Folk legend Peggy Seeger is leaving Boston, but she’s not slowing down

Peggy graced the notloB stage with Jack Hardy and David Massengill in October, 2008. More recently she was my guest on "In the Tradition", WCUW community radio serving central Massachusetts at 91.3fm, streaming at www.wcuw.org, where we chatted about her farewell concert and life as a folk singer and activist.

Safe travels, Ms. Seeger.

Goodbye

Folk legend Peggy Seeger is leaving Boston, but she’s not slowing down

“Essentially what you’re trying to do is wedge these songs into other people’s heads, the way they’re wedged into yours,’’ says Peggy Seeger. (Michele McDonald for The Boston Globe)

By Scott Alarik Globe Correspondent / April 16, 2010

Asked how she would describe her long, rich, and profoundly important career, Peggy Seeger is stumped. “Whoo,’’ she says, and “Oh, my.’’ Then the 74-year-old folk singer answers slowly, intimately.

PEGGY SEEGER FAREWELL BOSTON CONCERT Tomorrow night at 7:30 at International Community Church, 557 Cambridge St., Allston. Katie McD opens. Tickets $20 at 617-265-9200.

“First of all,’’ says Seeger, who is returning to Britain after living in Boston for four years, “I take utter and complete pleasure in singing the songs. One of the nicest things about folk songs is that I can sing them by myself, wherever I am. And the words and music are so completely physically satisfying to me that you just want to share that. Essentially what you’re trying to do is wedge these songs into other people’s heads, the way they’re wedged into yours.’’

Peggy Seeger, song-wedger. It is revealing that she presents herself this simply, and not as the musical revolutionary she is.

Seeger, who gives a farewell concert tomorrow night at International Community Church in Allston, began her career in the early 1950s, when female musicians were still expected to perform in chiffon gowns, singing daintily while the menfolk played the instruments. But she was a multi-instrumentalist, accompanying herself on guitar, banjo, dulcimer, autoharp, piano, and concertina. And her haunting, silk-and-steel voice was anything but dainty.

She played a pivotal role in launching folk revivals in the United States and Britain; helped popularize Appalachian folk music; wrote folk ballads so organic, like “The Ballad of Spring Hill,’’ that many believe they’re traditional, and political songs that are sung on picket lines and at protest rallies. In one of musical history’s sweetest serendipities, she is both the author of the song that helped launch the feminist movement, “Gonna Be an Engineer,’’ and the subject of Ewan MacColl’s adoring love song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.’’

She was certainly to the folk manner born, raised in the Seeger family with musician brother Mike and famous stepbrother Pete. Her parents were ethnomusicologist Charles Seeger and Ruth Crawford Seeger, an acclaimed modernist composer who wrote brilliantly simple transcriptions for seminal folk songbooks by John and Alan Lomax, B.A. Botkin, Carl Sandburg, and her own children’s books.

“I just osmosed folk music,’’ Seeger says with a laugh. “It was sponged onto me as a child. There were no radios or televisions in our home, but you could always hear music. My mother taught piano, so there was always someone playing in the daytime. And in the evenings, there was lots of piano playing or singing, and people visiting, like Woody [Guthrie] and Lead Belly [Ledbetter].’’

After two years at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Seeger rambled through Europe. Folklorist Alan Lomax was trying to create a British version of the Weavers, Pete Seeger’s hugely successful folk group, and asked her to join. The band bombed, but introduced her to MacColl, the British folk lion.

“I met Ewan on March 15, 1956, at 10:30 in the morning,’’ she says, the love palpable in her voice. They were together until his death in 1989, raising three children, performing as a duo, and collaborating on nearly everything.

“It was a partnership from the beginning,’’ she says. “There were dire predictions, with him being 20 years older, but we worked well together. We were total opposites in so many ways, but maybe that was part of the fascination.’’

In 1970, Seeger wrote “Gonna Be an Engineer’’ for a satirical revue. In it, a woman dreams of a career, meeting resistance at every turn: “No, you only need to learn to be a lady / The duty isn’t yours, for to try to run the world / An engineer could never have a baby / Remember, dear, that you’re a girl.’’

She wrote it in two hours, and says it wasn’t about her. She never wanted to be an engineer, and “nobody ever told me I couldn’t do things.’’

The song spread like wildfire. She was soon being invited to sing for feminist groups, scurrying to fill her repertoire with more feminist songs. Female musicians all over the world had the same experience after hearing that song.

“Sometimes a song puts an idea in the air,’’ says women’s music pioneer Holly Near. “Peggy wrote that before I even knew I was a feminist. She sang about the things that go on in women’s lives at a time when we couldn’t imagine those ‘little things’ were important enough to sing about, because we didn’t think we were important enough. Her song said, yes, you are.’’

Seeger has lived in Jamaica Plain since 2006, but is returning to Britain, where her children and seven grandchildren are. But she has no plans to slow down.

“I am 75 this year,’’ she says, “so I reckon I’ve got about five more years of galloping around — unless somebody wants to advertise me as the only 81-year-old banjo player on the go.’’

She means it as a joke, but the smart money is that Peggy Seeger will soon be cracking open another glass ceiling.

What does a jazz label know about old time and bluegrass music?

APR 14

Concord Music Group Acquires Celebrated American Roots Label Rounder Records

Views: 184Comments (0)null of 5

Acquisition Firmly Establishes the Combined Entity as the

World’s Preeminent Independent Music Company

Los Angeles, CA - April 14th, 2010 - The Concord Music Group today announced the acquisition of storied Massachusetts-based independent music label Rounder Records. Rounder, celebrating its 40^th year as the world’s leading American roots music label, is a major force in a broad range of musical genres including bluegrass, Americana, singer-songwriter, Cajun & Zydeco and children’s music. Rounder possesses an extraordinary recorded catalog and current artist roster including bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss, singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, actor/musician Steve Martin, jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, the iconic Robert Plant, notable children’s artist/activist Raffi and country legend Willie Nelson, to name just a few. The acquisition of Rounder and its essential collection of over 3,000 masters combined with Concord Music Group’s rich catalog of more than 10,000 master recordings strengthens Concord’s status as one of the world’s most significant independent record companies, with a leadership position in multiple genres.

Rounder’s creative and marketing functions will continue to be based in Boston and its owners and founders Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton Levy will remain active with the company in a creative and advisory capacity. The company’s senior management will also remain in place: John Virant will continue as the President of Rounder; Sheri Sands will stay on as General Manager. Operating synergies will be achieved by combining the sales, administrative and support functions of the two companies.

Rounder, founded in 1970 by Cambridge folkies, Irwin, Nowlin, and Leighton Levy, has been at the center of nearly all of the American roots revivals that have reshaped the music world in the last 40 years. The self-titled 1975 record by J.D. Crowe and the New South (featuring future stars Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice and Jerry Douglas) revitalized bluegrass and inspired such modern superstars as Rounder’s own Alison Krauss, who is the most decorated female artist in the history of the Grammy® Awards and has also sold over eight million albums and DVDs. Her collaboration with Led Zeppelin front-man Robert Plant on the album Raising Sand emerged as one of 2007’s major critical and word-of-mouth sales success stories. The album was RIAA certified platinum in early 2008 and won five Grammy® Awards including Album and Record of the Year in 2009. An unequaled leader in the preservation and re-release of precious historic recordings, Rounder has brought the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and Mississippi John Hurt back to vibrant life. In addition, their dazzling work on the epic anthologies from the Library of Congress and the Alan Lomax Collection has been universally respected and admired.

Glen Barros, President and CEO of the Concord Music Group, said, “The combination of Concord and Rounder makes so much sense on a creative, strategic and cultural level. With the addition of Rounder, Concord is gaining a magnificent catalog of recordings, the opportunity to work with more of the world’s most amazing artists and a company filled with some great people. Plus, Rounder’s uncompromising commitment to authenticity and intense independent spirit is perfectly in line with everything that Concord is about.”

Norman Lear, Concord Music Group Chairman and co-owner added, “We couldn’t be more honored to join together with Rounder in our collective mission to deliver great, timeless music.”

Marian Leighton Levy, co-Rounder Founder, concurs and adds, “For us, it’s always been about the music. We have long been aware of Concord’s commitment to great catalogue labels within a vibrant and contemporary independent context, and feel the Concord Records Group provides not only a great home for our music and artists, but also a stronger and more secure position going forward.”

John Virant, President of Rounder, said “We’ve always been the little label that could, and our new affiliation with Concord – another fiercely independent organization that shares our core values -- ensures that we can remain true to our central calling: discovering and nurturing quality musical talent.”

About Concord Music Group:

Concord Music Group is one of the largest independent record and music publishing companies in the world and is owner of a rich and historically significant catalog of recordings. Concord Music Group’s legendary family of labels include Concord Records, Concord Jazz, Fantasy, Stax, Milestone, Riverside, Specialty, Telarc, Peak, Heads Up, Prestige and several others. They include titles from some of the most admired and enduring names in music, including Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Isaac Hayes, Little Richard, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Rosemary Clooney, George Shearing and Mel Torme. The group’s current roster of world-class artists includes George Benson, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling, Will Downing, Kenny G, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Sergio Mendes, Esperanza Spalding, Macy Gray, Angie Stone and many more. In 2007, Concord partnered with Starbucks Entertainment to form Hear Music, an innovative record label rooted in quality, authenticity and passion. Hear Music works directly with artists, both emerging and established, to bring quality music to the widest possible audience, in both Starbucks locations and music retailers worldwide. Hear Music releases include records from Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello and Playing For Change.

Read discussion in the Bluegrass Blog

=============

Added 4/15/10
Source - No Depression

Ken Irwin of Rounder Records: The Well-Rounded Radio Interview

• Posted by Charles McEnerney on April 14, 2010 at 12:59pm

Listen to an mp3 of the 1:15 interview with Ken Irwin of Rounder Records from Well-Rounded Radio.

At a moment where what being a record label means is certainly in flux, Rounder Records is celebrating its 40th anniversary and, in many ways, showing what it means for artists who share a label and what that means to its customer and fans. Rounder Records also just announced that is has been bought by Concord Records.

Rounder Records was started in March 1970 by Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton-Levy, and Bill Nowlin (left to right). In our interview, Irwin tells us how the label came to be, and how they began with blues and bluegrass, and evolved the label to include folk, Cajun, Celtic, and reggae music.

Rounder also manages 18 subsidiary labels, including Heartbeat and Zoe Records.

As someone who knows a bit about bluegrass music, but wanted to learn more, I also ask Irwin to take us through the history of bluegrass.

Irwin kindly takes us through the history of bluegrass from Bill Monroe to Flatt & Scruggs to Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to Alison Krauss to Steve Martin.

From the Theme from Deliverance to Bonnie and Clyde to O Brother, Where Art Thou? to bluegrass festivals around the world, Irwin helps us to understand some landmark moments in the history of the form and why it’s thriving now more than ever.

There are, of course, a lot of great resources about bluegrass music online, including Wikipedia, DMOZ, International Bluegrass Music Association, Society for the Preservation Bluegrass Music of America, International Bluegrass Music Museum, Bluegrass Works, and iBluegrass.

There is also a terrific book about Bill Monroe by Da Capo Press, Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe by Richard Smith.

From starting a record label because, as Irwin put its, “nobody told us we couldn’t” to winning a Grammy Award for Allison Krauss and Robert Plant’s Raising Sand collaboration, there are many lessons within Rounder’s story for musicians in 2010 and beyond.

In our next episode of Well-Rounded Radio, we’ll feature an interview I did with Scott Billington, the Vice President of A&R for Rounder Records with a focus on Cajun and zydeco music, much of which Billington has produced himself.

Rounder Records celebrated its 40th anniversary in March with a new concert CD and DVD, as well as a concert special on PBS. The concert featured Mary Chapin Carpenter, Minnie Driver, Bela Fleck, Allison Krauss and Robert Plant, Allison Krauss & Union Station with Jerry Douglas, Steve Martin, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Madeleine Peyroux, and Irma Thomas.

They’ve also just revamped their web site, rounder.com and there's a great book about Rounder, The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance by Michael F. Scully.

I spoke with Irwin in Newburyport, Massachusetts to discuss
* why they started the label and how it has kept going
* how Rounder evolved through the years
* what some challenges are for roots music in the year 2010

Songs featured in the interview include:
1) J.D. Crowe and the New South: The Old Home Place
2) Alison Krauss and Robert Plant: Rich Woman
3) George Pegram: Mississippi Sawyer
4) George Pegram: Are You Washed in the Blood?
5) Joe Val: Along about Daybreak
6) Don Stover: Things in Life
7) Hazel Dickens: Hills of Home
8) Bill Monroe: Molly and Tenbrooks
9) Flatt & Scruggs: Go Home
10) MIke Seeger: The Memory of Your Smile
11) Bill Monroe: Blue Grass Breakdown
12) Jim & Jessee: Hard Hearted
13) Bill Monroe: Orange Blossom Special
14) Conne and Babe & The Backwood Boys: Home is Where The
15) The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Will the Circle be Unbroken
16) Summertown Road: Summertown Road
17) Vern Williams: When Springtime Comes Again
18) Steve Martin: Late for School
19) Alison Krauss & Union Station: Every Time You Say Goodbye
20) J.D. Crowe & The New South: Long Journey Home
21) Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass: At the End of a Long Lonely Day
22) Whitstein Brothers: Arkansas
23) The Soggy Bottom Boys: I am a Man of Constant Sorrow
24) Laurie Lewis & Kathy Kallick: Is the Blue Moon Still Shining
25) Alison Krauss and Robert Plant: Gone Gone Gone
26) Jimmy Rogers with Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters: Left me with a Broken Heart
27) The Balfa Brothers: J'ai Vu Le Loup, Le Renard Et La Belette
28) Bela Fleck: Crossfire
29) Minnie Driver: Cold Dark River (Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert)
30) Irma Thomas: River is Waiting (Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert)
31) Sierra Hull: Secrets
32) James King: Leavin'
33) Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard: Montana Cowboy
34) James Hand: Don't Want Me Too
35) Marcia Ball: That's Enough of that Stuff

Tri

home

notloB Folk Concerts

presents

TRI

Date:	Saturday, April 17, 2010
Time:	7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location:	Loring Greenough House
Street:	12 South Street
City/Town:	Jamaica Plain, MA
	View Map

After a two year hiatus, notloB returns to its first home, the historic (c. 1760) Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain!

Tri specializes in foot tapping Celtic folk music, excelling at the music, song and dance of Nova Scotia.

Nimbly handling fiddle duties is Doug Lamey. Doug, grandson of Boston fiddling legend Bill Lamey, is one of the area's most sought after Celtic fiddlers. Doug has studied with some of the greats from the Cape Breton tradition (Buddy MacMaster) and Irish scene (Tommy Peoples). http://www.douglamey.com/

With the addition of award winning bagpiper Matthew Phelps, the band's musical horizons have expanded in countless ways. For more on Matt visit: http://www.massbagpiper.com/

Cliff McGann, the band's MC, plays guitar, tin whistle and sings in both English and Scottish Gaelic. He has a Masters degree in Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
http://www.cliffmcgann.com/

Suggested donation $15- at the door; $12- if reservation is made at least 24 hours in advance and Tuesday Club members; $10- for students and seniors; $30- max for families. Addition of a $1/person “preservation fee” that goes to the LG House.

Seating is limited to 45, reservations are strongly recommended -
notlobreservations @ gmail.com

notloB Folk Concerts (Somerville, Newton and Jamaica Plain) are volunteer run and not for profit. Dedicated volunteers may apply at notlobreservations @ gmail.com

Mailing list ~ http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic
Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38565709718&ref=ts

"In this era of pop-driven acoustic music, notloB is keeping the folk tradition alive."
~ Jack Hardy

“"From a musician's perspective, I really appreciate the effort Jeff puts into his shows. Nobody on the Boston folk scene works harder to pull a concert together."
~ Alastair Moock, in an article written by Jonathan Perry, published in The Boston Globe

Announcing "Keep Public Radio Public"

Should donations to public radio AND taxpayer dollars support canned content on substandard HD radio? At the expense of our local deejays and shows? What's going on with public radio: the wrong turn.

http://keeppublicradiopublic.com/

The mission of "Keeping the Public in Public Radio" is to inform and educate public radio listeners, to expose national programming trends taking place at their local public radio stations, and to support local listener groups in their efforts to restore listener ownership to their stations.

The Unholy Alliance

Radio, in general, is in freefall, and radio executives everywhere are desperate to find a way to reverse the trend. Enter HD radio and the unholy alliance between iBiquity (aka iNiquity) and NPR. (But this also includes car manufacturers, who have invested in the whole scam and are now trying to force public acceptance by including HD radio in their high-end models — or asking the public to fork out extra in the more base models.) NPR, through grants of 75-85k from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stations to help fund transmitters (that’s taxpayer money, folks), plus discounts and mega-deals on many other items, and iBiquity, which has just lowered the going rate on its subscription fees, have pushed the idea onto hundreds of public radio stations. Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning of the expense for the stations that have signed on…

In an era of unfettered growth, this didn’t seem a problem, but as public radio listenership and support have flattened out over the past decade or more, it forced major budgetary changes. What NPR offers is buckets of canned content. With a whole network of HD-compliant stations, it can shore up its bottom line by selling, along with the BBC and PRI, shows to all of its subsidiaries and filling all this dead air. But its effect on local programming has been devastating. In Austin, at KUT, they downsized two overnight deejays and replaced them with a canned jazz show that costs them all of $3,000 a year. After forcing out longtime station stalwarts, KUT is filling two HD stations with mass-produced product. And this is happening in city after city across the nation. To the business-management types who control our “public” radio stations, hey, what’s not to like? They no longer have to pay salaries or benefits to on-air personalities, but rather can see their stations basically run out of a closet, ultimately. That’s where all this business acumen is taking us.

And this doesn’t even begin to touch on the HD radio scam itself, to which a separate category will be devoted. A particularly good website for information is hdradiofarce.com (link on right), which details the skullduggery behind the captains of industry foisting this off on the public.

This site is the first move nationwide to link listeners outraged by the actions of the unholy alliance in taking the public out of public radio. We’ve joined an alliance of our own with, initially, five cities, and we’re working to identify folks in dozens of others whose stations have been ravaged in the HD radio scam, where national, canned content has overridden local control and sensibility. The call to action will soon follow.

notloB Kitchen Concerts Presents Hannah Sanders and Liz Simmons

notloB Folk Concerts

presents

Hannah Sanders and Liz Simmons

Date:	Sunday, April 11, 2010
Time:	5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:	Jackson Homestead
Street:	527 Washington Street
City/Town:	Newton, MA

HANNAH SANDERS (The Dunns) from Old England, and LIZ SIMMONS (The John Whelan Band, Annalivia) from New England, join forces to create a harmonic blend of voice and guitar, creating a sound which calls to mind the earlier days of Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny and June Tabor, but which is also very much their own.

Like all good folk musicians, their music draws from elements of jazz and old time music, while still maintaining the authenticity of traditional balladry. Even though these gals grew up with an ocean between them, they had similar childhoods traveling with musician parents. They were both raised steeped in traditional folk songs, as well as other styles of music including Rock and Roll.

Hannah and Liz are the latest acoustic act to burst out onto the trad scene, writing new songs and breathing new life into old ones.

HANNAH SANDERS grew up in Norfolk, England and comes from a family of traditional singers and musicians. In the days of the folk revival, her pa sang and played with Pete Bellamy and Pete Berryman, and her mum sang in folk clubs across the UK. In a converted 30ft Bedford bus, Hannah travelled and sang across UK and Europe with her family group, The Dunns, singing at traditional song and story clubs and festivals (such as Cambridge Folk Festival, Whitby Festival, Beyond the Border) with such folk luminaries as Lindisfarne, Frankie Armstrong, Julie Felix, The Wilsons, Hugh Lupton and more! The Dunns were touring artists for English Heritage, singing in castles and historic sites across England. Hannah moved to Boston 4 years ago and when she is not singing and songwriting she teaches at Emerson College and writes about women, witchcraft and English folklore.

LIZ SIMMONS grew up in a musical family and spent her early childhood traveling with her parents and their various folk and rock bands. As a child, her mother sang to her and her sisters old ballads from Scotland, Ireland, England and Appalachia, and paired with this was the rock and New Orleans sounds about which her parents were also passionate. Although Liz spent a few years studying classical voice as a teen, she has since chosen to focus on traditional and contemporary folk song. Her performance credits include North Cregg, The Sevens, and The John Whelan Band. She is the lead singer and co-founder of the traditional band Annalivia, a fiddle band which draws from traditional music in North America, the UK and Ireland, infusing it with a fresh, innovative style. She is also one quarter of the all-female Irish folk quartet Long Time Courting, which exhibits girl-band talent and sassiness at its best.

Artists' website ~ http://www.myspace.com/hannahsanderslizsimmons
notloB website ~ http://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/
notloB mailing list ~ http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic

Suggested minimum donation $12, $10 for museum members and all making reservations at least 24 hours in advance. $45 immediate family maximum. All donations go to the museum and artist.

Venue: The historic Jackson Homestead.

Reservations (recommended) / information ~ notlobreservations@ gmail.com

On topical music and the power of song, nearing the 34th anniversary of Phil Ochs' death

No Depression asks "It's been 34 years since Phil Ochs' death, and where is topical music? Has its time passed?"

I answer...there is way too much introspective navel-gazing music that is passed off as folk (more accurately described as contemporary pop singer-songwriter), if you ask me. Next time you are listening to "folk" radio (probably underwritten by NPR or corporate grants), is the artist's voice in the first person singular (I, me, mine) or plural (we, us). Is it about a personal love interest or relationship or peace, social justice and fighting/rising from opression? Was the song underwritten by a perfume company, is the artist "singing for Bud" or are they free of corporate bonds?

But there are quite a few topical artists, anyone who performs as a part of a Sonny Ochs-produced tribute concerts (John Flynn, Kim and Reggie Harris, Magpie, Greg Greenway) plus stalwarts like Peggy Seeger, Jack Hardy (last year's Rye Grass is his 18th(?) album), Geoff Bartley (two very stong CD's inthe past year or so), Holly Near, Anne Feeney, and newcomers such as Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Joe Jencks, emmas' revolution, David Rovics, Evan Greer, Rawlston Bowles, .....to name just a few.

On topical music and the power of song, nearing the 34th anniversary of Phil Ochs' death - Americana

www.nodepression.com

On September 11, 2001, as I beelined south through Manhattan to get to my girlfriend-at-the-time, trying in vain to absorb what I just saw go down (literally), to make sense of it all in whatever immediate ...

notloB Kitchen Concerts Presents Hannah Sanders and Liz Simmons

Date:	Sunday, April 11, 2010
Time:	5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:	Jackson Homestead
Street:	527 Washington Street
City/Town:	Newton, MA
	View Map

HANNAH SANDERS (The Dunns) from Old England, and LIZ SIMMONS (The John Whelan Band, Annalivia) from New England, join forces to create a harmonic blend of voice and guitar, creating a sound which calls to mind the earlier days of Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny and June Tabor, but which is also very much their own.

Like all good folk musicians, their music draws from elements of jazz and old time music, while still maintaining the authenticity of traditional balladry. Even though these gals grew up with an ocean between them, they had similar childhoods traveling with musician parents. They were both raised steeped in traditional folk songs, as well as other styles of music including Rock and Roll.

Hannah and Liz are the latest acoustic act to burst out onto the trad scene, writing new songs and breathing new life into old ones.

HANNAH SANDERS grew up in Norfolk, England and comes from a family of traditional singers and musicians. In the days of the folk revival, her pa sang and played with Pete Bellamy and Pete Berryman, and her mum sang in folk clubs across the UK. In a converted 30ft Bedford bus, Hannah travelled and sang across UK and Europe with her family group, The Dunns, singing at traditional song and story clubs and festivals (such as Cambridge Folk Festival, Whitby Festival, Beyond the Border) with such folk luminaries as Lindisfarne, Frankie Armstrong, Julie Felix, The Wilsons, Hugh Lupton and more! The Dunns were touring artists for English Heritage, singing in castles and historic sites across England. Hannah moved to Boston 4 years ago and when she is not singing and songwriting she teaches at Emerson College and writes about women, witchcraft and English folklore.

LIZ SIMMONS grew up in a musical family and spent her early childhood traveling with her parents and their various folk and rock bands. As a child, her mother sang to her and her sisters old ballads from Scotland, Ireland, England and Appalachia, and paired with this was the rock and New Orleans sounds about which her parents were also passionate. Although Liz spent a few years studying classical voice as a teen, she has since chosen to focus on traditional and contemporary folk song. Her performance credits include North Cregg, The Sevens, and The John Whelan Band. She is the lead singer and co-founder of the traditional band Annalivia, a fiddle band which draws from traditional music in North America, the UK and Ireland, infusing it with a fresh, innovative style. She is also one quarter of the all-female Irish folk quartet Long Time Courting, which exhibits girl-band talent and sassiness at its best.

Artists' website ~ http://www.myspace.com/hannahsanderslizsimmons
notloB website ~ http://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/
notloB mailing list ~ http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic

Suggested minimum donation $12, $10 for museum members and all making reservations at least 24 hours in advance. $45 immediate family maximum. All donations go to the museum and artist.

Venue: The historic Jackson Homestead.

Reservations (recommended) / information ~ notlobreservations@ gmail.com