For the first time in 25 years, Common Fence Music will be taking their award-winning concert series on the road! While their Portsmouth Mainstage – the Common Fence Point Hall in Portsmouth, the birthplace of the series – is undergoing much-needed renovations throughout the 2018-19 concert season, CFM is stepping out into the broader Aquidneck Island community, bringing live music to alternate venues across the area. They will also be continuing the Warren Sessions series, established in September 2017 at Hope & Main in Warren, RI.
Common Fence Music’s 26th Fall Season kicks off on Friday, September 21, 2018 at 8pm with a special outdoor event in the Schoolyard at Hope & Main, 691 Main Street, Warren, RI. Featuring the country-folk duo of Cowboy & Lady and Brazilian-psychedelic folk band Só Sol, this fresh air event will be the perfect way to celebrate the start of fall and a new concert season! In the case of rain, the show will be held indoors in Hope & Main’s event space.
Folk group Só Sol play with a vintage sound that has roots in both Tropicalia and Americana. Formed eight years ago by the husband and wife duo of Jessica DaSilva (vocals, percussion, banjo) and John Garrett (vocal, guitar), the group performs original songs, transitioning effortlessly between lyrics in English and Brazilian Portuguese. Currently completed by Zach Bridges on the acoustic bass and J. Bruce Scott on the lap steel, Só Sol lull audiences with their tipsy vocals and echoes of psychedelia.
Visit https://sosol.bandcamp.com/ for more information about Só Sol.
Cowboy & Lady is a Rhode Island-based duo featuring guitarist/vocalist Tyler-James Kelly of the blues band The Silks and his partner, singer Jess Powers. Inspired by a mutual love of Country & Western music, Cowboy & Lady have built a New England following, winning acclaim for their lively sets, beautiful vocal arrangements and harmonies.
Visit http://cowboyandladymusic.com/ for more information about Cowboy & Lady.
Tickets to this performance are $18 in advance, $20 at the door, $16 for CFM members. Doors open at 7:15pm for members, 7:15pm for non-members. This is a BYOB & Food event; other refreshments will be available for purchase. Hope & Main is fully accessible. For tickets and information, please visit www.CommonFenceMusic.org.
The concert season will continue through December 31st, 2018. Please see the rest of the concert schedule below. For more information about the venues that CFM will be utilizing this concert season and the accommodations at each, please visit https://www.commonfencemusic.org/venues.html.
THE LIED TO’s w/Cardboard Ox
Saturday, October 13, 2018, 8pm
St. John’s Lodge, 81 Sprague Street, Portsmouth
Tickets $18 advance/$20 door/$16 members
Doors open at 7pm members/7:15pm non-members
After winning-over the audience at last year’s Full Moon Festival, The Lied To’s are back! Performing in support of their new album, The Lesser of Two Evils, the award-winning Massachusetts-based duo of Susan Levine and Doug Kwartler bring their country-tinged Americana originals to the CFM stage for their first headlining performance.
Visit https://www.liedtomusic.com/ for more information about The Lied To’s.
Well-established as solo performers in their home state of Rhode Island, Tracie Potochnik and Steve Allain joined forces in 2014 to form the highly acclaimed singer-songwriter team known as Cardboard Ox. The duo is known for sweet and soulful harmonies, thoughtful musicianship, and delicately crafted lyrical storytelling.
Visit http://www.cardboardoxmusic.com/.
KERRI POWERS
Friday, October 19, 2018, 8pm
Hope & Main, 691 Main Street, Warren
Tickets $18 advance/$20 door/$16 members
Doors open at 7:15pm members/7:30pm non-members
After taking an unconventional approach to her music career, CT-based blues artist Kerri Powers has quickly asserted herself as an indomitable force in contemporary folk music. Despite devoting much of her youth to songwriting and performing throughout the New England coffeehouse circuit, she married, had a child, and put her music aside for many years. After overcoming a difficult divorce and lost confidence in her abilities as an artist, Powers has returned full-force. Her 2014 self-titled EP release landed her at the #1 spot on Roots Music Report’s List Of “Top 50 Folk Albums Of 2014.” Powers has followed that up with Starseeds (2018), a brilliant collection of originals and covers that showcases her seemingly whiskey-soaked vocals and authenticity as an artist.
Visit https://www.kerripowers.com/ for more information about Kerri Powers.
MISSY RAINES TRIO
Saturday, October 27, 2018, 8pm
Fenner Hall, 15 Fenner Avenue, Newport
Tickets $25 advance/$28 door/$23 members
Doors open 7pm members/7:15pm non-members
Based out of Nashville, TN, Missy Raines is one of the most respected, popular, and trailblazing figures in bluegrass today. A seven-time winner of the IBMA Bass player of the year award, and a member of Allison Krauss’ first all-female bluegrass band, she has backed greats such as Claire Lynch, Mac Weisman, Kenny Baker, and Peter Rowan. With a smoky and seductive alto, Raines now leads her own innovative and genre-bending trio, which is a rich, jazz-tinged combination of her bluegrass roots and thick Americana featuring George Jackson on the fiddle and Ben Garnett on acoustic guitar. The trio will be touring in support of Raines’ forthcoming release (October) on Compass Records – Royal Traveller – a memorable collection of songs produced by banjo great Alison Brown, flaunting lush instrumentals and thick grooves.
Visit http://www.missyraines.com/ for more information about Missy Raines.
2ND ANNUAL FALL MOON FESTIVAL
featuring Peter Mulvey, Caitlin Canty, Mark Erelli and Maya de Vitry
Saturday, November 3, 2018, 8pm
Casino Theatre, 10 Freebody Street, Newport, RI 02840
Tickets: $32 advance/$35 door/$30 members
Doors open at 7:15pm members/7:30pm non-members
Join us for our 2nd Annual Fall Moon Festival, a fun mini-fest dedicated to songs and songwriters. Presenting the most high-caliber talent you will see in one night at CFM, the show will feature singer-songwriters Mark Erelli, Caitlin Canty, Maya de Vitry and Peter Mulvey, who will also emcee the event.
- Peter Mulvey is a veteran singer and songwriter from Wilwaukee, Wisconsin. He began his career busking on the streets of Dublin, Ireland and in the subways and streets of Boston, MA. This led to his first record deal and a leap to full-time national and international touring, beginning in the early Nineties. Mulvey is an iconoclast within the singer/songwriter world. Restless and inventive, he has made seventeen records, spanning rock and roll, folk, jazz, spoken word and Americana.
Visit https://www.petermulvey.com/ for more information about Peter Mulvey.
- Caitlin Canty is an American singer/songwriter whose music carves a line through folk, blues, and country ballads. After quitting her NYC job in environmental sustainability in 2009, she set out to make music full time. Since then, she has put thousands of miles on her songs, circling through the U.S. and Europe. She has warmed up stages for The Milk Carton Kids and Josh Ritter, toured with Jeffrey Foucault, and recorded with longtime collaborators Darlingside and with Down Like Silver, her duo with Peter Bradley Adams. In 2015, she packed up her house plants and her 1939 Recording King guitar and drove to Nashville, TN, which she now calls home.
Visit https://www.caitlincanty.com/ for more information about Caitlin Canty.
- A skilled and artful singer/songwriter, Mark Erelli is a wonderful example of how the modern-day folk artist can translate the age-old tradition of storytelling into a mindful and relevant art form for newer audiences. With a talent for verse reminiscent of such seasoned songsmiths as Paul Simon, Jackson Brown and Bob Dylan, his songs are timeless, uncomplicated and honest. His critically-acclaimed 2016 release For a Song displays “craft and class”, and a compelling emotional depth that draws the listener in and holds them there. His most recent release, 2018’s Mixtape, draws on inspiration from the past 50 years of popular music, covering artists Erelli considers to be fundamental influences alongside newer favorites.
Visit https://www.markerelli.com/ for more information about Mark Erelli.
- A lover of the strange and beautiful conversation between words and music, Maya de Vitry experiences and embraces being alive through song. She has spent the last six years touring the United States, Canada, and Europe with her celebrated Americana band The Stray Birds. In her solo work, her lone, dynamic voice and her muses and meditations explore a striking new landscape. She has spent the last year writing, recording, and revealing this wellspring of new songs at residencies and shows around Nashville, and is now bringing them on the road in anticipation of her solo debut, coming in 2019.
Visit http://www.mayadevitry.com/ for more information about Maya de Vitry.
HONEYSUCKLE
Friday, November 16, 2018, 8pm
Hope & Main, 691 Main Street, Warren
Tickets $18 advance/$20 door/$16 members
Doors open at 7:15pm members/7:30pm non-members
Honeysuckle is a progressive folk/bluegrass act that blends older influences and traditional instrumentation with modern effects and inspiration. Comprised of Holly McGarry, Benjamin Burns and Chris Bloniarz, this Boston-based band can frequently be found performing across the country alongside bands like the Ballroom Thieves, The David Grisman Sextet, Boy & Bear, John Craigie and more. The virtuosic talent of the band’s members has brought Honeysuckle to the Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza, Mountain Jam and CJM. Favorites of the Boston folk music scene, they have been nominated for Best Folk Artist of the Year and Best Americana Artist of the Year three years in a row at the annual Boston Music Awards.
Visit http://www.honeysuckleband.com/ for more information about Honeysuckle.
RADIO JAROCHO & ZENEN ZEFERINO
Saturday, December 1, 2018, 8pm
Fenner Hall, 15 Fennar Avenue, Newport
Tickets: $22 advance/$25 door/$20 members
Doors open at 7pm members/7:15pm non-members
Radio Jarocho plays the rowdy, upbeat, and at times melancholic music of the countryside of Veracruz, Mexico, and has been mixing it with the sounds of New York’s urban life for over ten years. Having recently joined forces with son jarocho legend Zenen Zeferino, they deliver performances that are passionate, energetic, and true to the roots of the genre. Radio Jarocho & Zenen Zeferino have played concerts at festivals and venues in the east coast, including Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Bowl, Joe’s Pub, La Casita at Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Celebrate Mexico Now! and Celebrate Brooklyn. They released Rios de Norte y Sur, their first studio production together, in May of 2018. With this album, Radio Jarocho & Zenen Zeferino celebrate the music that unites Veracruz and New York, Mexico and the United States through original songs and new arrangements for old jarocho tunes, offering a modern take on a traditional genre by fusing it with sounds that have become part of New York City’s musical fabric.
Visit http://www.radiojarocho.com/ for more information about Radio Jarocho & Zenen Zeferino.
THE SWEETBACK SISTERS’ COUNTRY CHRISTMAS SING-ALONG SPECTACULAR!
Saturday, December 8, 2018, 7pm
Portsmouth High School Auditorium, 120 Education Lane, Portsmouth
Tickets: $25 advance/$28 door/$23 members
(Price includes a $3 donation to the Kate Grana Music & Art Association)
Doors: 6:15pm members/6:30pm non-members
Christmastime is here again and so are the Sweetback Sisters with their 10th annual Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular! This wildly popular show delivers a veritable explosion of yuletide splendor, complete with trivia, prizes, and, of course, all the holiday tunes you know and love. Year-round, the Sweetback Sisters and their band of brothers wow audiences with their precise, family-style harmonies and blazing instrumentals. For this show, the Queens of Christmastime bring their signature mix of modern nostalgia to a wide array of holiday classics and hidden gems that are sure to get even your scroogiest uncle in a festive spirit. Songbooks and plenty of warm fuzzy feelings provided.
Visit https://www.thesweetbacksisters.com/ for more information about the Sweetback Sisters.
A percentage of the proceeds from this performance will benefit the Kate Grana Music & Art Association. Founded in 2018 in memory of beloved former Portsmouth music teacher, Kate Grana, the KGMAA works to assist in fundraising for an improved center for Music and the Performing Arts at Portsmouth High School. Visit https://www.kgmaa.org/ for more information about the KGMAA.
LULA WILES
Friday, December 14, 2018, 8pm
Hope & Main, 691 Main Street, Warren
Tickets $18 advance/$20 door/$16 members
Doors open at 7:15pm members/7:30pm non-members
Lula Wiles is a band deeply rooted in traditional folk music, but equally deep is their devotion to modern songcraft. They deliver love songs that are at once defiant and heartsick, as well as new contributions to the folk ballad canon and timely explorations of what it means to live in America today. Drawing from the deep wells of traditional old-time and bluegrass, classic country, and contemporary indie-folk-rock, Lula Wiles melds diverse influences to create a harmony-driven sound all their own. The three band members deftly swap instruments and frontwoman duties, with Ellie Buckland (vocals/acoustic guitar/fiddle), Isa Burke (vocals/acoustic and electric guitars/fiddle), and Mali Obomsawin (vocals/acoustic guitar/bass) each contributing singularly expressive vocals, instrumental lines, and songwriting. Onstage, the band gathers tightly around a single microphone for a spirited and emotionally resonant live show, anchored by their powerful three-part harmonies. Currently based in Boston, Lula Wiles released their debut album in May 2016. Their sophomore album will be released soon on the Smithsonian folkways label.
Visit http://www.lulawiles.com/ for more information about Lula Wiles.
NEW YEAR’S EVE FOLKSTRAVAGANZA
with The Vox Hunters, Old Lazarus’ Harp and more
Monday, December 31, 2018, 9pm-1am
Tickets $25 advance/$28 door/$23 members
Doors open at 8:15pm members/8:30pm non-members
We’re ringing in the New Year with a bit of the old! Join us for a fun-filled evening of traditional tunes, pub sings, and square dancing hosted by Rhode Island favorites, The Vox Hunters. The talented duo of Benedict Gagliardi (concertina/guitar) and Armand Aromin (fiddle/clogging) will bring along friends from across the country, including the Chicago-based folk music collective Old Lazarus’ Harp and more. Instead of watching the ball drop, we’ll be counting down to a hoedown! Grab your partner and get ready for a New Year’s Eve that’s full of joy and revelry.
Visit https://www.thevoxhunters.com/ for more information about The Vox Hunters.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/OldLazarusHarp/ for more information about Old Lazarus’ Harp.