Common Ground Coffeehouse is a monthly music and performing arts series (usually) held at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester in Hastings-on-Hudson NY. It was founded as an effort to build community and to support regional and national musicians and other artists. Since 2005, Common Ground has used its profits to operate the Common Ground Microcredit Fund. The fund raised has raised over $20,000 for local, regional and global community groups and organizations that provide either much needed social services or work toward progressive, nonviolent social change. For more information on Common Ground’s social justice mission, and to learn more about the Common Ground Microcredit Fund, please click here.

Now in our eighth year, Common Ground has hosted such beloved national and regional artists as Chris Smither, Susan Werner, The Holmes Brothers, Kimya Dawson, Jen Chapin, Guy Davis, Sloan Wainwright, The Kennedys, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, and many more. For many years, Common Ground was a regular stop on the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival’s Annual Most Wanted Preview Tour. In addition to traditional and modern folk artists and singer-songwriters, we frequently feature other musical genres, such as jazz, blues, cajun-zydeco, popular song, R&B, and even the occasional evening of avant garde gamelan music!

Our concerts take place at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester outside of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. The address is:

Common Ground Coffeehouse
c/o First Unitarian Society of Westchester
25 Old Jackson Avenue
Hastings on Hudson NY

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Please click here for directions

Saturday, February 27th, 7:30 pm

The Western Wind

PLEASE NOTE: A portion of the proceeds from this concert will benefit Fonkoze, the largest microfinance institution in Haiti, as it works to recover from the recent earthquake. For more information on Fonkoze, which serves more than 55,000 women borrowers, click here.

Concert will be held at South Presbyterian Church, Dobbs Ferry NY

The Western Wind, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, embraces a repertory that includes a huge range of music from Renaissance motets to rock ‘n’ roll, from medieval carols to early American music to the avant garde.

“A kaleidoscopic tapestry of vocal hues… Long may The Western Wind blow; long may its sounds renew and challenge us “
—The New York Times

“…versatility…virtuousity…a stunning concert.” — The Los Angeles Times

Since 1969, the internationally acclaimed vocal sextet, The Western Wind, has devoted itself to the special beauty and variety of a cappella music. The Ensemble’s repertoire reveals its diverse background – from Renaissance motets to Fifties rock ‘n’ roll, from medieval carols to Duke Ellington, from complex works by avant-garde composers to the simplest folk melodies.

In addition to maintaining a demanding performance schedule, which has included such venues as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, ArtPark, The Ordway Theater, The Metropolitan Museum, The Frick Museum, The Jewish Museum, Folger Shakespeare Library, Library of Congress, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Western Wind regularly conducts Workshops in Ensemble Singing. The workshops, attended by vocalists ranging from novice to professional, address the particular challenges of singing in small, largely un-conducted ensembles.

As part of its non-profit mission to spread the joy of music to people of all ages, The Western Wind coordinates a highly-acclaimed arts-in-education program in the New York City public school system called The Western Wind Goes To School for children ages 8-18. The curriculum ranges from the fundamentals of music notation and rhythm to highly-refined interpretation of challenging vocal repertoire.

Since 1989, The Western Wind has produced a series of radio programs distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio and Public Radio International. The programs address topics ranging from settings of love songs throughout the centuries to a musical narrative of the Jewish High Holy Days.

The Western Wind has also produced nineteen recordings, eleven of which have been released on Western Wind Records, the group’s own record label, distributed in the US and Canada by Albany Music Distributors.

Tickets: $20 for adults and $18 for seniors (60+) and students (12+); kids under 12, free

Friday, March 5th, 8 pm

Common Ground Downtown at Friday Night Live Presents

Catherine Russell

with Mark Shane, piano

[Cat Russell] hits a rove (or as she calls it “the pocket”) from note one on whatever she sings. From blues to ballads – and in swingers that make me want to dance (if only I knew how) – she tells an unusual variety of stories, as if she was living them. And she has.” — Nat Hentoff, in The Wall Street Journal

Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker, born with an enviable musical pedigree. Her father, the late Luis Russell, was born in Panama and moved to New Orleans and then New York City, becoming a pioneering pianist/bandleader, and Louis Armstrong’s long-time musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray, is an outstanding bassist and vocalist and holder of advanced degrees from Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music, who has performed with Mary Lou Williams and Wynton Marsalis. Not surprisingly considering her roots, Catherine Russell is a one of a kind vocalist. She has toured the world, performing and recording with a wide array of trend setting artists, including Paul Simon, David Bowie, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Carrie Smith, and Rosanne Cash.

Since the 2006 release of her debut album, Cat, on Harmonia Mundi’s World Village label, Catherine Russell has been making fans and friends and grabbing listeners by the ear. “She is a fresh and original voice. The most exciting debut album I’ve heard in a long time.” writes New York Sun critic and Sinatra biographer, Will Friedwald, who picked Cat among his top 10 cds of the year. “It’s a delight to hear the real thing in Catherine Russell.”, writes Nat Hentoff in The Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Russell has been a hit on major events like Rochester Int’l Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Bern International Jazz Festival, JVC-New York Jazz Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival, Tanglewood Jazz Festival, Lotus Festival, and at premier venues like The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Sculler’s in Boston, The Dakota in Minneapolis, and The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and Yoshi’s in San Francisco. She has appeared on the nationally syndicated shows Mountain Stage, JazzSet on NPR, Studio 360, and The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS-TV. Reviews and profiles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Phoenix, Living Blues, Blues Review, Downbeat, Goldmine, No Depression, Boston Herald, Newark Star Ledger, JazzTimes, Chicago Sun Times, and many more.

Cat spent weeks on JazzWeek magazine’s chart for national airplay, while Back O Town Blues was a top 10 download on I-Tunes Jazz Chart. National Public Radio’s top 5 jazz cd’s of 2006 included Cat, as chosen by WBGO dj’s.

Catherine Russell’s 2nd album on World Village, Sentimental Streak, hit the streets on February 12, 2008, to universal acclaim, becoming a world-wide favorite of critics and fans alike. Catherine appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on NBC-TV, Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, Beale Street Caravan, and in concert on CBC-Radio in Canada. Her 2nd cd reached the #3 position on I-Tunes Jazz Chart, while also charting on Billboard’s Jazz Chart, JazzWeek, and Living Blues Radio Chart. She recently won a prestigeous German Record Critics’ Award in the Jazz category and Living Blues magazine’s 2008 critics’ poll as “Artist Deserving More Attention.” L’Acadamie du Jazz in France chose Sentimental Streak as finaliste for Prix du Jazz Vocal 2008, while Grammy Award winning writer and jazz critic Francis Davis picked Sentimental Streak as Vocal Album of the Year in the 2008 Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll!

Catherine Russell is that rarest of entities – a genuine jazz and blues singer – who can sing virtually anything. Her voice is full blown feminity incarnate; a dusky, stalwart and soulful instrument that radiates interpretive power yet remains touchingly vulnerable. She launches fearlessly into each tune, getting inside the melody and capturing every emotion. Whether she’s shimmying through a barrell house stomper, channeling fifties R&B, dragging her weary heart through a torchy juke joint number, or kicking up her heels honky tonk style, Ms. Russell can stand comparison to her greatest forebears.

Ms. Russell will be accompanied on piano by Mark Shane, whose  jazz piano is firmly rooted in the swinging tradition of jazz piano masters James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Earl Hines and Art Tatum. Shane was house pianist in New York’s Eddie Condon’s jazz club and has played with Benny Goodman and many all star alumni from the great bands of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller. Shane has been featured on radio and television jazz special broadcasts and has appeared as a featured soloist at major jazz festivals worldwide. He has toured for Columbia Artists and with the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. Featured in the 50th anniversary Benny Goodman memorial concert in Carnegie Hall, Shane has also played jazz piano for the Twyla Tharp Dance Company as well as for the Grammy
Award winning soundtrack, The Cotton Club, and other films.

Tickets: $18 for adults and $15 for seniors (60+) and students (12+); kids under 12, free

Saturday, March 27th, 7:30 pm

Special Double Bill!

Winterpills and KaiserCartel

While KaiserCartel look like a couple of emo kids who have lost their way don’t be deceived, they certainly bring their own brand sunshine with them and that reflected light is as warm and inviting as anything you’ll find.. A fantastic collection of songs from two people that know how to play with each other and for each other. My album of the year so far. – 411mania.com

KaiserCartel are the dynamic duo of Courtney Kaiser & Benjamin Cartel. Each previously leaders of their own indie bands, they met on March 4th four years ago and formed KaiserCartel when they joined forces to tour the country that summer.  They self-released an EP (Double Standard) and toured throughout the US and UK on their own before signing to bluhammock music late last year. March Forth, their debut album – was produced by Matt Hales (aka aqualung) and mixed by Matt and Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros) – and is full of low-fi, harmony-heavy, bittersweet songs full of charm. KaiserCartel is currently on tour and intend to stay there until they’ve played for all of you.

“This Massachusetts band [makes] lush, off-kilter pop-rock in which nothing makes sense but everything sounds wondrous.”   – USA TODAY on Winterpills

“Pain, sadness and fractious circumstances are an inescapable fact of life; Winterpills’ music doesn’t seek to amplify the hurt as place it in life affirming settings of richly articulated melodies and carefully rendered arrangements.” – Paste Magazine

Critically praised as a mirror of sorrows and a beacon of hope, the music of Winterpills – true to its name – is medicine for weary hearts.

At the core of Central Chambers, their newest album and third overall, the Northampton, Mass. quintet maintains its signature chamber-indie ambience while exploring new grounds sonically and lyrically. In it, you’ll hear production running the gamut from boombox lo-fi to crisp studio sonorousness; dense rockers balanced by quiet hymns; and an overall diversity in instruments and textures. All of this backs the wandering words of songwriter Philip Price, and here we can see him condensing his meditative lyrical approach into mantras contemplating the frailty of humanity.

A performer with a background in 90s powerpop (The Maggies) as well as solo-acoustic songwriting, Price sought something of a middle ground. Woodshedding sessions in the winter of 2004 led him and friends Flora Reed (piano, vocals), Dennis Crommett (guitar) and Dave Hower (drums) to become Winterpills, crafting a neat balance of heartrending lyrics, lush pop and dreamy guy-girl harmonies. Their self-titled debut, released in November of 2005, drew numerous comparisons to Elliott Smith, Ida and 60s torchbearers like Simon and Garfunkel and Neil Young. It was hailed as “a disc of faultless, sparkling indie pop” by NPR’s David Dye, while No Depression called it “alternately sad, cynical and deeply moving.” Soon the band recruited bassist Brian Akey and returned to writing and recording. Their stunning follow-up, The Light Divides, was released in February of 2007 to much acclaim, described by The Boston Globe as “dusky, quietly ripping folk-pop that sounded at once intimate and universal.” It was dubbed “painfully pretty” and “sublime” by the Philadelphia Daily News, and The Washington Post said “Price’s lyrics are densely packed but hugely evocative, tiny bombs of feeling and meaning.”

Tickets: $18 for adults and $15 for seniors (60+) and students (12+); kids under 12, free

Friday, April 9th, 8 pm

Common Ground Downtown at Friday Night Live Presents

Electric Junkyard Gamelan

Electric Junkyard Gamelan is the brainchild of band leader, composer and instrument builder Terry Dame. Performing her original groove-driven music on self-invented instruments this unique band has a distinct voice that is at once both old and new. EJG performs at venues ranging from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to elementary schools in Iowa, arts centers large and small to music festivals, underground raves and even a wedding. The list is ever growing.

Originally inspired by the interlocking rhythms of traditional Gamelan music from Bali, today the group’s music is influenced by a diverse range of sounds from eastern modal music to funk, klezmer to hip hop. They perform on Dame’s innovative instruments such as the Rubarp and Big Barp (electric rubber band harps), the Sitello (an electric cello/sitar combo), the Terraphone (copper pipe horn), the Clayrimba (a three octave tuned clay pot “marimba”) and an arsenal of percussion instruments fashioned from old farm equipment, turntable platters, saw blades, and truck springs. The result is a super original sound with lilting modal melodies, syncopated strings, funky bass lines and layers of dance-able interlocking rhythms that ride over clashes of metal on metal and colorful harmonic washes. Audiences are transfixed by the beauty and strangeness of the unusual collection of instruments on stage and the amazing array of sounds they produce.

The musicians in EJG hail from diverse musical backgrounds. Dame, a saxophonist and composer by training has studied music from around the world including Indonesia, the Middle East, the Balkans, India and Brazil. She has been living and working in New York City since 1985, composing and performing for film, video, theater, dance, and concerts.

She was the composer and saxophonist with her seven piece global beat jazz group Monkey on a Rail from 1998-2002 and a founding member of the improvisation trio Trophy Wife. She was composer in residence and saxophonist with Jennifer Miller’s New York based Circus Amok from 1994-2004 . Ms. Dame is also a member of Gamelan Dharma Swara, the traditional Balinese Gamelan based at the Indonesian Consulate in New York City and Paprika, Brooklyn’s acclaimed all-female international dance music band. Dame also currently plays saxophone with Dawn Drake’s Zapote and Julz A’s Squeeze Rock.

She was selected to be a 2006 Sundance Institute Composer Lab Fellow and was an artist in residence at HERE Art Center in New York City during 2003 & 2004. Dame has received commissioning funds from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts and the Meet the Composer Fund. She holds a MFA in Composition and Performance from the California Institute of the Arts.

She met Julian Hintz aka Julz A, a singer, hip-hop accordionist and classically trained percussionist while in grad school at Cal Arts. Julz also fronts his own band Squeeze Rock.

Mary Feaster, Lee Frisari and Dame met while playing together in the Circus Amok Band. Feaster, also half of the duo Vivamaria and long time member of the Velvet Mafia is a bassist that plays everything from punk to funk, Latin to Klezmer.

Frisari is a classically trained percussionist and punk rock drummer. She is also a founding member and drummer with the gender bender punk band Inner Princess and a long time member of The Circus Amok Band.

EJG has been performing together in various configurations since 1998. Alternate members include percussionists Robin Burdulis, Arei Sekiguchi and Kim Garey.

They released their self-titled debut album in 2002. Their live album “Live from HERE” was released in January 2007. Their new record “Life On Marz” was released in September 2009.

Tickets: $18 for adults, $15 for seniors (60+), students (12+), free for kids under 12

April 24th, 2010, 7:30 pm

Uncle Monk

featuring Tommy Ramone and Claudia Tienan,
also appearing Spuyten Duyvil

“There is life after the Ramones, but who knew that its sound would be bluegrass? Tommy Ramone plays a mean mandolin in this new acoustic duo, singing tautly written songs with tenderness about the comforts and subtle politics of home life.” —The New York Times

“[Spuyten Duyvil  covers] the whole spectrum of Americana— Civil War, early Americana (like in Colonial). Great arrangements and beautiful harmonies. They hit on something very special here and I love it. I’m having them back. Trust me.” —Elliott Glick, Starving Artist Café, City Island

Tommy Ramone began his musical career as Tom Erdelyi an engineer at the Record Plant recording studios. In the musical doldrums of the 70’s he, along with the great JOHNNY, JOEY AND DEE DEE RAMONE, formed the rock group RAMONES and participated in the birth of New Wave, Punk Rock, and Alternative music. As manager, producer and drummer for the band, Tommy Ramone helped create the sound, style and ideology for what was to become modern rock. As an independent record producer Ramone has worked on recordings that include the single, Love Goes to A Building On Fire by TALKING HEADS, and the albums, Neurotica by REDD KROSS, Too Tough To Die by the RAMONES, and Tim by THE REPLACEMENTS, the later voted one of the best albums of the year by the writers of Rolling Stone, Record, The Village Voice, and The LA Times.

Claudia Tienan, formerly with the group THE SIMPLISTICS, is a partner with Tommy Ramone in Uncle Monk. Her penetrating lyrics and haunting vocals add facets and dimension to the songs. The music of the two artists complement each other. There is a Yin and Yang sensibility at work, a touch of light and dark, of bitter and sweet.

Opening the evening will be Spuyten Duyvil, a group whose original Alternative Roots sound wanders the last 100 years of American music conjuring embittered civil war veterans, recalcitrant small town bawds, suicidal bureaucrats, star crossed lovers and brave hearted fools navigating the mysteries of daily life more at www.spuytenduyvilmusic.com

Tickets: $18 for adults and $15 for seniors (60+) and students (12+); kids under 12, free

Friday, May 7th, 8 pm

Common Ground Downtown at Friday Night Live Presents

The Hastings Jazz Collective

Tim Armacost, saxophone     Jay Azzolina, guitar     David Janeway, piano     Tony Jefferson, drums     Harvie S,  bass

The Hastings Jazz Collective brings together a world class line-up of jazz artists – all of whom are residents of Hastings-on-Hudson NY (or right next door in Dobbs Ferry). Well known for his work with Spyro Gyra and bassist John Patitucci, Grammy nominated guitarist Jay Azzolina has also worked and recorded with artists such as Dave Samuels, Kenny Werner, and Herbie Mann, and singers Michael Franks, Donna Summer and Carly Simon.

Tenor saxophonist Tim Armacost ’s career is distinguished by performance and recording credits alongside the likes of Ravi Coltrane, Eddie Henderson, Jimmy Cobb, Kenny Barron, Roy Hargrove, Paquito D’Rivera, Randy Brecker, and many others. He has toured throughout East and West Europe, Japan, India, Australia, China and the United States.

With his driving power and intricate rhythms, pianist David Janeway is an artist with an undeniably unique voice. Janeway has worked with Art Farmer, The Supremes, David “Fathead” Newman, Jr. Cook, Sonny Fortune, Billy Hart, Tom Harrell, Dakota Staton, Benny Golson and many others.

A legendary bassist, Harvey S has performed and recorded with Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, Tony Bennett, Ray Baretto, Michael Brecker, Jean Pierre Rampal, Paquito D’Rivera, Gil Evans, Art Farmer, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Paul Motian,  Zoot Sims, Toots Thielemans, and countless others.

Drummer Tony Jefferson has performed and recorded with many jazz artists including: Kenny Drew, Jr., Cyrus Chestnut, Freddie Cole and others. He has appeared at jazz festivals around the world and is an active player on the New York scene.

Tickets: $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students (12+)

May 22nd, 2010, 7:30 pm

Tracy Grammer

“Tracy Grammer is a brilliant artist and unique individual. Her voice is distinctive, as is her mastery over the instruments she plays.” —Joan Baez

“One of the finest pure musicians anywhere in folkdom.” —The Boston Globe

Born in Homestead, Florida and raised in southern California, Grammer comes from a musical family. Cousin Leo Fortin played double trumpets in Lawrence Welk’s band, while her grandmothers and mother played keyboards and accordion. But it was her guitar-playing father who was her first true inspiration.

“When Dad used to get out his lap steel and electric guitars, we’d invite the neighborhood kids over and sing country songs. I’d sit across from my dad and read the music upside-down so I could turn the pages for him. I developed an ear for harmony early on and hardly ever sang the melody,” she muses, “and it drove my little brother crazy.”

At the age of nine, Grammer began choral and classical violin studies and led regional and school orchestras until she left home for the University of California, Berkeley. Once there, she gave up music while earning an English literature degree and serving as an administrator and graphic designer for the University.

During a semester off, Grammer’s father introduced her to Curtis Coleman, formerly of the New Christy Minstrels. Coleman invited her to perform with him at local pub and coffeehouse shows. Grammer had recorded a few songs in tourist booths at San Francisco’s Pier 39, but getting up on stage with Coleman was pivotal. “Performing revived a part of me that felt like it had been dormant for eternities,” says Grammer. “I had abandoned music for several years and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why.” That fall, she took up the guitar, dusted off her violin, and began in earnest to hone her craft.

Grammer returned to school and co-founded the pop band Juicy in the mid-1990’s with friend David Noble. Grammer discovered talents for mixing and arranging, and a love for recording, when the band went into the studio to put together its first and only demo. “I was so new to recording that I expected to take a passive, watch-and-learn role, but before I knew it, I was twiddling knobs and directing edits that significantly improved the songs. It was an insanely creative time, and I was fascinated and fearless, and the guys supported me one hundred per cent. That made all the difference.”

Grammer saw Dave Carter perform at a songwriter showcase in February 1996, just weeks after she moved to Portland, Oregon. “Here were stories that could stand alone as poetry, sung with compassion, intelligence, and a hint of Texas twang. Dave’s entire presentation felt like home to me. I knew instantly that I was in the presence of greatness; I knew I had received my calling in life.” They met on the way out the door, and within weeks were working up material with a band. They began touring in late 1997 and during the summer of 1998, recorded their first album, WHEN I GO, in the kitchen of Grammer’s apartment. [See The Dave & Tracy Story for more.]

Folk music authority Andrew Calhoun of Waterbug Records comments: “No one sings Dave Carter’s songs better than Tracy. He chose her to be the voice of his songs. His vision, their vision, was that they shared something they both saw. She is half the reason why they were great.”

Grammer is currently touring in support of FLOWER OF AVALON (Signature Sounds 2005), her much anticipated solo debut. In January 2006, that album showed up on “Best of” lists and listener polls around the country, and was the #1 most-played album on folk radio across the United States for 2005. We call this a triumph — a testament to the enduring appeal of Carter’s songwriting, and a sign of good things to come for Grammer as she continues on her solo career.

Flower of Avalon includes nine previously-unreleased songs by the late Dave Carter and one traditional tune, re-worked by Oregon professor Wm. Jolliff. Multi-tasking masterfully as co-producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, Grammer digs deep into the spirit of Carter’s poetic verses and haunting melodies to color each song with textures and flourishes that blur the boundaries of categorization. Paired with Grammer’s voice — emotive, warm and versatile — the songs on Flower of Avalon are nothing less than visionary. Mary Chapin Carpenter sings harmony on three cuts and wrote the liner notes for the record. Carpenter writes, “Tracy’s continuing quest to make sure that the world remembers Dave Carter marks a new beginning of artistry for her. We are lucky that she is so brave, generous and gifted.” Flower of Avalon is produced by Grammer and John Jennings (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Indigo Girls).

Tracy Grammer tours internationally with songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
Jim Henry (Deb Talan, Mark Erelli, The Burns Sisters). With acoustic and electric guitars, beautifully matched voices, dobro, mandolin and violin, this duo shares original songs, instrumentals, and pays homage to Carter and other stellar writers while charting a brand new course for themselves in the musical landscape. Grammer says, “I’ll keep on singing, and I’ll keep on telling my story, however that evolves. Working with Dave Carter was the first step on what I hope is going to be a long and fruitful road for me: the endless quest for authenticity through music.”

Tickets: $18 for adults and $15 for seniors (60+) and students (12+); kids under 12, free

June 5th, 2010

Terence Martin

with Special Guest, Kelly Flint

Born in London and raised in Los Angeles, singer/songwriter/poet Terence Martin moved East in 1997 to become part of the flourishing NY acoustic music scene. His musical background includes performing as a double bassist in the Burbank Symphony and in several touring rock bands. Also a published poet, his poetry  is included in the anthology, “Four Valley Poets.”

Terence recently released his 5th independent CD, Even Trade, on the Good Dog Music label. The new collection of 12 original songs features the artist’s most personal and ambitious work to date, sophisticated and spiritual in tone, with roots in folk, Americana and pop. Seven of the songs were written with long time collaborator, Gregory Hicks. From themes of freedom vs responsibility and revisiting the past, to loves lost and found, the new release joins a finely crafted  body of work, rich with poetic imagery and stellar musicianship. Sing Out magazine says: “If you’re a connoisseur of exceptional songwriters, this CD is essential for your collection.”

Even Trade was produced by Terence and Dennis Hrbek and features performances by Jim Allyn on mandolin, guitar & accordion, Clifford Carter on piano, Rick Gedney on guitar and Dan Bonis on slide guitar, Brian Nesgoda on drums, Amy Berkson on harmony vocals and Gordon Roehrer & Joe Dochtermann on bass.

Terence’s previous CDs, Lost Hills, Sleeper, Waterproof & his debut, Division Street have all received national radio airplay & excellent reviews. “Familiar Mysteries”, a song from Waterproof, was selected for the title track on the second CD from the Garland Appeal, the charity for breast cancer research started in memory of Linda McCartney and sanctioned by her husband Paul McCartney.

Terence has shared the stage with an impressive line-up of national acts, including Rosanne Cash, Roger McGuinn, Christine Lavin, Dar Williams, and Richie Havens. He’s performed on the Most Wanted Stage at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, been a New Folk winner at the NJ Folk Festival, a finalist in the 2006 Mountain Stage New Song Contest, received honorable mention in the Mid Atlantic Song Contest for “East of the River” and performed at the 2006 Boston Folk Festival.

Opening the show will be singer-songwriter Kelly Flint. Through five albums and countless gigs, Kelly was the singer, actress and interpreter of the romantic minefield generated by the compositions of songwriter/guitarist David Cantor for the band, Dave’s True Story. Anyone familiar with Dave’s True Story will immediately recognize Ms. Flint. Her style is a femme-fatale’s alto, unornamented except for a judiciously applied burr which she uses like a drummer uses his brushes. Drive All Night, Kelly’s first solo CD  features songs played and written by the singer (with the exception of “Story In Your Eyes” by the Moody Blues). It is a remarkable departure from the jazzier sound of Dave’s True Story. Whereas Dave’s True Story works in dense, cinematic strokes, the songs of Kelly’s solo album, “Drive All Night” are lean and forthright—they are the “indie” movie by comparison and she wastes no time in establishing her turf. The songs are built around her acoustic guitar and the arrangements, whether hushed or assertive, are all hewn with a dark urgency. The result is music that is folky in texture only. “Her melodies are beautiful one moment, then, in the next, as pop as anything you might ever hear. And sung with that voice! She is engaged with the world and her take on it is truly unusual and insightful. Though wry and funny at times, her words come from deep places, and she finds the emotional truth in the everyday event, the heartbreaking core in simple acts and moments.