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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.
Benton Center Acoustic Showcase features
Sharon and Dave Thormahlen
For over 30 years Dave and Sharon Thormahlen have made their living creating music and musical instruments. Their specialty is in the folk harp with Dave having built over 1400 instruments and Sharon having published 16 books of harp music. Sharon plays the harp and Daave plays guitar, mandolin and banjo enjoying a variety of musical styles including originals, Latin, Irish and Beatles tunes.
The Benton Center Atrium
Melody Pie Trio
Neo-Traditional Folk • Roots • Music
Melody Pie Trio is fiddler Kevin Craven, cellist Beth Brown and singer-songwriter Ralph Penunuri – in melodious neo-traditional folkroots conversation. Playing an eclectic variety of original and traditional stylings, MPT free-ranges from storysong folk balladry and lyrical tone poems, to traditional Celtic tunes, bluegrass, country rock, jump blues, swing grooves and improv jam.
Tannahill Weavers
The Tannahill Weavers are a popular band which performs traditional Scottish music. Releasing their first album in 1976 they became notable for being one of the first popular bands to incorporate the sound of the Great Highland Bagpipe in an ensemble setting, and in doing so helped to change the sound of Scottish traditional music. In 2011 the band was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
In the late 18th and early 19th century Scotland was in a turmoil of change. Highlanders were being driven from their lands and into the burgeoning Lowland factory systems. This brought two quite distinct cultures together, the mystic Celtic culture of the North and the old Anglo/Scots culture of the Lowlands. They were married by the double barreled shotgun of necessity and the Industrial Revolution. But this forced union brought forth a cultural heritage which, thanks to people like Robert Burns and Robert Tannahill, outlasted the worst of the Industrial Revolution. It married the mystic beauty of the Celtic music to the coarse, brawling, but vitally human music, poetry and ballads of the Lowlands. It is precisely this strangely moving yet lustily stirring quality that the Tannahill Weavers have captured in their arrangements of the traditional music and songs of Scotland. All of their material is traditional, but as good musicians should, they have transformed it and brought it into the modern world, vitally alive and kicking.
As they approach their 50th anniversary in 2018, the Tannahill Weavers are one of Scotland’s premier traditional bands. Their diverse repertoire spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and original ballads and lullabies. Their music demonstrates to old and young alike the rich and varied musical heritage of the Celtic people. These versatile musicians have received worldwide accolades consistently over the years for their exuberant performances and outstanding recording efforts that seemingly can’t get better…yet continue to do just that.
The Tannahills have turned their acoustic excitement loose on audiences with an electrifying effect. They have that unique combination of traditional melodies, driving rhythmic accompaniment, and rich vocals that make their performances unforgettable. As the Winnipeg Free Press noted, “The Tannahill Weavers – properly harnessed – could probably power an entire city for a year on the strength of last night’s concert alone. The music may be old time Celtic, but the drive and enthusiasm are akin to straight ahead rock and roll.”
Born of a session in Paisley, Scotland and named for the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the group has made an international name for its special brand of Scottish music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms. The Tannahill Weavers began to attract attention when founding members Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie added the full-sized highland bagpipes to the on-stage presentations, the first professional Scottish folk group to successfully do so. The combination of the powerful pipe solos, Roy’s driving guitar backing and lead vocals, and Phil’s ethereal flute playing breathed new life into Scotland’s vast repertoire of traditional melodies and songs.
Three years and a dozen countries later, the Tannahills were the toast of Europe, having won the Scotstar Award for Folk Record of the Year with their third album, The Tannahill Weavers. Canada came the next summer, with thousands at the national festivals in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto screaming an approval that echoed throughout the Canadian media. The Regina Leader-Post wrote, “The Tannahill Weavers personify Celtic music, and if you are given to superlatives, you have to call their talent ‘awesome’.”
Since their first visit to the United States in 1981, the Tannahills’ unique combination of traditional melodies on pipes, flute and fiddle, driving rhythms on guitar and bouzouki, and powerful three and four part vocal harmonies have taken the musical community by storm. As Garrison Keillor, the host of “Prairie Home Companion”, remarked, “These guys are a bunch of heroes every time they go on tour in the States”.
Over the years the Tannies have been trailblazers for Scottish music, and their tight harmonies and powerful, inventive arrangements have won them fans from beyond the folk and Celtic music scenes. In 2011 the band was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, and in 2014 they are joined by innovative piper Lorne MacDougall. Lorne comes with a high pedigree, having arranged and performed pipes for the Disney Pixar movie “Brave”, along with a long list of other accomplishments.
With their impending 50th anniversary in 2018, the Tannahill Weavers are firmly established as one of the premier groups on the concert stage. From reflective ballads to footstomping reels and jigs, the variety and range of the material they perform is matched only by their enthusiasm and lively Celtic spirits.
Melody Pie Trio
Neo-Traditional Folk • Roots • Music
Melody Pie Trio is fiddler Kevin Craven, cellist Beth Brown and singer-songwriter Ralph Penunuri – in melodious neo-traditional folkroots conversation. Playing an eclectic variety of original and traditional stylings, MPT free-ranges from storysong folk balladry and lyrical tone poems, to traditional Celtic tunes, bluegrass, country rock, jump blues, swing grooves and improv jam.
Dinna Fash Celtic Trio
Dinna Fash is Scots Gaelic for don’t worry, and this trio uses cellos and fiddles to play a wide variety of old and new Irish, Scottish, Québécois and Shetland tunes.
A Winter Gift
is presented by three of the premier Celtic Harpists in the world. Patrick Ball, Lisa Lynne & Aryeh Frankfurter perform Celtic legends, along with Irish and English literature woven together with beloved and rare pieces of holiday music.
This trio is well known for their first show “Legends of the Celtic Harp” which tells stories and legends of the harp through time. In their new show “A Winter Gift” storyteller and wire-strung harpist Patrick Ball along with harpers and multi-instrumentalists Lisa Lynne & Aryeh Frankfurter step into a magical world of Irish and English literature. The trio presents a heartwarming collection of tales and music from Celtic legend and traditional folk stories. They perform a Child’s Christmas in Wales, a chapter from The Wind in the Willows, and passages from Shakespeare, William Butler Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, and mingle them with beloved and original pieces of seasonal music. Audiences will hear three Celtic Harps, Swedish Nyckelharpa, Fiddle, Bandura, Bouzouki and more. www.LegendsOfTheCelticHarp.com
Patrick Ball is an American master of the Irish harp and a captivating spoken word artist. He has recorded nine instrumental and three spoken word albums which have sold well over a half million copies internationally, winning national awards in both the music and spoken word categories. Patrick’s critically acclaimed concerts and solo theatrical productions have toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Ireland and the UK, and have been awarded grants by the California Arts Council and the Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Association. www.PatrickBall.com
Lisa Lynne is a multi-instrumentalist and performer who has gained worldwide recognition for her original music featuring her Celtic Harp. She is widely acclaimed for composing memorable and heartwarming melodies on the Windham Hill/Sony music labels that have repeatedly placed in the Top 10 & Top 20 on the Billboard New age music charts. Lisa tours year round performing at large US festivals and performing art centers. Her work in Therapeutic music has gained recognition from NBC, CNN, Fox News Atlanta and numerous newspaper and magazine articles including Wall Street Journal. Lisa’s music is heard throughout the award winning PBS special “Alone in the Wilderness,” amongst many other soundtracks for commercial television and independent films.Lisa was recently selected by Los Angeles Magazine as one of 50 most inspiring women. www.LisaLynne.com
Aryeh Frankfurter is also a renowned Celtic harper and world traveling multi- instrumentalist who went from virtuosic progressive rock violin to intricate Swedish folk and Celtic Music. He began with Classical violin at the age of three, his early studies and successes led him to explore various ethnic and international musical genres. Aryeh taught himself to play a variety of instruments bowed and plucked and most recently the rarely seen Swedish Nyckelharpa. His uncommon approach to the Celtic harp and folk harp repertoire, his numerous critically and commercially successful albums have earned him credit as a musician, recording and performance artist of extraordinary talents and abilities. www.Lionharp.com
The Trail Band
Christmas With The Trail Band features your favorite holiday songs and some original holiday tunes arranged in the versatile, energetic style that has become the band’s trademark. Songs include Joy To The World, The First Noel, and many many more.
The Trail Band has been selected numerous times to represent the state of Oregon for regional, national and international events. Representing The Oregon Economic Development Department at the prestigious American Festival in Tokyo, the band performed for thousands and received enthusiastic ovations. They also received The Oregon-California Trails Associations Meritorious Award for their contributions to American history.