(Have a look at our FAQ and our For Performers pages for more of what makes us weird, if you'd like.)We started this thing to offer a platform to emerging local and regional performers who have such a hard time getting through any door to a listening audience. The biggest obstacle they face is the gatekeepers... so we got rid of gatekeeping. When an artist contacts us, we put them on wait list, and when we get up to them on the list, we get back in touch. We do about 20 shows a year, and there are currently more than 70 in line. It's bonkers.And we've inexplicably landed on the radars of performers who are absolutely bigger than we are. Some of them still remember what it was like in their early scrambling days, and appreciate what we're doing, and want to get behind it. Others just genuinely really like getting into a small, attentive room sometimes.We welcome alike the abject newbies and the firmly established, but everybody has to jump through the same hoops. We're a volunteer-run nonprofit with a mission, not a business where the bottom line is proifit.Anyway, the first-come first-served thing is why we sometimes have a string of shows by completely unknown performers, and then a string of shows by relative biggies. It's entirely happenstance.We have a nice string of relative biggies coming up. 

Internationally acclaimed fingerstyle guitarist Hiroya Tsukamoto is a dizzyingly agile fingerpicker who always chooses beauty over bombast. He takes audiences on an innovative, impressionistic journey filled with earthy, organic soundscapes rich in subtle detail. "Delicate, fluid, and beautifully detailed.” — Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Hiroya will also provide an opportunity of interest to fingerstyle players of all levels of ability and accomplishment...  an informal masterclass preceding his matinee concert. 

Tracy Grammer & Jim Henry are an exquisite pairing. Impeccable musicianship, perfect harmonies, and all the chemistry and banter you’d expect from musicians who have been touring and playing around the world together for over 20 years. “One of the finest pure musicians in folkdom.” — The Boston Globe. Tracy performed and recorded with beloved songwriter Dave Carter from 1996 until his sudden death in 2002. Carling Berkhout opens this show: “Gentle and sinuous, lush and slow burning." — The Weather Vane. 

Bidi Dworkin will share new songs in advance of taking them into the recording studio, and she’s bringing two-time Grammy winning pianist-composer Peter Eldridge and other musicians with her. She draws from a deep well of influences: the jazz-folk lineage of her childhood; the Middle Eastern melodies of her ancestry; the fluidity of Vedic meditative traditions… a fusion enriched by intuitive language and a dreamy interior landscape. “A warm and distinctive voice, and not shy to take chances.” — LA Jazz Scene. 

Irish-born Pat Byrne comes up from Austin TX to share a bill with Los Lorcas. Pat migrated from County Carlow to take the US by storm with breakout performances at the 30A Festival, SXSW, Kerrville Folk Festival, and the Americana Festival. “Irish Americana, by turns rollicking and resonating, driven by his gruff growl of a voice — he’s one to keep an eye on.” — The Boston Globe. Los Lorcas celebrates the release of their new album, Wild Island, with a concert blurring the boundaries between spoken word and song, weaving poetry with Andalusian ballads, blues, rock, folk, reggae, hip hop, Americana, and jazz. “An Orphic voice… absolutely gorgeous.” — Chard deNiord, Vermont Poet Laureate. 

She's not kidding about it being a lot of work.Lately, Mark — who does the lion's share —has been wondering how long he can go on.If you'd like to volunteer to help keep the wheelson the thing, now's a good time to get involved.Here's some wisdom from Trevor:

Alaskan finger-style guitarist Kray Van Kirk will sing songs, tell stories, and summon heroes… he’s a charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic character. “The Alaskan singer-songwriter, in his Edinburgh debut, was not the reason I arrived early, but was certainly why I stayed late.” — The Daily Fringe Review. Vermont folk singer John Fealy opens the show.