Seattle Folklore Society

Sunday, September 12

Sunday Night on Phinney Ridge

Bruce Molsky

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:00 PM

General Admission: $15
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

With guitar, fiddle, or banjo in hand, Bruce Molsky explores traditional music from an astonishingly broad range of cultures – synthesizing them and refracting them through his own evolving sensibilities into a sound that is uniquely his. While most identified with traditional American old-time music, Molsky’s influences range from the Appalachian soul of Tommy Jarrell to Delta blues; from the haunting modal strains of Irish music to the rhythmically nimble music of Eastern Europe.

Two-time Grammy nominee Bruce Molsky comes at southern roots and blues on fiddle, banjo, and guitar with great depth of spirit, passion, and respect for the past. His wide-angled approach to traditional folk music has been infused by rhythms and melodies from around the world and he in turn is influencing a new generation of players.

Purchase tickets in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com

Saturday, September 25

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Joe Jencks & Friends 10th-Anniversary Concert

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:30PM

General Admission: $14
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

In 1990s Ballard--before the condo-overlords cemented their supremacy--a young Illinois native with a big voice began working his way through local music networks. One day he asked for a week’s reprieve from his day-job to focus on booking his first national concert tour, and this year Joe Jencks celebrates the 10th anniversary of the full-time touring career he launched from Seattle in September of 2000.

Known for his powerful voice and the stellar writing and activist chops that accompany it, Jencks has performed over 1,700 concerts since, ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York to coffee houses, festivals, schools, and spiritual communities around North America, including a recent cultural-ambassador tour of the Caribbean sponsored by the US State Department. He has shared stages with folk and songwriting luminaries including Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, Holly Near, John McCutcheon, and Steve Seskin, and his own work has won numerous awards and widespread recognition. Of the six albums Jencks has released in that time, the two most recent, "Links In A Chain" and "The Candle And The Flame," topped the Folk DJ charts and spent a collective 11 months in the Top 40.

Now living in Chicago, Joe Jencks gratefully credits the 1990s Seattle folk scene, Seattle Performing Songwriters, and Puget Sound Guitar Workshop with helping him translate his conservatory training into a viable career, and he is delighted to return for this special concert of music spanning the entire 10-year window and featuring several special musical guests.

Reserve online, or by calling 206/528-8523.

Saturday, October 2

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Armstrong, Lawton & Katz / Down the Road

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:30PM

General Admission: $15
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

This evening of music reaches deep to the roots of American music pulling from the gospel, blues, bluegrass, mountain, old-time, genres. These two Pacific Northwest groups wowed audiences at Folklife 2010.

Armstrong, Lawton & Katz is a trio of old-time, country, blues, "chicken-pickin'" musicians who have carved out a niche reinterpreting old music in new ways. Cort Armstrong and Ethan Lawton blend their voices in ways reminiscent of Carter Family harmonies in one song, and in the next they put a new twist on a Reverend Gary Davis vocal. Nancy Katz adds hot bass lines to Cort's country blues resonator guitar and Ethan's old-time/bluegrass mandolin licks. Armstrong, Lawton & Katz played at the Old Time Kitchen Party for Folklife 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/folklife-09-alk ) with a very old-timey sounding set, covering numbers from the Carter Family, Delmores and more. For Folklife 2010, they performed on the Fisher Green Stage, featuring an expanded repertoire, including more country-blues, gospel and Mississippi Sheiks numbers (http://tinyurl.com/folklife-10-alk ).

Down the Road is a trio of bluegrass and American roots music musicians from the western Cascade foothill towns of North Bend and Snoqualmie, east of Seattle, Washington. Featuring husband/wife duo Cathi and Gary Davidson on guitars and vocals and John Tubbs on mandolin and vocals, the trio blends signature duet and trio harmony singing, a little yodeling, and clean, tasteful guitar-mandolin interplay to add a fresh, honest, straight-ahead voice to the world of old-time country, bluegrass, and folk music. Down the Road played Folklife 2010 on the Bluegrass stage in Bagley Wright Theater (http://tinyurl.com/folklife-10-dtr ).

Reserve online, or by calling 206/528-8523.

Saturday, October 9

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Randal Bays

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:30PM

General Admission: $15
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

Randal Bays, from Whidbey Island is a master of the Irish Fiddle and finger style guitar. He will be joined by special guests for this Seattle Folklore Society concert.

Reserve online, or by calling 206/528-8523.

Saturday, October 16

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Bill Staines

with opening act Ellen van der Hoeven

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:30PM

General Admission: $15
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

Reserve online, or by calling 206/528-8523.

Saturday, October 23

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Finest Kind

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:30PM

General Admission: $16
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

Traveling from Ontario, this Canadian trio of Ian Robb, Ann Downey, and Shelley Posen sing with exquisite harmony while presenting traditional and original songs.

Reserve online, or by calling 206/528-8523.

Saturday, October 30

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Linda Waterfall with special guests the Gloria Darlings

with opening act Dean Stevens

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7:30PM

General Admission: $15
$2 off for SFS & PNA members and seniors, kids half price

Linda Waterfall has been a musician and a creative phenomenon in Seattle since the 70's. Long-time NW residents remember her from her first band, "Entropy Service". Her first album was released by Windham Hill in 1977. Since then, she has released 12 recordings of original music, worked as a bass player in the Skyboys, toured the U.S. many times, composed choral music for grants and commissions, and has been a session producer for many local artists. She currently divides her time between composing, performing and teaching songwriting at Cornish College.

This is an unusual concert, with many special guests. Linda will be joined by the Gloria Darlings, who are the golden-trumpet voices of Pandi and Rachel Jacobson-Larson. Opening the show will be Boston musician Dean Stevens, an extraordinary bilingual guitarist-songwriter, and Central America traveler/activist. There will be lots of high spirits and spontaneous collaboration woven in with the old favorites. Come celebrate Samhain and el Día de los Muertos with us!

Reserve online, or by calling 206/528-8523.