Saturday June 10th, 2023 
FocusMusic and WFMA Present Lilt at St Aidan's Episcopal Church 
8531 Riverside Road, Alexandria, VA 22308 | 7pm | adv tickets $25, day-of $30 (member / congregation as-applicable $25 at the door) | Livestream will be available for at least 48 hours after the event

Lilt is the Irish traditional music duo of Tina Eck on flute and tin whistle and Keith Carr on bouzouki, tenor banjo, and mandolin. They play the traditional dance music of Ireland - jigs, reels, hornpipes, the occasional slow air or vocal number. Their performances capture the essentials of Irish traditional music: boundless energy, wildness and melancholy. 

They have been performing together steadily since 2009. They have released four albums; "Lilt", "Onward", “Little Falls”, and their latest, ”X", released in 2019. Their recordings have been critically acclaimed in the US and in the international Irish music 
press. 

Lilt has appeared in concert throughout the eastern U.S., with performances at such notable local venues as The Embassy of Ireland, The Kennedy Center, The Birchmere, The Institute of Musical Traditions, Blackrock Center for the Arts, as well as numerous music festivals. 

From the press: 
Lilt is “...fresh, exhilarating, and wonderfully, 
blissfully alive” (IrishPhiladelphia.com) 

"A sound that is often moody, sometimes delicate, and – perhaps when you least expect it – will seize you by the shoulders with a quiet yet prodigious intensity” (Boston Irish Reporter) 

“The new CD ‘X’ “...is a Lilt with real fizz, platinum quality. Well done!!" (Irish Music 
Magazine, Dublin) 

Members 
Keith Carr plays the ten-string Irish bouzouki, four-string tenor banjo, and mandolin. He is originally from New York and moved to Washington DC to develop a career as a prominent ecologist working with international nature conservation groups. He recently 
retired and is now fully engaged in what he loves to do the most: performing and 
teaching traditional music. Having had the benefit of parents who were distinguished music educators, his musical background includes extensive classical training in trumpet and piano, plus many years as a performing guitarist. He is on the faculty of 
the Washington Conservatory of Music, he teaches at various Irish music camps and workshops, and he gives private lessons. He also performs with various other notable Irish and acoustic musicians in the Washington area, and he leads several weekly Irish traditional pub sessions around the region. 

Tina Eck plays the Irish wooden flute and tin whistle. Originally from Germany and now working as a Washington-based radio news correspondent, she discovered her passion for Irish traditional music in a local pub in Washington DC in the 1990’s. She has 
traveled to Ireland frequently and has learned technique and repertoire from some of  the best traditional flute players in Ireland and the U.S. She is on the faculty of the  Washington Conservatory of Music and she also gives private flute and whistle lessons. 
In 2011 Tina was awarded a Maryland State Arts Council Grant for Solo World Music  Performance. Tina also holds a 2013 TTCT Teaching Diploma by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri  Eireann (Dublin), identifying her as one of the premier teachers of Irish traditional music. 
Tina also performs with the bands Rambling House and The Irish Inn Mates. 

Guest Artists for this Performance 
Kate Bole has been an Irish dancer since age six, receiving tutelage from a number of notable teachers. She has choreographed and performed for productions at the Kennedy Center, the Strathmore Performing Arts Center in concert with Eileen Ivers, The Myerhoff Symphony Hall in concert with the BSO, the Blackrock Center for the Arts, 
and the Washington Performing Arts Society Gala. Kate has been featured as a guest dancer with many talented Irish musicians, including Lilt, Natalie MacMaster, Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, Lúnasa, Téada, and Kevin Burke. Currently she directs and performs with the Culkin LIVE Dance Company, and when not dancing, works as a 
physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. 

Jim Stickley has played percussion instruments since age eight, and is a former member of the US Army’s Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps. He was raised in Falls Church, Virginia, and recently retired from his career with the Fairfax County Public School system. Jim is an active traditional music session player, often found at several of the regular Irish and Scottish pub sessions in Northern Virginia. He performs frequently with 
trad musicians in the area and also teaches privately. Jim has recorded with several notable musicians in the DC region, including Lilt and 2016 US National Scottish Fiddle champion Séan Heely.

More about Lilt at liltirishmusic.com

Tickets available via WFMA.net, click below.

Saturday June 17th, 2023
FocusMusic and One World Coffeehouse Present Lo Fi Dolly Album Release Show 
Featuring Sara Beck, Lauren Lucas, & Kimberly Quinn at Owen Brown Interfaith Center – Sanctuary C 
7246 Cradlerock Way Columbia, MD 21045 | 7:00 pm | $25 | all tickets include access to OWC's Livestream of the event.

Sara Beck and Lauren Lucas have been individually writing and recording music for over 20 years. You’ve seen them on the road touring with Blake Shelton, Stevie Wonder, Old Dominion, Kevin Costner & Modern West, The Bacon Bros. (Kevin and Michael), and Kenny Chesney – just to name a few. They've graced listening room stages from The Bluebird to Gruene Hall to The Birchmere. They’ve garnered Academy of Country Music and Tony Award nominations, as well as song placements on the ABC network and the History Channel, both as artists and songwriters for other recording artists – including Danielle Peck, Jaida Dreyer, and Risa Binder. 

Their love for old country music and classic singer-songwriters is one of the things that brought the two together. In the early 2000’s, they formed an all-women, Nashville-based music collective with several other talented singer/songwriters playing the country standards they grew up on. They called themselves The Honky Tonk Angels, and together they brought heartbreaking harmonies and a hefty dose of sisterhood to bars, weddings, and bonfires all over middle Tennessee. Along the way, they co-wrote songs together that each released separately, including “Come On” (Beck/Chisolm/Lucas) and “Burning Down the Dark” (Beck/Jones/Lucas). 

Now – inspired by the “Trio” albums by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris – Sara and Lauren have joined forces with another original Honky Tonk Angel – Kimberly Quinn – to release an album of some of the very tunes that ignited their friendship way back when. In Spring of 2023, Sara Beck, Lauren Lucas and Kimberly Quinn will release “Lo Fi Dolly,” an album of reimagined country classics, including songs by Dolly, Emmylou, Ronnie Milsap, Vince Gill, Roseanne Cash, Willie Nelson and others. 

Having toured together for years on and off, Lauren and Sara are looking forward to bringing the flavor of “Lo Fi Dolly” and their original songs to a stage near you in the spring and summer of 2023. Live onstage together, the two women swap stories, guitars, snare drums, and stompboxes – taking the audience on a musical ride that is both intimate and sweeping. Their harmonies are tight, and their affection for each other and the art of making music take center stage. This is a show not to be missed.

Learn more about them at sarabeck.net

Saturday July 8th, 2023   
FocusMusic Presents Girl Blue at Community Lutheran Church. 21014 Whitfield Place , Sterling, VA 20165 | 7pm | adv tickets $25, day-of $30 (member / congregation as-applicable $25 at the door) | Livestream will be available for at least 48 hours after the event

If you like Alanis Morissette, Brandi Carlisle, and crying in public, you’re going to love Girl Blue. Writing deeply emotional songs with strong singable hooks, singer-songwriter Arielle O’Keefe is absolutely one to watch. 

She’s been featured on top Spotify playlists (New Music Friday) and charts (#2 on US Viral Charts), in national commercials, and on top blogs like the Huffington Post. She has received 7 Thomas Edison Music Awards, twice receiving Songwriter of the Year and Solo Act of the Year. It’s been said “she…has the kind of spark that makes stars” and, most especially as a live performer, she has an authenticity that regularly moves audience members to tears. 

She is based outside of Saratoga Springs, NY. She records all her own music at home with her partner/producer Jimi W. and is funded entirely by her community of fans on Patreon and across social media.

More at girlbluemusic.com

Saturday October 7th, 2023    
FocusMusic Presents Vance Gilbert at Community Lutheran Church. 21014 Whitfield Place , Sterling, VA 20165 | 7pm | adv tickets $25, day-of $30 (member / congregation as-applicable $25 at the door) | Livestream will be available for at least 48 hours after the event

“If Joni Mitchell and Richie Havens had a love child, with Rodney Dangerfield as the midwife, the results might have been something close to the great Vance Gilbert.” As the above quote from Richmond magazine suggests, Vance Gilbert defies stereotypes. It’s little wonder then that he also exceeds expectations. In this case, those two qualities go hand in hand. “I’m black, I sing, I play an acoustic guitar, and I don’t play the blues,” Gilbert insists. That may be a broad statement, but it rings with truth. 

What he does do is make memorable music, as evidenced by the 13 albums he’s released so far, as well as the mark he’s made on the folk and acoustic music scenes in general. Over the course of a prolific career that extends back to the early ’90s, he’s recorded with his good friend Ellis Paul and shared stages worldwide with Aretha Franklin, Shawn Colvin, Arlo Guthrie, the Milk Carton Kids, George Carlin (150+ shows), Anita Baker, the Subdudes, Paul Reiser and any number of others. 

He’s also made a prominent presence at some of the world’s most prestigious gatherings, among them the Newport, Winnipeg, Rocky Mountain, Calgary, Ottawa, and Falcon Ridge folk festivals, the Kate Wolf Music Festival, and Australia’s Woodford Folk Festival and Mullum Music Festival. “There was also that one nude festival in Maryland,” Gilbert recalls. “I don’t recall the name of that one, but I have to admit that the name wasn’t the first thing I would remember.” 

Naturally, Gilbert can be forgiven for that minor oversight, given the amount of praise he’s received from the pundits. His remarkable rapport with his audiences and his free spirited performances inspired one critic to hail him as “a folkie trapped in a vaudevillian body,” with “a voice that could have been on the opera stage, a wit that could have been on a comedy stage and a songwriting talent that’s thrust him on the folk stage for decades.”

Details TBA

Details TBA