Acoustic Music Concert Series

All CCA acoustic music concerts are held at the
Chincoteague Senior Center on Church Street.

For directions to the Senior Center, click here.

Spring 2011 concerts

Concerts in the Acoustic music series run September through November and March through May. All concerts are held at the Senior Center on Church street. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available on line, at retail outlets and at the door. The best buy is the $40 season ticket that covers the concerts or either the fall or spring series. Advance tickets are $15 for adults. Tickets at the door are $18. Student tickets are $5.

Fall 2009 Blues Series & Workshops!

Scott Ainslie
Saturday, November 21 7:30 pm

In 1967 Blues musician and songwriter Scott Ainslie first heard a Washington, DC grave digger, John Jackson, play Blues. Things have never been the same. How lucky for the audiences of this most gifted performer.

Scott Ainslie returns to Chincoteague for another guitar workshop and concert to close the fall 2009 CCA Blues Series. Scott’s fifth solo recording, Thunder’s Mouth, has been recently released and received critical acclaim. Thunder’s Mouth –is a powerful, rootsy slice of traditional blues, African-American songs, and originals. Ainslie’s guitar, mandolin, and voice are masterfully complemented by Grammy Award-winning cellist Eugene Friesen; Lafayette, Louisiana guitarist Sam Broussard; and T-Bone Wolk, bassist and road warrior with Hall & Oates, who also contributes accordion, keyboard, guitar, and hand percussion to the project.

Scott describes this new project in this way: My fifth solo CD is a dark, roots-oriented collection that reflects my long apprenticeship to African and African-American music and culture. The titling song comes of split lineage – a phrase borrowed from Shakespeare and a setting and imagery inspired by Civil War era slave narratives from the Nashville, TN area

Chincoteague audience will remember the power of Scott’s rendition of Wayfaring Stranger. Fox News used Scott’s version of this spiritual on the DVD of their news special Company of Heroes

http://cattailmusic.com
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Blues Guitar Workshop
Join bluesman Scott Ainslie for his blues guitar workshop. Topics will include: Basic Slide Techniques, right hand technique, demystifying open tunings and other blues topics of interest to the class. Bring your guitar and a slide.

Saturday, November 21 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Senior Center on Church Street

Advanced registration required. Click here to register
$35

Spring 2010 Series

Poisoned Dwarf
Saturday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.
Celtic Music

Poisoned Dwarf plays driving traditional Celtic music, and for them, the tunes matter most. Focusing primarily on Irish traditional music, and with acoustic instruments only, this band from Williamsburg, Virginia has entertained audiences in many different settings for years.

The Irish flute, whistle, guitar, Scottish Small-Pipes, banjo, a variety of percussion instruments (including bones and bodhran), accordion, and of course fiddle are all brought to the dance for Poisoned Dwarf performances. Their love for the music and the playing of it is always obvious from the first note, so while listening to and seeing Poisoned Dwarf’s melting of one tune after another, you'll dance.

www.poisoneddwarf.com
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Ben Prestage
Saturday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.
Blues

Born the grandson of a Mississippi sharecropper, Ben Prestage has been soaked in Blues tradition and Mississippi culture since birth. Growing up in the swamps of south central Florida, Prestage began to mix Mississippi Country Blues with his own brand of Florida Swamp Blues. This muddy- water- meets- black- water stew has led him to perform from California to the Carolinas to the Florida Keys, in large festivals, every kind of bar, and sometimes on downtown sidewalks. Ben Prestage spent some time as a street performer on historic Beale Street, while living in Memphis, TN. He used to share a spot in front of the New Daisy Theatre with modern blues legends Robert Belfour (Fat Possum Records) and Richard Johnston (2001 International Blues Competition winner). Being a street musician in the “Blues capital of the South” threw Prestage’s music in a new direction. To his show, he added a cigar box guitar (made by Memphian and one-man-band John Lowe) which has stereo guitar and bass strings that can be played independently, at the same time. Then Ben added a series of four foot pedals that can be manipulated by the heels and toes of both feet to play a drumkit. The final result is Ben playing guitar, bass, and drums while singing his own brand of Blues which leaves bottles empty and dance floors full wherever his music takes him.

http://bluesboys.com/home/ben-prestage/
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Pavilion 3
Saturday, May 22 7:30 p.m.
European Dance & World Music

Pavilion 3 brings together dance traditions from central Europe and adds the immigrant experience with Afro-Cuban, Persian & Latin drumming.

Stately Peruvian drumming joins with 18th century minuets from the courts of Europe. The Flemish Bear Dance swirls with the wild beat of the Persian daf frame drum. Irish reels, Galician muñeiras, sultry Parisian café waltzes and enchanting airs, old and new, are all part of the Pavilion 3 experience. Paul Oorts & Karen Ashbrook started playing as a duo featuring Celtic, Belgian and French music with the recording "Celtic Café" on the Maggie's Music label. They added master percussionist Steve Bloom in 2006. They have a new recording "Spring Will Come" from a live concert featuring their new sound with master percussionist Steve Bloom.

"Karen has long been something of a heroine to me...Her style is at times traditional, then moves surprisingly at a tangent, making it more interesting in an unexpected way. And her whistle playing is excellent." Irish Edition, Philadelphia

"Steve Bloom has never met a rhythm he couldn't master. Throughout the evening he showcased a mind-boggling array of beats from Argentina, Bulgaria, Cuba, Morocco, Spain and Turkey." The Washington Post

Paul Oorts has delved extensively into primary manuscripts, mainly 19th century, from the dance masters and Carilloneurs (bell tower maestros) of Flanders. Paul has become an ambassador of Belgian folk music to America, teaching these old tunes in workshops at festivals. In his spare time, Dr. Oorts teaches French and Italian at Peabody Music Conservatory.

Click here to meet the band through a podcast of a WAMU radio show!

Click here for ticket information

www.karenashbrook.com/polka.html

Fall 2010 Series

Jennings & Keller
September 25, 2010 7:30 p.m.
Fusion Folk Americana

Laurie Jennings Oudin and Dana Keller an acoustic duo based bring a wealth of experience to their collaboration, from the Broadway musicals of New York to the honkytonks of West Texas. Their music is called "Fusion Folk Americana' - a blend of many different elements that comes from their vast and wide-ranging musical backgrounds. With the release of their debut CD, 'Susan's House', Jennings and Keller are quickly gaining recognition throughout the country. In 2007 alone, they were finalists in five songwriting contests across the nation: South Florida Folk Fest, Suwanee SpringFest, Susquehanna, SolarFest, and Falcon Ridge Folk A former Shakespearean actress, Laurie has been a singer and songwriter for many years. Dana Keller is a veteran pedal steel, dobro, and guitar player has spent years performing on stage or in the studio with such luminaries as Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Stevie Wonder, Larry Graham, Marvin Gaye, Dave Mason, Johnny Rodriguez and The Allen Brothers, to name a few. He has opened for, among others, Spirit, Pure Prairie League, Gordon Lightfoot, Waylon Jennings, and Buck Owens.

Click here for ticket information

www.jenningsandkeller.com
www.myspace.com/jenningsandkeller

Double Decker String Band Returns!
October 23, 2010
Old Time Music

Since 1977 Double Decker has worked at important crossroads of Southern traditions: vocal and instrumental, White and Black, sacred and worldly. The Washington Post writes "Their voices sound as though they were lifted intact from the old 78's. Their instrumentals are laced with twin fiddling, triple banjos and scintillating twists and turns." Their performances include Merlefest, the Library of Congress, and Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion".

Old Time music evolved from the ethnic musical traditions of the immigrants to America. It flourished primarily in the South and gained wider popularity with the development of recording technology in the 1920s. When the Depression disrupted the record industry, Old Time music faded and by the end of World War II, a new sound from the South, Bluegrass, took hold. But music never really dies out; it just becomes harder to find. Double Deck and other “revival” bands make Old Time easier to discover.

Banjo maven, Art Rosenbaum, ranks Double Decker among the finest of the Old Time music revival bands. “Superb vocals, tasty instrumental backup, this band’s sound is about as authentic as it gets”.

Double Decker is Bill Schmidt from Baltimore, MD; Bruce Hutton from Mount Rainer, MD; Craig Johnson from Cary, NC; and John Beam of Chincoteague, VA. This year begins their fourth decade of keeping Old Time Music alive. As Bill Schmidt says of the music: “It’s forgotten, but not gone.”

Maggie Sansone and Friends
Saturday, November 20 7:30 p.m.
Celtic Music

Maggie Sansone brings a unique beauty and vision to the ancient music of the Celts. Her albums ring with a Renaissance spirit, Celtic melodies, and a jazzy new crossover into what she calls "cool Celtic." It's a fusion of ancient sounds and modern sensibility, fueled by the innovative use of old and new instruments. And at the center of it all, there are the percussive yet melodious sounds of Maggie's wooden mallets dancing across the dulcimer's seventy strings.

Maggie is known throughout the U.S. as a performer, producer and teacher of the hammered dulcimer. She has recorded nine albums including AFIM Indie winner, MIST AND STONE, and is author of eight music books (published by Mel Bay). Maggie is founder and president of the Maggie's Music record labe www.maggiesmusic.com.

For her November concert Maggie will be joined by friends on harp and possibly fiddle. The concert will present both her standard repertoire as well has holiday music.

Click here for ticket information

www.maggiesmusic.com/mmms.htm

Spring 2011 Series

Eric Taylor
Saturday, March 26, 7:30 p.m.
Contemporary

Growing up in Georgia, Eric Taylor learned blues guitar stylings from Mississippi Fred McDowell and Lightnin' Hopkins. Later, after finding his own voice as a guitarist and songwriter he moved to Texas.

Taylor would probably be as well known as his more celebrated Texas contemporaries Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett and Nancy Griffith if not for a sporadic recording career. Both Lovett and Griffith have recorded his songs and Griffith has called Taylor "the William Faulkner of songwriting in our current time."

A winner of the Kerrville Folk Festival, Taylor has also headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival.

Taylor has been described as "one of those songwriters that has the ability to plop you down in the middle of a story or a situation and make you care that you're there." Arthur Wood, founding editor of Folkwax wrote, "simply said Eric Taylor is an American Treasure."

Visit Eric's website

Barry & Holly Tashian
Saturday, April 16, 7:30 p.m.
Country

Barry & Holly Tashian are duet singers, songwriters and touring musicians. The Tashians have recorded 7 albums with producer Jim Rooney since 1989. In 1994 the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD) awarded their album "Straw into Gold" Country Album of the Year. In 1998 their album, "Harmony" was nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year by the Nashville Music Awards. They have performed together on numerous TV and radio shows and festivals worldwide

As songwriters, Barry and Holly have written for Kenny Rogers, Solomon Burke, Ty England, Daniel O'Donnell, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Roland White, Kate Brislin and Jody Stecher, Niall Toner and many others. They also offer workshops on song writing and harmony singing wherever they perform.

Barry first won national attention with his legendary rock group, Barry & The Remains, recording an album on Epic Records at age 19 and the band appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and Hullabaloo.

The Remains toured with the Beatles, as the opening act on The Beatles' North American tour in 1966. Barry wrote a book about the tour, Ticket to Ride: The Extraordinary Diary of The Beatles Last Tour, which was published by Dowling Press, Inc. in 1997.

From 1980-1989, Barry was a member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band, appearing on countless television and radio shows as vocalist and guitarist. He recorded 10 albums with Emmylou Harris during this period. Before that , he recorded with country rock innovator Gram Parsons on Gram's debut album "GP".

Barry and Holly have recorded with Tom Paxton, Charlie Louvin, Nanci Griffith, Iris DeMent, Suzy Bogguss, and Delia Bell.

Visti the Tashian's website
Listen to tracks from the Tashian's CDs
Listen to Barry & Holly Tashian in a live performace at the Grande Ole Opera

Sarah McQuaid
Saturday May 21, 2011
Singer/Guitarist & Songwriter

Madrid-born Sarah McQuaid was raised in Chicago, studied philosophy in Strasbourg and spent many years in Ireland before pitching up in Penzance, Cornwall, in 2007. Drawing on the traditions of Ireland, America and the UK, her music is sublime and compelling, characterised by warm, velvety vocals and a distinctive acoustic guitar style.

Whereas her acclaimed debut album album When Two Lovers Meet was a feast of Irish music, 2008’s I Won’t Go Home ’Til Morning is an enchanting celebration of old-time Appalachian folk, with Sarah’s arrangements punctuated by her own fine compositions and a cover of Bobbie Gentry’s classic ‘Ode to Billie Joe’. Sarah is also the author of a highly-regarded guitar tutor, The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book.

Crow Coyote Buffalo, an album of songs co-written by Sarah with fellow Penzance resident Zoë (author and performer of 1991 hit single ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’) under the band name Mama, has also been garnering rave reviews since its January 2009 release; one critic described the pair as “Two pagan goddesses channelling the ghost of Jim Morrison”.

Sarah’s third solo album, provisionally titled The Plum Tree And The Rose, focuses both on early music (including Elizabethan material as well as songs in Old French, Old Occitan, Italian, Middle High German and Latin) and on originals inspired by such topics as Bess of Hardwick and the garden created at Kenilworth by Robert Dudley for Elizabeth I. Its release is expected sometime in 2010.

    “Sparkling guitar and compelling alto voice ... reminiscent of Pentangle’s best efforts ... a gentle and magical recording that I will return to time and again.” — Tom Druckenmiller, Sing Out!

    “Likely to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.” — Aled Jones, BBC Radio 2

    “Her singing has shades of Baez minus the operatic warble and Gillian Welch without so much Nashville twang.”
— Spiral Earth

    “Beautifully spare ... a melancholy but somehow celebratory collection.” — The Irish Times

    “One of those rare things, a very lovely personal album but also an incredibly good introduction to Appalachian folk music. Highly recommended.” — Americana UK

    “Quietly expressive and supremely affecting performances ... Not a weak link anywhere in earshot ... This is a truly lovely record.” — NetRhythms

    “Truly spine-tingling ... A touching album from a genuine artist.” — Hot Press

    “A rare beauty of an album.” — FATEA Magazine

    “Pure magic!! We are running our folkclub for 16 years now but I never experienced such a thrilling interaction between artist and audience who rewarded you with three encores!! You have the ability to create an intimate atmosphere with your stories, songs and guitar playing and make the audience part of the gig.” — Piet Snellen, De Fookhook, Sevenum, Netherlands

Visit Sarah's website: www.sarahmcquaid.com

Photo by Ronald Rietman

Click here for ticket information