CONCERTS
2009 Acoustic Folk! Music Series
Concerts the last Saturday of each month (unless noted).
Admission: $7/adults and $2/kids, at the door.
7:30-9:30 PM at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum
November 28: Cardboard Songsters (bluegrass; hillbilly blues) 
The Cardboard Songsters are a duo-offshoot of the band "The Kitchen Syncopators," which was born in 1998 out of love for old southern music. The group has evolved its own sound with a blend of rural and urban oldtime stringband, blues, ragtime, jazz, and jug band music and have built quite a name and following for a few hobo's. The Cardboard Songsters have a syncopator-esque sound and play old ragged time, country blues, mountain ballads and comic songs, involving guitar/harmonica and washboard/kazoo. Inspired by the scratchy sounds of 78's, they were definitely born in the wrong century! The duo frequents farmers markets in Portland and were a huge hit when they played the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum in Fall 2008.
2010 Acoustic Folk! Music Series
Concerts the last Saturday of each month (unless noted).
Admission: $7/adults and $2/kids, at the door.
7:30-9:30 PM at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum
January 30: Sassparilla Jug Band (old-time jug band)
"Portland Oregon artists… Sassparilla have a 'lived in' sound. This music isn't just something they put on when they hit the stage, they wear it all the time-like a $20 suit. And they wear it well.
The notes for Sassparilla's newest CD, Debilitated Constitution, uses six terms to describe what they're playing. All but one include the word 'blues'. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise after you look through the list of the musicians that make up this talented band. You've got fiddle, washboards (twice), banjo, percussabass, national steel and A FULL TIME HARMONICA PLAYER.
...These folks are dedicated. The sound here is so vintage you're surpised when you realize that all but two of these songs are originals. Sassparilla evoke the blues of the 20's and 30's so well you'd believe that these compositions had to be period. It's a damned neat trick. Their modern vintage sound is well brewed and aged just enough" (www.sepiachord.com).
February 27: Lauren Sheehan (old-time and blues)
According to Reed Magazine (2/08), "Lauren has the authenticity, the sound and the knowledge of the folk/blues genre that other acts can only aspire to." Lauren Sheehan is a charismatic songster, an interpreter of songs learned from some of America's greatest folk and blues artists. She is known for her voice, which slides through old lyrics like clear water through a smooth creek bed. Her performances are memorable for the authentic range of her material: from unaccompanied ballads, to boozy Memphis blues, to old time banjo tunes, to old country songs and eclectic modern folk.
Lauren grew up in New England where she studied classical guitar as a child and became infected by the spirit of fiddle music at contra dances in western Massachusetts. She wrote her thesis on American folk music at Reed College before spending a number of years playing in small ensembles while founding, administering, and teaching in independent schools. During this time, she toured in New England, Ireland and the Pacific Northwest. She retired from teaching in 2003 and dedicated herself to full-time performing and recording. Lauren's passion for learning directly from other musicians has led her into the homes and front porches of the musical legends who passed on much of the material and style she presents today. Sheehan's album Two Wings (2005) is a spirited collection of country blues and ballads ranging from the beseeching title cut to Lauren's haunting rendition of the old-time standard, "Red Rocking Chair." Two Wings was an Album of the Year finalist at the Independent Music Awards, and was #1 on the Folk DJ airplay charts for October 2005.
Sheehan is a regular at the Waterfront Blues Festival and other venues in the Portland, Oregon area, and has also played at events across the country, including the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, and the San Francisco Free Folk Festival.
March 27: Beth Willis (singer-songwriter)
Beth Willis is a vocal chameleon. According to the Oregonian, "Willis' full, expressive voice brings her sharp songwriting to life, blending Americana, rock, and western influences…" Her voice is vintage soul-a rock edge, smoothed by a touch of melancholy blues. Whether playing solo, trio or with a full band, Willis' music remains pure. She started out on the sidewalk in downtown Portland, and has gone on to play the House of Blues in Las Vegas, the Aladdin Theatre in Portland, and the Experience Music Project in Seattle.
April 24: Low Tide Drifters (Americana/Country Blues)
An Americana band from Eugene, Oregon with deep roots in the cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. Influenced by artists such as Woody Guthrie, Utah Phillips, Guy Clark, John Prine, and Rosalie Sorrels, The Low Tide Drifters combine a love of folk, blues, and country music with original lyrics to produce their unique sound.
May 29: Mary Flower (blues)
Working in both the intricately syncopated Piedmont fingerpicking style and her own deeply bluesy lap-slide guitar, Mary has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for her springwater-clear vocals and mastery of multiple guitar styles, as well as her own compositions. Though she can create prewar blues and ragtime with the best of them, Mary draws on traditional, contemporary and original material to create something new: a sound uniquely her own that remains true to the timeless power of the blues. Flower's elegant, funky and inventive playing on vintage guitars makes her one of a mere handful of women guitarists admired for their instrumental prowess. In 2000 and 2003 respectively, Mary placed in the top three at the National Fingerpicking Championship. Her career as an internationally known performer and teacher has spanned more than three decades.
A recent transplant to the Northwest, Mary cut her teeth on the Colorado music scene where she played with the likes of Katy Moffatt, Pat Donohue, the Mother Folkers and more. Mary took a detour in the 80s to raise a family, all the time wood-shedding and performing locally.
Mary's CD Bywater Dance, recorded pre-Katrina in New Orleans for Yellow Dog Records, has garnered widespread acclaim. An award-winning player with seven solo cds and 5 instructional DVDs to her credit, Flower is in demand for festivals, concerts and guitar workshops on both sides of the Atlantic.
Summer months: NO CONCERTS
September 25: Steve Cheseborough (blues)
There are people who can play the blues, and people who can talk about the blues. Mississippi blues performer-lecturer Steve Cheseborough does both, masterfully. He brings to life the acoustic country blues of the 1920s and '30s by re-creating the music and recounting the lives, legends and lore of the fascinating men and women who created the blues, and the land they came from.
Cheseborough (pronounced CHEZZ-bro) learns a song off a scratchy old 78 and re-creates it loud and clear, here and now, preserving the spirit and intricacies of the original while making it his own. He sings from the heart, accompanying himself on antique-style guitars that look as beautiful as they sound. He adds touches of harmonica and percussion to his spellbinding and fun one-man act.
Steve is a respected authority on the blues and author-photographer of the acclaimed guidebook Blues Traveling. He speaks and performs in the Starz! TV documentary Last of the Mississippi Jukes, which also features Morgan Freeman and Chris Thomas King, and is host and musical director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting's nationally distributed "Blues Breaks."
October 30: Robert Richter & Jessica Hitchborn
Richter is electrifying with his enthusiasm, sense of humor and innate ability to connect with audiences. His original songs range from rock-a-billy blues to Leo-Kottke-influenced instrumentals on slide guitar to lyrical melodies. Violinist Jessica Hitchborn is an energetic player whose style perfectly complements Richter’s sounds. She has won back to back Oregon State Fiddling titles!
November 27: Cardboard Songsters (bluegrass; hillbilly blues)
The Cardboard Songsters are a duo-offshoot of the band "The Kitchen Syncopators," which was born in 1998 out of love for old southern music. The group has evolved its own sound with a blend of rural and urban oldtime stringband, blues, ragtime, jazz, and jug band music and have built quite a name and following for a few hobo's. The Cardboard Songsters have a syncopator-esque sound and play old ragged time, country blues, mountain ballads and comic songs, involving guitar/harmonica and washboard/kazoo. Inspired by the scratchy sounds of 78's, they were definitely born in the wrong century! The duo frequents farmers markets in Portland and were a huge hit when they played the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum in Fall 2008.
