First Wednesday of the Month : Local Cream Songwriter Showcase
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Hosted by FocusMusic board member Annette Wasilik : Every first Wednesday of the Month singer/songwriter Annette Wasilik invites a collection of the best local and not-so-local singer/songwriters to perform with her at Hank Dietle's Tavern at 11010 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. The show kicks off at 8pm and is free to attend, but a suggested donation of $20 is... suggested!
Wed 5/8 - Caroline Cotter w Annette Wasilik (Fairfax)
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Wednesday, May 8th, 2024 FocusMusic presents Caroline Cotter at Earp's Ordinary. 10420 Main St, Fairfax, VA 22030 | 7pm | $10
“...charming songwriting and honeyed vocal stylings. Sweet and sunlit acoustic instrumentation accompanies Cotter’s plaintive soprano, giving the track a pastoral sheen and spotlighting its earnest lyricism. Cotter brings forth an abiding sense of warmth and welcome, offering an uplifting reminder to make the most of every moment.”
— Under the Radar
More about Caroline Cotter at www.carolinecotter.com
ANNETTE WASILIK
Annette's performances are marked by her compelling alto and moving songs that "touch you to the bone". In the tradition of the poet songwriter, with rich tones reminiscent of Linda Thompson or Natalie Merchant, she weaves a spell both startling in its intimacy and expansive in its vision. Her songwriting influences include Jane Siberry, Lucinda Williams and John Prine to mention just a few. Both down to earth and deeply atmospheric, Annette’s songs are explorations into longing, love, loss, God, home, homesickness and hope.
Sat 5/25 - Kate Campbell (Alexandria & Virtual)
FocusMusic and World Folk Music Association Present Kate Campbell at St Aidan's Episcopal Church.
8531 Riverside Rd., Alexandria, Virginia, 22308 | 7pm
Admission: $25 in advance (members $22.50) / $30 at door (members $25)
Virtual Tickets: $15 in advance (members $13.50)
Kate Campbell is a southern singer-songwriter who writes and sings memorable folk songs infused with undercurrents of delta blues, folk, pop, and country that originate from a musical landscape spanning the less-traveled back roads from Nashville to Muscle Shoals to Memphis. Over the course of 20+ years since her acclaimed debut album Songs from the Levee, she has resisted the temptation to follow musical trends but instead chooses to set the pace for her unique musical journey.
Kate’s endearing, clear-water vocal delivery and her eloquent gift for storytelling have drawn repeated comparisons to such bastions of the Southern literary tradition as Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, and William Faulkner. Her easy command of a full range of American musical styles has earned Campbell recognition as a formidable talent by critics. Time Out London proclaimed her a “major talent” while Chicago Daily Herald described her as a “world-class singer-songwriter.”
Originally from the Mississippi Delta and the daughter of a Baptist preacher, Kate's formative years were spent in the very core of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and the indelible experiences of those years have shaped her heart and character as well as her songwriting. Her music and songs continue to inspire and excite a growing and engaged audience. Her Two Nights in Texas CD received the prestigious Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award. Three of Kate’s songs (“Ave Maria Grotto,” “William’s Vision,” and “Fordlandia”) were recently featured in documentary films (Brother Joseph and the Grotto, Chipping Away, and Fordlandia). A variety of artists have recorded Campbell’s songs including Laurie Lewis, Ronnie McDowell, and the Nashville Bluegrass Band who covered her compelling snake-handling song “Signs Following.”
Campbell has performed at a number of esteemed venues such as the Cambridge Folk Festival, Merlefest, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, and the National Storytelling Festival and been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Live From Mountain Stage, and The Bob Edwards Show.
More about Kate Campbell at www.katecampbell.com
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Sat 6/1 - Jesse Terry w Halley Neal (Sterling)
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“Beautifully crafted songs from a master singer-songwriter. A joy to play on my radio show with great reaction from listeners. Jesse deserves to be up there with the likes of James Taylor & Jackson Browne.”
— Paddy MacDee - BBC Radio Newcastle
FocusMusic Presents Jesse Terry at FocusMusic Sterling
Sterling, VA | 7.30pm
"This is music to revel in, so just revel till the starlight fades."
- Nick West / RnR Magazine
Jesse Terry's seventh album, When We Wander, is the first he wrote since becoming a parent. So it's no surprise the family theme courses through many of its 12 songs. His music career has been a family project ever since he became a full-time touring artist a decade ago.
That was right around the time when Jesse met his wife Jess working on a cruise ship in the South Pacific. "As soon as we got back to the states, I proposed to her at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in July 2010 and we packed up the car for the first tour right after that. We've been touring together full-time ever since." Now with two-year-old Lily added to the clan, family is more important than ever to him, including the parental urge to love and protect. "If I were the moon, I’d light all of your back roads," he sings in "If I Were The Moon": "You wouldn’t need no headlights / I’d always be full."
The life of a touring family inspired the album's title track. "When we wander, when we wander / Don’t it feel like we’re finally found." But in the face of the pandemic, he has found that "wandering is not just a literal thing. We've followed our hearts with so many decisions in 2020-2021, and have found that there are many ways to wander and be free and brave."
One of those ways has been going virtual. He says that his livestream concerts have "become the highlight of my week and the thing that sustains us emotionally and financially. And an amazing community has sprung up from these concerts."
The stage had been Jesse's home for a decade. He plays around 150 shows a year, from Bonnaroo to the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the 30A Songwriters Festival to AmericanaFest. When the pandemic canceled concerts and delayed the album's release, he pivoted to performing online and found a strong new connection to his fans, who had helped fund his albums all along. "My musical tribe has always been there for me," he says with gratitude.
Though recorded in 2019, the songs off the new album click with fans online too. He and his band recorded When We Wander live in the studio, a first for his career. "I wanted to try that Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Neil Young approach to live recording, prioritizing emotion and raw performances over perfection. I loved that experience." Recorded live, the album resonates especially with the intimacy and community spirit of the online shows.
He also wrote all the music and lyrics this time, instead of working with collaborators, and took a very personal approach, including a look back. "In Spite of You" recalls his stay in a residential facility for behavior modification that traumatized him as a young teenager: "The sermons that you sold me all were fakes."
Yet he emerged to earn a degree from Berklee College of Music, net a five-year staff writer gig on Nashville's Music Row penning material for major TV networks, and win prestigious songwriting awards. And then to become the singer-songwriter his countless fans know today, who (in the words of Music News Nashville) "bring[s] to mind iconic artist/poets like Paul Simon and Jackson Browne... [with] a performance that touches the heart like only a whisper can."
Advance tickets $25 / day-of and door $30 (member / congregation as-applicable $25 at the door).
Virtual tickets are $15
FocusMusic encourages all attendees to protect themselves and others through vaccination and masks. If you are not feeling well, we ask you not to attend the event. (COVID policy updated 9/23/22)
Depending on payment method, you will receive 2-3 emails. Registration details will be EMAILED along with a receipt (and sometimes a third email from your payment service). You will receive an email with the subject line "Your ticket for..." For in-person events, there's no need to do anything further. Your name will be at the front desk! For virtual events there will be a link to click in this email, so please save it! If you do not receive that email - please check your spam folder. If you still cannot find details contacting tickets@focusmusic.org.
All sales are final. In the event of a cancellation, event tickets will be refunded or purchasers may offer the ticket price as a donation to the artist. In the event of a rescheduled event tickets may be refunded or transferred to the new event date. Please note there are NO refunds for virtual performances made inaccessible by audience / user-error. If you find that you cannot attend an event or webcast, please contact us in advance of the event to transfer your ticket to another upcoming FocusMusic event.
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Current COVID policy
Please note that FocusMusic's COVID policy may be updated without notice as conditions require, and may be further modified by the individual venues.
1/13/22
We request that all attendees be vaccinated and be prepared to show vaccination status for admission (or a negative COVID test dated within the past 72 hours). Additionally, we require that the audience and staff wear masks at all times inside the building unless actively eating or drinking. We thank you for complying with what we’ve determined to be best for our community.