Andrea Asprelli

Saturday February 8, 2020

​​Andrea and her band "Cricket Tell The Weather" performed at the Salmon Brook Music Series in 2017. She's coming back to show us what she's been up to since then.
​Based out of Brooklyn, NY, Andrea Asprelli is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. She has released two albums of original music as the front woman and songwriter for Cricket Tell the Weather, alumni winners of the FreshGrass Award. She began performing her own songs after her song "Remington", co-written by musical collaborator Jason Borisoff, won the Podunk Bluegrass Songwriting Competition in East Hartford, CT. Her music has been called, "down to earth" and "refreshing" by NY Music Daily, with a "refreshing lack of pretense" by That Music Magazine. Bluegrass Unlimited has praised her work's "thoughtful arranging and instrumental restraint"; and The Boot has called her vocal delivery "haunting" and "irresistible." In her latest endeavor, she comes to the stage with a round of new songs and a knack for clawhammer banjo, performed in a pared-down duo setting with guitarist Jason Borisoff. She is currently working on a solo EP of original music. In addition, she is working on a collaborative album project titled Master's Radio, featuring various artists covering songs by the Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson, and more. 

www.andreaasprelli.com/

Vance Gilbert

November 15, 2019

Vance Gilbert burst onto the singer/songwriter scene in the early 1990s when the buzz started spreading in the folk clubs of Boston about an ex-multicultural arts teacher who was knocking 'em dead at open mikes. Word of the Philadelphia-area bred performer quickly spread to New York City. Then Shawn Colvin invited Glibert to be a special guest on her Fat Cit national tour. Vance Gilbert took audiences across the country by storm. 
Eight accomplished albums later, Vance continues to refine his unlikely union of humor, virtuosity, and the unexpected. Whether with classic, original Songwriting or ageless interpretations of covers, his is a presentation steeped in deep humanism and bravery, stunning artistry and soul, and contagious unbridled joy - inarguably the blue ribbons that tie and seal the seemingly impossible package that is .... Vance Gilbert.

Susan Werner
With Secial Guest Pamela Means

October 11, 2019

​Celebrated performing songwriter Susan Werner has made a name for herself coast to coast. From her 1995 major label folk/rock debut “Last of the Good Straight Girls” to her 2007 collection of agnostic gospel hymns “The Gospel Truth” to her 2017 travelogue “An American In Havana,” Werner writes ambitious concept albums with subject matter and sounds to match. Spring 2019 brings a fresh set of songs from Werner, this time a New Orleans inspired piano throwdown entitled “NOLA.” 

​We couldn't be more excited to welcome Susan as the opening show of the 2019-2020 Salmon Brook Music Series.

Pamela Means will be opening the show and we're in for a treat. Here's what Oregon Live has to say: 
"So what sets [Pamela Means] apart...? For starters, Means plays a snarling, energetic guitar. She's got chops - more than the other gentle pickers of her ilk will ever have. Means' voice is hard-wired to her heart: emotional, raw, angry when it needs to be, yet supple and warm as an embrace. The truth may not always be pretty, but Means is a stunningly effective messenger."

www.susanwerner.com
​www.pamelameans.com

Dave Gunning

April 27th, 2019
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“Truly, what makes Gunning so remarkable as an entertainer is his rare gift to be able to befriend the audience as a whole from the stage throughout the course of the concert. And, indeed, you do feel as though he’s as good of a friend as any after a night of songs, stories and lighthearted laughs.” – The Guardian

“Over a career now spanning 20 years and 10 albums, folk-based singer/songwriter Dave Gunning has earned multiple Canadian Folk Music and East Coast Music Awards (and a Juno nomination) for his well-crafted work. An engaging performer, he has entertained audiences in the U.S., Europe and Australia and is highly respected by his peers. New (eleventh) album Lift is shaping up as his best yet. The self-produced record has a sparse and acoustic feel, but there’s plenty of lyrical and musical variety here, with some tunes having a pro-environment message. Gunning has a very honest and big-hearted vocal style, and we expect this fine album, Lift, to add to his trophy collection.” –  newcanadianmusic.ca​

Dave will also be performing concerts and holding a songwriting workshop at the Granby schools the day before our show.

www.davegunning.com/

Cheryl Wheeler

March 15th, 2019
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"If you've never seen the celebrated New England troubadour Cheryl Wheeler in one of her famously freewheeling live concerts, you've missed out on the prolific singer and songwriter's multifaceted stage persona.
Aside from her witty, warm, beautiful songs — including tunes covered by everybody from Peter, Paul and Mary to Garth Brooks — Wheeler's shows are graced with her wry observational humor and story-telling skills. Seasoned with saucy social commentary, her patter is a delicious, folk-flavored blend of Phyllis Diller and Mort Sahl, sometimes puckish, sometimes barbed." - Hartford Courant

​www.cherylwheeler.com/

The Slocan Ramblers

Friday January 18th, 2019
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The Slocan Ramblers are Canada’s bluegrass band to watch. Rooted in tradition, fearlessly creative and possessing a bold, dynamic sound, The Slocans have become a leading light of today’s acoustic music scene. With a reputation for energetic live shows, impeccable musicianship and an uncanny ability to convert anyone within earshot into a lifelong fan, The Slocans have been winning over audiences from Merlefest to RockyGrass and everywhere in between.
On their much-anticipated new album Queen City Jubilee, The Slocans showcase their unique blend of bluegrass, old-time and folk with deep song-writing, lightning fast instrumentals and sawdust-thick vocals. With their trademark raucous energy, this new album presents The Slocan Ramblers at the top of their game – writing and playing tunes to keep you up all night. This is roots music without pretension, music intended to make you feel something – say hello to your new favourite band.

www.slocanramblers.com

The Nields

Saturday November 10th, 2018
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"As the work of the Everly Brothers or the McGarrigle Sisters has amply demonstrated, there are few sounds as sublime as close harmonies rendered by siblings. In the case of western Massachusetts folk rockers the Nields, the siblings are sisters Nerissa and Katryna Nields, and their inimitable vocal blend is a disarming mix of clean folk harmonies and clenched Generation-X angst."
-The Chicago Tribune
"If there’s one constant here, it’s The Nields sisters’ beautifully sweet vocal harmonies that sound eerily like the Roches singing Lush in a really big room. It’s infectious stuff."
-Austin Chronicle
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www.nields.com

Low Lily

Friday September 14th, 2018

​Start with excellently matched vocals, add some world-class playing, sprinkle with raised-off-grid Americana and you get Low Lily. Flynn’s deft flatpicking on guitar and mandolin and Lissa’s virtuosic fiddle-playing are grounded by Liz’s percussive rhythm guitar playing, the sounds of which combine joyously in this stunning ensemble.
With a vocal blend that has been dubbed “outstanding” and “meticulous,” Low Lily’s cohesive sound comes naturally for musicians whose lives have been entwined on the road and onstage for almost two decades. Setting down roots in Brattleboro, Vermont, the band has crafted a signature sound which they have shared with enthusiastic audiences throughout North America and the UK, garnering two #1 songs on international folk radio and two New England Music Award nominations.

www.lowlily.com/

Mark Erelli

Saturday June 9th, 2018

​Mark Erelli finished up a graduate degree in evolutionary biology shortly after his eponymous debut was released on Signature Sounds in 1999. He has won several prestigious awards, including the Kerrville New Folk contest and the International Song Contest, where a song he co-wrote with Catie Curtis ("People Look Around") bested 15,000 entries to win the grand prize. For the past 18 years, he has maintained a rigorous touring schedule, appearing onstage everywhere from coffeehouses and major folk festival stages (Newport, Philadelphia) to Fenway Park, where he once sang the national anthem before a Red Sox game. In recent years, Erelli has gained notoriety as a multi-instrumentalist sideman and producer, accompanying GRAMMY-winning artists such as Lori McKenna, Paula Cole and Josh Ritter everywhere from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry to London's Royal Albert Hall. In addition to producing two records for McKenna, Erelli's own diverse discography includes collections of western swing, lullabies, bluegrass (with his band Barnstar!) and songs of stirring social conscience, as well as several highly-acclaimed collaborations (2009's Darwin Song Project and 2010's Seven Curses, a collection of murder ballads recorded with Jeffrey Foucault). His 10th solo album, For A Song (released in 2016), was likened to "the best of Paul Simon or Jackson Browne’s work...stories that are immediately relatable and reflective of the small moments in our lives." (No Depression) In January 2018, Mark will release Mixtape, a record of covers drawn from 13 years of his sold out "Under The Covers" shows at the legendary Club Passim.
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http://www.markerelli.com/​

Gordon Belsher and Richard Wood

Saturday March 10th, 2018 at 7:30

For more than two decades, Richard Wood has impressed audiences all across Canada, as well as in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia. Highlights include TV guest appearances with Shania Twain on “David Letterman” and “Good Morning America,” Carnegie Hall with Irish legends The Chieftains, a featured performer on CBC’s Canada Day on Parliament Hill, “Rita MacNeil and Friends,” and with Jean Butler of Riverdance on “Celtic Electric.”
​With a new CD, rejuvenated energy and enthusiasm, Richard Wood, Prince Edward Island fiddler, artist, composer and entertainer has taken on the world once again. Richard has come full circle, not just in his musical career, but from the sheltered innocence as a child prodigy to learning life’s lessons the hard way.
As accompanist and featured vocalist with Prince Edward Island fiddlers Richard Wood and Cynthia MacLeod, Gordon has toured extensively across Canada, in the U.S., the U.K., Europe, Japan and Australia. 
His solo CD Passed Presence, Past & Present won "Roots Traditional Recording of the Year" at the MUSIC PEI Awards in 2013.  Previous solo CD's Call Up All the Neighbours (2008) and  Reel in the Flickering Light (2003) garnered nominations for "Roots/Traditional Solo Recording of the Year" at Canada's East Coast Music Awards.
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http://www.guernseycove.ca/​
​http://www.rwood.ca/​

The albinoTree

Saturday January 27th, 2018 at 7:30

From a hillside suburb of the outside looking in comes a collection of transparent, sofista-pop protest songs by the philosofickle insides of an artist reaching out to make sense of the world and find a facetious path toward peace, love and understanding. “Blues In See”, the first proper collection of recorded songs produced by Albino Guimaraes under the band moniker of “The albinoTree”, draws from his years spent mixing it up in the pursuit and preservation of life, liberty and happiness. When pressed for a theme, the group of songs reveals a gentle nod to the joyful participation in the sorrows of the world in the form of a wholly broken hallelujah. 
 
http://www.albinotree.com/

Natalie Gelman

Saturday November 11th, 2017 at 7:30

Raised in the old West Village, NYC stomping ground of songwriting greats, Natalie Gelman grew up amidst artists and true bohemians. She borrowed a friends guitar at 16 and started writing songs on it immediately and began busking on subway platforms soon afterwards when she grew tired of pretending to be 21 to play clubs in the city.
​Often compared to Sheryl Crow, Jewel and Joni Mitchell, Natalie’s music is contemporary and timeless. She writes honest, heartfelt songs - responding to current affairs and revealing parts of her inner self with the world. “Not too much about her, but somehow about me & everyone in the audience as well.”

http://www.nataliegelman.com/

Tarbox Ramblers

 Saturday September 30th, 2017 at 7:30

​​​Taking listeners to a place where Appalachian music and backwoods blues meet in powerful, unexpected combinations, The Tarbox Ramblers have drawn raves from Rolling Stone, All Things Considered and more. The Washington Post calls The Tarbox Ramblers “a force of nature”; The New Yorker says “Between the fiddle, string bass, drums and slide guitar, you won't know what hit you.”

The Tarbox Ramblers have released two albums on the Rounder label, toured throughout North America and Europe, and shared the stage with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Buddy Miller, Dave Alvin and more. The band's songs can be heard in TV shows like Sons of Anarchy and Supernatural.

​http://www.tarboxramblers.com/

David Wilcox

Saturday April 22nd, 2017 at 7:30

Cleveland-born David Wilcox is a father, a husband, a citizen and a songwriter. First inspired to play guitar after hearing a fellow college student playing in a stairwell, Wilcox is now 18 records into a career marked by personal revelation and wildly loyal fans. His lyrical insight is matched by a smooth baritone voice, virtuosic guitar chops, and creative open tunings, giving him a range and tenderness rare in folk music.
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​Considered a 'songwriter's songwriter', his songs have been covered by artists such as k.d. lang and many others.  In addition to his writing prowess, his skills as a performer and storyteller are unmatched.  He holds audiences rapt with nothing more than a single guitar, thoroughly written songs, a fearless ability to mine the depths of human emotions of joy, sorrow and everything in between, and all tempered by a quick and wry wit.

http://www.davidwilcox.com/
​

Cricket Tell The Weather

Saturday March 18th, 2017 at 7:30

Cricket Tell the Weather is the creative project of Andrea Asprelli, award-winning songwriter and fiddler. She is backed by a collective of some of the finest players in New York’s roots music scene. Winners of the 2013 FreshGrass Award in North Adams, MA, Cricket features award-winning songs delivered with honest vocals and thoughtful arrangements with a modern edge.
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http://www.crickettelltheweather.com/

​The Nields

Saturday January 21st, 2017 at 7:30 PM

"On first listen, some might glibly categorize this acoustic folk trio-turned-modern rock quintet as Alanis Fronts the Indigo Girls. But listen to [the Nields] twice and you’ll start to catch the twists in the tales, the quirks and ironies that make every song a short story. And then you’ll be hooked." - SPIN Magazine

http://www.nields.com/

Dave Gunning

​Friday, November 4th, 2016 at 7:30 PM

"Dave Gunning is the next big thing in the True North of Song, an artist as compelling, as assured and attentive to every nuance of the writing process as Lightfoot, Cockburn and Stan Rogers before him." - The Toronto Star

http://www.davegunning.com/

Gallery

Pictures from past Salmon Brook Music Series shows.