Events at this location

Singer, guitarist, and folk music interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs, a practice which he approaches with a refreshingly unfussy lack of nostalgia. By recontextualizing ancient vernacular songs and sources of the American South, he allows them to breathe and speak for themselves and for himself; he alternately inhabits them and allows them to inhabit him. In all his work, Fussell humanizes his material with his own curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways.

Singer, guitarist, and folk music interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs, a practice which he approaches with a refreshingly unfussy lack of nostalgia. By recontextualizing ancient vernacular songs and sources of the American South, he allows them to breathe and speak for themselves and for himself; he alternately inhabits them and allows them to inhabit him. In all his work, Fussell humanizes his material with his own curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways.

Kendall Row is a group of young musicians from Keene, NH formed in 2018 as a Grateful Dead cover band. They now continue to play Dead music in addition to their original material, which can be found on all streaming services. With a two drummer setup and an electric energy, Kendall Row creates an exciting live experience you don’t want to miss.

Little by little, you will get to know Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards through their unmistakable vocal harmonies, poetic lyrics and down-to-earth personae. They are a married musical couple based out of Webster, Massachusetts. These prolific and hard working Massachusetts-based artists have contributed over seventeen albums within their first decade and toured consistently throughout the US and Canada.

People get ready, a new train is coming. After years of supporting Arlo Guthrie, their folk-singing, guitar-picking, storytelling father, Cathy and Sarah Lee Guthrie have made their way to center stage as The Guthrie Girls. They bring new songs and stories of their own to share in a style of music that leans toward country with folk roots. They carry the same melodic wit, charm and insight as their famous kin and their new music is a continuous river that flows from great creative musical traditions. Back in the day it was Woody who played fiddle and guitar in the honky-tonks of the Panhandle in Texas and Arlo wasn’t known as the ‘Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys’ for nothing. His ‘Son of the Wind’ and Dillards sessions offer further evidence of the folksinger’s country credentials.

Our Songwriter Sessioin comes from a collaboration between Nova Arts and songwriter / guitarist Jon Stephens. Jon wanted to see something akin to the famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville Tennessee, where songwriters perform in the round for a live audience. After over a dozen such sessions, we are so pleased with what has been the result: a rich community of artists, some who have gone on to be on larger bills at the space. There is a comraderie that always seems to develop on the stage, and folks have turned out and really supported this element of our programming. We’ll take a couple of months off after this one, but we will see you again in the fall with more slates of interesting and talented songwriters.

Kristina Warren is a sound artist, composer, performer, and instrument builder based on Wampanoag and Narragansett land also known as Providence, Rhode Island [US]. Both in solo projects and in collaborative work including curating, Warren believes that collective listening is a precious and political act. Warren uses self-designed and received audio tools to create performances, installations, and recorded works, whose recent “ASMR drone” style uses quieter volumes and careful orchestrations to help audiences perceive their own listening. Called “precise and unpredictable” (Marc Masters, Bandcamp) and “a combination of the synthetic and the fuzzy with the deeply human” (Brian McCorkle, Jazz Right Now), work by Warren has been presented internationally at venues including Spektrum [DE], Studio Loos [NL], The Bluecoat [UK], Espace des arts sans frontières [FR], Espacios Sonoros [AR], Radiophrenia [UK], Musik Akademie Basel [CH], Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago, US), Rhizome (DC, US), and the MIT Spatial Sound Lab (Cambridge, US). Warren's Spring 2023 EU tour includes events in Wien, Graz, Den Haag, Stockholm, and more. Recently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Electronic Music & Multimedia (Brown University, 2017-21), Warren holds a PhD in Composition and Computer Technologies (University of Virginia, 2017) and a BA in Music Composition (Duke University, 2011).

Matt Keller is a young songwriter out of Keene. You may have seen him before as the drummer in Kendall Row, another local band that has played gigs around the area. After 2 albums and currently working on his 3rd, Matt’s music fuses Jam Band style with folk, groove and more. Accompanying Matt will be Alex Royce on piano, Quinn Wilson on the drums, and Kieran Barnard on bass.