The CT Folk "First Fridays"
Acoustic Concert Series in New Haven
Throughout the year, CT Folk presents several acoustic concerts on the First Friday of the month.
2012-2013 CT Folk
First Fridays
Season Schedule
Friday, April 5, 2013
Festival Auditions Showcase
Come vote for your favorite artists to join the lineup at the 2013 CT Folk Festival and Green Expo! Your vote will help choose which musicians to feature at the Festival on Sept. 7 in New Haven. Location: First Presbyterian Church, New Haven, 704 Whitney Avenue.
ARTISTS: Send us a video (phone video is fine!) by March 15 to auditions.ctfolk@gmail.com to be considered for this auditions showcase. Connecticut and non-Connecticut artists are invited to submit a video as long as you can attend the audition showcase on April 5.
Purchase Advanced Tickets NOW!
Suggested Donation $5 - $10.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Joni Mitchell's "Blue" Tribute with Chicks With Dip
Join us for a remarkable evening featuring Joni Mitchell's landmark "Blue" album as re-interpreted by a stellar cast of female singer/songwriters from the New York City area. This loose collective known as "Chicks with Dip" has been collaborating and creating together for ten years, including a "cast album" CD of this tribute to "Blue". Get a taste here at CDBaby.
This show will be held at an exciting new venue, the new "big brother" of Hamden's Outer Space club: The Spaceland Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden, CT 06514.
WFUV Public Radio's John Platt calls Chicks with Dip's tribute to "Blue" "a wonderful accomplishment -- it's one thing to come up with the idea..it's something else to pull it off so well, doing justice to the intricacies of Joni's words and music and the classic beauty of her voice at that moment in time."
Purchase Advanced Tickets NOW! $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
Past Performers Include:
December 7, 2012
Beatles Night!! with Glen Roethal and John Redgate
November 30, 2012
Cheryl Wheeler
at the
Unitarian Society of New Haven
Photo of Cheryl Wheeler taken by Marilyn Catasus for CT Folk
Cheryl Wheeler is a gifted songwriter with a beautiful voice. She is a natural story teller with a fantastic sense of humor, and in performance, she intersperses stories and anecdotes among her carefully crafted songs. Cheryl has to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing you read and nothing you hear from her albums prepares you for how good a performer she is.
Cheryl is very respected as a songwriter by her peers, which can be seen by how many of them record her songs. Her songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul and Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Boggus, Melanie, Bette Midler, Maura O'Connell, Sylvia, Kathy Mattea, and Holly Near.
Music videos of Cheryl can be found at http://music.yahoo.com/cheryl-wheeler/.
November 2, 2012
Scott Ainslie
From community concert series and local schools to the Kennedy Center and the renowned Empire Music Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Scott Ainslie plays and speaks of the music he loves with passion and authority. Combining over thirty years of scholarship and forty playing guitar, Ainslie presents a beguiling mix of the African and American roots of the Blues, in story and song.
A Phi Beta Kappa and honors graduate of Washington & Lee University, Ainslie was a leader in the North Carolina Visiting Artist Program and served on its state board from 1988-1990. He was a University of North Carolina Public Fellow in 2000, and was awarded the 20th Annual Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award by St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College. Ainslie has received numerous other awards and grants for his artistic and scholarly contributions through Blues performance, documentation, scholarship, and education.
Ainslie's recordings include three roots-oriented acoustic blues projects, Jealous of the Moon (1995), Terraplane (1997), You Better Lie Down (2002), and a collection of Ainslie’s non-blues original songs, The Feral Crow (2004), and his current Thunder’s Mouth (2008).
In 1997, Ainslie also has an instructional DVD on the music of Mississippi blues legend, Robert Johnson for Starlicks Master Sessions Videos, a follow-up product to his ground-breaking book, Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads, (Hal Leonard, 1992).
Ainslie's new CD, Thunder's Mouth, is an original and moving extension of his work with African and African-American music. It is a powerful body of work that brings together diverse songs and influences from traditional acoustic blues and African-American songs, Ainslie’s original songs, and African solo guitarists blending it into a harmonious whole.
Having come of age during the Civil Rights Era just outside of Washington, DC; Ainslie now makes his home in Brattleboro, Vermont. When he is not touring, he teaches locally and is actively involved with local arts groups and progressive politics.
October 5, 2012 - CT Artist Showcase
Featuring Josiah Venter, The Sea The Sea and
the ZuZazz String Orkestra
mega-style band The ZuZazz String Orkestra
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New Haven native, Josiah Venter, spent his early years listening to his mother singing and playing folk songs on her guitar when friends and family gathered. From the start, Josiah had been exposed to a wide variety of music. His older sister and current folk singer/songwriter, Molly Venter, compiled a towering collection of female folk artists that came to provide the soundtrack for family road-trips, much to Josiah’s consternation. Josiah understood that pursuing music full-time, like anything, would demand a lot of sacrifices: dreams of being a professional athlete, untethered living, etc. He picked up his guitar and spent thirteen months living and traveling in Argentina and Idaho. He moved to Brooklyn in 2007 and shortly thereafter, released his first LP “It’s About Time,” recorded with his cousin Tevis Marshall in Richmond, VA. Josiah’s most recent project, a six-track EP, “Hello,” was recorded in Manhattan with veteran producer Gary Haase. |
Josiah Venter |
http://www.josiahventer.com/#/ |
The Sea The Sea
"Two voices that blend like smoke and air. Like night and a whisper. Two distinct award-winning songwriters that meet in the mercury, collide and create emotionally spare music. Simple and true. Borrowing their name from the cry of joy made by ancient Greek Soldiers upon their post-war homecoming, The Sea, The Sea is Mira Stanley from West Virginia and Chuck E. Costa from Connecticut (our own CT State Troubadour). They meet in the middle with acoustic guitars. Standing next to other contemporary duos like The Weepies, The Civil Wars, The Swell Season, The Sea, The Sea is spare beauty, bravely unadorned." Written by Amy Speace. |
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A unique "Second" Friday, April 13th
CT FOLK Proudly Presents
Trina Hamlin
In 1998, she finally released her first solo album, titled Alone. "Keeping Me Whole," "Half Blind," "Angel," and "Flower Days" are some of the folk-rock numbers on this debut. A few of her songs were featured on the popular prime-time show Dawson's Creek. Hamlin's second album, Living Room, was released in 2000 and carries tracks like "Can't Put My Finger on It," "Discontent," "Down to the Hollow," and "A Second Thought to Why." Much of Hamlin's music is more than folk-rock. Fans will catch hints of styles from R&B, to country, to blues in works by this talented artist.
-- Charlotte Dillon, All Music Guide
Friday, March 2, 2012
Two Former
Connecticut State Troubadours
and Premier Folk Musicians
Pierce Campbell and Phil Rosenthal
A fun night of Irish pub songs with two of CT’s former State Troubadours and premier folk musicians, Pierce Campbell and Phil Rosenthal. This is a rare chance to see them play together doing Clancy Brothers style Irish ballads as well as many originals. We were singing and clapping along all night!
Pierce performs solo and with the Irish group, The Kerry Boys, who were on the main stage of our CT Folk Festival two years ago. Pierce has released 9 CD’s and plays over 250 show a year throughout CT and featured many of his great pub songs at this show. Phil Rosenthal is a nationally renowned singer, songwriter, recording artist and record producer. For many years the lead singer and guitarist in the popular bluegrass group The Seldom Scene, he is also highly respected for his instrumental skills on banjo and mandolin.
A CT Showcase of Four Fabulous
Local Artists/Bands
Friday, February 3rd
Featuring Shawn Taylor,
Seth Adam and Gerry Giaimo, and
Dr. Caterwaul's Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps
Shawn Taylor:With a thumping thumb, dancing fingers, deep gritty soul stirring vocals & poetic blue collar lyrics; Taylor's songs ooze American roots. His voice has been compared to Tom Waites, Bruce Springstien, Chris Smither, Bob Dylan & Eddie Vedder. His original songs draw from piedmont blues, rockabilly, folk, rock, & country, while his lyrics are colored by the experiences of his own working class wandering roots. He's been an oysterman, carpenter, hitchhiker, homeowner, father & 'Thru-hiker' (Appalachian Trail '96, Long Trail '97, & John Muir Trail '06). He recently launched a blog “Short Stories From A Long Walk”, regarding his experiences long-distance backpacking and how it relates to everyday life. Shawn released his second original C.D. "FREE" on April 23rd, 2010 and is currently in the beginning stages of a third, due out in summer 2012. He's been performing for twenty years, and full time since his ’08 debut release "Wandering Roots," taking him from New England to Nashville. |
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Seth Adam:Winner of Best Rock Band - 2010 New Haven Advocate reader's poll/Grand Band Slam. Singer/songwriter Seth Adam is well known for his passionate live performances. The alt-country, rootsy rocker draws comparisons to Counting Crows, Will Hoge, and Son Volt. The most recent studio release, "Amplify" (2010) was described by New Haven Advocate writer James Velvet as "This 10-song full-length is beautifully written, played and produced. This level of craftsmanship and polish are not often heard on the local scene." Never one to rely on the norms of the music industry, this self-described "scrapper" takes a page out of the Lucinda Williams instruction book by constantly touring, and writing deeply personal, heartfelt rock & roll songs. He has shared the stage with Grammy-winning Robert Cray, Vertical Horizon, Carbon Leaf, The Alternate Routes, and Will Hoge, has had a song licensed to Volkswagen, and was described by entertainment columnist Roger Friedman as "the hardest-working best live act in indie rock." Seth and his band are currently writing songs for the third studio album, tentatively titled "Steel Tempered Pride." He will be accompanied by Gerry Giaimo. |
Dr. Caterwaul's Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps features Brian Slattery on banjo and fiddle, Nathan Bontrager on 'cello, Adam Matlock on accordion, and Mike Paolucci on percussion. Everybody howls about murder or other types of death and occasionally something a bit more twisted. Doc C's performs intuitive, flowing improvisations on folk music of various sources, getting at the jagged heart of your murder ballads, your sorrow ballads, your uplifting ballads with a sad ending, |
GATHERING TIME
Friday, January 6, 2012
Gathering Time
Miraculous three-part vocal blends uplifted by fine, note-perfect acoustic, electric and bass guitar - all this plus light, precise percussion...just the right amount...create the wall of sound and wave of memories we now know as Gathering Time. With a stylistic breadth ranging from the dyed-in-the-wool folk sound of Peter, Paul & Mary to the folk-rock harmonic complexity of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Gathering Time is a trio that's "getting a whole beehive-full of buzz" on the Long Island and national folk scene right now. Undeniably, their original songs reveal the influences of The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles and many more harmonizing favorites from the golden era of '60s folk-rock and the melodic magic of '70s acoustic rock - and they've been known to delight audiences when they sprinkle in some of those classics among their original songs.
Pesky J. Nixon's
December 2, 2011
CT Folk at Anna Liffey's
(Photography by Marilyn Catasus)
BROTHER SUN
(Greg Greenway, Joe Jencks, Pat Wictor)
Friday, November 4 - 7:30 PM
Mark Erelli
Tret Fure
Tim Grimm
Vance Gilbert
John Gorka
David Jacobs-Strain
Martyn Joseph
Harry Manx
Kate McDonnell
Amy Speace
... and many, many more!
Directions To First Presbyterian Church
From Points South: Take Interstate 95 North to Interstate 91. Take I-91 to Exit 6. Turn right off the exit ramp onto Willow Street. Take Willow Street until it ends at Whitney Avenue. Turn right onto Whitney Avenue and travel approximately 0.5 miles. Church is on the left, across the street from the Red Cross. Turn left at Huntington Street. The community center is the building on the far side of the church, and the entrance is around the back.
From Hartford and Points North: Take I-91 South to the Willow Street exit, (Exit 6).Turn right onto Willow and follow directions above.
From Guilford and Points East: Travel I-95 South. Take the I-91 North exit, Exit 48, towards Hartford. Keep left at the fork in the ramp. Merge onto I-91 North. Take Exit 6, on the left and turn right at the end of the exit ramp onto Willow Street. Turn right onto Whitney Avenue and follow directions above.
From Ansonia and Points West: Travel on CT Route 34, Derby Avenue. (Derby Avenue becomes New Haven Avenue and soon changes back to Derby Avenue.) Turn SLIGHT right onto George Street. Stay straight to go onto George Street. Turn left onto Howe Street. Stay straight to go onto Howe Street. Turn right onto Whalley Avenue. (Whalley Avenue becomes Broadway.) Turn SLIGHT left onto Elm Street. Turn left onto Church Street which becomes Whitney Avenue. Follow directions above.
Alternate Route: Take Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkway (Connecticut Rte. 15) to Exit 61. If you're coming from the south, turn left off the exit onto Whitney Avenue; but if you're coming from the north, turn right off the exit onto Whitney Avenue. Travel on Whitney through Hamden toward New Haven. Once you cross the New Haven line look for the Church on the right just past the stoplight at East Rock Road.
First Presbyterian Church is an accessible venue.
All Concerts to be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT unless otherwise noted.