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Rachael Sage at Binghamton Live Songwriters Series

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A soulful vocalist and innovative multi-instrumentalist, NYC singer/songwriter and producer Rachael Sage is one of the busiest touring artists in independent music, performing 100+ dates a year with her band The Sequins throughout the US, UK, & Europe. She has earned a loyal following for her dynamic piano playing, delicate guitar work, and improvisational audience interaction. – www.rachaelsage.com

Sage has shared stages with Beth Hart, Howard Jones, A Great Big World, Judy Collins, Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn, Jamie Cullum, The Animals, and Ani DiFranco. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and received numerous songwriting awards including the John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Grand Prize) and several Independent Music Awards. Her songs have appeared on MTV, HBO, the “Fame” soundtrack, and Lifetime’s controversial reality series, “Dance Moms”.

Sage’s latest release, CHARACTER, is a song cycle recorded while the beloved NYC indie artist was recovering from endometrial cancer in 2018. Throughout the album Sage reflects on gratitude, compassion, authenticity and optimism, questioning what comprises character, and lifting herself up in the process. Honoring the resilience of the human spirit, Sage’s striking songs remind us that sometimes ‘it’s ok to not be ok’.

“Theatrical, expressive and blessed with perfect comedic timing, Sage is the kind of performer you can’t take your eyes off.” — Stereo Embers
“One of music’s inimitable iconoclasts“

BlackBook

“The Carole King of her generation”

Blurt Magazine

 “Her keen ironic sense of humor and quirky sense of the profound is what makes her special as a songwriter“

Billboard.com

Cranberry Coffeehouse presents Kinobe

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KINOBE (pronounced chi-no-bay) is a Ugandan singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose work has been described as “some of the most exquisite music coming out of Africa today.” For more than 15 years, he has captivated audiences with his soothing African rhythms, understated vocals and powerful world-roots-dance melodies that emanate from the diversity of the many traditional instruments he customised to develop his unique sound. — www.kinobemusic.com

Kinobe has often shared the stage with other celebrated artists, including Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo, Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour, Oliver Mtukudzi and Hugh Masekela—and he has released 10 albums. His latest, The Voice Within, is quite different from all the others. Rather than offering a mix of traditional songs with intimate rhythms, all of the tracks on The Voice Within are original, and tackle social and global issues dear to his heart–love, diversity, economic development and war—“but in a beautiful way,” he promises.

The release of the CD coincided with Kinobe’s long-awaited 2018 North American tour in which he performed solo, as well as in an electrifying stage production alongside his Dance of Hope ensemble. The young troupe is made up of children he mentored in Ugandan orphanages and refugee camps.

As a creative arts producer, speaker and facilitator, Kinobe has given talks and workshops all over the world and worked extensively with schools and colleges conducting residences and outreach exchange programs, which in most cases lead to commemorative concerts with local students.

Through his Dance of Hope Foundation (www.danceofhope.com), Kinobe has dedicated his life to using his music and voice to bring love and joy to people, and help build a healthier, more peaceful world for children and families everywhere.

The Cranberry Coffeehouse encourages musicians, vocalists, story-tellers, and dancers of all ages and skill levels to share their talents during the Middle Set. Middle set performances are each limited to five minutes. Sign up at the door on the night of the show. Doors open at 7:00 PM. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be available. For priority seating, make your reservations in advance at http://kinobe200321.brownpapertickets.com.

Chenango Sessions presents Jaerv

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The award-winning Swedish quintet Jaerv presents an extroverted, vigorous and heartfelt folk music with influences from both jazz and pop music. Together, the five members have created a homogeneous, vivid sound which has established Jaerv on the folk music scene as well as in many other forums. Rooted in multiple musical traditions, Jaerv offers a varied stage performance where vocal, five-voiced tunes blend in with energetic dances and free improvisations. Jaerv is known internationally, and has toured the U.S., Japan, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Finland, and Norway, among other countries. Their discography includes Inrikes (2009), Vol 2 (2014), and their critically acclaimed 2016 album, Under den linden. — www.jaerv.com

Jaerv is: Joel Hagen (flute, whistles, soprano saxophone, EWI, vocals); Anders Bergsten(double bass, nyckelharpa, vocals); Harald Nillson (guitars, vocals); Markus Gustavsson(fiddle, lead vocals); and Tobias Hedlund (percussion).

The Chenango Sessions, hosted by Andru Bemis, is a weekly, one-hour, nationally syndicated radio program which features world-class musicians playing in intimate spaces—living rooms, galleries, and listening rooms—for small, enthusiastic audiences, mostly around Binghamton, New York. Audiences and artists are encouraged to interact, and the spirit of the live show is preserved in the radio program and recordings. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.  For priority seating, reserve your seats in advance at http://jaerv200303.brownpapertickets.com.

Cranberry Coffeehouse presents Jez Lowe

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A double nomination in the 2015 BBC Folk Awards – for Best Singer and Best New Song – was a timely reminder of Jez Lowe’s standing in the UK folk and acoustic music scene. Not only he is one of the busiest live performers in the country, but his songs are among the most widely sung by other performers, whether by long-established acts like Fairport Convention, The Dubliners, and Bob Fox, or by the new breed of stars like The Unthanks, The Young Uns, and The Duhks.

Jez’s own long-established band The Bad Pennies (featuring Kate Bramley, Andy May and David De La Haye) continue to attract a huge following, and his other collaborations with The Pitmen Poets (with Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox and Benny Graham), The Broonzies (alongside fellow-veterans Maggie Holland, Chris Parkinson and Roger Wilson), Men at Words (with James Keelaghan and Archie Fisher) and with fellow-songwriter Steve Tilston, show a willingness to push boundaries and venture boldly into pastures new.

Meanwhile, his involvement in the award-winning BBC series, The Radio Ballads, continues, with his song, “The Wrong Bus”, singled out for inclusion on Radio 4’s Pick of the Year last year, and five more of his contributions included in the BBC Radio broadcast featuring the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2019. Many of these songs also feature on his last solo album, The Ballad Beyond, the success of which prompted a feature in fRoots magazine and glowing reviews the world over.

Jez’s ongoing partnership with fellow-singer/songwriter Steve Tilston reached fruition in 2016, with the release of a duo album, The Janus Game, consisting entirely of new, co-written songs by the duo. They continue to tour together, with a series of UK concerts scheduled for 2020.

Jez’s role as Musical Director for Badapple Theatre is also an ongoing project, and he will be contributing songs and music to their next production, due in Spring 2020.

The publication of Jez’s first novel, The Dillen Doll, with an accompanying CD featuring a “suite” of traditional songs inspired by the story within it, was met with widespread acclaim. This endeavour sees him return to his roots in the folk music of his native North East England, and a second novel, touted as “a continuation” rather than a follow-up, will be published in October 2019, title yet to be announced.

Jez shows no sign of slowing down in 2019, with a solo American tour in September to be followed by a “Farewell” tour by The Pitmen Poets, beginning in mid-October. He’ll then be reunited with The Bad Pennies for their annual Christmas tour in December. Already lined up for 2020 is a tour of Canada with James Keelaghan, followed by summer Canadian festival appearances for the duo, and another US solo trip. Jez also has an enviable list of UK solo dates for next year to boot.

So watch out, no doubt Jez Lowe will be coming to a venue near you before too very long.

Porchfest Returns

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Binghamton Porchfest is, “A free celebration of community, music, and togetherness, Porchfest is the grassroots collaborative effort of hundreds of individual musicians and dozens of resident hosts of the West Side neighborhood of Binghamton (specifically the including and directly surrounding the historic Abel Bennett Tract) who get together on the last Sunday of every August to boogie down with their neighbors to the sounds of over 100 musical acts, presented on the front porches, stoops, and lawns of volunteering homes and businesses. Based on a grassroots, decentralized festival model created by residents of Ithaca, NY in 2007—which has since led to over 100 similar independently operated festivals across the US and Canada.

—Binghamton Porchfest turns stoops into stages, yards into venues, neighbors into promoters, and the West Side into a gigantic celebration of community togetherness. Kind of like a giant block party, but with more blocks, more bands, and less mac salad sitting in the heat. Dozens of residents offer up the use of their front porches to hundreds of different musicians who perform over the course of seven hours to thousands of attendees who spend their afternoon meandering the neighborhood by foot, bike, jazzy scooter, or unicycle. While it’s happening, the neighborhood is welcome to make of it what they will: in past years, we’ve seen people offer lemonade stands, garage sales, impromptu break dance showcases, and magic shows, just to name a few. Sky’s the limit!”

Lipbone Redding

Lipbone Redding has taken his singular vocal instrumental style to a new level by playing guitar and producing all of the instrument sounds while simultaneously singing and storytelling without the use of electronic effects nor a loop pedal. A one-man orchestra with no electronic effects, his natural human sounds of throat singing, bass and beat-boxing, and his astonishingly realistic lip-tromboning are a must-experience evening of entertainment—as he weaves his stories with funky rhythms, catchy melodies, brash humor, soulful singing, and inventive guitar playing. An engaging and entertaining show for all ages and musical tastes…there is truly ‘something for everyone’ at a Lipbone show! Potluck and doors at 6:30 pm. Music at 7:30 pm. For details and information, visit www.andrubemis.com.

Karla Lara and José Antonio Velásquez – “Live Life Singing!” tour

Presented in cooperation with Witness For Peace — Renowned Honduran resistance singer, feminist organizer, poet and performer Karla Lara performs with virtuoso jazz musician, pianist and composer José Antonio Velásquez. Their music addresses the struggle for justice and self-determination against the forces of capitalism, racism, and patriarchy in Honduras and globally. They sing to free those who have been unjustly incarcerated and denied their right to protest, about our world, and about this powerful time when women continue to be present and to “live life singing”! For details and information, visit www.andrubemis.com.

Johnny Irion houseconcert & CD pre-release

Massachusetts folk-rocker Johnny Irion performs songs from his upcoming album, Driving Friend, in an intimate Binghamton houseconcert. The album was recorded with Irion’s friends from Dawes, Wilco, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, and his wife Sarah Lee Guthrie (daughter of Arlo), produced by Tim Bluhm and renowned filmmaker/cinematographer Alan Kozlowski, and backed by Blackwing (the makers of the pencils with which Johnny’s great-uncle John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath). The songs from Driving Friend are California influenced folk-rock reminiscent of the best of Gram Parsons, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Neil Young and the Beach Boys. This is Irion’s only Northeast show before his California album-release tour, and you’ll be able to buy the new album well in advance of its release and May 18 feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition!

Get tickets and more information at www.andrubemis.com.

[video:http:youtu.be/9-OouTCeha4]

About Johnny Irion

Now and then in American culture, the written word fuses the worlds of music and literature. Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize is only the most obvious example. An individual singer songwriter can sometimes embody that fusion in his life and work. That’s Johnny Irion, whose family tree includes John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie, and whose new record Driving Friend was backed by Blackwing, the artisan pencil makers with a diverse musical heritage. The record, which includes members of Dawes, Wilco and the Mother Hips, ranges across a wide expanse of roots genres, from blues and gospel to folk and country. Everything about it feels authentically crafted, a carving out of raw, lived American experience that goes to the heart of the Blackwing ethos. Whether Irion is singing about Santa Barbara, Pittsfield or the Rapture, his sharp wit, telling description and brief character studies take us to a musical hometown of his own.

It’s been a long time between solo albums for Johnny Irion, more than a decade in fact, since Ex Tempore won critical acclaim upon its 2007 release. AllMusic praised that album and its songs, delighting in “how tuneful they are, how easy to catch onto, even on first listen.” The same is true of the handful of harmony-rich folk-tinged records Johnny’s made with his wife, Sarah Lee Guthrie—the most recent being 2013’s Wassaic Way, recorded at Wilco’s Chicago studio and produced by Jeff Tweedy and Patrick Sansone. And that can also be said of the rocking music he recorded with his band, U.S. Elevator, whose celebrated self-titled album hit the ground running in September 2015. In his January 15, 2016, review for Rolling Stone, Will Hermes wrote, “[Johnny’s] new band, U.S. Elevator, looks back even more evocatively, and boisterously, with songs that feel as lovingly hand-crafted as the jeans on the back of After the Gold Rush.”

Which brings us to Johnny’s eagerly awaited new Driving Friend album. Like Wassaic Way and U.S. Elevator, Driving Friend appears on Johnny’s custom Rte. 8 label, and it is set for a May 17 release, coinciding with Mother Hips’ Hip Nic Music Festival in Big Sur, California. The new album boasts A-list credits including drummer Griffin Goldsmith and pianist/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith from big-time folk-rockers Dawes; the aforementioned Pat Sansone (Wilco); James Raymond (David Crosby, Warren Zevon); singers Sarah Lee Guthrie and Nicki Bluhm (Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers); and producer/multi-instrumentalist Tim Bluhm (The Mother Hips).

About Chenango Craftsman Houseconcerts

Chenango Craftsman Houseconcerts take place at the home of Sarah Gerk and Andru Bemis in the Northside of Binghamton, New York. Because of the intimate nature of the space, and to ensure a seat for you at the show, we encourage you to make advance reservations through Brown Paper Tickets. 100% of audience donations go directly to the artist.

Guests without advance reservations may make their donation — cash or check — on the night of the show, and will be seated according to availability. Reasonably well-behaved kiddos and babies are always welcome.

Doors open at 6:30 pm. Join us for potluck-style food, snacks and drinks before the show, if you wish. Don’t feel that you must bring something to be included; there’s always enough for everybody. Music starts at 7:30 pm. Johnny Irion will play till 9 pm or so. Feel free to stay and visit after the show, and don’t be afraid to arrive late or leave early if your schedule requires it.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at the show!

For tickets and more information, visit www.andrubemis.com.

Holiday treat in store for you!

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When all the holiday parties are over, the scrumptious goodies eaten, the gifts enjoyed and stowed away, the Xmas tree put out at the curb, the New Year ushered in, and the New Year’s resolutions made, there’s one more holiday treat in store! The annual visit of Quickstep to the Cranberry Coffeehouse.

Quickstep, a.k.a. John Kirk, Trish Miller and Ed Lowman, perform at the Cranberry Coffeehouse on Sat., Jan. 17, 2015, 7:30-10 p.m., at the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Binghamton, 183 Riverside Dr., Binghamton. Admission is a suggested $8.

John, Trish and Ed entertain with a diverse repertoire of original and traditional music. Leading the way are John and Ed’s fine fiddle selections. John’s warm clear voice, Trish’s clog dancing or banjo playing and Steady Eddie’s singing, yodeling, guitar playing and bass round out the band’s sound. This trio, which has performed at the Cranberry since its inception decades ago, is from Saratoga County, NY, and for many years they’ve played for concerts, dances and workshops.
The group is in the process of recording a new CD with Ed. It will feature old-time music and some songs about living the good life in a rural setting.
Park behind the church or in front (for handicapped access).
The Middle Set is for you! The Cranberry Coffeehouse encourages all musicians, vocalists, storytellers, and dancers to share their talents in the middle set. Middle set performances are limited to 5 minutes.
Contact: email/cranberrycoffeehouse@yahoo.com or phone 607-754-9437 for more information.

 

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