classrooms, to demonstrations, rallies, picket lines, and other venues too numerous to mention. Magpie has toured the length and breadth of North America and toured internationally, including numerous tours of England & Scotland. They have many recordings to their credit, including collections and song cycles on special themes, and tracks on notable anthologies including songs of Civil Rights, and tributes to Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, Jean Ritchie, and Phil Ochs. Terry and Greg are also famous for their commitment to progressive, humanist and environmental causes, and for putting their music and their voices to full use in support of them. Come out to hear and celebrate with them as they mark this milestone.
MACY GRAY & The California Jet Club – The Reset Tour
MACY GRAYForever full of ear-tugging/eye-popping surprises, ever-eclectic singer/songwriter and actress Macy Gray returns in top form with an inspired new 11-song Moonslice Records album – The Reset – and within a fresh new presentation – fronting her own band, The California Jet Club. Produced by Tommy Parker, The Reset reveals 360 degrees of Macy Gray at her lyrically introspective and vocally exuberant best. The songs move from Macy’s signature vulnerable intimacy on the lead single, “Thinking of You,” the epic orchestral ballad “You Got Away” and the festive, sexy circus of “Bottom to the Top” to the resoundingly rebounding singalong uplift of “Every Night” featuring special guest, rapper Maino. Making this album a separate piece from the previous 10 studio projects in the 5x-Grammy-nominated (with one win) artist’s exquisite catalog is the full involvement of road band members drummer Tamir Barzilay, keyboardist Billy Wes and bassist Alex Kyhn. While all three specialize in specific instruments, they are all multi-instrumentalists, co-writers and sing background. On the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” broadcast from June 2021, Tamir is seen playing guitar and drums simultaneously. The trio wraps its sound around Macy like a glove. And she, in turn, provides them full license to shine as bright as front of stage spotlights.
Peter Yarrow (Peter Paul & Mary) with Bethany Yarrow and special guest: John Gorka
Peter Yarrow(Peter, Paul & Mary)Legendary musician Peter Yarrow weaves a narrative of his life in music and politics, punctuation the major events with renditions of the iconic songs we all know and love. From his life in Greenwich Village in the 1960’s, his connections to Bob Dylan & Pete Seeger and his career as part of the trio Peter, Paul & Mary. Yarrow shares a part of American history influenced heavily by music. Yarrow creates community within his audiences through his reflections in both words and music. Joining Peter will be his daughter, the extremally talented, Bethany Yarrow. Bethany Yarrow Bethany Yarrow sings music of power and praise. She is a song keeper, earth activist, and student of the spiritual traditions of the Americas. A mesmerizing, dancing spirit with a powerful voice, she carries a living prayer for unity at the heart of her music. Bethany has recorded two albums with her father and continues to perform with him, as she has since she was 8 years old. For over 20 years she also performed as a duo with cellist Rufus Cappadocia. They released four albums together and were honored to collaborate with musical icons and lineage holders Yacouba Moumouni (Niger), Bonga Jean Baptiste (Haiti), Chuck Campbell (USA) and Brahim Fribgane (Morocco). John GorkaFrom New Jersey, John Gorka is a world-renowned singer-songwriter who got his start at a neighborhood coffeehouse in eastern Pennsylvania. Though small, Godfrey Daniels was and is one of the oldest and most venerable music institutions and has long been a hangout for music lovers and aspiring musicians. In the late 1970’s, John was was one of these aspiring musicians. Although his academic coursework at Moravian College lay in Philosophy and History, music began to offer paramount enticements. Soon he found himself living in the club’s basement and acting as resident MC and sound man, encountering legendary folk troubadours like Canadian singer-songwriter Stan Rogers, Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton and Claudia Schmidt. Their brand of folk-inspired acoustic music inspired him, and before long he was performing his own songs – mostly as an opener for visiting acts. Soon he started traveling to New York City, where Jack Hardy’s legendary Fast Folk circle (a breeding ground for many a major singer-songwriter) became a powerful source of education and encouragement. Folk meccas like Texas’ Kerrville Folk Festival (where he won the New Folk Award in 1984) and Boston followed, and his stunningly soulful baritone voice and original songwriting began turning heads. Those who had at one time inspired him – Suzanne Vega, Bill Morrissey, Nanci Griffith, Christine Lavin, Shawn Colvin – had become his peers.