Friday, August 9, 2019 – 8:00 pm
An evening with David Jacobs-Strain with Bob Beach
David Jacobs-Strain is a fierce slide guitar player, and a song poet from Oregon. He is known for both his virtuosity and spirit of emotional abandon. David displays a range that ties him to his own generation and to guitar-slinger troubadours like Robert Johnson and Jackson Browne. Bob Beach’s career has spanned more than 45 years. With his roots in blues, rock and folk, his innate feel for the music transcends genre, and can be integrated into everything from hip hop to bluegrass to kids’ cabaret and more. David and Bob have been performing together since 2010. They currently perform between 70 and 100 shows a year on both east and west coasts. Their live show moves from humorous, subversive blues, to delicate balladry, and then swings back to swampy rock and roll.
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Sunday, August 18, 2019 – 7:00 pm
An Evening with Roscoe & Etta
With ornery tuning keys and rattling fret boards, Roscoe and Etta are a pair of aged arch top guitars possessing wills of their own. Maia Sharp and Anna Schulze are two singer-songwriter-producers who play these instruments and claim title to their names as Roscoe & Etta.
Both artists maintain vibrant careers as artists and songwriters. Anna, originally from Minnesota, has released five well-regarded solo projects, placed songs in the Oscar-winning documentary Icarus and the MTV series Awkward. Maia has been acknowledged as “a songwriter’s songwriter”(The Chicago Tribune) with writing credits for a roster of platinum artists that includes The Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Lisa Loeb and Trisha Yearwood, and has produced projects with Edwin McCain and Art Garfunkel. In addition, she tours extensively behind her seven solo releases, and performs on with artists like Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin and Keb Mo.
The harmonies of Roscoe & Etta pair Anna’s bright tonalities against Maia’s darker alto. “When both of us are singing, it feels like each voice is the melody,” says Anna. Adds Maia, “If you find the right person to sing with, you’re working half as hard and getting twice the power. It’s a resonance that lifts you both up.”
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Friday, September 13, 2019 – 8:00 pm
An Evening with Jon Shain
Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words, his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style – combining improvised piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words, his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style – combining improvised piedmont blues with jazz, swing, bluegrass, and ragtime. He grew up in Haverhill, Massachusetts – a mill-town that had seen its better days by the time he was a child. It was here that he began to discover his love of American roots music and songwriting, specifically drawn to the narratives about regular people and themes of social justice. He continued his musical journey while attending college at Duke University. In addition to studying jazz, he also had the good fortune to learn the piedmont blues tradition firsthand by playing in Big Boy Henry’s backing band. It was at this time that Shain also got to meet and play with a number of the great older NC blues players.
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Saturday, October 5, 2019 – 7:30 pm
An Evening with Malcolm Holcombe
Malcolm Holcombe grew up in western North Carolina, home to some of the planet’s oldest mountains and some of America’s deepest musical traditions. Radio and TV fueled Malcolm’s musical passions as a kid, and music became even more important after he lost both his parents relatively young. He toured with bands and landed in Nashville, where he took up an inconspicuous station at the back of the house – the very back – at Douglas Corner, one of the city’s best singer/songwriter venues. Stories began to circulate about the mysterious dishwasher with the subterranean voice and oracle-like talent. Sadly so did stories of wildly inconsistent behavior – profound sweetness crossed by bouts of stunning abrasiveness. He flirted with an official music career. But his stunning debut album made for Geffen Records was abruptly shelved, producing melodrama that only exacerbated Malcolm’s drinking and depression. A business that once had a place for complicated genius turned its back on him, and he teetered near the edge.
Moving back to the North Carolina hills proved a powerful tonic. Holcombe let in help where before he’d pushed it away. With deep faith in God and a commitment to his art, Holcombe repaired himself and his career. And that’s a pretty good nod to the effect of hearing Holcombe sing. If you’ve not seen him in a live setting, this is what you have to do. His presence is spooky and timeless, as one imagines it was like to see Son House or Leadbelly. No emotional stone is left unturned. While you plan for this important experience, collect Malcolm Holcombe albums… He is cryptic, demanding, polarizing, bold, passionate and free, a combination badly needed in our time of infinite trivia. He’s even more interesting for having made a remarkable journey of recovery and discovery.
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Friday, November 15, 2019 – 8:00 pm
An evening with the Heather Pierson Acoustic Trio
The Heather Pierson Acoustic Trio are a rare bunch – three musicians from three very different backgrounds, bringing their skills, their quiet charm, and their down-to-earth honesty to bear on songs that bring to life the sounds of the streets of New Orleans and the valleys of Appalachia. Their recordings (2015’s Still She Will Fly and 2017’s Singin’) and live performances feature Heather’s multi-genre songwriting, their instrumental virtuosity, and stirring three-part vocal harmonies.