San Fermin
SAN FERMIN BRINGS ORCHESTRAL POP to MASS MoCA
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – San Fermin brings its enchanting orchestral indie-rock to the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA on Saturday, December 5, at 8pm. Folk revivalist and MASS MoCA favorite Sam Amidon, a singer and multi-instrumentalist, warms up the crowd for San Fermin. Sounding something like a blend of Arcade Fire, the National, Bang on a Can, and Polyphonic Spree, San Fermin is the brainchild of Brooklyn composer-songwriter Ellis Ludwig-Leone. His songs are rendered by a veritable fleet of horns, strings, and singers, in what NPR calls a “feast of gorgeous chamber-pop.”
Anais Mitchell
ANAIS MITCHELL to BRING ‘BLISSFUL, EPIC’ FOLK to MCLA
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) — Folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell will perform in the Eleanor Furst Roberts Auditorium at the MCLA Church Street Center on Friday, December 4, at 7:30pm as part of the 2015-16 MCLA Presents! series. Mitchell, who is based in Vermont, recorded for Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records for several years before starting her own Wilderland label in 2012. Duo Bridget Kearney and Benjamin Lazar Davis will warm up the crowd for Mitchell.
Dust Bowl Faeries
RYDER COOLEY ART and MUSIC FEATURED at WHITNEY ARTS CENTER
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – “The Collected Works of Lady Ramshackle,” a mixed-media installation by Ryder Cooley, and a performance by chamber-folk ensemble Ryder Cooley & Dust Bowl Faeries, both at the Whitney Center for the Arts, will highlight the First Fridays Artswalk in downtown Pittsfield on Friday, December 4, 2015. Cooley’s installation is part of the Whitney’s “Third Annual Whimsy” art show, for which there will be a reception from 5 to 8pm, immediately followed at 8pm by a free performance by Dust Bowl Faeries, an ethereal gothic-folk ensemble featuring bittersweet songs with echoes of gypsy-folk, pop, cabaret and dark circus music. The Dust Bowl Faeries concert is the Afterwalk Party at the Whit.
Jackie Greene (photo Michael Halsband)
FORMER BLACK CROWES GUITARIST JACKIE GREENE BRINGS ORIGINAL ROOTS-ROCK to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Roots-rock singer-songwriter Jackie Greene, perhaps best known for his work as guitarist for Black Crowes and Phil Lesh & Friends, helps Club Helsinki Hudson celebrate its 20th anniversary with a two-night stint on Friday and Saturday, December 4 and 5, at 9pm. Greene synthesizes his deep affinity for American roots styles into timeless, personally charged music. Armed with a persuasive voice, a vivid songwriting skill and an instinctive mastery of several instruments, Greene has carved out a unique musical niche.
Jim Shepard
AUTHOR JIM SHEPARD to READ FROM WORK at WILLIAMS
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Author Jim Shepard, who teaches English at Williams College, will give a fiction reading in Griffin Hall, room 3, at Williams College on Monday, December 7, at 7pm. Shepard is the author of six previous novels and four story collections. His most recent novel, “The Book of Aron” (2015), tells the story of a young boy in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, was a finalist for the Kirkus Award and is a finalist for the Carnegie Medal in Fiction. This event is free and open to the public.