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Stairwell Sisters & VOCO! Double bill
Saturday September 19th, Two shows: 1pm and 4pm
Acoustic Old Timey with Punk-rock Intensity
Producer Lloyd Maines recalls hearing The Stairwell Sisters for the first time: “I happened upon this tribe of
women musicians, playing old-time string music, with the power and excitement of a great rock band.”
Tribe of women indeed. Evie Ladin explains what holds sway with the sisters, themes similarly found in one of
their early influences, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard: “not exactly the sweet and tender ladies, but the stand up
for yourself and face the world kind of women.”
Which is exactly the kind of women that make up The Stairwell Sisters. Evie, Stephanie Prausnitz. Lisa Berman,
Martha Hawthorne, and Sue Sandlin are career women, organizers, activists and mamas; making ends meet
working and living in San Francisco. They also happen to crank out acoustic, old-time music with a punk-rock
intensity. Somehow, between raising children, working and releasing records, they’ve taken their band to some
rather well-regarded places – appearing on A Prairie Home Companion, festival stages from Lincoln Center
(NYC) and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (SF) to Celtic Connections (UK), and many points in between.
Their third release Get Off Your Money, produced by Maines and out May 12, covers substantial ground as well.
There are fiddle tunes crafted decades ago from Alabama to Scotland, and from points unknown. There are old
songs of trains, boats and possums. One song is translated from Swahili, an all-too familiar story learned
from a street musician in Tanzania. There are new songs too – original songs of trial and work, loss and love,
and all-night parties. The women run all of it through the “Sister Mill.” Regardless from which era or continent
the songs have traveled, The Stairwell Sisters make such heartfelt and skillfully played music that boundaries
dissolve beneath the chugging force of old-time fiddle and banjo, the whomp of bass and guitar, the grit of the
slide guitar, and the tight, closely interwoven harmonies
The Stairwell Sisters come from varied musical backgrounds, some from acoustic traditions, others through
amped-up rock and roll. Sue Sandlin says hearing Flatt and Scruggs brought her back to the country music
her family loved, “It was akin to the hair raising excitement I felt the first time I heard The Clash as a
teenager.” The Sisters are all about bringing that excitement to the stage. Lauded for infectious shows that
combine buckdancing with balladry and sass, these women unfailingly play their instruments hell-bent to
drive the music.
The driving tune “Kentucky Winder,” leads off the album with a crooked jump in the beat that fiddler Stephanie
Prausnitz says, “really wallops the punch.” Stephanie also brought the mischievous title song Get Off Your
Money to the group, having found it on a recording of old Alabama Fiddlers. Its whimsical happiness is the essence
of what makes playing together so much fun
Stephanie Prausnitz, fidler;Lisa, Evie Ladin-banjo, fiddler; Martha
Stairwell Sisters
Moira Smiley & VOCO -Joint concerts with the Stairwell Sisters
Two shows: Saturday Sept 20th at 1pm & 4pm
Balkan to Appalachian Ensemble
- A new a capella group from Los Angeles, sings
vocal symphonies, ballads and improvisations with Balkan, Appalachian
and African-American spiritual flavors, entwining lush harmony and crooked
rhythm. Energy of street singing combined with the precision of a string quartet
- By special arrangement, members of Balkan choir, Kitka join VOCO
- National Winner of 2007 Harmony Sweepstakes A Capella Festival in San Rafael in May.
- Cello, banjo, accordian, clarinet & body percussion add charm and fullness
to the sound
- Booked at The Getty, Freight & Salvage, and Kate Wolf festival- 2007
- New CD "blink" with 17 tracks of original and traditional songs
- Moira Smiley-vocals/banjo/accordion, John Ballinger-banjo/percusion/clarinet, Jess Basta-vocals, Jessica Caltron-cello/electronics, Christine Enns-vocals/body percussion
Moira Smiley & VOCO
Bill Evans & Megan Lynch
Sunday Oct 11, 3pm 2009
Fiddle, Banjo & More!
- Since teaming up as a touring duo a year and half ago, Albany, CA and Nashville, TN bluegrass mainstays Bill Evans & Megan Lynch have been performing all around the United States and in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Banjo player and Banjo For Dummies author Bill Evans has performed with Dry Branch Fire Squad, Peter Rowan, David Grisman, Hazel Dickens, Laurie Lewis, Jody Stecher, Kathy Kallick, Bluegrass Intentions and his own Bill Evans String Summit. His two CDs "Native and Fine" (Rounder Records) and "Bill Evans Plays Banjo" (Native and Fine Records) topped critics' lists and the Bluegrass Unlimited charts. Folks know Nashville resident Megan Lynch from her National Championship fiddling credentials and from her performances with 3 Fox Drive, Due West, Pam Tillis, Dale Ann Bradley, Tony Trischka, Chris Jones, Roland White and Jim Hurst.
- Together, Bill Evans & Megan Lynch make music that’s going to surprise you. It's much more than a fiddle and banjo duo. While virtuosic instrumental work is to be expected from these musicians, it’s the outstanding lead singing of Megan and the pair’s rich duo vocal sound that is a revelation. Drawing on singer-songwriter and alternative rock sources as much as traditional old-time and bluegrass music, the duo creates music that’s intensely intimate but truly difficult to categorize. While rooted in bluegrass tradition, Bill Evans and Megan Lynch display a natural and unassuming sophistication that reflects their wide-ranging interest in many kinds of contemporary and popular music.
- The new CD let’s do something… is produced by Sam Bush Band guitar player Steve Mougin and was recorded in Nashville in the summer of 2008. Featuring richly textured soundscapes of multiple fiddles and banjos matched to Megan and Bill’s voices, the project features new takes on compositions from Deb Tannen, Nick Drake, John Gorka, Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Teitur, and the rock bands Editors and We The Kings along with two new instrumental tunes written by Bill Evans. Live, Bill plays acoustic and electric banjo and guitar while Megan plays fiddle
- What people are writing about BEML:
“The breadth and depth of the duets on let’s do something… is jaw-dropping, but Bill and Megan are more than the sum of two virtuoso musicians. Together, they prove that the fiddle/banjo is made for any genre when it’s done with imagination and passion.” Chris Stuart, IBMA Print Media Person of the Year
“You’ve hit this one out of the park, across the river and into the next county! Let’s do something… is one of the coolest, most imaginative and exciting projects ever. It’s amazing the depths, different nuances and amazing subtleties that can spring forth when the bass, guitar and other instruments aren’t masking what the fiddle and banjo are doing. Congratulations, you’ve explored some new ground and have laid down some truly powerful and exciting music in the process.” Dave Higgs, Nashville Public Radio’s Bluegrass Breakdown
Bill Evans & Megan Lynch
Boulder Acoustic Society
Sat Oct 31 at 2pm
New Wave American Roots
- Old school but never old, Boulder Acoustic Society is the new wave of American roots music. It’s what happens when four songwriters get together to mash up blues, folk, gospel, indie and world music to soothe their musical curiosity. Whether it’s a festival stage, performing arts center, dive bar or a late night campground set, B.A.S. delivers musical diversity throughout their set as if it’s normal.
- B.A.S.'s music is intense and exciting for listeners, with something new and interesting at every turn. The unique lineup of violin, accordion, bass and percussion support sharp vocal hooks and powerful grooves. The energy that B.A.S. brings to a stage can tip a festival into overdrive or mesmerize a club audience as they dance into the wee hours. All of this comes from four guys who wear vintage clothes, savor small batch bourbon and rock the ukulele.
- Simply stated, B.A.S. is unforgettable. Here is what some recent converts are saying:
"Experimental, but not pretentious. Fun and serious in all the right places. Weird, but not in a ‘look at how weird I am’ way."
-Dale Bridges, Boulder Weekly
"The Boulder Acoustic Society get to do anything they want, largely because they say so. And by anything I mean yodeling during a rockabilly song, launching into a pretty killer David Byrne impression, or doing, in their own words, a “minor key acoustic punk version of ‘Maggie’s Farm.’ They can get away with this rampant eclecticism because they can pull it off, and while they walk the fine line between grating and experimental, they walk it quite well."
-Nate Harper, Scene Magazine
"One must admit that BAS stays true to themselves in the sense that they continue to play exclusively acoustic music that gets people moving and shaking just as effectively as a club DJ playing the latest dance grooves!"
-Paul Lemmon, Colorado Music Buzz
"Here, for us, is the future of String Band Music on a silver platter (assuming you buy the CD!). A multi-national, multicultural, symphonic, swingin' band of young monsters that will bring you to the rocky mountain where they live and show you around the place... and you will like this place."
-Darol Anger
Boulder Acoustic Society
Real Vocal String Quartet
Saturday Nov 14 2010 8pm
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Real Vocal String Quartet
Solstice
Saturday March 20 at 8pm
Female acapella ensemble
- Music spans many different genres with an emphasis on world, classical, pop, and jazz
- Past performances at the Freight & Salvage, Le Pena, San Francisco Folk Music Festival –main stage; also performed with The Bobs and M-Pac. Two CD’s
- Members: Emily Bender, Becca Burrington, Lark Coryell, Krista Enos, Mari Marjamaa, Kim Warsaw, and Sara Webb-Schmitz.
Solstice
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