Ann Arbor Folk Festival announces full lineup: Judy Collins, Mavis Staples, Vienna Teng and more
With its headline acts named earlier, the Ann Arbor Folk Festival has announced the other acts in its lineup.
The festival —Â the primary fundraiser for The Ark nonprofit music club —Â takes place over two nights, Friday, January 28 and Saturday, January 29, 2011, at the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. both nights. Susan Werner has been announced as host.
The Avett Brothers will headline Friday, generally the night that skews a bit toward edgier performers and a younger audience. The Swell Season — the duo of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, best known from the movie "Once" — anchor Saturday's somewhat more tradition-oriented lineup.
Here's the full lineup:
Friday The Avett Brothers Citizen Cope (solo) Vienna Teng Sarah Harmer The Spring Standards Anais Mitchell Theo Katzman
Saturday The Swell Season Judy Collins Mavis Staples Red Horse featuring Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka & Lucy Kaplansky Eilen Jewell The Doyle & Debbie Show NewFound Road
For artist descriptions, see below.
Tickets go on sale first to Ark members and those buying premium seats. There is then a student presale, then the general sale.
Ark members have a chance to buy tickets in a mail-only presale through Nov. 30. Tickets are $47.50 for one night or $85 for both. For information on becoming an Ark member, call 734-761-1800.
"Gold Circle" and "Platinum Circle" tickets — the best seats in the house — are on sale now until they are gone. They are available by phone at 734-761-1800 or by mail. Gold Circle tickets are $80 for a single night and $135 for both. Platinum Circle tickets are $160 for a single night and $270 for series tickets. Gold and Platinum Circle tickets include a tax-deductible donation to The Ark. Platinum Circle tickets include backstage passes during intermission and an invitation to a Saturday pre-glow party.
Students can purchase tickets in advance of the general public, Nov. 15-20 through the Michigan Union Ticket Office in person only with a valid student ID. Student tickets are priced at $30 and $47.50 for a single night or $50 and $85 for both nights.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on December 1 by phone at 734-763-TKTS or in person at the Michigan Union Ticket Office, Herb David Guitar Studio, the Ark box office, or any TicketMaster outlet, or online at Ticketmaster.com. General public tickets are $30 and $47.50 for a single night; $50 and $85 for both. Here are descriptions of the artists, supplied by The Ark:
FRIDAYThe Avett Brothers: Like so many great American bands, North Carolina's Avett Brothers are hard to classify musically. In the words of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they're "a band that exploits the tensions between the rustic Old South and the cosmopolitan New South, between rootsy bluegrass and rowdy punk rock, between reverence and irreverence." The brothers shift from quiet balladry to power chords, sometimes within the same song. And their mix of styles is not a gimmick or novelty but comes out of a deep-seated drive to encompass all the impulses of Southern music and American music -- sentiment, tradition, transgression, transcendent intensity. The Avett Brothers recently teamed up with legendary producer Rick Rubin (Tom Petty, Johnny Cash) and released the gorgeous album "I and Love and You," and their Friday night headliner appearance at the 2011 Ann Arbor Folk Festival comes just as they seem to be on the cusp of breaking through to superstardom.
Avett Brothers website Avett Brothers on MySpace
Citizen Cope: With his new album "The Rainwater LP," Citizen Cope offers the clearest distillation yet of his a laid-back gumbo of acoustic blues, singer/songwriter rock ‘n’ roll, and deep soul grooves. Born Clarence Greenwood but known to friends and fans as simply “Cope,” this Brooklyn-based artist has crafted an album that brings to mind such classic tunesmiths as Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder — both major touchstones for Cope's deeply felt songs. "The only way to explain my music is to say you gotta listen to it,” Greenwood says. “I don’t think there is any easy description of it. Somebody once said something about ‘urban folk,’ which I wasn’t mad at.” And, he adds with a bit of pride, “Somebody once said I was the People’s Champion." Memphis-born and D.C.-raised, Citizen Cope's musical journey began in the mid-1990s, when he first drew local acclaim in Washington for his intimate songwriting and stylistic fusions. He's released four albums since 2002 and taken his time with each one. “A record should have the potential to be around for a while,” he says. “I don’t look at my records as representing just one year or whatever. It’s part of the lifespan of an artist, and all the records contribute to the whole.”
Citizen Cope website Citizen Cope on MySpace
Vienna Teng: The San Jose Mercury News likened Vienna Teng to "a child of Chopin and Sarah McLachlan," and she took her first name in adulthood as an homage to the city of Mozart and Beethoven. She writes songs so graceful and memorable that you realize only slowly how personal and confessional they really are. Vienna has been writing songs and playing the piano since she was six, and her silvery piano stylings seem intricately woven into her soothing vocals. A few years ago Vienna Teng came to southeastern Michigan for the first time -- and we fell in love. This artist has a real bond with Michigan audiences, and now it turns out the love affair between Vienna Teng and Michigan is mutual: she's recently moved to Ann Arbor to study for a master's in sustainable enterprise at the U-M. Vienna appears with multi-instrumentalist and "Inland Territory" album arranger Alex Wong.
Vienna Teng website Vienna Teng on MySpace
Sarah Harmer: Sarah Harmer, says Time magazine, has a voice with some of the sublime charm of Dido and writes erudite but colloquial lyrics that evoke the folksy smarts of the Indigo Girls. She writes songs that seem casual but pack a lot into a few words. "Harmer has a lively expressive alto, a voice you can easily fall in love with, and her heartfelt music is as warm as the memories of your first kiss," writes reviewer J. Poet. Sarah has just released "oh little fire," her first new album in five years. After touring in support of her last studio release, "I’m a Mountain," she set music aside to focus on political and environmental campaigns. Only on occasion did she venture into the studio, lending backup vocals to artists such as Neko Case, Howie Beck, and Great Lake Swimmers. Now Sarah Harmer sounds reinvigorated and positively charged. Her own music and lyrics were waiting for the opportune time to burst out: as she puts it in "Careless," one of her new songs: “All the words that I’ve held too close to my chest / Are calling on me now to get through.”
Sarah Harmer website Sarah Harmer on MySpace
The Spring Standards: The Spring Standards are James Cleare, James Smith and Heather Robb. With an emphasis on three-part harmony and lots of instrumental switching around, their range and energy make each live show a unique event. The band's performance setup is something to see in itself. They take a drum kit and break it up among the three of them, and then they set up along the front of the stage. So, whoever is playing bass (James and James alternate between bass and guitar,) is also stepping on a kick drum, and whoever is playing guitar is also stepping on the high hat (and sometimes playing harmonica too). Heather, in the middle, switches among melodica, keys, glockenspiel and snare drum, often playing several instruments at a time. Add in some infectious rock melodies and hints of classic country music, and you have a band with a style all its own. The Spring Standards have recently released their first full-length album, "Would Things Be Different," produced by Bryce Goggins (Pavement, Phish, Apples in Stereo).
The Spring Standards website The Spring Standards on MySpace
Anais Mitchell: A native of Montpelier, Vermont, Anais records for Ani's DiFranco's Righteous Babe label. She started writing songs at age 17, traveled the world, and studied journalism, honing her art all along, and she's been a hot property at songwriter venues all over the Northeast lately. Mitchell's deceptively childlike voice makes her sound something like a folk Cyndi Lauper. Acoustic Guitar magazine calls her “fearlessly emotive . . . Like Dylan, Cohen, and Welch, Mitchell weaves her stories into an effortlessly beautiful and cohesive tapestry with the skill of an artisan's carpenter, showing no seams." Anais comes to the Ann Arbor Folk Festival with a newly recorded folk opera called "Hadestown," based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld.
Anais Mitchell website Anais Mitchell on MySpace
Theo Katzman: Former My Dear Disco guitarist Theo Katzman has been breaking out as a singer-songwriter over the past year, with appearances as far away as Wisconsin. Theo looks at and hears the classic soul grooves of the 1970s in a new light. He told the FORMzine website that "I like to call my music Indie Soul or something like it has a soul element to it. … It’s important to me that the groove is really strong, and interesting and kind of unique and that the arrangements are cool and intriguing." And indeed there's a lot of the rhythmic energy of Donny Hathaway and his era in the music of Theo and his band Love Massive, along with rock, folk, and more. Put it together with strong, clear vocals on some great love songs, and Theo Katzman looks like an up-and-comer in Michigan music.
SATURDAY
The Swell Season: The Swell Season is the duo of Glen Hansard, frontman of the Irish rock band the Frames, and classically trained singer and songwriter Markéta Irglová. She's Czech, and the duo's name comes from a novel by Josef Skvorecky. The two appeared in the terrific Irish indie film "Once," with completely real-life performances as struggling Dublin musicians, and they won an Academy Award for the hit "Falling Slowly" from the film's soundtrack. Hansard and Irglová fell in love themselves, brought their romantic chemistry to their fabulous duo harmonies, then fell out of love -- and found that the music and the friendship were still there. In concert the Swell Season has a very rare kind of intimate appeal, with a depth that seems to arise out of the profound complicatedness of human romantic relationships. They're headlining Saturday night's concert at the 2011 Ann Arbor Folk Festival.
Judy Collins: Judy Collins has thrilled audiences worldwide with her unique blend of folksong interpretations and contemporary themes. Her career has spanned more than 50 years. In 1961 Judy released her first album, "A Maid of Constant Sorrow." at the age of 22 and began a thirty-five year association with Jac Holzman and Elektra Records. She interpreted the songs of fellow artists -- particularly the social poets of the time such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton. Judy was instrumental in bringing singer-songwriters to a wider audience, including (but not limited to) Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Randy Newman. Judy's career has included new album releases in every decade since the 1960s, and she's written books including "Sanity & Grace," a memoir focusing on the death of her only son and the healing process that followed. Her newest projects are a CD, "Paradise," and "Over the Rainbow," a terrific oversized children's picture book and CD. Now 71, Judy Collins is still a relentlessly creative spirit who's writing, performing 80 to 100 dates a year, and nurturing fresh talent. She continues to create music of hope and healing that lights up the world and speaks to the heart.
Mavis Staples: Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and soul/gospel legend Mavis Staples really needs no introduction. Her blazing voice powered the soul and soul gospel records of the Staple Singers, which are classics of 20th-century music in anybody's book. Mavis is a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient. VH1 named her one of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and Rolling Stone listed her as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. And Mavis Staples is very much still at it: she recently released a new album, "You Are Not Alone," produced by fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s studio The Loft. The new release mixes traditional gospel numbers with two new songs written for Mavis by Tweedy, plus her unique interpretations of songs by Pops Staples, Randy Newman, Allen Toussaint, John Fogerty, Rev. Gary Davis and Little Milton. “All of these songs are me, but in a different way, with a different sound,” she says. "The phrasing, the tempos, the arrangements are different, but the messages are the same things I’ve been saying down through the years. They’re about the world today—poverty, jobs, welfare, all of that—and making it feel better through these songs."
Mavis Staples website Mavis Staples on MySpace
Red Horse: Red Horse is the new folk supergroup. Three of contemporary songwriting's brightest stars—the sometimes political, always edgy and strong Eliza Gilkyson, the wide-ranging and verbally virtuosic John Gorka, and the the interpersonally perceptive Lucy Kaplansky—have joined forces, covering each other's songs in concert and taking a new look at old favorites. The three Red House labelmates have created a sound that's clothed in gorgeous harmonies, and they blend old and new material by all three songwriters with traditional music and contemporary Americana. These are veteran songwriters with a lot to say—to the audience, and to each other.
Eilen Jewell: Boise-born and Boston-based Eilen (rhymes with feelin') Jewell calls herself "nothing but a lonely rambler girl." Her voice will stop you in your tracks, and her songs mix classic country with a contemporary sensibility, drawing on influences from Billie Holiday to Hank Williams to Bob Dylan, and especially Gillian Welch. The L.A. Daily News describes Eilen this way: "Sometimes as darkly damaged as Lucinda Williams, at others as defiant and teasing as prime Peggy Lee and always authentically Americana in the Gillian Welch tradition . . . She's mighty good." Here's a young artist who connects with the roots of country and Western swing without losing herself or descending into mannerism. Eilen's most recent album, "Sea of Tears," ended up on best-of-year lists around the globe at the end of 2009.
The Doyle & Debbie Show: The Doyle and Debbie Show is a revue, a fabulous piece of parody simultaneously lampooning and idolizing country music's tradition of iconic duos — and touching the nerve of the battle of the sexes that has always been bubbling under the surface. Bruce Arntson and Jenny Littleton wield the vocals of vintage country stars and the acting chops of Broadway veterans, taking audiences on a freewheeling joyride through a wickedly funny script and slew of equally hilarious original songs. Over the past two years, this "brilliantly tacky tribute to Music City" (Nashville City Paper) has developed a rabid cult following in Nashville, with many people seeing the show over a dozen times. Someone once said that we only satirize what we love most, and Doyle and Debbie offer the latest and most fun chapter in a long history of self-satire in country music.
Doyle & Debbie website Doyle & Debbie on MySpace NewFound Road: NewFound Road, from the rich bluegrass soils of southwestern Ohio, is among the most exciting new bands to emerge on the national bluegrass scene in the new millennium. Their powerfully streamlined sound combines honesty and passion, vivid songwriting from several members and spot-on, soaring three-part harmonies. Critical enthusiasm for their new Rounder-label album, "Same Old Place," has been unusually strong. The All Music Guide pointed to the "trademark rich, chesty baritone roar" of lead vocalist Tim Shelton, while CMT magazine enthused that "this quartet shines with deep gospel roots and bluesy material, tight harmonies, and a driving groove." NewFound Road brings a traditional bluegrass sound to everything from standards of the genre to classic soul -- and they bring power and passion to everything they do.
NewFound Road website NewFound Road on MySpace
Host
Susan Werner: National Public Radio has called Chicago's Susan Werner the "empress of the unexpected." Susan is a triple threat at folk awards ceremonies with her luxuriously smooth and strong voice (she's a former opera singer), riveting lyrics, and haunting melodies. "Werner writes songs so true, you'll never know if she lived them or just dreamed them up," says the San Diego Union Tribune. Susan can do it all! She's a virtuoso on both piano and guitar, and her nine albums have ranged from hardcore folk to Broadway music, humorous songs, a skeptical yet sympathetic take on gospel, and even classical arrangements of classic rock. Susan comes to town with a new release, "Kicking the Beehive," that was produced by Rodney Crowell and features 11 all-new original songs. Susan Werner will be the MC for both the Friday and Saturday evening concerts of the 2010 Ann Arbor Folk Festival.