After a devastating car accident in 2004, which left him a C7 quadriplegic, Ryan “Gooch” Nelson thought he’d never play guitar again. However, despite his hands and most of his body being paralyzed, he taught himself how to play slide guitar with his thumbs by laying his Gibson Les Paul across his lap and playing the strings with a custom blown glass slide and thumb pic. With the help of his childhood friend Brian LaPann, music major at the University of Delaware, Nelson began to learn everything he could about slide guitar and guitar theory in general. His main influences include Derek Trucks, Luther Dickinson, Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, Robert Randolph, and Warren Haynes. As a songwriter, Gooch admires greats such as Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, and Ray Charles. Despite all his adversity, Nelson tries to stay positive to be an example of what you can accomplish if you work hard and focus on your goals. As a Political Science major at Salem Community College, Ryan cares deeply about the issues that face his generation. Together, Gooch and Brian have played local coffee shops and bars as the duo 61 North. Learning blues and rock covers as well as intensive focus on writing original songs based in these genres, Gooch and Brian developed as musicians and composers. With the addition of an unstoppable rhythm section in Joe Bross and Bob Comfort, 61 North has become an unparalleled force in music today.

Lyrically potent and shamelessly heartfelt, Joshua Komorowski’s tender yet edged songwriting and performance have secured his position as an artist one truly believes every word and note. A native of Philadelphia, PA, Josh has been spreading his poetic and soulful vision across the country. Whether solo, full band or 12 piece ensemble, Josh’s bluesy, funk and soul music leaves listeners breathless.

Ticket prices are posted on this web site.

Over the Phone
Tickets can be purchased over the phone with a credit card by calling. (610)792-4110. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Online
Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 until 9:00pm on the day before the show. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

The magic of Red Molly stems partly from the richness and diversity of each member’s “pre-Molly” experiences. Laurie (vocals, guitar, banjo) left a career in psychology to pursue her love of singing. She worked for several years as a backup singer, and also released two solo albums, These Old Clothes (1999) and The Things I Choose To Do (2004). Abbie (vocals, Dobro, guitar) has a background in jazz, bluegrass, classical and a cappella music. She released two solo albums, My Craziest Dream (2004), a collection of swing standards featuring her father Herb Gardner on piano, and Honey on My Grave (2006), a collection of acoustic originals. In May 2008, she released a duo album, Bad Nights/Better Days, with Anthony da Costa. Carolann (vocals, guitar, bass, mandolin) spent several years as a professional theater actor before releasing her solo album, Just Across the Water (2000). She went on to release two albums with power folk quartet CC Railroad, Smile Whatever (2001) and Black Horse Motel (2004).

In July 2006, Red Molly’s first full-length CD, Never Been to Vegas (2006), was released. Recorded on a December evening before a studio audience of fans and friends, Never Been to Vegas is a collection of fourteen carefully-chosen songs that span more than a century of great American songwriting. Never Been to Vegas quickly climbed into the Top 30 on the Radio & Records Americana chart, a rare accomplishment for an independent album. And listeners of WUMB radio Boston voted the CD one of the Top 10 CDs of 2006.

Red Molly’s newest release, Love and Other Tragedies (2008), is their first full-length studio album. Produced by Ben Wisch, it finds the women of Red Molly adding a little spice to their winning recipe. The new album features a fuller, more “polished” sound than their previous releases, due in part to the contributions of guest artists Mike Weatherly (upright bass), Duke Levine (mandola, lap steel), and Jake Armerding (fiddle). In addition, the ladies incorporated more original songs into the mix this time. Songs written by Laurie, Abbie, and Carolann mingle admirably with songs by well-known contemporary writers Gillian Welch and Susan Werner, up-and-coming artists Amy Speace and George Wirth, traditional American gospel tunes, and standards from the bluegrass and jazz worlds.

with Phil Minissale!

Influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, Toby Walker, John Hammond, and Chris Smither, Phil is on a crusade to introduce the Blues to younger audiences. “Cats my age know nothing about roots music, and that’s a shame.”Although Phil is Long Island born, he grew up in the Brandywine Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania. In September 2006, Phil returned to the area and now lives in Stony Brook, New York. “It’s nice to be back around my extended family. It’s like coming home to my own roots.”

In just a few short months, Phil has become a crowd favorite at folk societies, festivals and coffee houses throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. His fingerstyle guitar playing and instincts for finding new melodies are far beyond his years.
Band Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/philminissalemusic

Ticket prices are posted on this web site.

Over the Phone
Tickets can be purchased over the phone with a credit card by calling. (610)792-4110. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Online
Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 until 9:00pm on the day before the show. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Contact Linda Seybert for workshop tickets! The most award-winning guitarist in recent memory is David Grier. For the past several years, he has been voted by the members of the International Bluegrass Music Association as Best Guitar Player of the Year. He has also appeared on two Grammy- winning recordings: “True Life Blues-A Tribute to Bill Monroe” and “The Great Dobro Sessions.” David is also included in the book, “1,000 Great Guitarists.” His inspiration to learn guitar came from exposure to Bill Monroe while his father, Lamar Grier, played banjo for the Blue Grass Boys in the middle 1960s.
David’s first solo recording “Freewheeling” appeared on Rounder Records, as did his acclaimed 1991 duet project “Climbing the Walls” with mandolinist Mike Compton. David’s “Lone Soldier” project is listed in Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s “100 Essential Acoustic Guitar Recordings of All Time. ” His most recent solo release is “I’ve Got the House to Myself.” His work is also captured on a Homespun video called “Building Powerful Solos.” In addition to touring solo, David also appears as the guitarist for Psychograss, who are currently celebrating a critically acclaimed new album, “Now Hear This”.

Visit David’s Webpage!

Workshop sponsored by Center City Pizza and Baird’s Catering.

Ticket prices are posted on this web site.

Over the Phone
Tickets can be purchased over the phone with a credit card by calling. (610)792-4110. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Online
Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 until 9:00pm on the day before the show. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Trevor is a graduate of Valley Forge Christian College with a degree in Theology and a concentration in Philosophy of Religion. He enjoys reading, composing, traveling and all kinds of gigs. Trevor tries to promote a sense of inspiration and euphoria through his instrumental pieces and is continuing to experiment with all styles ranging from Celtic to Metal. “Music is a language and a language has to say something. If all I ever did was practice technicalities and learn to play fast and flashy then I should expect my listener’s to be skeptical, but I want to say something more and I hope that my music screams and echoes from beyond my instrument.” Music must mean something; Trevor is hoping to convey that meaning.

Band Website: www.trevorgordonhall.com

with Reilly, Adam Monaco Band, and Dinner and a Suit.

Ticket prices are posted on this web site.

Over the Phone
Tickets can be purchased over the phone with a credit card by calling. (610)792-4110. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Online
Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 until 9:00pm on the day before the show. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

May ‘08

June ‘08

July ‘08

Slo-mo and Mic Wrecka with Canadian Invasion! (May 31st)

David Stone The Johnny Cash Experience! with The Starlings (May 30th)

Quaker David and the Society of Friends with The Billy Penn Project! (May 29th)

Dylan Macguire, Chris Kasper, Dave and Jay and Jeff Masturberti and the Avant Gaurdians! (May 24th)

Liz Longley and Sarah Zimmerman (May 17th)

Local Artist Spotlight (May 16th ‘08)

Jim Weider Project Percolator (May 11th ‘08)

Eileen Tipping (May 10th ‘08)

July ‘08

JD Malone CD Release Party! (June 1st)

Phil Minissale (June 6th)

Pat Wictor (June 6th)

Painted Blue with Wissahicken Chx Shack & The Rockdale Boys (June 7th)

The Lowlands with Kris Kehr and Stone Poets (June 12th)

Transistor Rodeo with Derik Chafin and Mad Serenade (June 13th)

John Francis with Hezekiah Jones! (June 14th)

Animus with Elizabeth Diaz (June 20th)

ShovelHook with Matt Santry and Mark De Rose! (June 21st)

The Black Souls with The Reno Subject! (June 27th)

Craig Bickhardt with Tom Taylor! (June 28th) 

June ‘08

The Two Man Gentleman Band with The Melton Brothers and Washboard Bill! (July 3rd)

Sparky and Rhonda with The Barn Swallows! (July 5th)

The Why Kay Kay’s with Dan Pevar and Magnifus! (July 10th)

Trevor Gordon Hall with Reilly and Dinner and a Suit! (July 12th)

The Mighty Manatees with Three Legged Fox! (July 18th)

Si Senorita with The Pluckin Grassholes (July 19th)

The Scott Rednor band, The Jim Stanson Band, The Chris Kasper Band and Yarn! (July 25th)

Antigone Four (formerly Antigone Rising) (July 26th)

The dark Americana vibe of Robert Hazard’s “Troubadour” may come as a surprise to those who know him as the hit songwriter of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” (which, by the way, was written in fifteen minutes, in a bathtub - on an acoustic guitar,) but those who value first-rate musicianship, insightful songwriting and straight-from-the-heart singing will greet the album like an old friend.

The Philadelphia-born Hazard’s love and knowledge of folk, blues and other American roots styles shines through on his Rykodisc debut, an album that breathes the life of a man who has lived; filled with rich characters and poetic storytelling, inspired by the rustic beauty of his adopted home in the Adirondack Mountains.

The album features drummer Steve Holley (McCartney’s Wings, Joe Cocker, Dar Williams, Elton John) and multi-instrumentalist T-Bone Wolk (Carly Simon, SNL Band, Hall & Oates). Hazard enlisted the team of Pete Heitzman & Karen Savoca (Greg Brown) to helm the production efforts that give the album a classic folk sound with an urgent presence.

“Nobody But the Night” resonates with chiming electric guitar, a driving rhythm and Hazard’s emotional vocal, finely balanced between anguish and hope. “It’s about being alone and knowing you’ve got to be yourself, no matter what,” Hazard says. “Everybody’s been in that place at least once in their life.”

The Cajun stomp of “A Whole Lot of Water” is the tale of an island boy who moves to the big city. T-Bone Wolk contributes Celtic accordion fills giving the song an international flavor. “Blood On My Hands,” one of the album’s most dramatic tracks, is built around Hazard’s larger-than-life acoustic guitar. It’s the song a condemned murderer sings on the night before he dies, trying to come to terms with what he’s done. Hazard sings with a weary resignation that captures the apprehension of the condemned man. “Troubadour” is a tribute to the singers who inspired Hazard’s musical journey. The song salutes Eric Andersen, whom Hazard considers the ultimate troubadour — and Andersen surfaces here to contribute harmony vocals and harmonica fills. “Somebody Else’s Dream” is an upbeat blues sprinkled with surreal images of a world gone mad.

Two love songs, “I Still Believe In You” and “To Be With You,” give the album its heart. The former is a slow, sexy tango, a celebration of the ups and downs of a long-term relationship, while the latter blazes with the heat of first love.

Hazard recalls, “My older sister Gloria turned me on to Elvis, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins and other hillbilly cats. The music just knocked me out. At 10, I was playing guitar ‘cause I thought it was cool, but I got sidetracked by writing songs.”

“Rockabilly led me to folk, blues and what we call roots music today. I was playing in coffee houses and writing songs in high school, hanging out in folk clubs and soaking up gigs by Jimmy Webb, Eric Andersen and Jackson Browne. (The fact that Eric Andersen played on the title track is a real thrill.) A guy named Jerry Ricks gave me guitar lessons and taught me about the delta blues and Robert Johnson.”

Back when the new wave era hit, Hazard formed Robert Hazard and The Heroes. Having gained a huge following in his hometown of Philadelphia, RCA reissued their self-released EP resulting in MTV hits and tours opening for heavyweights U2 and Bob Dylan.

“The royalties from ‘Girls’ allowed me to survive. In the ‘90s I had a band called The Hombres, but we never recorded.” In 1998 Hazard cut Howl, the project that began to tap into his singer/songwriter soul. He started writing with a newfound conviction and the stories began to just pour out. “I woke up and started writing, going back to the folk and blues that originally inspired me. I decided to go back to what I love to do: me with an acoustic guitar.” In 2004 Hazard hooked up with T-Bone Wolk for his first singer/songwriter album, The Seventh Lake. Later in 2004 he cut Blue Mountain. “I made that for about $1.98,” Hazard jokes. “Everything was one take. The songs were written, I laid ‘em down and it was done.”

With Troubadour, Robert Hazard’s adventurous musical journey comes full circle –back to his original inspirations. “Songwriting is an emotional process. Getting to the place where the words and music came pouring out honestly is what I call success.”

Band Website: www.myspace.com/roberthazardmusic

with Jim Photoglo!

Jim Photoglo has musically spanned four decades as both a songwriter and artist, bringing his unique creative voice to the R&B, Pop and Country arenas. Growing up in Los Angeles, he began playing in bands as a teenager but never considered music as a “career” until he was in his early 20’s. Photoglo reminisces, “I wanted to get out of L.A., so I took to the highway ‘James Taylor’ style with an acoustic guitar, a sleeping bag and a lot of time to think…and all I thought about was music.” Read More

Ticket prices are posted on this web site.

Over the Phone
Tickets can be purchased over the phone with a credit card by calling. (610)792-4110. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Online
Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 until 9:00pm on the day before the show. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

The Philadelphia music scene was lively and diverse in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Clubs like the Electric Factory and the Main Point brought the best talents in the music world to the neighborhoods where Craig and his friends spent their after school hours.

His mind made up to pursue music, Craig passed on college and instead formed a band with two talented young singer-songwriters, F. C. Collins and Rick Bell, who were performing as a duo on the east coast club circuit. With the addition of a rhythm section the new band, calling themselves “Wire and Wood”, began performing original material and immediately gained a strong local following opening for artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Stephen Stills.

In 1974 Craig abandoned the Philly scene for Los Angeles, where he hooked up with his high school friend Sembello. The two struck up their old song writing relationship composing songs that would eventually be recorded by Art Garfunkle and others. As regulars at the Topanga Canyon Corral, Craig and a re-aligned version of Wire and Wood worked on their sound and experimented with song writing until they finally caught the ears of J. C. Phillips and Albert Grossman, who were forming a new partnership called October Records.

The band was poised to step into the spotlight with Grossman and Phillips behind them when suddenly, just before dawn on a February morning in 1975, Craig was awakened by voices shouting in the hallway of the small Mission Hills home they rented.

“I was half asleep, but I remember them saying ‘Don’t panic- the house is on fire. Just get up and get out!’ I put on my jeans and casually looked around for my boots. I guess I was a little too calm about the whole thing.”

As Craig opened the door into the hall, he saw the thick, black smoke and menacing flames already engulfing the walls and ceiling.

“I choked and fell down. Luckily there was still oxygen at floor level so when I caught my breath I was able to scramble under the smoke and flames until I made it out the front door of the house. The roof fell in a few minutes later. I probably said once that I’d walk through fire to be able to play music, but I never figured I’d really have to!”

Broke, burned out of everything they owned, the band faced the daunting obstacle of getting across the country to Albert Grossman’s studio in Bearsville, New York without money or instruments in order to fulfill their recording obligation. Read More
Band Website: www.craigbickhardt.com
Band Myspace: www.myspace.com/craigbickhardt

Kathleen Coffee

Kathleen grew up in a small country town outside of Athens where, on Sundays, she’d sit in church pews and listen to her mama play piano. Tapping her little feet and humming to old hymns, Kathleen soon found what made her shine. Throughout all of her school years and even through college, Kathleen began to reveal to the public her true passion: singing. Read More

Tom Taylor

No kin to “James” but one listen to this artist is reminiscent to the great acoustic artists of the past and present. Singer-songwriter Tom Taylor has proven to be a tenacious self-starter exhibiting highly melodic compositions and emotionally intelligent lyrics. His songs and signature voice can’t be mistaken and both overwhelm and stir the human emotion and soul. Read More

Show Date: 06/28/08

Show time: 7:00pm

Admission: $15.00

Over the Phone
Tickets can be purchased over the phone with a credit card by calling. (610)792-4110. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.

Online
Tickets can be purchased online 24/7 until 9:00pm on the day before the show. Your name is placed on a will call list at the door on the day of the show. Bring proper ID for admittance. No paper tickets are mailed.