Calendar
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All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
yOya
alex pfender – vOcals, guitar
noah dietterich – keybOards, vOcals
yOya is the project of longtime songwriting partners Alex Pfender and Noah Dietterich. Natives of Corvallis, and friends since the fifth grade, Pfender and Dietterich grew up to the sound of rain in the fir trees and ‘Graceland’ on cassette. When the duo moved to California to study music they found themselves absorbing the electronic sounds of the LA scene. What emerged was yOya’s unique mix of folk-hearted songs, intricate vocal harmony, gritty synths, and electronic beats. The LA Weekly describes yOya as “one of LA’s top 3 Live Bands”.
Combining classic folk songwriting with contemporary electronic beats, yOya’s latest single “The Heartwood” evokes “a cabin high in grassy hills or a rooftop overlooking a gleaming city,” according to Consequence of Sound. The trio has recently shared stages with Bleachers, Moses Sumney, Avi Buffalo and many others. Learn more at their website: yoyatheband.com.
JE Sunde is a well known indie-folk singer-songwriter who has appeared on NPR’s “All Songs Considered”.
“J.E. Sunde is one of the greatest indie-folk singer-songwriters around.”
-Daytrotter
All levels Welcome!
The Fire
is a trio with Rebecca Lomnicky on Scottish fiddle, David Brewer on Highland pipes and whistles, and Adam Hendey on guitar & bazouki. The Fire performs captivating Scottish music as a heartfelt and rousing musical experience. Between their entertaining and informative stage banter, vast array of instrument combinations and extensive repertoire, including everything from soaring slow airs to intricately arranged dance tunes, these charismatic performers will leave you on your feet with your hands together. In 2009, Rebecca won the 20th Annual Glenfiddich International Scottish Fiddle Championship held at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland. David Brewer is unarguably one of the most energetic and charismatic performers of the Highland pipes in the world today. Adam brings an innovative contemporary approach to traditional music. (Rebecca is from Corvallis)
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
All levels Welcome!
Bill Staines
Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat.
For more than forty 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 nearly 200 concerts a year and driving over 65,000 miles annually. 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.
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.
Currently, Bill has recorded 26 albums; The Happy Wanderer and One More River were winners of the prestigious Parents’ Choice Award, taking a gold medal and silver medal respectively. His songs have been recorded by many artists including Peter, Paul, and Mary, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, The Highwaymen, Mason Williams, Grandpa Jones, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, Glen Yarborough and others.
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.