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Upcoming Concerts:
Saturday, September 11th – 7:30 p.m. Kate Wallace, with David WestKate is truly a musician’s musician and a songwriter’s songwriter; an expressive guitarist; a consummate vocalist with a gorgeous, graceful voice that just fills you up; and a warm and engaging entertainer. Her songs are deeply intelligent, powerful, beautiful, and life-affirming. She also, by the way, organizes the popular acoustic music series, Trinity Backstage – another Santa Barbara concert series that you ought to attend. (Check out www.trinitybackstage.com, and go to their shows – terrific artists, nice people, beautiful venue.) Kate has spent more than 20 years as a welcome member of the most respected songwriter circles in Nashville and Los Angeles. Known for her remarkable voice and songs that are full of passion and honesty, Kate has been the New Folk winner at both the Napa Folk Festival and the Sierra Folk Festival. She has been a main stage performer at the Kerrville Folk Festival since 1993, and has played most of the great clubs throughout the country such as the Bluebird Café in Nashville, the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Club Passim in Boston and Fiddler’s Green in Atlanta. Her recordings include “Kate Wallace” (from which came three music videos that were in steady rotation), “Two Lane America,” “Too Long From the Sea” and “Politics and Religion.” Her songs have been recorded by famous and infamous artists alike. She’s recorded sound tracks for major movies, been featured in two different books on songwriters, been on numerous television shows including Music City Tonight, and won the Johnny Mercer Songwriting Award for her song “Going Through the Emotions.” She has also had the pleasure of doing back-up vocals for some of her favorite artists including John Stewart, Peter Gallway, Tom Kimmel, Michael Lille, Sally Barris, Dana Cooper and Tom Prasada-Rao. Maya Angelo has quite correctly said that Kate has “the voice of an angel.” 
At this concert, Kate will be accompanied by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist David West. David has produced over sixty albums as a staff producer for CMH records in Los Angeles, and many more as a freelance producer through his Play Ball! Musical Services and Studio “Z” based in Santa Barbara, CA. As a session guitarist (acoustic and electric), bassist (upright and electric), banjoist (5-string) and mandolinist, he has appeared on hundreds of albums, TV shows and commercials plus many film sound tracks. His early career was spent on the road with the Cache Valley Drifters (founding member) and accompanist to songwriter Kate Wolf, and has for the last fifteen years been primarily a studio musician. He still occasionally tours, backing up some of his favorite musicians, including Peter Lewis (Moby Grape), Chris Hillman (Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas), California musician/musicologist Peter Feldmann, and of course, Nashville/California songwriter Kate Wallace. Admission is $15. Tickets are available now. Link to Kate Wallace’s web site Link to David West’s web site Co-sponsored by Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta. 
Saturday, October 9th – 7:30 p.m. Tom Prasada-Rao & Cary CooperTom Prasada-Rao is a singer-songwriter of breathtaking vision. From Rishi’s Garden with its homage to Ravi Shankar to the groove of Sleeping Beauty, Tom’s music is melodic, ambitious, and reverent. In addition to performing and producing, he’s a teacher, currently at White Rock Montessori in Dallas, formerly of The University of Virginia’s Young Writer’s Workshops – where he created the songwriting curriculum and taught for eight years. From headlining major festivals to the relative obscurity of his recording studio, Tom’s work has blossomed into an impressive resumé of producing credits as well as covers of his songs by other artists. Tom Prasada-Rao was born in Ethiopia of Indian parents and raised in Washington DC. He moved to Texas in 2003 and is married to singer-songwriter Cary Cooper. A virtual world music ensemble rolled into one guy. His voice weaves incantations, and the guitar is a magic wand in the hands of this extraordinary musician. — The Takoma Park Folk Festival The most moving, pointed and memorable songs reflect Prasada-Rao’s indebtedness to Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan, and Richard Thompson, and other singer songwriters who have something to say, and a distinctive way of saying it. — Mike Joyce, The Washington Post Prasada-Rao gives his folk songs an R&B flavor. George Benson, Grover Washington Jr, Marvin Gaye and a number of other Motown greats come to mind… — Charlene J. Arsenault, The Boston Globe Tom Prasada-Rao is as far from boring folk music as you can get and still be holding an acoustic guitar. — The Free Times (Columbia, SC) Cary Cooper eloquently says the things we ALL think, but rarely have the courage to say; and she does so within the framework of hauntingly beautiful melodies and hip grooves. In addition to being named a 2007 finalist at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival Songwriter Showcase, Cary has also been an Emerging Artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, a finalist at the Mountain Stage Newsong Contest and a 2004 WINNER of the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition. Cary loves to teach almost as much as she loves to write and perform. She has served as one of the songwriting teachers for Young Writer’s Workshop at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville; taught at Summersongs both in New York and California; and she currently works with Paul Reisler helping conduct “Kid Pan Alley” workshops across the country as well as with the Dallas writer’s organization, “Writer’s Garret,” where she is an artist in residence. Tom Prasada-Rao and Cary Cooper are married (to each other) and live in Dallas with Cary’s two daughters, Caroline and Hannah Kate, and Thurman, an obnoxiously large and unusually lovable Goldendoodle. Admission is $15. Tickets are available now. Link to Tom Prasada-Rao’s web site Link to Cary Cooper’s web site Co-sponsored by Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta. 
Kim Robertson 
Laurie Rasmussen Sunday, October 31st – 3:00 p.m. matinee Kim Robertson and Laurie Rasmussen – Celtic Harp and SongThe ancient peoples of Europe marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter by celebrating a holiday in late autumn, Samhain. Among the Celts, Samhain marked the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It was one of four Celtic holidays linked to important transitions in the annual cycle of seasons. Through the usual channels, it became Halloween. To mark the occasion with more than a bag of candy and a goofy costume, Song Tree proudly presents an afternoon of Celtic harp music and more. Internationally renowned harpists Kim Robertson and Laurie Rasmussen combine their talents in a special concert featuring the powerfully evocative Celtic harp and song. Performing duets and solo renditions of traditional Celtic, American, ethnic and original compositions on a variety of harps, Kim and Laurie express a fresh, innovative style with these traditional and legendary instruments. Their eclectic concerts include songs, humor and a few surprises. Kim and Laurie showcase the dynamic versatility of the Celtic harp in an informal, entertaining performance. Join us for this fun and musical celebration of the season. Goofy costumes optional. Admission is $15. Tickets are available now. Link to Kim Robertson’s web site Link to Laurie Rasmussen’s web site Co-sponsored by Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta. 
Photo Credit: TR Ritchie Saturday, November 13th Cosy Sheridan & TR RitchieCosy and TR have graced the Song Tree stage before, and we’re thrilled to have them back. Cosy Sheridan has been called “one of the era’s finest and most thoughtful singer/songwriters.” She has played everywhere from Carnegie Hall to the Philadelphia Folk Festival and is the winner of numerous songwriting awards. Her music has appeared in best-selling author Robert Fulghum’s book, Third Wish, as well as on The Dr. Demento Show and NPR’s Car Talk. Her newest CD Eros (WindRiver), weaves a cycle of songs about love. Sheridan is a storyteller as well as songwriter; she moves seamlessly from lyrical story into song and back again. Her modern renditions of mythology (meet Hades as a biker) have won her fans and praise from the press. The Cornell Folksong Society says, “Sheridan is frank, feisty, sublimely and devilishly funny. She fuses myth with modern culture; Persephone with Botox.” Cosy’s guitar work shines – a testament to years of honing her craft (she was a student of both Eric Schoenberg and Guy Van Duser) as does her voice: an instrument of warm shimmering timbre. Together with her partner TR Ritchie, an award-winning songwriter himself, this is one of the most entertaining and intelligent touring acts on the folk concert circuit. TR Ritchie learned his musical chops as a busker at the famed Pike Street Market of Seattle during the late ’70’s, a solid apprenticeship that resulted in Not Just Another Pretty Songwriter, his first recording, in 1984. Along the way, numerous songwriting awards have accumulated. He continues to tour nationally, both as a solo and in support of long-time musical partner Cosy Sheridan, and in 2008, along with Sheridan, founded the Moab Folk Camp, a week-long series of music workshops held in conjunction with the Moab Folk Festival. In concert Ritchie is spontaneous, engaging and spirited. He serves up his music with technical grace and unwinds the narrative of his life and times in words and song. By turns witty, insightful and philosophical, the natural storyteller in Ritchie delivers a gem of a performance every time out. No bells or whistles. What you see is what you get: first-rate songs, written with a poet’s love of language and a storyteller’s turn of phrase, performed with unapologetic enthusiasm by a player at the top of his game. Michael Terry, booking coordinator for the long-running Dallas venue, Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse, sums things up this way, “TR Ritchie must be the reincarnation of Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Samuel Clemens and Will Rogers. How else to explain his great songs? His melodies are classics that will stay with you for years. TR is one of the very best!” Admission is $15. Tickets are available now. Link to Cosy Sheridan’s web site Link to TR Ritchie’s web site Co-sponsored by Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta. 
Saturday, December 11th Bayou SecoTo wind up a terrific 2010 concert season, we are gonna have some FUN! Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie are Bayou Seco – a musical force of nature from New Mexico whose roots are deep in the Southwest but whose branches reach far across the world. They have collected music from older traditional American musicians for most of their lives, focusing especially on Cajun music in southwestern Louisiana and, since 1980, from traditional Hispanic, Cowboy, and Tohono O’Odham musicians in New Mexico and Arizona. Ken and Jeanie both play fiddle and guitar and sing. Ken also plays one- and three-row diatonic accordions, 5-string banjo (fretless and fretted), harmonica, and mandolin. They play concerts, dances (where they teach Spanish Colonial dances from New Mexico and other dances), art centers, schools, museums, folk clubs, weddings, wakes, state fairs and other types of events throughout the United States and western Europe. Their enthusiasm for the musics and cultures they share is absolutely infectious; and their performances are fun, high-energy and always celebratory. Bayou Seco is a BLAST!! “When they spin out their tunes, magically a time is conjured up when people instinctively got up and danced because they were moved to, because it felt good, not because it was some kind of bizarre bar room mating ritual… There is something instantly recognizable in the songs of BAYOU SECO. It’s as if you can hear the foundation that modern music is built upon, singing from underneath.” — Dan Hyatt, Albuquerque Journal “BAYOU SECO emphasizes the rich cross cultural nature of music in general – a little from here, a touch from there… Divergent musical styles, so well cross-pollinated, they have become hybrids.” — Gene Armstrong, Arizona Daily Star “The common element of their music is the sheer happiness each song projects.” — Steve Terrell, Santa Fe Reporter Admission is $15. Tickets are available now. Link to Bayou Seco’s web site Co-sponsored by Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta. 
Saturday, January 8th, 2011 – 7:30 p.m. The UCSB Middle East EnsembleOur concert space will be filled with exotic sound, color, and motion in this rare opportunity to enjoy these fabulous performers up close. Led by the scholarly and entertaining Professor Scott Marcus, the UCSB Middle East Ensemble has performed at Song Tree on two previous occasions, giving us two of our most memorable shows. Come and join us…bring a camera! 
Founded in 1989 by ethnomusicology professor Scott Marcus, the UCSB Middle East Ensemble has performed widely throughout the West and in Washington D.C. In the autumn of 1999, seven members of the Ensemble performed in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan as the sole U.S. representatives at the International “Melodies of the East” Festival in the city of Samarkand. At this writing — July 2010 — the Ensemble is performing in Egypt, invited by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture to perform a series of concerts in Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor. 
The remarkable popularity of the ensemble lies in part in the ever-changing texture of its performances. Orchestral pieces are interwoven with instrumental solos, group dances, choral numbers, solo vocalists, and solo dancers. Playing traditional instruments, the ensemble’s repertoire reflects the great diversity of cultures found in the Middle East. The ensemble performs music and dance from Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, Sephardic and Oriental Jewish, Kurdish, and Assyrian cultures. Performance items range from classical pieces to religious, folk, popular, and children’s songs, as well as folk, classical, and cabaret-style dances. Their performances are noted for being colorful and fast-paced. Following a tradition developed in Cairo, Beirut, and Damascus, men wear tuxedos while women wear colorful traditional dresses. The ensemble also performs music and dance of Armenia, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Assyrian-Chaldean Christians of Iraq, Israel, and includes repertory from the Sufi mystical tradition of Islam. Lively music, swirling dancers, and a lot of smiles interweave with an astonishing richness of cultural diversity at a Middle East Ensemble concert. We are happy and privileged to welcome Dr. Marcus and friends back to our stage. Admission to this concert is $20. Tickets will be available soon. Link to The UCSB Middle East Ensemble’s web site Co-sponsored by Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta. | |
