Here’s who’s taking to the stage in Portsmouth, Warren

Common Fence Music kicks off 25th year next week

Posted 9/9/17

PORTSMOUTH/WARREN — Here’s the complete schedule for this fall’s Common Fence Music series, which is being held at two different locations: the main stage at the Common Fence …

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Here’s who’s taking to the stage in Portsmouth, Warren

Common Fence Music kicks off 25th year next week

Posted

PORTSMOUTH/WARREN — Here’s the complete schedule for this fall’s Common Fence Music series, which is being held at two different locations: the main stage at the Common Fence Point Community Hall, 933 Anthony Road, Portsmouth; and Hope & Main, 691 Main St., Warren.

Doors open at 7 p.m. at both locations and it’s BYOB for patrons. Coffee, tea, soft drinks, soups and sweets will also be sold in Portsmouth and Hope & Main vendors will also sell other refreshments. In Warren, handicapped parking only is available in the main parking lot behind Hope & Main; other parking is available in the municipal lot across Main Street on Franklin Street.

For more about this year's music series, click here.

The Huntress and the Holder of Hands (CD release event) with EDT

When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15

Where: Hope & Main, Warren

How much: $18 advance/$20 door 

Only a few months after losing her bandmate and husband, Brown Bird's MorganEve Swain began writing music, transforming her grief into song. This work has developed into a new project and five-piece band — the Huntress and Holder of Hands. Displaying heavy, genre-defying arrangements for five-string viola, guitar, bass, cello, upright string bass, drums and even ukulele, the band's first album, “Avalon” — released the day of the performance — honors the legacy of Brown Bird while establishing its own beautifully complex personality and perspective. Cellist and vocalist EDT will open the show.

Kevin Burke

When: 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $25 advance/$28 door 

Irish fiddler Kevin Burke has remained at the forefront of traditional music in Europe and the United States for over four decades. After establishing his career through work with such renowned artists as Arlo Guthrie, Christy Moore and the Bothy Band, Kevin went on to form the group Patrick Street, and trio Celtic Fiddle Festival with Johnny Cunningham and Christian Lemaitre, while also building a reputation as a solo artist. In 2016, he was named Ireland's Gradam Ceoil winner (traditional musician of the year) and in 2002, was the recipient of an NEA National Heritage Fellowship, the USA's highest honor for excellence in the folk and traditional arts.

Corey Harris

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $25 advance/$28 door 

Corey Harris has earned substantial critical acclaim as one of the few contemporary bluesmen able to channel the raw, direct emotion of acoustic Delta blues without coming off as an authenticity-obsessed historian. Although well-versed in the early history of blues guitar, he's no well-mannered preservationist, mixing a considerable variety of influences from New Orleans to the Caribbean to Africa into his richly expressive music.

Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards (opener TBA)

When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20

Where: Hope & Main, Warren

How much: $18 advance/$20 door 

Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards have a vision for their band's sound: bold and elegant, schooled in the lyrical rituals of folk music and backed by grooves that alternately inspire Cajun two-stepping and rock-n-roll hip swagger. Touring in support of their October 2017 release “California Calling,” cellist Valerie Thompson, fiddler Jenna Moynihan and bassist Zoe Guigueno pair their sophisticated string arrangements and rich vocal harmonies to fiddler and band leader Laura Cortese's poignant and powerful singing. The result is a sound that can start as a string band and morph into a string quartet, female a cappella group, or indie band, all while staying honest and true to their identity as folk instrumentalists.

The Honey Dewdrops

When: 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $20 advance/$22 door 

The Honey Dewdrops are a tight-knit Americana duo, married in life and music. The closeness of sound and the musical compatibility that Virginia-natives Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish possess is unmistakeable. Each share vocals and guitars, augmented by Parrish’s mandolin and Wortman’s work on banjo and harmonica. What they create is beautiful harmony amplified by the strength of their mature songwriting.

CFM Full Moon Fest

When: 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $18 advance/$20 door 

For the first time, Common Fence Music hosts the Full Moon Fest, a fun fall mini-festival dedicated to songs and songwriters. Headlining the show is Americana dobro player and singer-songwriter Abbie Gardner of the band Red Molly, in her first solo performance at Common Fence Point. Consisting of guitarist Susan Levine and multi-instrumentalist Doug Kwartler, Massachusetts folk duo The Lied To’s will also take the stage. Talented Providence-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Chris Capaldi will be featured, as will the award-winning singer-songwriter Molly Pinto Madigan, who is hailed for her angelic voice and haunting compositions. 

The Lowest Pair (with Greg Forever)

When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17

Where: Hope & Main, Warren

How much: $18 advance/$20 door 

While displaying technical mastery and undeniable chemistry, the Lowest Pair's Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee put their own twist on old American styles, approaching their instruments as vehicles to explore poetry, song, and melody. Having come together over a shared love of rootsy aesthetics and traditional banjo techniques, this Olympia, Wash.-based banjo and guitar duo pairs timeless songwriting with haunting, yet touching vocals, in a manner that is both powerful and unique. Portsmouth folk guitarist and mandolinist Greg Forever will open.

Rahim AlHaj

When: 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $25 advance/$28 door 

Virtuoso oud player and composer Rahim AlHaj, born in Baghdad, Iraq, has found in his ancient instrument, whose written history spans some 5,000 years, a unique voice that speaks passionately to contemporary listeners of every musical background. Deftly combining traditional Iraqi maqams with contemporary stylings and influences, AlHaj seeks to translate into music the suffering, joy, anxiety, and determination that he has experienced and witnessed in his lifelong struggle against injustice as an Iraqi, a political refugee, and today as an American citizen. Performing live with percussion and santur (hammered dulcimer) accompaniment, AlHaj communicates with a compelling immediacy that bypasses cultural obstacles.

Andy Statman Trio

When: 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $25 advance/$28 door 

Andy Statman, 2012 NEA National Heritage Fellow and one of his generation's premier mandolinists and clarinetists, thinks of his compositions and performances as "spontaneous American-roots music and personal, prayerful hasidic music, by way of avant-garde jazz." Having studied mandolin with master David Grisman, and klezmer clarinet under the incredible David Tarras, Andy's musicianship runs almost as deep as his spirituality. The trio, which includes bassist Jim Whitney and percussionist Larry Eagle, creates a dialogue between themselves and the audience with their unconstrained meditations on hasidic music and groove-driven explorations of American-roots music.

The Suitcase Junket (with Jodie Treloar Sampson)

When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15

Where: Hope & Main, Warren

How much: $18 advance/$20 door 

The Suitcase Junket is Matt Lorenz — artist, tinkerer, swamp yankee, one-man band. From the salvaged sounds of American juke joints, back porches, honky tonks and rock clubs, Amherst's The Suitcase Junket conjures an entirely new sound. Performing on a tube-amped dumpster guitar and instruments built of broken bottles, twisted forks, dried bones, gas cans, shoes, saw blades, a toy keyboard and an overhead compartments worth of luggage, his is the road-worn voice rising over original rock anthems, mountain ballads, blues manifestos and dance hall festivity. Warren-based singer-songwriter Jodie Treloar Sampson will open with a set of original music, blending elements of indie folk and country.

The Sweetback Sisters’ Country Christmas Swing-Along Spectacular

When: 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16

Where: Common Fence Point Community Hall, Portsmouth

How much: $22 advance/$25 door 

Sweetback Sisters Emily Miller and Zara Bode may not be blood relations, but their precise, family-style harmonies recall the golden era of country music with a heavy dose of rockabilly edge. For eight years running, they have been selling out theaters across the Northeast with their signature take on the holiday sing-along. This wildly popular show requires a bit of audience participation (fear not, songbooks are provided!) and a love for all genres of holiday music.

Common Fence Music, Hope & Main

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