Page 14 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, December 13, 2019 Linden Tree’s Winter Potpourri Concert featuring the World of Folk and Acoustic Music T he Linden Tree Coff eehouse continues its 35th year of acoustic music concerts on Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. Join us for Winter Potpourri, 2019 an evening of discovering new talent! Eight local singer/songwriters will play two songs each, and one or more of those folks will be chosen to perform during next year’s season. Audience input will play a big part in the decision-making process, so please come help us make this choice while enjoying new music and new faces. What is folk music these days? It can be traditional or contemporary with roots in bluegrass, country, jazz, gospel and blues. Our contestants will provide a range of music in the genre we call folk. Performing in this year’s potpourri are Bill Anderson, Mark Bishop Evans, John Ferullo, Kathleen Healy, Roberta Lamb, Rick Drost, Toast & Jam, and Wild Maple. Samples of their music can be found on their web and facebook pages. The evening will again be hosted by Wakefi eld singer/songwriter Kirsten Manville, who will perform a few favorite songs from her album, Some People Sing, and introduce a few new ones. Manville creates songs that feel like they might have come straight from journal entries: deceptively simple lyrics that paint pictures, tell stories, and evoke a range of emotions. Manville is a refreshing, straightforward folk-rock-country-singer-songwriter with stage presence audiences love. Entertainment will include a 25-minute set by one of last year’s winners, Peter Lehndorff . He writes folk and jazz songs about everyday life. Lehndorff is now mixing his humorous observations with the serious; the romantic with the eccentric. There are stories about cars, what he eats, and the places he has lived. His car-related songs have been on NPR’s Car Talk radio show. Besides winning last year’s Linden Tree Coffeehouse’s Winter Potpourri, Lehndorff has been a fi nalist in the Boston Acoustic Underground competition. The Springfi eld Union wrote about his performance, “intelligent lyrical vignettes of everyday life and the comical trappings of suburbia, delivered with an acute sense of comedic timing.” Bill Anderson is a former resident of Wakefi eld. Anderson has been playing music all his life, in bands and orchestras around the world. Trained as a classical oboist at the New England Conservatory as well as Boston University, 10 years ago, to achieve his ambition of performing the songs he’d always written, as a singer/songwriter, he attended song-writing conferences around the United States and workshopped with artists from John Gorka to Livingston Taylor to Kathy Mattea, constantly striving to put the truth and heart of the subject in his lyrics. His style is often described as telling a story, giving the listener a clear, mental picture of events and emotions common to us all. Julie Charland is one-half of the duo Toast and Jam. She is playing solo this evening, and writes and performs original bluegrass, modern folk, Americana, swing and more. Toast and Jam’s first CD (all original), “Ten Slices,” was released in 2009. Their second fulllength CD, “Heaven Knows,” was released in 2015, and now a third album is in the works. Rick Drost writes and sings M W I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to the Everett Co-operative Bank customers and my fellow employees for allowing me to be part of such a wonderful community. It has been my privilege to serve you and to work alongside of you. After 51 years of employment at the Bank and with lots of emotion, the time has cherish all the great memories we’ve created, the experiences we’ve shared, but most of all I will miss each and every one of you. I will continuing to support you. I wish you all the very best. Thank you. songs with depth and heart, songs that repay repeated listening and convey a long love of classical music, natural wonders and poetry. His songs treat life from varied angles: jilted lovers, swans in the Public Garden, leftover lobsters and meditations on meditation. Longtime inspiration came from Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen; recent infl uences include Vance Gilbert and David Wilcox, who covers Drost’s song “Turning the World” in live performances. Drost’s latest CD, “Turning the World,” continues to get airplay from Europe across America to New Zealand. Originally from Western New York, Drost travels from Cambridge to sing at coffeehouses, house concerts, small festivals and Folk Alliance Events around the country. Mark Bishop Evans grew up in southern California, where his major musical infl uences outside of church were Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Paul Simon, the Beach Boys and pretty much any folk, folk rock or beach music. Listening and playing the folk and protest music of the 60s inspired him to begin writing his own songs. Evans has a way with words and melodies, bringing them together in pleasant and poignant combinations that make you want to tap your feet and sing along. His music is an intriguing blend of folk, folk rock and ballads, lyrically rich in emotional content and melodically comfortable like a favorite jacket, like a close friend you want to sing along with. Mark relocated north of Boston, Mass., in the early 90s and today considers himself a “Noreasta.” John Ferullo is a songwriter and open mike host from Massachusetts with stories about regular people. He performs his own songs and other folk songs all around New England. His music has been described as “about important things with his stories about seemingly small things.” Kathleen Healy is a hard-working musician and songwriter living on Cape Cod. She draws from her experience of living and raising a family near the beach for many of her songs. Some say saltwater runs through her veins. Healy writes from the heart, and her honest lyrics and often poignant subject matter lend themselves to the unique quality of her voice. She admits to being a live music junkie but is currently not seeking treatment for her addiction. RIGHT BY YOU Equally at home singing and playing in a quiet cafe or in front of a crowd, Roberta Lamb rocks to the beat of a variety of musical styles, from blues to rock and Americana. She picked her first guitar as a child in Texas and took to singing folk songs, Spanish traditional tunes, and ballads. Lamb honed her vocal craft as a classical musician, exploring concert singing and opera in college and later in Vienna, Austria. Back home in the United States, she took time to raise a family in Massachusetts, and she eventually found her way back to her first love: American music. Once her children were launched, she picked up the guitar and started playing and singing covers while practicing and listening to whatever music came her way. Strongly influenced by the vibrant local music community, she started writing originals and rebranded herself as a singer-songwriter. She just recorded her first album of originals, Not Your Mama’s Blues, and performs across New England at a variety of venues from cafes, coffeehouses and restaurants to small concert stages, porch fests and farmers’ markets, singing and playing her heart out. Kenny Selcer will accompany Roberta. Wild Maple is Gary Dolinsky on guitar and vocals, Trish DeCaprio on violin and vocals and Steve Straight on acoustic bass and vocals. The group’s original songs are influenced by a variety of music genres: Americana/roots, blues, bluegrass, classic country, folk, Celtic, popular music of the past 60 years and classical. Music critics have praised Wild Maple’s “appealing and polished sound” with both male and female lead vocals and “sensational vocal harmonies.” Recent performances include Club Passim in Cambridge, the Guilford Performing Arts Festival in Guilford, Conn., and the Crane Estate in Ipswich, Mass. Wild Maple’s lively shows include a healthy dose of relaxed fun, humor and audience engagement. The show begins early at 7:30 p.m.; doors open at 7:00. Homemade baked goods and beverages are available. Tickets at the door are specially priced – just a $5 minimum donation for this show to introduce the World of Folk and Acoustic Music to area residents. Clean and gently used condition coats, hats and gloves will be collected for Mission of Deeds Winter Coat Drive for men, women and children in need. The Linden Tree Coff eehouse is located in the social hall of Wakefi eld’s Unitarian Universalist Church (326 Main St., Wakefi eld, MA 01880). Information and reservations: 781-246-2836.
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