Seattle Folklore Society

Friday, May 11

West Seattle House Concert

The Cantrells

with opening act Auntmama

Puget Ridge Cohousing, 7:30PM

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

Puget Ridge Cohousing teams up with the Seattle Folklore Society for an evening of story and song with Seattle’s favorite storyteller, Aunt Mama, and joyous music from Nashville’s Al and Emily Cantrell.

The Cantrells cast a magical spell with their airy, joyful acoustic songs. Emily uses her voice as an instrument on soaring vocals like a country Joni Mitchell, while Al plays off her Martin guitar with spirited fiddling and a dazzling mandolin technique; his music weaves through her words as if the two were locked in an intuitive dance. The duo puts a pop spin on acoustic folk and bluegrass music, with occasional detours into Celtic, western swing and traditional American tunes. "Best folk duo since Roy Rogers and Dale Evans." – Bela Fleck

Auntmama gathers audiences up in tales of the Blue Ridge Mountains at dusk, rolling and misted sweet. As Seattle’s Entertainment reviewer once said, Auntmama whips up silver, spit-shined tales." The stories Auntmama tells follow Virginia’s Famous Crooked Road, home of roots music in the Old Dominion. With cousins and aunts and kissing cousin hailing from Roanoke, through Franklin County, up to Floyd and all the way over to where you can see tomorrow and North Carolina from a ridge top, these are mountain born and booming in the 21st century.

A donation for this house concert is $15, $13 for SFS members. We have limited seating for this concert. For information, directions and to make a reservation go online to www.seafolklore.org or call 206-528-8523.

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

Sunday, May 13

Special Sunday Night on Phinney Ridge

Hanneke Cassel with Ryan McKasson and Cali McKasson Kovin

Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building), 7PM

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

A native of Oregon, fiddler Hanneke Cassel brings new life and creativity to Scottish folk traditions. Mixing traditional tunes with those of her own composition, Hanneke creates sounds on the cutting edge of acoustic music, while retaining the integrity and soul of the Scottish tradition. Influences from Scotland to China, along with grooves and musical innovations from the hip Boston bluegrass/Americana scene, fuse together in her music to create a uniquely American approach to Scottish music. Says the Boston Globe: "[Her fiddling is] exuberant and rhythmic, somehow both wild and innocent, delivered with captivating melodic clarity and an irresistible playfulness." Hanneke is the 1997 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, she holds a Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance from Berklee College of Music, and she has performed and taught across North America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and China. Hanneke is joined by friends Ryan McKasson and Cali McKasson Kovin. Tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/235540

Saturday, May 19

Saturday Nights on Phinney Ridge

Arto Järvelä with Kaivama

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

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

One of Finland’s premier fiddlers, Arto Järvelä has been a member of more than ten folk music groups over the past three decades. He's primarily known as founder, second fiddler, composer and arranger of Kaustinen fiddle legends JPP, in action since 1982. Throughout the JPP history, Arto has demonstrated profound talents as a remarkably skilled player and as a gifted composer and multi-instrumentalist. Finnish-American musicians Sara Pajunen (fiddle) and Jonathan Rundman (guitar) make up the folk duo Kaivama. The two grew up in Northwoods cultures of long winters, lakeside saunas, rugged terrain, and solitude. Alternately ancient and modern Finnish influences reveal themselves in Kaivama's sound: danceable rhythms, joyous melodies, icy whispers, sleek construction, primal drones, and poppy hooks all interplay as Pajunen and Rundman explore the music of their ancestors.

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