Mark Erelli in Concert Friday September 24

With special guest, Meg Hutchinson

First Presbyterian Church 7:30PM
520 E Washington Avenue

 

Mark Erelli

 

Discovered in an impromptu 3 am hotel room jam at a music conference when he was just 23, Erelli was finishing up a graduate degree in evolutionary biology when his self-titled debut was released in 1999. He hit the ground running when he won the prestigious Kerrville New Folk contest, joining the ranks of past winners such as Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. With his sophomore release, Compass & Companion, Erelli embarked on a non-stop touring schedule, sharing the stage with the likes of Dave Alvin, John Hiatt, and Gillian Welch. Erelli's albums spent weeks in the top ten of the Americana radio charts and garnered four Boston Music Award nominations.

Perhaps more impressive than his initial career trajectory was that Erelli managed to accomplish so much despite a congenital condition that caused his lung to collapse three times in a year. "It even happened once onstage in Philadelphia," Erelli recalls. In hindsight, Erelli regards the successful surgery to correct the condition as both a medical and musical turning point. "I started out really focused on being a 'singer-songwriter," he explains. "After my health issues, I felt a real urgency to become a more complete 'musician.' I freed myself from limits I didn't even know I'd imposed."

Erelli wasted no time in flexing this newfound musical freedom on a wide-ranging trio of records released over the next six years. He eschewed the conventional studio environment in favor of recording live in a Civil War-era civic building for 2002's The Memorial Hall Recordings, an ambitious mix of originals, traditionals and covers of tunes by his favorite New England songwriters. Next, Erelli teamed up with Boston country band The Spurs for Hillbilly Pilgrim, an entire collection of western swing originals "brimming over with wry, heartfelt songcraft, invigorating tempos and pedal-steel guitar dazzling as an Arizona sunset (Paste Magazine)." Finally, in 2006 Erelli and producer Lorne Entress holed up in a basement home studio to craft Hope & Other Casualties, a brave and searingly honest tour de force that addresses tough issues with "the grit of John Hiatt and the melancholy beauty of Ron Sexsmith (Washington Post)."

Lyric-based, contemporary acoustic songwriter. Influences include poet Mary Oliver, songwriter Shawn Colvin, and mood maker David Gray. Originally from rural western-most Massachusetts, Hutchinson is now based in the Boston area. She has won numerous songwriting awards in the US, Ireland and UK, including recognition from John Lennon Songwriting Competition, Billboard Song Contest and prestigious competitions at Merlefest, NewSong, Kerrville, Falcon Ridge, Telluride and Rocky Mountain Folks Festivals. She released "Come Up Full" on Red House Records in 2008, and is now celebrating the release of her new album "The Living Side" February 9th, 2010.

The concert tickets, available at the door, will be $10 general public $8 SFMS members and $5 students/children.

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David Jacob-Strain in Concert

Saturday October 23 8:00 PM

Ships of the Sea Museum
41 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

David Jacob-Strain

David Jacobs-Strain is a slide guitarist and modern roots singer-songwriter whose musical journey begins in the wellspring of Delta blues but ranges far afield from there. In his mid-twenties, he already channels age-old wisdom and heartache with such dexterity, energy, and passion that you feel good, even about feeling bad.
He tours nationally and has numerous festival credits, which include the Strawberry Music Festival, MerleFest, the Lugano Blues to Bop Festival in Switzerland, the Newport Folk Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. He’s also served as faculty at guitar workshops, most notably at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch. In 2008, Boz Scaggs chose him to open for his summer tour.

For further information, call 786-6953