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Schedule of Performances
| Tickets are $10, students $5, Seniors $5 and kids under 16 free |
Sat. May 8 at 8:00 pm. Cindy Mangsen and Steve Gillette
Two of the best in the folk music world will be at the Music Box, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen. Steve Gillette has been writing songs since the 1960's.His songs have been covered by Ian and Sylvia, John Denver, Garth Brooks, Linda Ronstadt, Tammy Wynette, and many others. But Steve's own versions are some of the best, with his warm baritone voice and his unique finger-picking guitar style (using a flat-pick and two fingers). Steve has many solo and duo (with Cindy Mangsen) recordings available.
His most recent solo album, Texas and Tennessee, was named one of the Top Ten Folk Albums of the Year by Tower Records. Cindy Mangsen is "one of the finest singers in American folk music" (Come for to Sing). Accompanying herself on guitar, banjo, concertina, or mountain dulcimer, Cindy is known for her compelling interpretations of traditional ballads, as well as for her own writing and her wonderful ear for harmony. She has recorded several solo albums (Songs of Experience received the Editor's Choice Award from Crossroads), as well as collaborations with Steve Gillette, Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills, and Michael Smith.
More can be found about them at www.compassrosemusic.com
It is a real pleasure to have these two folk music heroes at the Music Box! |
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Sat. June 26 at 8 pm. Woodchuck’s Revenge
Formed in front of the fire on a winter's night in 1990, Woodchucks' Revenge brings together as a performing group three friends who have combined their lifelong love of music to offer their audiences an eclectic and refreshing mix of traditional and contemporary folksongs played with spirit and an old time country sensibility. The group includes Kristina Cady on fiddle, her husband, Peter on guitar and Sandy Morse on mandolin. The Woodchucks' repertoire, which has been described as encyclopedic, ranges from New England fiddle tunes to modern cowboy songs, from Irish ballads to 60's folk, blues and bluegrass. Songs about Vermont, mountains, and life in New England are staple of the group's performances, along with a healthy dose of humor and a small but growing number of originals. The Woodchucks have performed throughout Vermont and the adjoining states and in Wyoming and Montana, at colleges and community events and festivals, in coffehouses and summer concert series, country fairs and bluegrass festivals as well as the New England Folk Festival, and the Northeast Music, Arts and Dance Festival. They have performed on Public Radio in Vermont and New York, as well as local access television.
You can find out more about them at www.enkd.com/woodchucks
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Sat. July 17 at 8 pm FIRST DECADE CELEBRATION!
The first Music Box concert was July 16, 2000 with my friends the wonderful Thompson Twins, Chris and Meredith. This was the start of many concerts, children’s programs open mike events, dance classes and music fun. Those who remember the early years, remember that you had to go in through the back deck door and the trap door to my downstairs living quarters was open with a fence around it, so people could go downstairs to use the bathroom in my home. The building was not sided, but had plywood painted industrial gray giving it the look of a warehouse (people often would say to me, "Oh, you’re the lady who lives in the house that looks like a warehouse. I was the Warehouse Lady!).
Well, the building has come a long way, and the memories have, too! There have been some really lucky breaks, such as having Buddy MacMaster (the uncle of Cape Breton’s famous step-dancing fiddler, Natalie MacMaster), Artie Traum (of Woodstock fame), and Michael Arnowitt. Among the many great Vermont performers there was Rachel Bissex who played twice here before her death. If you look at the archive of past performances you can get a feel for some of the great music and events that have taken place (though it only goes back to 2006).
Ten years is cause for CELEBRATION! I am finalizing the plans for this evening, but it will include a number of area performers who will be donating their time and talent to benefit the Music Box. Then we’ll follow with an Open Stage for anyone who wants to play music, recite poetry, do storytelling, dance, or stand-up comedy, for 15 minutes each. Bring your own beverages! I’ll supply the usual refreshments and a bit more.
I don’t get any recompense from the Music Box. It is truly a nonprofit adventure. It has been kept alive all this years in part because I donate the space and all my work. But it has also succeeded because I have had friends put on benefit concerts from time to time. There have also been a few generous supporters who have given me some large donations without which it would have been hard to keep doing these concerts. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
So, I hope that many of you will come and celebrate with music, poetry, stories, dance and camaraderie. And we will raise a good sum of money to keep these concerts and events going for another decade.
Lisa |
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Sat. August 21 at 8 pm David Brahinsky and Friends
David is a singer and songwriter from Roosevelt, NJ and Walden, VT. He is the lead singer and guitarist for The Roosevelt String Band and The Hermes Music Project, two folk, blues, and bluegrass bands that play regularly in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania regions. David has produced two CD recordings. Both are live performances with the two groups. He specializes in great songwriters such as Stan Rogers, Leonard Cohen, Greg Brown, Bob Dylan, Cheryl Wheeler, Bill Staines and many others, as well as his own compositions.
In Vermont, David has played in the Hardwick and Burlington areas in coffee shops, restaurants and in house concerts. Adding a bass player, soprano vocalist, fiddle player and other musicians, local audiences have been delighted.
David has also been a storyteller and folk singer for The Shoestring Players of Rutgers University. He is also a professor of Philosophy and Religion at Bucks County Community college in Newtown, Pa. |
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Sat. September 18 at 8 PM The Missing Cats
Who are The Missing Cats? And what do they do? They are an acoustic jazz combo doing originals as well as gypsy swing and jive swing tunes from the 1930's and 40's, featuring close 3-part vocal rhythm harmonies and thrilling improvisation. The quartet includes Lewis Franco (guitar), Will Patton (mandolin), Dono Schabner (guitar), and Justin Rose (upright bass).
Lewis Franco has been a fixture on the Vermont acoustic music scene for many years, entertaining audiences of all ages with clever and occasionally profound lyrics, delightfully tuneful melodies, and a fun-loving presence. Vermont Public Radio’s Robert Resnik calls Franco, "a brilliant songwriter – one of our very finest."Franco’s national recognition is of a different sort. A long-time resident of Maple Corner, in Calais, Vermont, he appears with only his guitar as "Mr. January" in the famous Men of Maple Corner Calendar. He wrote the theme song for the calendar and performed it on NBC’s Today Show. Also, National Public Radio interviewed Franco for its weekend sports show, "Only a Game." A 6-time Wifflefest Champion, his combination of Wiffle-Ball and musical talents are virtually unsurpassed.
Will Patton is well-known in Vermont for his own ensemble. He is simply one of the best jazz mandolin players around. His ensemble is a favorite at The Music Box. He also was here with the Franco-American singer, Michele Choiniere. He has played his music all over the world, from Key West to Fairbanks, Alaska and from Paris to Rio . His collaborations with the manouche guitarist Ninine Garcia from Paris, documented in the cds "Peripherique" and "String Theory" have been enthusiastically reviewed both in the U.S. and abroad. He teaches jazz mandolin at Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's Ashokan Camp and the Django in June Festival at Smith College . He has performed with Mose Allison and his bands have opened for such acts as Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison.
Dono Schabner was born in Germany and grew up in Pennsylvania and New York . He started playing professionally at age 12 with Italian wedding bands. At 17 he hit the road, playing R & B all over the U.S. and the Caribbean . After many years of travel, he settled near Stowe, Vt. with his photographer wife, Lauren. For the last 3 years he and Will have been making music in many contexts, and also work as a duo. He has been studying the demanding 7 string guitar of late, using all 10 fingers.
Justin Rose, acoustic bass, performed regularly with the late "Big" Joe Burrell and has played in numerous pop and jazz groups in Vermont over the years. He is also a member of the Vermont Jazz Ensemble and has performed with the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra. Justin has become a regular bassist for musicals with Lyric Theater, and other local theater groups. When he's not playing music, Justin operates a sculpture studio in Burlington called Creations In Stone.
See www.lewisfranco.com |
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Sat. October 16 at 7:30 PM Yankee Chank
Yankee Chank is a group of musicians from throughout Vermont who perform traditional dance music from Southwest Louisiana. Drawn together by a passion for traditional Cajun and Zydeco music, the group has performed at weddings, festivals, nightclubs, community gatherings, parties and other events since debuting on New Year’s Eve in 1996. The group offers an immersion in Cajun music, featuring fiddle, accordion, guitar and bass, specializing in traditional Cajun two-steps and waltzes as it continues to be played in the rural dance halls and honky tonks of Louisiana, with some Zydeco thrown in for extra spice. The group often works with dance instructors who can provide an introduction to the dance figures for beginners or experienced dancers.
The group includes Bob Naess (fiddle and vocals), Cannon Labrie (accordion and vocals), Jim Burns (guitar), and Mark Sustic (bass and percussion).
To get in the mood, listen to some of their tunes at: http://www.myspace.com/yankeechank |
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Sat. November 6 at 7:30 pm Rick Norcross (Of Rick and the Ramblers)
Rick is well known for his work with his western swing band, The Ramblers. He will be doing a rare local solo show here to brighten up the gray lights of November. From East Hardwick, Vermont, Rick celebrates 46 years in the music biz by fronting the band of his dreams, the Ramblers. He spent 17 years performing as a solo singer/songwriter, toured England for 10 years, working the southeast out of Tampa before returning home to play Vermont summers and Florida winters for 25 years. For the past 25 years, he has resided in a former railway express depot at the foot of Battery Street on Burlington's historic waterfront, inspired by breathtaking sunsets over Lake Champlain. Rick writes songs and spins tales of a Vermont gone but not forgotten.
His newest album "I Rode The Ti" contains 12 songs, six written by Rick. Each song holds special significance, celebrating the people and places he experienced playing music over the past 45 years, early on as a folk singer during the 60s, touring extensively in England, Holland, Ireland and the East Coast out of Tampa, Florida all the way into northern Canada. And for the past 25 years, as front man/band leader of Vermont's premier western swing band, Rick & The Ramblers."I Rode The Ti" relates the history of the last of the opulent Lake Champlain steamboats, the Ticonderoga, a 220 foot sidewheel steamer built in 1906 and moved two miles overland in 1955 to the Shelburne Museum.
Find out more about Rick at http://www.rickandtheramblers.com/ |
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Sat. December 11 at 7 pm Mark Struhsacker
Mark has played guitar and sung in Montana and Vermont based Bluegrass bands for over 35 years. Mark created and has fronted the WDEV Radio Rangers radio show band, which has aired on WDEV every Saturday morning at 10:30 since June of 1986. Beginning in 2004, the Radio Rangers have also been featured on WLVB, Sunday mornings at 9.
Mark is well known as one of few practitioners of the Bluegrass flatpicking and cross picking guitar style in Vermont. Performing as a solo act, he features old Folk, Bluegrass and Country songs that loan themselves well to his guitar and singing style. He also showcases his flat-picking guitar style on traditional fiddle tunes and Bluegrass instrumentals. Check out www.wdevradiorangers.com
Joining Mark on acoustic bass & tenor vocals will be Jon Henry Drake, who also performs these duties for Banjo Dan & the Midnight Plowboys. |
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Sat. January 8, at 7 pm Dana and Susan Robinson
Two of our favorite performers return. Dana and Susan Robinson are two guitar-playing, banjo-frailing, fiddle-sawing, and harmony-singing interpreters of the American experience. Their unique blend of contemporary songwriting and traditional Appalachian music bring to their performances a deep understanding of America’s musical heritage.
They can make the audience howl with laughter or hush with poignant reflection as they take them on a journey across America and convey the mystery and wonder of the places they visit.
Underpinning the songs is the undeniable rhythm of their trademark guitar/banjo sound. Whether it is quiet or driving, there is a steady and unrelenting groove to the music that supports the lyric and delivers the story in an effortless and magical way.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Dana relocated to New England where he discovered both a thriving songwriters scene and the deep well of traditional mountain music. In the early 1980’s, Dana settled in northern Vermont and built a house "off the grid" (no electricity and phone) on 30 acres near the Canadian border. There he founded a popular bakery, café and folk music venue. Dana launched into full-time touring after the release of his 1994 debut CD, Elemental Lullabye, and after receiving a request to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City for Putumayo’s Shelter benefit project.
Sue grew up in a musical family in New England. She studied piano, oboe, and Scottish fiddle before meeting Dana in 2002. Sue was working in the environmental field in California when she met Dana at a house concert. Upon moving to North Carolina a short time thereafter, Sue launched into studying with many of the great oldtime musicians in the Asheville area, and naturally adapted to the on-the-road lifestyle.
Check them out at www.robinsongs.com |
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