2007/08 PFS Concerts

Concert schedule for Fall 2007 to summer 2008

Third Fridays at Carvlin Hall (unless otherwise noted)

7:30 pm, doors at 7 pm, admission: $10 PFS members, $12 Non-Members,
$5 ages 12 to 18, Children under 12 FREE. (Sorry, No Advance Sales)

Sept. 21^st Joel Mabus is a brilliant multi-instrumentalist, as well as an excellent singer songwriter, with a deft comedic touch. Joel has recorded 17 albums. His book, Parlor Guitar, was published last year by Hal Leonard. He is a prolific instrumentalist, equally comfortable on banjo, fiddle, guitar or mandolin He has performed at numerous folk festivals in various parts of the country.

He was born and raised in a working-class family in a modest Southern Illinois town, when his schoolmates were grooving to the Beach Boys, he was learning the tunes of the Carter Family, Bill Monroe and Jimmie Rodgers. Joel is indeed rooted in acoustic music. His great grandfather was a "farmhouse fiddler," and his mother and father took to the road as professional entertainers during the Great Depression. After journeyman’s work in several local bluegrass and string bands, Joel made his first record for a Michigan label in 1977 with mandolin legend Frank Wakefield sitting in. Three years later he signed with Flying Fish Records for a two-record deal. In 1986 he was one of the first established folksingers to start his own independent label.

“It's not just a wealth of musical styles or his smooth and expressive voice that have made Mabus such a fine artist. His songs, which range from thoughtful to silly to poetic, show that he knows his way around the English language and American culture just as well as he knows his way around a fretboard.” (Jeff Garrity, Capital Times)

Henry & Moggy, long-time favorites of the FolkMusic Society, will open the show with their blend of instrumental and vocal harmony, with an emphasis on blues and ragtime.

October  19^th  Rampur Records anniversary - Dev Singh, Tricia Alexander, and Darkwood Consort

Dev Singh is a songwriter and song stylist who is a longtime Portland favorite, has returned to Portland after some years in the midwest.  Tricia Alexander is a fine songwriter and singer who has a strong healing element to her music.  Darkwood Consort come to us from Boise, and they play viola and bass clarinet.  The are liable to play anything from King of the Road to Bartok. This should be a great show, honoring the 20th anniversary of independent record label Rampur Records.

NOV. 1 PFS Folk Festival This show was held at the Moriarty Fine Arts Center at Portland Community College, at NE Killingsworth and Albina.  The event was a kickoff to the Far West meeting of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance, which was held in Vancouver, WA on November 2nd and 3rd. We featured superb Canadian songwriter Dan Frechette,
Frank Jones, the cultural mayor of Toledo, Oregon, a new dynamic trio from Los Angeles featuring three excellent songwriters - Cindy Bullins, Deborah Hollins and Wendy Waldman.  the three have many recording credits as artists, songwriter and producers.  Hawkshaw Herman is a blues artist from Ashland who tours all over the world, singing and playing the blues.  One or two other artists to be anounced.
Nov.  1^st Folk festival with Dan Frechette, The Refugees (Cindy Bullins, Deborah Holland and Wendy Waldman), Frank Jones, Hawkeye Herman, etc.

Nov.  16^th  Moira Smiley and Voco with ter-ra
Moira Smiley is the leader of a fabulous group of young vocalists based in Los Angeles.  They sing eastern European music and sacred harp selections.  Some of the  songs are  unaccompanied, and some feature accordion, banjo and/or cello.

Dec.   7^th Mary Flower with Anne Weiss
In a few short years in Portland, Mary Flower has established herself s a major musical force.  equally skilled as a Piedmont style blues guitarist and singer, Mary is also an excellent songwriter, and has taught at many workshops and toured Europe a half dozen times.
Anne Weiss is a fine singer and songwriter who is particularly interested in integrating the music of other musical cultures into her own work.

Jan.  18^th  Pat Donohue with special guest: Jamie Stillway
Pat Donohue is heard on the radio every week as the guitarist in the house band, Guy’s All-Star Shoe band, on OPB’s most popular show, A Prairie Home Companion. His reputation as an easy going, stone cold finger picker is reflected in quotes from other great players, like Chet Atkins who called him: “One of the greatest fingerpickers in the world today.” Or Leo Kottke, who notes, “He thinks harmonically, improvises beautifully and writes. If you‘re a guitar player, it’s going to haunt you.’” Pat Donohue began playing at age 12, learning form a Pete Seeger instructional book and sitting in with any of the blues players found in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. He was awarded the prestigious title of National Fingerpicking Guitar Champion in 1983, while also studying the music of American composers from W. C. Handy to Blind Blake, Duke Ellington and Elizabeth Cotton. He plays music from that repertoire and beyond and brings a great sense of humor to his live shows with original songs like “Sushi-Yucki” or “Would You Like to Play the Guitar?” “A masterful guitarist and talented singer-songwriter of blues, folk and jazz…Donohue is a natural entertainer who possesses bundles of charm and wit.” (Los Angeles Times)

Guitarist Jamie Stillway grew up on an apple orchard in rural Minnesota, and began her quest to play the guitar at age 13, studying classical guitar in high school, and studying with the great ragtime and blues picker Kenny Sultan in California. Stillway relocated to Portland, Oregon, formed an acoustic guitar duo with resonator slide man, Ben Bonham, and the duo snared serious accolades: Don Campbell of the Oregonian aptly reported, "Jamie Stillway not only comps big, fat, swinging and expensive jazz chords but picks with a ferocity that would make Django proud.”

Feb.  15^th  Michael Smith with Brian Cutean (QTN)

March  21^st  Songwriter Show  Joni Laurence & Dan McIhenny from Portland, Val D'Alessio and Wes Weddell from Seattle

Val D’Alessio has been performing contemporary folk and blues for twenty years. Her music combines soulful singing with intricate finger picking and percussive guitar strumming. Her lyrics are both thought provoking and laugh provoking with topics ranging from home to highways to bad hair days. Since relocating to the Northwest (from Portland, Maine) in 1994, Valerie has been performing in the Seattle and greater Puget Sound area. She recently released Home, Highways and Bad Hair Days, co-produced with Alicia Healy.
www.bima.com/val_d'alessio

Dan’l McIlhenny penned one of his first songs while serving in Viet Nam with the US Air Force. It wasn’t long before he had a passel of tunes to share with his audiences and quickly became known for his ballads, story songs and humorous array of witty tunes. As a seasoned songwriter, he enjoyed commercial success with the long running "Sports Anyone?" jingle, but since the fall of '98, Dan has dedicated most of his time to environmental issues, entertaining in the beautiful venues of Yosemite and Sequoia / Kings Canyon National Parks. He was the featured musical guest for the Centennial Celebration at Le Conte Memorial Lodge hosted by the Sierra Club.
www.mikemaginot.com/danbio.htm

Joni Laurence was born and raised in Quincy, IL. She first picked up the guitar as a college senior and checked out library songbooks. After graduation, she moved to Champaign, where she found her musical voice. In all, Laurence spent 18 years "growing up" as a singer-songwriter in the Champaign/Urbana community, performing in all-female bands, first "Girlfriends" and later "Dear Connie," before going solo. Since 1998, Joni has been touring in support of her independently self-released records, before settling in Portland. Laurence has shared the stage with Patty Larkin, Carrie Newcomer, Cosy Sheridan and John Gorka and touring in support of Catie Curtis.
www.jonilaurence.com

A native of Pullman, Wash., singer/songwriter Wes Weddell, has played music all his life. In the spring of 2001, he captivated the Northwest with his ambitions to chronicle the lives of contemporary Washington State residents in song. In sixty-five days cavorting around the state, the multi-instrumentalist produced nine regionally themed songs based upon stories he encountered in communities everywhere from Mossyrock to Toppenish. The academic component of the University of Washington-sponsored project also earned Wes the inaugural Mary Gates Fellowship and a sizable following from media sources across the state...not to mention comprising fifteen credits’-worth of coursework for the UW history graduate (then a junior). “Let there be no doubt: Wes Weddell is a major Northwest artist, a major talent in American music, and he’s here for the long haul.”? (Victory Music Review)
www.wesweddell.com

April  18^th   Joel Fafard and Chico Schwall

Joël Fafard grew up in Pense, Saskatchewan. He picked up the guitar at 15 and took a few lessons from celebrated prairie musician, Jack Semple. He is mostly self-taught and counts Bruce Cockburn as the biggest inspiration behind his current style, along with Portland’s Kelly Joe Phelps and Hank Williams. This gifted slide finger style player writes stirring, melodic compositions that paint pictures as vivid as any song with words. Fafard first established himself in the mid 90’s as a folk/roots singer-songwriter, releasing three albums and earning critical praise for the maturity of his writing. He toured coffee houses around western Canada and did a brief stint with Scruj MacDuhk, the predecessor of the Juno Award-winning Duhks. His debut instrumental CD, Rocking Horse, was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Instrumental Recording. The Follow up CD titled ...and another thing, received the award for in 2006. CBC Radio picked a track as the theme music for Between the Covers. Fafard has performed at major festivals across Canada, Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand, opened for Joe Cocker and Burton Cummings and played with members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. The Winnipeg Free Press says of him that he plays "with the sort of instrumental prowess you'd expect from a finger style deity.

Chico Schwall grew up in America’s Mid West and claims that his rural roots reflect in his own songwriting. He absorbed blues and folk, slide guitar and finger picking. He discovered the mandolin, banjo, fiddle and flute and expanded his horizons to include Celtic, Klezmer and World music. Schwall has performed and arranged traditional music for theatre productions including Dylan Thomas’ "Under Milk Wood" with Britt Theatre Company and Northwest Touring Theatre, performed with the Eugene Symphony and Oregon Festival of American Music orchestras and actively played on the Contra Dance circuit. “His music is simple without being simplistic, an endearingly honest and listenable blend of traditional folk, old-time, country, and a more contemporary singer/songwriter sound.” (Victory Music, Seattle)

May   16^th Barb Ryman with Jon Koonce
Based in Minnesota, Barb Ryman is a nationally touring, award-winning singer-songwriter who expects music to be more than entertaining. Her music is lyric-driven, emotional, heart-opening. With a clear winsome voice and skillfully played guitar, she delivers a rich mosaic of contemporary folk, country blues, Celtic flavored ballads, old-time gospel, and bits of folk-rock. Barb’s music career was launched when the Minneapolis Star Tribune proclaimed her 1995 CD, Lay Me Open, “a heart-on-sleeve triumph” and national reviews in folk and world music magazines, Sing Out and Dirty Linen, acknowledged her talent. Ryman has recorded five CDs and been nominated for numerous Minnesota Music Awards including Songwriter of The Year, Recording of The Year, Song of The Year, and Female Vocalist. The American Composer Forum awarded her the 2002 McKnight Composer Fellowship, a coveted award for composers across all music genres. In 2006, ABC Television bought rights to her satire “All American Dysfunctional Family” for their sitcom series Sons & Daughters.

Barb Ryman’s recordings include, Winds of Good Fortune (1992), Lay Me Open (1995), Like A Tree (1998), Falling Down To Heaven (2002), and her newest release, Earthbound (2007), co-produced with percussionist, Marc Anderson, and featuring Eric Toussaint, Dirk Freymuth and musicians of “Prairie Home Companion” fame, Peter Ostroushko, Adam Granger, and Prudence Johnson.
www.barbryman.com

Portland native, Jon Koonce, has a new CD titled It Can Never Happen Here. This is Jon’s third solo acoustic disc in 4 years and brings the bite of a strong political lyric to his Americana style. In the last year, live shows in Oregon, Washington, Tennessee and Texas have helped to solidify a sales base that reaches back twenty some years as vocalist in Johnny and the Distractions. Performing solo acoustic, Jon has been on recent bills with Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, Tracy Grammer, Craig Carothers and Johnny A.
www.jonkoonce.com

June  13^th (2^nd Friday) Tom May, Sky In The Road and Rite of Spring
Flyer (324 KB pdf)

Tom May has been writing and playing his own music, sharing through his songs his life and travels with folks throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas, hosting and performing weekly on the national radio/TV program River City Folk--that is just a glimpse at Tom May’s 33 years as a professional folksinger.
www.tommayfolk.com

Sky in the Road is the performing name of singer/songwriter threesome Daniel Rhiger, Dean Warner, and Rahmana Wiest. As a threesome they have They describe themselves as carrying the torch of American folk paying homage to people and place in their songs, spicing them up with eastern european and celtic music, bluegrass, and jazz.
www.skyintheroad.com

Rite Of Spring has been a mainstay of Portland acoustic music for more than 30 years. Their wide variety of instrumentation and powerful vocal harmonies, along with a genuine enjoyment for their craft, has consistently attracted audiences of all ages.
www.riteofspring.com

Carvlin Hall at St Philip Neri Parish,
just north of SE 17^th and Division
Doors Open at 7 PM
Admission:  $10 PFS members, $12 Non-Members,
$5 ages 12 to 18, Children under 12 FREE.
(Sorry, No Advance Sales)

For booking information, contact:
Dick Weissman, Concert Coordinator, 503-452-0130

Sponsored by the Portland FolkMusic Society
P.O. Box 1448
Portland, OR 97207
503-335-9969
www.portlandfolkmusic.org

Portland FolkMusic Society: Your Connection to FolkMusic in the Pacific Northwest!

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