Calendar

This event has been CANCELED

The Hoolyeh International Folk Dancers meet once a month on the 2nd Monday at the UU Fellowship Social Hall, 2945 NW Circle Blvd, Corvallis, OR 97330. We will meet from 6:30 to 9:30 with beginning teaching from 6:30 to 7:15, program dancing from 7:15 to 8:00, intermediate teaching from 8:00 to 8:15 or 8:30, and request dancing from 8:30 to 9:30.

We will mix Balkan, Israeli and other folk dances each week, with occasional live music from Balkan, Israeli and other traditions. Watch the calendar for announcements about special dances, but just come to each dance and learn all sorts of dances.

LOCAL FOLK

This is a collaborative program of CFS and The Arts Center. Free and open to all, the stage is open to individual musicians and groups presenting a variety of music under the large “folk” umbrella. Sign up for a set of one to three songs (10 minutes or so) in a rotating format. Or, just come to be part of an audience appreciative of local performers. Local Folk! will continue monthly, on second Tuesdays. For more information, contact Kurt Smith at k_smith1342@comcast.net or 541-270-6369.

Local Folk convenes monthly, on second Tuesdays, from 7-10 pm.

HighTime

Ciarán Bolger is an entertainer, singer and guitarist from Garraí Árd in the village of Ardmore in Conamara. Learning whistle and traditional sean-nós singing at a young age, Ciarán developed a love and respect for the music tradition of Conamara. Focusing on guitar in his teens, Ciarán explored a mixture of traditional and contemporary music. This exploration has formed the basis for his emotive vocals and also his vibrant and expressive guitar style; drawing inspiration from a multitude of genres.

Conall Flaherty is a multi-instrumentalist and singer hailing from South Conamara in the village of Ardmore. Growing up in an area famed for its musicians, singers and dancers, it wasn’t long before Conall turned to music and singing at the young age of four. He learned the ropes from neighbour, fellow flute player and maker, Marcus Hernon who also made the flutes which Conall plays today.

Séamus Flaherty’s skills in dancing, singing and playing instruments reflect his personality. At only nineteen years old, Séamus meets each discipline with a passion and quiet zeal backed up by a love of the traditional Irish music heritage. Since the age of sixteen, he has been making waves in the fields of music, dance and singing across the globe; performing in China, U.S.A, Canada, The United Kingdom, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and France. He had the privilege of performing more recently alongside Cherish the Ladies at the world renowned Celtic Connections in 2017.

Treehouse

Treehouse brings a mix of Irish, Quebecois, and New England style, and put it together with Pacific Northwest flair. Ben and Rachael come from the Irish traditional session background, having played with many groups across Canada and throughout Washington, Oregon, and California. Kevin Craven is recently arrived from Hawaii. He is a Corvallis violin teacher and also plays with the OSU Symphony. Shari teaches fiddle and has played with several Corvallis area bands including Three Finger Jack.

Michael Karcher

Michael Karcher is a popular Seattle caller who originally hails from New York. Michael has been having the time of his life calling around the U.S. and Canada since 2011. Michael calls regular and techno contras for weekly dances and full weekends. He has honed a warm and concise style of teaching and calling, to the delight of dancers across North America.

Beginners lesson starts at 7:00pm (experienced dancers welcome) dance starts at 7:30pm

Each dance is taught.  No partner necessary (it’s traditional to dance each dance with a different partner)

First and Third Saturdays of the month except July, August. Occasional special dances.

Carrie Newcomer

The Nettles

The Nettles are well-known on the West Coast for their original approach to contra dance music. Playing traditional music from all over the world, The Nettles create a strong rhythmic groove under soaring improvisations. Rhythmic drive and melodic fluidity allow The Nettles to propel contra dances into the stratosphere.

Laurel Thomas

Laurel Thomas has called contra dances all over Oregon and Washington since 2008. Dancers appreciate her clear teaching, her articulate calling and her carefully crafted programs designed to build skill for beginning dancers while keeping experienced dancers happy with an appropriate level of challenge.

NOTE NEW TIMES: Beginners lesson starts at 7:00pm (experienced dancers welcome) dance starts at 7:30pm

Each dance is taught.  No partner necessary (it’s traditional to dance each dance with a different partner)

First and Third Saturdays of the month except July, August. Occasional special dances.

Unfortunately, Tracy tore her ACL and has canceled all her concerts through October

Buy her CD, Low Tide, FOLK RADIO’S #9 MOST-PLAYED ALBUM OF 2018, as it is apparently excellent (and she needs the money).

Tracy Grammer

Tracy Grammer first appeared on the folk scene as the partner of singer-songwriter Dave Carter.  After his sudden death in 2002 she continued playing his music and started writing her own.  Today her album Low Tide is one of the most played albums on folk radio, and she tours on her own and as part of the Eliza Gilkyson Trio.

“Tracy Grammer is a brilliant artist and unique individual. Her voice is distinctive, as is her mastery over the instruments she plays.” – Joan Baez

LOCAL FOLK

This is a collaborative program of CFS and The Arts Center. Free and open to all, the stage is open to individual musicians and groups presenting a variety of music under the large “folk” umbrella. Sign up for a set of one to three songs (10 minutes or so) in a rotating format. Or, just come to be part of an audience appreciative of local performers. Local Folk! will continue monthly, on second Tuesdays. For more information, contact Kurt Smith at k_smith1342@comcast.net or 541-270-6369.

Sign up for a set of two or three songs for a total time of 10-15 minutes in a rotating format. Or, just come to be part of an audience appreciative of local performers.

This month featuring Rita Brown and Bill Smyth, singers/multi-instrumentalists.

Local Folk convenes monthly, on second Tuesdays, from 7-10 pm.

Bill Staines

Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat (if you buy your tickets in advance – he sold out quickly last time).  The Martha Room is a very intimate space and a great place to hear great music.

For forty-five years, Bill has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston-Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960’s and for a time, emceed the Sunday Hootenanny at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. From the time in 1971 when a reviewer from the Boston Phoenix stated that he was “simply Boston’s best performer”, Bill has continually appeared on folk music radio listener polls as one of the top all time favorite folk artists. Now, well into his fifth decade as a folk performer, he has gained an international reputation as a gifted songwriter and performer.

Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular and durable singers on the folk music scene today, performing over 175 concerts a year. He weaves a blend of gentle wit and humor into his performances and one reviewer wrote, “He has a sense of timing to match the best standup comic.”

Bill’s music is a slice of Americana, reflecting with the same ease his feelings about the prairie people of the Midwest or the adventurers of the Yukon, the on-the-road truckers, or the everyday workers that make up this land.

Bill Staines has recorded twenty-six albums. He has written over three hundred songs, many of which have been recorded by the likes of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Makem and Clancy, Nanci Griffith, Glen Yarborough, Celtic Thunder, and Jerry Jeff Walker. His music is sung at campfires and folk music gatherings, and in living rooms all around the country. Songs like “All God’s Critters,” “Roseville Fair,” “Child of Mine,” and “River,” have become folk classics. Many of Bill’s songs have appeared in grade school music books, church hymnals, and scouting campfire songbooks; he is one of only a few songwriters to have eight songs published in the classic song collection, Rise up Singing. Composer David Amram recently described Bill as “a modern day Stephen Foster…his songs will be around 100 years from now.”

Over the decades, you have heard Bill singing on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, HBO’s award winning series Deadwood, and Public Radio’s Mountain Stage. Additionally, his music has been used in a number of films including Off and Running, with Cyndi Lauper, and The Return of the Secaucus Seven, John Sayles’ debut as a writer- director.

In 1975, Bill won National Yodeling Championship in Kerrville Texas. Another important recognition was given to him in 2007. Presented by the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association, The Jerry Christen Award recognized Bill’s contribution to New England folk music.

As well as recordings, over 100 of Bill’s songs have been published in three songbooks: If I Were a Word, Then I’d Be a Song, Movin’ It Down the Line, and Music to Me, the latter published by Hal Leonard Corporation. His song, All God’s Critters, has been recently released as a Simon and Schuster children’s book with illustrations by Caldecott honor-winning artist, Kadir Nelson.

“Folk music is rich in the human spirit and experience. I’ve always wanted to bring something of value to people through my songs.” With these thoughts, Bill continues to drive the highways and back roads of the country year after year, bringing his music to listeners, young and old.

In the fall of 2015 Yankee Magazine, New England’s premiere magazine, published it’s “80th Anniversary Issue.” In the issue, along with the likes of Stephen King and Katherine Hepburn, Bill was chosen as “One of the 80 gifts New England has given to America.”  A true honor.

Mike and Carleen McCornack

Mike and Carleen have been entertaining adults and children in Oregon for decades with original and traditional folk tunes.  While they live in Eugene, it’s become rare to see them in Corvallis, and we should take advantage of every chance we get.

 “i

Allison de Groot
&
Tatiana Hargreaves

Described as a cant-miss pair in 2019, by Paste Magazine, Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, as they expand on the eccentricities of old songs, while never losing sight of what makes them endure. Already leaders in the young generation of roots musicians, de Groot has become known for her intricate clawhammer banjo work with Molskys Mountain Drifters, while Hargreaves has brought her powerhouse fiddling to the stage with Gillian Welch and Laurie Lewis. Their new album on Free Dirt Records is a powerful opening statement that has been called a big step forward (CBC Q) and dives deep into the old-time style and comes up with something wonderfully fresh (Vinyl District). Ranging from intricate banjo-fiddle instrumental performances inspired by early commercial and field recordings to more contemporary tunes and songs from the likes of Judy Hyman (the Horseflies) and Alice Gerrard, their repertoire reflects on which voices we seek to hear as we explore the expansive, diverse canon of American roots music. Their rendition of Alice Gerrards song Beaufort County Jail is included in Rolling Stone Countrys 10 Best Country and Americana Songs to Hear.

de Groot and Hargreaves have used their platform to broaden our horizons, both of the music our forebears created and the causes they sought to advance in their art. ~No Depression

two of the foremost old-time virtuosos on the scene today, executing these timeless songs and melodies with a clean and straightforward approach that sacrifices neither innovative thought nor modern embellishments to do so.  ~ The Bluegrass Situation

This event has been CANCELED

The Hoolyeh International Folk Dancers meet once a month on the 2nd Monday at the UU Fellowship Social Hall, 2945 NW Circle Blvd, Corvallis, OR 97330. We will meet from 6:30 to 9:30 with beginning teaching from 6:30 to 7:15, program dancing from 7:15 to 8:00, intermediate teaching from 8:00 to 8:15 or 8:30, and request dancing from 8:30 to 9:30.

We will mix Balkan, Israeli and other folk dances each week, with occasional live music from Balkan, Israeli and other traditions. Watch the calendar for announcements about special dances, but just come to each dance and learn all sorts of dances.

Dam Beavers

The Dam Beavers is a contra dance band of two vibrant musicians who have charmed the contra dance community with their energy and talent, Ben Schreiber and Scotty Leach. Scotty has been immersed in music since he was born, playing piano and fiddle. He is one with his instrument, at ease with his skill, energizing the dancers. Ben Schreiber plays fiddle in a number of bands, Uncle Farmer, the Off Beats and more. He shows a virtuosity and range that is mesmerizing. They will be playing for contra dancing and doing a week long band and instrument workshop. Fun awaits!

Seth Tepfer

Mr. Tepfer develops database systems for Emory University, including interfaces and web front ends.  In his spare time, Mr. Tepfer travels across the country as a contra and square dance caller and dance organizer, from Ithaca, New York to Bonaire, (Netherlands Antillies) to Seattle, Washington. He enjoys many different styles of dance, from Contra to Cajun, Waltzing to Swing and beyond.

At various times in his life, Mr. Tepfer has been a Scottish Country Dancer, a Lincoln-Douglas debator, a trombone player, an Argentine Tango dancer, a dungeon master, a foil and epee fencer, a graphic designer, a polarity therapist, a movie critic, an EMT, a cajun dancer, a macrame artist, a pastry chef, a waltz instructor, a vaudeville-style comedian, and a gas station attendant. Still to come are massage therapy, sky diving, contra dance band member, and polar expeditions.

Beginners lesson starts at 7:00pm (experienced dancers welcome) dance starts at 7:30pm

Each dance is taught.  No partner necessary (it’s traditional to dance each dance with a different partner)

First and Third Saturdays of the month except July, August. Occasional special dances.

Dàimh, Gaelic Supergroup and unchallenged champion, play straight in the eye Highland music and are based around West Lochaber and the Isle of Skye.
Formed around the turn of the century and taking the name from the Gaelic word for kinship Dàimh (pronounced Dive) have taken their contemporary take of Highland and Gaelic music to over 20 countries, setting audiences alight from Moscow to San Francisco.

With a reputation as giants of the Bagpipes and Fiddle, Angus Mackenzie and Gabe McVarish lead the melodic powerhouse with fellow founder member Ross Martin underpinning the groove on the Guitar. The Band is joined by new guy Murdo Yogi Cameron on Mandola and Accordion to complete the instrumental line up.

Recent accolades include last year’s award for the “Best Folk Band in Europe” at the prestigious Folkherbst competition in Germany and most recently winner of “Folk Band of the Year” at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards.

A  Scottish Heritage Week celebration

Alan Reid

Glasgow born Alan  has been taking Scottish folk music all over the world since 1975. He joined the fledgling Battlefield Band in 1969 while studying at Strathclyde University and subsequently recorded almost 30 albums with this hard-working and enduring band, in that time garnering a reputation for his playing and his singing.  His groundbreaking keyboard work helped cement the band’s reputation as one of the most influential Celtic bands of its generation. With the band Alan toured the world, bringing Scottish traditional music to audiences in five continents and playing in many prestigious music festivals and venues. Along with former Battlefield Band colleagues he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in November 2016 in recognition of their contribution to Scots traditional music.

​He began composing songs and tunes in the 1980s and from 1990 was the band’s principal songwriter. His songs are noted for their strong storytelling element whilst being firmly grounded in Scots history and tradition. His songbook ”Martyrs, Rogues and Worthies”, was published in 2001 and in 2009 he was nominated in the ‘Composer of the Year’ category at the Scots Traditional Music Awards.

​In 2010 he left the ‘Batties,’ to concentrate on his duo with guitarist/singer Rob van Sante. He composed all the music for the duo’s third album, ”The Adventures of John Paul Jones’, which told the story of the Scots born mariner who was a hero for the American colonists during the American Revolutionary War. A presentation of the album (with drama written by Alan) was performed at the 2012 Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival and at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival. The duo also developed a multi-media show telling Jones’ story which was showcased at Mystic Seaport Sea Festival in Connecticut in 2015.

​2014 saw his music featured in the National Theatre of Scotland’s award winning production of “The Glasgow Girls” musical about asylum seekers, while his singing and speaking talents were featured in “The Life and Times of Scrooge”, the solo album of Finnish rock star Tuomas Holopainen of metal band Nightwish.  That same year Alan and Rob’s fourth CD “Rough Diamonds”  was released and was followed by “The Dear Green Place”  in 2017. The duo continues to tour Europe, North America and Australia.

​In recent years Alan has taught Scots Song at the prestigious annual “Swannanoa Gathering” in North Carolina, USA. He was also a guest artist in the Linn Records mammoth 12 CD recording of the songs of Robert Burns, Scotland’s beloved National Poet, whose poems, songs and music have endured over the centuries.

​As well as the recordings with Battlefield Band and with Rob Van Sante, Alan has released two solo albums, “The Sunlit Eye” and “Recollection”.

A  Scottish Heritage Week celebration

McKasson & McDonald

Ryan McKasson and Eric McDonald are masters of tradition who purposefully explore the dark corners floating on its edges. Their individual artistry is enhanced when together. In short, the sum creates a greater whole. The result is an alluring complexity, full of spontaneous musicality. Pulling from parallel strands of influence, they create a swirling level of intensity that traverses darkness, light, and everywhere in between. An air of mystery pervades a sound compelling enough to transcend boundaries and appeal to music lovers of all stripes. Devon Leger of Hearth Music says, “This duo really shows how two masterful musicians listen and play off each other.” The music this duo creates is to share, and live performance is the forte. Their mutual attitude stretches beyond the music. The two have been good friends ever since they met, and this is present in their live performances, which are full of organic banter and good humor to go along with the music. They create an environment of their own design, drawing in listeners without pretense. Despite both living active musical lives thousands of miles apart these two musicians have committed to working together to forge a new musical path.

Ryan McKasson has gained a strong reputation as a performer, composer,collaborator and teacher. In 1994, he began attending Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School (VOM), which led him deep into the world of traditional music. In 1996 he became the youngest ever to win the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship and in 1997 he was awarded a Merit Scholarship for Viola Performance from the University of Southern California, where he studied with Donald McInnes. Ryan’s professional career took a step forward when in 2004 he spearheaded the formation and development of “The McKassons”. This group released two critically acclaimed albums, Tall Tales (2004) and Tripping Maggie (2006). Over the years Ryan has recorded with a number of influential artists, namely his playing appears on fellow Scottish fiddle champion Hanneke Cassel’s three albums Silver (2006), For Reasons Unseen (2009), and Dot the Dragon’s Eyes (2013), as well as Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas’s recording Highlander’s Farewell (2011). In addition to McKasson & McDonald, other current projects include MAC, Ensemble Galilei and The Syncopaths.

A  Scottish Heritage Week celebration