Calendar
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calendar@corvallisfolklore.org
Westwind Weekend
of music and dance
A beautiful setting on the Oregon Coast. A pristine, sheltered beach, tidepools galore, wildlife in the water, woods, and air, hikes that lead to superb vistas up and down the coast. It’s a weekend at the beach, with music and friends old and new. It’s always sunny at Westwind, AND it almost always rains. Which is to say, any weather can happen.
A growing, family friendly community. More than a fourth of those who attend the Westwind Weekend are young people. Kids bring their friends. They dig in the sand, play Frisbee, hike, play cards, dance, play music, drink hot cocoa, help out, hang out, and build lasting memories.
Non-stop music jams. At any moment you’ll find swing favorites on the front porch, old-time in the shed, and Irish/contra tunes in the kitchen. Some of the finest musicians in the Willamette Valley come to Westwind and are joined by folks just learning to play and everyone in between.
Contra dancing and more. Friday and Saturday evenings feature the Westwind All Star Orchestra playing tunes, and dance programming that’s aimed at all ages and abilities. Expect family dances, contras and squares, and a set of Scandinavian favorites. Also find musicians jamming and swing or zydeco dancing underway outside the main hall.
Camper-led workshops. Gumboot dancing, daisy chain squares, swing chords, beach talk, favorite folk songs: come with your special talent to share or learn something you’ve never heard of before. Sunday morning expect time for singing the gospel of our non-denominational love of community.
A Saturday camper concert. Enjoy listening to the crazy, creative, and sublime as your fellow campers perform, or put together your own high or low art performance and step up onto the whale bone stage.
Happy, hearty vegetarian food. Beth Littlewolf has been our cook for 25+ years. She makes wonderful fare that brings us all together in the historic Wilson Lodge for family-style meals. Meals at Westwind include snack Friday evening, breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday, and early-wake up breakfast fare plus brunch on Sunday.
David Roth strikes many chords, hearts, and minds with his unique songs, offbeat observations, moving stories, sense of the hilarious, and powerful singing and subject matter. As singer, songwriter, recording artist, keynote speaker, workshop leader, and instructor, David has earned top honors at premier songwriter competitions – Kerrville (TX) and Falcon Ridge (NY) – and taken his music, experience, and expertise to a wide variety of venues in this and other countries full-time for more than two decades.
Perennial favorite Chuck Pyle will be in town on Friday May 15 to do a house concert at the Pereira’s. The show starts at 8 PM and admission is $18 for CFS members and $20 for nonmembers. Admired as a sly humorist and an innovative guitarist, Chuck Pyle has performed for the Colorado Legislature, on Austin City Limits, and at Bill Gates’ home. He’s had his songs recorded by John Denver, Chris LeDoux, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Jerry Jeff Walker. He sees what’s best about America, writing songs about love lost & love found, forgetful cowboys, heroic highway patrolmen, and brain stems gone “critical”.
He is an accomplished guitarist with a warm and welcoming voice. He has performed in Corvallis many times and his concerts are really entertaining- with great stories and songs that make you laugh, keep you thinking, and many that make you want to get on your horse and ride the open range.
Pyle’s latest CD, COVER STORIES, is a collection of tunes by some lesser-known songwriters – like Pete & Lou Berryman, Walt Wilkins, Lynn Miles and Hayes Carll – whose work has been admired by other songwriters for years. These are 12 well-crafted songs beautifully rendered in 12 great performances by Chuck Pyle with his innovative Chuck Pyle Finger-Style, accompanied by side-kick, Gordon Burt on fiddle, and Don Richmond on steel guitar, dobro & mandolin.
“Chuck Pyle’s songs, playing and singing are transporting. If you’re looking for top-flight alt-country-inflected contemporary folk… this is it.” – Sing Out!
“Pyle was one of my favorite songwriter discoveries of this year. Every song lover in town should make it a point to seek out this man’s music.” – Music Row Magazine
To reserve a space and get directions, send an email to cherep@comcast.net (or, if an email won’t work, call 541-753-9224).
Ralph Penunuri
Folksinger
Played in Marin County bands Fairfax Street Choir (Gospel Rock), Happy Valley (Progressive Folk); and in Corvallis, Oregon, played in Two Hits & a Ms. (Orig. Roots & Swing), Bon Ton Roulet (Cajun-Zydeco) and Inner Strength Gospel Quartet (Black Congregational style covers — Blind Boys of Alabama, Dixie Hummingbirds, etc…).
Played in front of thousands at UC Berkeley Amphitheater, San Francisco Cow Palace & Golden Gate Park Festivals. Played for just a handful too. Most memorable was SF Cow Palace with Fairfax Street Choir, opening for Crosby-Stills-Nash & Young.
Currently write, play, sit in with friends and host a monthly vocal jam in Corvallis, OR.
Lily Henley and Duncan Wickel
Lily Henley is a soulful singer, driving fiddler, and innovative songwriter breaking out of the box with influences ranging from homegrown Americana to the haunting melodies of the Mediterranean and the Middle-East. She’s performing as a duo with multi-instrumental phenom Duncan Wickel, who has captivated critics and fellow musicians alike with his creativity, authenticity and the chameleon-like ease with which he blends and changes styles on fiddle, cello, and bozouki. With a repertoire combining ear-catching vocal melodies, grooving fiddle tunes, and raw lyrics drawn from Ladino, Hebrew, Celtic and American folk songs, Lily & Duncan have delighted audiences across the US, and have performed alongside many great musicians including John Doyle, Tim O’Brien, Rushad Eggleston and the Foghorn Stringband. Together they offer music lovers a tantalizing palate of familiar and refreshingly new sounds.
These folks are potent musician so don’t miss this one! It’s going to be an enjoyable evening. We do anticipate selling out so please reserve soon if you wish to join us…
Rebecca Lomnicky and David Brewer are a high energy pure-drop Scottish music duo, with world class fiddling talent in combination with bagpipes, guitar, bodhran, and whistle. International Scottish Fiddle Champion, Rebecca Lomnicky, and David Brewer of the popular Celtic band Molly’s Revenge, have each spent copious amounts of time delving into the traditions of their respective instruments, living and studying in both Edinburgh and the highlands of Scotland. Together they perform captivating Scottish music which bridges the gap between the fiddle and bagpipe music of Scotland—two worlds united, into a heartfelt and rousing musical experience. Between their entertaining and informative stage banter, their four instrument combinations and vast repertoire of tunes, including everything from soaring slow airs to intricately arranged dance tunes, these charismatic performers will leave you on your feet with your hands together.
The new CD, THE FIRE, is Lomnicky and Brewer’s second album together and fully showcases every aspect of their stylistic expertise, technical prowess, and musical passion. Combining the aesthetic elements of all their past recordings into a newer finely crafted sound, this album features the diversity of Scotland’s traditional regional styles with an added contemporary flare.
Grisman, Hargreaves, Leslie & Smith
Samson Grisman (Bass) , Dominick Leslie (Mandolin), Alex Hargreaves (Fiddle) and Nathaniel Smith (Cello) have been great friends and musical confidants since they met each other on the bluegrass festival circuit in their pre-teens. The group is comprised of four of the most individualized instrumental voices in a new generation of acoustic musicians, and they play together with a cohesion that can only come from more than a decade of musical camaraderie. Drawing inspiration from the music of David Grisman, Béla Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Darol Anger, Jerry Douglas and many other luminary new-acousticians, They have forged a sound that has elements of Oldtime, Jazz, Funk, Free-Improvisation, and Bluegrass with an energy that is entirely their own. Their debut EP, “The Brotet”, features original compositions from each of the members and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone with a broad musical palate and open ears.
Listen to the band at https://brotet.bandcamp.com/releases
THIS CONCERT HAS BEEN CANCELED
With a voice “like butter” and a repertoire of original, folk-soul inspired songs, Juliet Strong touches audiences with her depth of sound, musicality, poetic imagery and eclectic style. Juliet’s energetic sound is underscored by rhythm piano, counter melodies, vocalise, and ukulele. The result is a unique and infectiously uplifting musical experience.
Juliet has a background in folk, classical and jazz piano and voice. Her performance style incorporates her classical training and theatrical background, as well as her upbringing among a tightly knit community of folk musicians, dancers, poets, and performers from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has drawn inspiration from her exposure to musical styles of all types, including Balkan, Turkish, Flamenco, Americana, English Country Dance, Indian and Brazilian. Her love of jazz, bebop, soul, funk and R&B have also influenced her original work. She has showcased her diverse training and background in theatrical collaborations, writing projects, live music performances, tours, and a discography of self-released recorded work. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Our own inimitable Mark Bielman will accompany her on bass. I hope you will join us for what will surely be another fine show Juliet and Mark…
Ralph Penunuri
Folksinger
Played in Marin County bands Fairfax Street Choir (Gospel Rock), Happy Valley (Progressive Folk); and in Corvallis, Oregon, played in Two Hits & a Ms. (Orig. Roots & Swing), Bon Ton Roulet (Cajun-Zydeco) and Inner Strength Gospel Quartet (Black Congregational style covers — Blind Boys of Alabama, Dixie Hummingbirds, etc…).
Played in front of thousands at UC Berkeley Amphitheater, San Francisco Cow Palace & Golden Gate Park Festivals. Played for just a handful too. Most memorable was SF Cow Palace with Fairfax Street Choir, opening for Crosby-Stills-Nash & Young.
Currently write, play, sit in with friends and host a monthly vocal jam in Corvallis, OR.
Nashville based singer/songwriter Jenn Grinels will make her first Corvallis appearance on Wednesday, July 8th beginning at 8 pm at the Troubadour Music Center (521 SW 2nd Street in Corvallis). Joining her will be Corvallis native Birch Pereira on upright bass. Originally playing cello in the Corvallis Youth Symphony, he went on to major in Jazz Studies, Bass Performance at UW and plays professionally with many groups in Seattle.
This year, Grinels recently completed a 20 concert tour of Europe that took her to 7 countries and was entirely fan organized. Jenn Grinels captivates audiences everywhere with her powerful, supremely polished vocals. “I found myself utterly captivated…Whether Grinels was quietly purring into the microphone or seriously belting out a tune, the audience was hanging on every note and lapping up every well-crafted phrase. Grinels has the rare gift of being a well-rounded performer who engages the audience fully and openly, sharing the performer as much as the performance. And her performance – was nothing short of amazing.” – Kenneth Fish, San Francisco Examiner, Napa City Winery.
Watch her on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jgrinels
There can’t be many Swedish folk groups with a street named after them in America, a tribute some citizens of Bloomington, Indiana, have conferred upon the extraordinarily accomplished trio Väsen.
Väsen is a Swedish “folk revival” band that has been playing together for over 25 years and has been dubbed “the best band in the world” by music critics and listeners alike. Although inspired by, and firmly rooted in traditional Swedish folk music, Väsen adds to the genre with distinct harmonies and rhythms. The band features Olov Johansson on nyckelharpa, the national instrument of Sweden, Mikael Marin on 5-string viola, and Roger Tallroth on 12-string guitar (tuned A-D-A-D-A-D). Väsen in Swedish has multiple meanings: spirit, noise, a living being, and essence, being the most prominent.
Watch them on A Prairie Home Companion, or at the Celtic Colours International Festival.
Ralph Penunuri
Folksinger
Played in Marin County bands Fairfax Street Choir (Gospel Rock), Happy Valley (Progressive Folk); and in Corvallis, Oregon, played in Two Hits & a Ms. (Orig. Roots & Swing), Bon Ton Roulet (Cajun-Zydeco) and Inner Strength Gospel Quartet (Black Congregational style covers — Blind Boys of Alabama, Dixie Hummingbirds, etc…).
Played in front of thousands at UC Berkeley Amphitheater, San Francisco Cow Palace & Golden Gate Park Festivals. Played for just a handful too. Most memorable was SF Cow Palace with Fairfax Street Choir, opening for Crosby-Stills-Nash & Young.
Currently write, play, sit in with friends and host a monthly vocal jam in Corvallis, OR.
Ralph Penunuri
Folksinger
Played in Marin County bands Fairfax Street Choir (Gospel Rock), Happy Valley (Progressive Folk); and in Corvallis, Oregon, played in Two Hits & a Ms. (Orig. Roots & Swing), Bon Ton Roulet (Cajun-Zydeco) and Inner Strength Gospel Quartet (Black Congregational style covers — Blind Boys of Alabama, Dixie Hummingbirds, etc…).
Played in front of thousands at UC Berkeley Amphitheater, San Francisco Cow Palace & Golden Gate Park Festivals. Played for just a handful too. Most memorable was SF Cow Palace with Fairfax Street Choir, opening for Crosby-Stills-Nash & Young.
Currently write, play, sit in with friends and host a monthly vocal jam in Corvallis, OR.
Guitar and banjo player Larry Unger and fiddler Audrey Knuth are a Boston based traditional duo who play exhilarating tunes with driving rhythms. Their concerts feature American and Celtic tunes with elements of other traditions including swing and blues. They also draw from Larry’s catalog of original fiddle tunes, which have been featured in several of Ken Burns’ documentaries. Declared a “guitar genius” by Sing Out Magazine, Larry Unger joins fiddler Audrey Knuth in creating a stirring musical experience.
Larry Unger has been a full-time musician since 1984 and has presented a diverse range of musical performances across the United States, Europe, and Scandinavia.
Hailing from Honolulu, Audrey moved to Boston in 2008 to attend Berklee College of Music and to explore the thriving New England folk scene. After graduating, Audrey has made a name for herself in the music community, namely as a dance fiddler and audio engineer.
Please join us for another great summer evening concert on Saturday, August 22 at 7 pm.