Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts -- Fall 2008 Music Series

Fall Music Series in Partnership with Reverb Rocks Wednesday, August 20 - Friday, December 12, 2008 Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts Depot Street, Unity

Nine Performing Artists Slated for Fall Music Series at Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts

Nine nationally known recording artists will perform during the 2008 Fall Music Series at the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts. Unity College and Reverb Rock are pleased to co-sponsor the series, which is also enhanced by Maine-based promoter Sweet People Productions.

Sweet People Productions is the promoter for performances by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and The Brew.

Watermelon Slim

Is there a blues player with a more interesting biography than Bill "Watermelon Slim" Homans? Slim was born in Boston and raised in North Carolina listening to his maid sing John Lee Hooker and other blues songs around the house. Slim dropped out of Middlebury College to enlist for Vietnam. While laid up in a Vietnam hospital bed he taught himself upside-down left-handed slide guitar on a $5 balsawood model using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can top and his Army issued Zippo lighter as the slide. Returning home a fervent anti-war activist, Slim has been a truck driver, forklift operator, sawmiller (where he lost part of his finger), firewood salesman, collection agent, and even officiated funerals.

At times he got by as a small time criminal. At one point he was forced to flee Boston where he played peace rallies, sit-ins and rabbleroused musically with the likes of Bonnie Raitt. He ended up farming watermelons in Oklahoma – hence his stage name and current home base. Somewhere in those decades Slim completed two undergrad degrees in history and journalism.

In December 2006 Watermelon Slim garnered a record-tying six 2007 Blues Music Award nominations for Artist, Entertainer, Album, Band, Song, and Traditional Album of the Year. Only the likes of B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray have ever landed six.
Tickets $15

Miss Tess is a young, Boston-based songwriter, whose “Modern Vintage” sound bridges eras and genres. True to the tradition, her vocals can soar or caress as she strums and picks her way through an array of styles, from ragtime, to blues; country, to swing. Tess writes songs with the folk sensibilities of a troubadour that engage roots-devotees and newcomers alike. A typical set conjures a cast of dreamers and lovers, down on their luck and charming their ways in and out of trouble, with familiar faces mingling in the crowd, courtesy of folks like Bessie Smith and Tom Waits—perpetual muses to her style.

In 2005, Tess formed The Bon Ton Parade, a dynamic, solo-swapping combo, comprised of sax & clarinet, upright bass, brushes on drums, and backing harmonies. In May of 2007, Tess released her first album with her Boston band, entitled: Modern Vintage, a term she coined to describe her emerging style of contemporary music strongly infused with the flavors of early jazz and its relatives. 2007 also brought When Tomorrow Comes, an album comprised of jazz standards in the vein of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller, alongside two original compositions. Tess was accompanied on this project by a group of six notable DC-based jazz players.
This performance is a benefit for Unity Barn Raisers, a non-profit community organization that's been making Unity a better place for 10 years.
Tickets $20

The Waybacks

They draw freely from the old school and the old world, but The Waybacks are no throwback. They've been erroneously pigeonholed as a bluegrass band and celebrated as purveyors of "acoustic mayhem." They are as uninhibited and unpredictable as the eclectic San Francisco Bay area that claims them, and for nearly a decade, their experiments have always proven sharp-witted and musically dazzling. A four-piece with a full arsenal of acoustic and electric instruments, The Waybacks have just released Loaded, the boldest, rangiest and most exciting album of their career. Produced by Nashville bassist, composer and consummate sideman Byron House, it's a musical rebuke to anyone who would typecast true artistry.

The folk and roots underpinnings that have long been a Waybacks hallmark are still there, but after years of playing a huge range of venues and festivals, touring with Grateful Dead founder Bob Weir, and reconfiguring themselves around the hot guitar of James Nash and the fiddle virtuosity of Warren Hood, The Waybacks are enjoying a refreshed repertoire – one that's touched by Memphis soul, honky-tonk, Parisian swing, classical music, vintage blue pop and much more besides.

"A near-ideal balance of irreverence, chops, discipline, and originality separate the Waybacks from many bands that share their 'jamgrass' audience." - David Royko, Chicago Tribune.
Tickets $15

The Macpodz

Special showing rain or shine, Amphitheatre at Unity College

90 Quaker Hill Road, Unity

Admission and Parking are FREE

"Ann Arbor's jazz rock outfit, The Macpodz, throw some of the coolest parties around. With a little bit of everything in its musical grab bag, The Macpodz easily please music lovers, from fans of far out jazz to those rootsy jam band-style grooves. The inventor and namesake of its own brand of funky dance music, coined 'disco-bebop,' The Macpodz pay homage to kinky musical concoctions like the groovy, unstructured big band instrumental works of the late, great Frank Zappa with psychadelic tinges of sunglasses-and-afro era Miles Davis. With two solid albums under its belt and a slew of foot-shuffling fans across the region, The Macpodz impress as only an open-minded band can, taking the core of genuine American music and tossing in tasteful touches of world music grooves and lots and lots of swinging horn licks that rouse and comfort all at once." -RAB, Toledo City Paper

The Macpodz released their debut album, Genius Food for Super Heroes, on January 2, 2007 and Orcastrate, on March 1, 2008.

The band is currently on tour in support of their newest release, with many club dates scheduled throughout the Midwest and Northeast including festivals such as Summer Camp, Nelson Ledges, Hookahville, Wakarusa Music Festival, Dunegrass, Shamy Bash, Hoxeyville and moe.down

The 2007 release This Is Somewhere marks the coming of age of the young, Vermont-based rock band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. The album manifests incredible growth in the writing and singing of 24-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, who has clearly found her true voice in both respects, as well as the instrumental prowess of the band: Potter on the Hammond B3, guitarist Scott Tournet, bassist Bryan Dondero and drummer Matt Burr. On this remarkable record, they make a glorious racket indeed.

The band’s timeless, organic brand of American rock & roll is fully in evidence throughout This Is Somewhere. Potter’s timely and eloquent songs can be intensely personal or politically charged. Following two years of virtually nonstop roadwork on a national scale sharing the stages with such legends as Taj Mahal and Mavis Staples, including a bravura performance at last year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival (“Touring is a big part of who we are,” says Grace), the band has upped the ante considerably on the aptly titled This Is Somewhere.
Tickets $26

David Mallett

Life in an out of the way place carries universal import, and people everywhere seem to understand what David Mallett's songs are about. If you grow up in a small rural town, as Mallett did, you can't help but learn its stories. He knows about the people who shouldn't have stayed, but did, and those who shouldn't have left, but did. He knows the factory work, the field work, the memories of summer dances, the loves and losses, and the stunning incidents of courage and despair.

His songs have received international acclaim, and one of them, "Garden Song", has been translated into several languages and is one of America's most popular folk anthems. Other singers who have recorded Mallett's songs include Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Hal Ketchum, Pete Seeger and even the Muppets. The source of this well-traveled music is life in a small town in rural Maine, where there still is a main street, and you can still find old barns and tall trees.

"Few people could be called the living embodiment of the state where they live. But what Garrison Keillor is to Minnesota, Mallett is to Maine."-Orlando Sentinel. Proceeds benefit the Unity Area Rotary Club International Service Projects.
Tickets $20

Liadan

Traditional Irish music group, Líadan, weave music and song to form a unique blend of old and new. The distinctive sound of Líadan lies in the deeply traditional essence of their music and in each band member’s ability to shine both instrumentally and vocally. From Galway, Limerick and Dublin, this inspiring all-female band comprises of six members: Síle Denvir, harpist; Deirdre Chawke, piano accordion; Valerie Casey and Claire Dolan, fiddles; Sarah-Jane Woods, flute; Elaine Cormican, whistles.

"Líadan has the instrumental chops, impressive lead vocals, well-executed vocal harmonies, imaginative arrangements, extensive and diverse repertoire, and apparent elan to become the next major global force in Irish traditional music." --
Tickets $15

Tree by Leaf

Tree by Leaf will perform a benefit concert for hunger-relief efforts in Waldo County, as part of the second annual Arts for Hunger sponsored by the Unity Area Rotary Club. Tree by Leaf is the unique synergy and musicianship of Garrett Soucy, whose songwriting taps at the pulse of the soul of human experience, but never dips into journal-entry pathos, Cliff Young, whose keyboards slide from roaring command to a mere hum of electricity, and Siiri Soucy, whose voice could draw a heart right out of its body. Eric Sanders adds the primal rhythm to the new TBL sound. Influences as divergent as a childhood steeped in church music, hip hop, rap, and the classical education that Cliff Young and Siiri Soucy brought to the band, turned Garrett's ear for melody and undeniable writing talent into something extraordinary.

In addition to the concert, an Art Sale featuring items donated by local artists and citizens will take place throughout October in the UCPA Art Gallery. All proceeds from the Tree by Leaf concert and the art sale will benefit the hunger-relief efforts of the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry, People for People and Open Door. Patrons are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to the concert. Tickets $10.00

The Brew

The Brew is an energetic quartet hailing from Massachusetts' North Shore. Formed in 2002 when longtime friends Dave Drouin (guitars/vocals) and Kelly Kane (drums) decided to formalize their music careers and team up with brothers Chris Plante (keyboards/vocals) and Joe Plante (bass/vocals). The music of The Brew is friendly to both home stereos and dancing shoes. The voice of this rising, young quartet can be experienced through tightly crafted songs that contain poignant and often fantastical lyrics, as well as an innate ability to travel and explore within those songs through improvisation.

The Brew appeals to rock, funk, jam, jazz, reggae, and pop enthusiasts alike, and it has been said that their music summons the spirits of artists such as Peter Gabriel, YES, The Police, and contemporaries like Percy Hill. After cutting their first studio album in 2003, The Brew have since released two more, including their 2006 release, The Key.
Tickets $15

Born Rebecca Carlene Smith, this prodigal child of country music royalty (granddaughter of Maybelle Carter of the original Carter Family, daughter of June Carter and Carl Smith, stepdaughter of Johnny Cash) has been making a name for herself since her debut album, "Carlene Carter," on Warner Bros. in 1978. Launched by Emmylou Harris's hit recording of her song "Easy From Now On," the young mother of two left Nashville at 22 to make a record in England with rocker Graham Parker's band, The Rumour.

TIME magazine named the album "Tops in Pops" for the summer, and when Maybelle died that fall, Rolling Stone magazine wrote that she "lived to see her granddaughter Carlene merge Nashville with contemporary rock & roll." Many albums later, Carlene is now carrying the Carter name into the new millennium with her "Stronger" CD, released on March 4, 2008. "It has the kick and luster of Carter's best songs from the '80s and '90s. It's an ironically joyous, even witty CD, filled with the kind of rollicking roots rock that extends the great American legacy that lives in Carter's genes... " -- Jim Farber - New York Daily News
Tickets $25

Frank Vignola

An extremely versatile jazz guitarist, Frank Vignola has demonstrated that he is capable of playing everything from fusion and commercial pop-jazz to hard bop, post-bop, and swing. The native New Yorker has a wide variety of influences; everyone from Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and Pat Metheny to Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian has affected his playing in some way. For Vignola, different influences have asserted themselves at different times -- the Reinhardt or Christian influence might be especially prominent in a swing environment, whereas he has sometimes sounded more Metheny-ish in fusion or pop-jazz/NAC settings. And he might be mindful of Montgomery or Pass on a hard bop or post-bop project.

Born on suburban Long Island on December 30, 1965, Vignola was raised in the New York area. The Italian-American started playing the guitar at the age of five and grew up admiring a variety of guitarists. Far from a jazz snob, Vignola never listened to jazz exclusively and was also a major fan of rock, R&B, and pop. The guitarists that he admired ranged from jazz musicians to rock icons like Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen. As a young adult, Vignola studied at the Cultural Arts Center of Long Island and went on to enjoy a lot of sideman gigs in the 1980s. The New Yorker was 27 when, in 1993, he signed with Concord Jazz and recorded his first Concord session as a leader, Appel Direct. Several more Concord releases followed in the 1990s, and the early 2000s found Vignola recording for Nagel-Heyer as well as Acoustic Disc. Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Tickets $15