We will have live music this evening in addition to our recorded music.  Same price!

First and Third Sundays

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.

Judy Fjell grew up in Montana listening to folk-protest music on the radio and was so inspired to sing the repertoire that she bought a garage sale guitar and taught herself to play.

Nancy Schimmel, the daughter of Malvina Reynolds, experienced firsthand her mother’s protest stories and songs in Berkeley, California. Nancy Schimmel truly knows the life of Malvina Reynolds better than anyone else alive today.

Malvina Reynolds (1964)

When Judy and Nancy met at a Fjell concert in Oakland, California, in the mid-eighties, they began a conversation and collaboration which continues to the present. Each Malvina Reynolds concert is a one-time-only celebration of the life of this American songwriter, who collaborated regularly with Pete Seeger and whose songs are still performed forty years after her death. Malvina’s song “Little Boxes” is currently known from the Weeds television series. It has also been seen on YouTube by 13 million viewers in Walk Off the Earth’s brilliant cardboard box set video. Kodak adapted “Turn Around,” Malvina’s song about her daughter Nancy for its television ads in the sixties. A civil rights sit-in at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel inspired Malvina to write “It Isn’t Nice,” still a favorite at protest gatherings. Other well-known Malvina songs are “What Have They Done to the Rain,” “Magic Penny,” “God Bless the Grass,” and “Morningtown Ride,” which was a top hit in England for several weeks. Judy and Nancy will also perform several of the songs they have co-written in the “spirit of Malvina.”

Windborne

Vocal virtuosity rooted in folk music and cultures from around the world. Their dynamic concert programs include songs from Corsica, the Republic of Georgia, Bulgaria, Quebec, and Basque country, as well as traditional and original American folk music. They believe deeply in the power of music to change hearts. See more about them here.

Optional potluck at 6PM.

Go to https://lisalynne.com/cedarhouse-concerts/ for location details.

A house concert is an excellent place to hear and meet great musicians in a very intimate setting.

7:30 Sharon and Dave Thormahlen

Sharon and Dave have been making beautiful music together in Corvallis for decades.  They perform traditional and new music written by Sharon, mostly on instruments made by Dave.

8:30 Wild Hog In The Woods

Stringband music from a bygone era played the way it always should have been.

The best Cellar is a once-a-month evening of acoustic music. Admission is “pay what you will,” and kids are free. Cookies and coffee are available. Located in the cellar of the Methodist Church on 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. For more information, or to join the volunteer team, contact Mark Weiss at mjweiss@cmug.com

Portland FolkMusic Society presents

Singtime Frolics

a spring weekend of singing, jamming, learning, sharing and good food at Portland FolkMusic Society’s annual retreat.

Guest artist Avery Hill

click HERE for more information

First and Third Sundays

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.

Corvallis Guitar Society

The goal of the Corvallis Guitar Society is to act as a catalyst to bring local guitarists out of the woodwork and provide an opportunity to perform and enjoy guitar music in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. The accent here is on participation and we hope people will want to participate in the open stage section also – no piece of music is too short or simple (though there is a five minute limit if we have a full sign-up sheet) and you are guaranteed a warm round of applause for showing us what you can do! We do have a limited number of open stage slots so be sure to sign up early at the front desk on the way in.

Our Mission

To promote classical and related guitar styles by providing a supportive performance environment for people of all ages and ability.

We seek to achieve this through a monthly meeting that provides an opportunity to discuss, listen to, and play solo guitar music including classical, flamenco, finger-style, jazz, as well as classical guitar ensemble styles.

The Euphemists

Dave Goldman — piano
Alan Snyder — fiddle
Paula Hamlin — winds
Kaye Blesener — trombone
Jerry Nelson — guitar, percussion

Enjoy contradancing but miss that Big Band sound? Then you’ll love the Euphemists, a band whose motto is “All fiddle tunes get better with horn riffs!” Over the past few years, various pairings of these Portland musicians have said, “We should form a band!” Finally, inspired by the recent immigration of fiddler Alan Snyder from warmer climes, The Euphemists congealed in 2011. The band features a brass front line of Paula Hamlin, Kaye Blesener, and Jerry Nelson, while Jerry’s several guitars share backup rhythmic duties with the keyboard of Dave Goldman.

Eric Curl calling

Eric started calling in 1996 and called in California and Colorado before moving Seattle in 2006. A mechanical engineer working for Boeing, he now enjoys calling in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia on a semi-regular basis. In his spare time, he likes to hike, snowshoe, camp, visit friends and family, play music, and of course, dance and call.

Beginners lesson starts at 7:30pm (experienced dancers welcome) dance starts at 8:00pm

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

Potluck at 6:00 p.m.  Hosts: April & Craig Hall Cutting, 1975 SE Crystal Lake Dr #192, Corvallis (in CoHo Ecovillage); 541-754-7040.

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

Classical guitarist Cameron O’Connor and pianist Hui Wu of Ensemble Demitasse will be playing a combination of solo and duet works in The Arts Center’s gallery ​ on Sunday, April 8th from 3:00-5:00pm​ . This promises to be a fantastic musical experience featuring two top flight musicians that ​ bridge the gap between performer and audience​ . This event is presented by the Corvallis Guitar Society and The Arts Center’s Artist Accelerator Program. Limited seating
available. Tickets cost $25 each and can be purchased at ​ Grassroots Books and The Arts Center’s website.
Ensemble Demitasse breaks with tradition by valuing a personal and intimate connection with audiences; inhabiting musical roles such as multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Hui Wu (China) and Cameron O’Connor (USA) bridge the gap between performer and audience through programs which focus on interaction and storytelling. Over the course of years performing in Los Angeles venues from Zipper Hall to Central Juvenile Hall, Ensemble Demitasse is equally comfortable connecting through old and new music, and frequently works with some of LA’s most original young composers. ​ Award-winning and critically acclaimed, O’Connor has been observed by The New York Times as having ‘fluttered on his guitar strings in a mannerreminiscent of a pipa players technique’. While Wu was described as a ‘sparkling performer’ and ‘a rising star’ by The New York Times and China Musical Weekly.
The mission of the Arts Center is to foster creativity and engagement with the arts to inspire personal growth and community well-being. The Arts Center’s Artist Accelerator Program, focuses on career building for artists and brings the Spring Concert 2018 to Corvallis as it’s first event in ​ promoting the development of early to mid-career artists, such as O’Connor and Wu.
Look for more events by The Artist Accelerator Program this summer that continue to raise the visibility of local and regional artists.

Song Circle

Share a song, lead a song, request a song, or listen as we go round the circle. Song Circle is free and open to all who wish to participate.  Bring your own instrument, borrow one, or just sing.

First and Third Sundays

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.

MOLLY’S REVENGE

4PM show – sold out
7PM – seats available

Yes you read that right. In our house!
These guys will rock your socks with their smokin trio of Scottish and Irish Music. This trio is big time. They play at the top folk festivals and performing arts events in the USA, and prestigious events in Scotland, Australia and China.  Their arrangments traditional Celtic jigs and reels bring these dance tunes up to date with a driving, hard-edged accent that always leaves audiences shouting for more.  www.mollysrevenge.com

Go to https://lisalynne.com/cedarhouse-concerts/ for location details.

A house concert is an excellent place to hear and meet great musicians in a very intimate setting.

Olivia Awbrey & Huck Notari

Olivia Awbrey

“A slightly more epic Esme Patterson…look out for her.”
– Chris T-T, English Songwriter

“Keep your eyes peeled…Olivia Awbrey is one to watch.”
– Eugene Weekly

“Packing well-crafted, road-tested tunes on her debut record, Olivia Awbrey spreads her folksy wings and brings some outspoken punky, rock and roll energy to her full-band, studio debut while still retaining her softer side.” – Vortex Music Magazine

Since releasing her debut EP, Fight or Fight (2017), Olivia has garnered attention in the folk and psych-rock communities in the US and the UK. Unafraid to blur lines between folk, psych and punk, her songs and voice have been likened to Esme Patterson and Liz Phair. With the help of hard-earned scholarships, Olivia took her songs to FAI 2017, FAR-West 2017, and the Spokane Folk Festival last year.

Exploring themes as ordinary as grocery store check out lines and as grand as the formation of Pangea, Olivia continues to draw in listeners throughout the US and Europe.

While intermittently recording her sophomore release with producer Hutch Harris (The Thermals), due out early 2019, Olivia is on tour in the US this spring and summer, and the UK this September.

Huck Notari

It was his grandfather, Glenn Burris, a Broadway singer who first sparked Hucks curiosity of singing at a young age. Huck Notari grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where his parents first introduced him to the piano and he taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 17.

Huck later moved to Eugene, Oregon where he joined up with a country blues, ragtime band called the Kitchen Syncopators (with Gill Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show, Woody Pines and Felix Hatfield) and toured up and down the west coast. He also found himself in New Orleans, where he was a Charlie Chaplin mime on Royal Street. But it wasn’t until 2007, when he moved to Oregon City that Huck discovered his own voice and wrote his first album, “Highland”, followed by his second album,” Very Long Dream”, in 2009 and his third, “Huck Notari and the River” in 2013.

Huck Notari’s lyrics and authentic guitar picking are timeless and draw his listeners into a place of nostalgia, broken hearts and old values. Huck currently calls Portland, Oregon his home. He is working on his fourth album and continues to tour around the U.S. and Europe.

Unleashed!

Since its members came together in 1999, UnLeashed! has been one of Portland’s favorite contra bands. Fiddler Jocelyn Goodall leads the pack with the driving style she learned from famed Irish fiddle master Tommy Peoples. On guitar, banjo, and fiddle, Rick Macquoid provides enough energy to keep dancers going all night long, while Eliza Romick’s percussive dulcimer and banjo-ukulele add that infectious pulse that dancers love. With Rick Piel’s incessant keyboard backup supplying intensity and rhythm, an evening with UnLeashed! is guaranteed to make you howl with joy!

Erik Weberg

I danced my first contra dance in Moscow Idaho in the Fall of 1986.  Several excursions to the dance hall were necessary for me to find the courage to actually dance, but once I, tried it caught hold quickly and I became a regular dancer. Christian Petrich encouraged me to try calling for the first time in 1990 and soon after that I started regularly attending the first Wednesday open mic in Spokane Washington. I called dances around Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho for a few years before moving west of the Cascades in 1993. I was soon asked to call dances in Portland and up the Willamette Valley. Since then I’ve been calling dances, festivals and weekends around the country from Seattle to Boston, from Fairbanks to Tuscon and most places between. I am able to enjoy this craft because of the good folks who encouraged and taught me to call dances years ago, the booking agents and local dance committees who have given me wonderful opportunities to practice in their communities, and the thousands of dancers and musicians who forgive me my mistakes and make it all worthwhile. If you’re reading this you’re probably one of them; so, thank you!

Beginners lesson starts at 7:30pm (experienced dancers welcome) dance starts at 8:00pm

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.

7:30 Cassandra Robertson

A muse with a message, Cassandra has the heart of a lion, and the mane to match.  Accompanied by her acoustic guitar, she floors the audience like a sonic boom with captivating messages of peace, prosperity, hope and above all, inspiration.  Her unique style of “acoustic conscious folk” kick starts the heart and levitates the soul; reminding us all that we CAN positively affect the world we all share, as long as we choose planet over profit and remember to be ourselves.

8:30 GuitarMasala

“I’m very happy to let you know that after a long hiatus from playing, my hand issues have been resolved and I’m back to playing guitar, composing and performing with my band, GuitarMasala.  
We hope you will join us for our re-emergence concert. Otto Gygax will be coming down from Portland to play his world class rhythms on hand drums. We’ve managed to snag George Beekman from his busy performance schedule to lend his magic with symbols, bells and chimes.  Sherry Rosen will be adding texture, harmonies and melodies on the Indian harmonium.   We’re elated to be playing together again.” 
With strong eastern influences, and a strong supporting cast, Sid Rosen delights with his original compositions for guitar.

The best Cellar is a once-a-month evening of acoustic music. Admission is “pay what you will,” and kids are free. Cookies and coffee are available. Located in the cellar of the Methodist Church on 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. For more information, or to join the volunteer team, contact Mark Weiss at mjweiss@cmug.com