Lonesome Ace String Band at TAPAC - Tuesday, February 25th at 6pm
Masters of their trade, The Lonesome Ace Stringband brings grit,
skill, and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass
and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that
is at once fresh and timeless.
The trio’s sound is anchored in the fiddle and clawhammer banjo of
John Showman and Chris Coole. They are joined by a rotating cast of
extraordinary upright bassists (including founding member Max Malone,
Charles James, and Lotus Wight). With spine-tingling harmonies and
interchanging lead vocals, there's a depth of groove and sense of
space not often heard in bluegrass today, a level of instrumental
interplay and vocal blend uncommon in old-time, and an on-stage
rapport that transcends all of this. As of 2023, the band has toured
internationally, been engaged at some of the largest festivals in
North America and Europe (including Merlefest, Rockygrass,
Wintergrass, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival,
Gooikorts, John Hartford Memorial ), and recorded 6 albums.
“This is 21st-century acoustic music at its stripped-down,
sharply-rendered best!”
- Songlines Magazine
“Three powerful musicians, playing and singing some powerful music”
- Bluegrass Unlimited
Website - www.lonesomeace.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/lonesomeacestringband
Instagram - https://www.facebook.com/lonesomeacestringband
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/504JYVhTf3TWNWUEiV5gcb
Dirty Cello at TAPAC - Friday, March 7th at 7pm
All ages concert, $20 tickets can be purchased at the door or online.
Dirty Cello...cello like you’ve never heard before.
From Iceland to Italy, and all over the U.S., San Francisco based band Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues, rock, and Americana. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you’ve never heard before. From down home blues and rock with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin’ Americana, Dirty Cello is a band that gets your heart thumping and your toes tapping!
“When lead guitar is replaced by the sound of hot licks on a cello, blues, rock and bluegrass rise to a new dimension. Dirty Cello — a four-piece band from San Francisco — makes its style of string music to inspire audiences to swing, sway and dance.” Nick Diamantides, Ashland Daily Tidings.
"Dirty Cello’s music is all over the map: funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic, and textured, and only occasionally classical." Lou Fancher, Oakland Magazine.
"The band plays every style imaginable, and does some fantastic covers. (Their rendition of “Purple Haze” is incredible.) But what is most spectacular about them is hearing the depth of soul in Roudman’s playing—it goes beyond what most people would expect from the instrument. She plays it with so much heart, you’ll wonder why more bands don’t have a cellist." Good Times Santa Cruz
Scottish Fish at TAPAC - Friday, April 11th at 7pm
Scottish Fish present a fresh take on traditional and contemporary Scottish and Cape Breton music. Their lively and unique arrangements are woven together from session music handed down from generations of the tradition’s finest players. They have performed at many public and private venues and festivals across the United States and Europe including Boston Celtic Music Festival, the Bellingham Celtic Festival, and Festival de Ortigeuira. Their music and performances have earned them features on WGBH, KALW, and in American Girl and Folkworld Magazines; attracted the attention of programs such as America's Got Talent; and secured an international audience of over two hundred thousand followers on Instagram. In 2017, the group released their debut album, "Splash," and followed it with "Tidings," a 5-track holiday EP, in 2019. Their newest record, "Upscale," produced by pianist and composer Neil Pearlman, was released in October, 2022, marking the band’s ten year anniversary.
Scottish Fish have been named as “one of the most energetic and creative acts to take root in the local Celtic music scene this century” by Boston Irish reporter Sean Smith, and Scottish Fiddler Hanneke Cassel has described their sound as “both incredibly musical, and just a little unusual.”
“Individually they are all creative and talented,” writes Cassel, “and together they spark each other, pushing each other even further to make amazing music.”
Gordie Tentrees & Jaxon Haldane at TAPAC - Sunday, April 27th at 4pm
2023 International Acoustic Music Award (IAMA) winners Gordie Tentrees (Yukon) and Jaxon Haldane (Manitoba) met in 2005 (Fred Eaglesmith Picnic, Ontario) and swapped records before hitting the road with disparate musical aspirations. Gordie performed over 3000 concerts around the world, often touring as Eaglesmith’s opening act, learning about the music business, and leveraging his previous experience in the boxing ring (3x Golden Glove champ). Tentrees also toured with James Cotten, Mary Gauthier, Kelly Joe Phelps, Steve Poltz, and Ray Wylie Hubbard, to name a few. Jaxon was meanwhile tearing up stages from Churchill to Belfast (D.Rangers bandleader/banjo player), producing records for his indie label (Dollartone), and touring with the likes of Petunia, The Sadies, Jon Spencer, and Romi Mayes. His close relationship with lifelong musical hero and mentor Willie P. Bennett led to Haldane recording Willie’s last record, Sharpen The Plow, just prior to Bennett’s passing in 2008. Haldane founded the Willie P. Bennett Legacy site to pay tribute to his deceased friend. Interestingly, Bennett and Eaglesmith spent 25 years performing and touring, setting an example of camaraderie and excellence that still guides the way for Tentrees and Haldane. Learn more here https://www.tentrees.ca/about
Tony McManus at TAPAC - Saturday, May 10th at 7pm
Hailed by John Renbourn as 'the best Celtic guitarist in the world,’ Tony McManus has also been listed as one of the 50 transcendent guitarists of all time by Guitar Player Magazine. Tony has both extended and transcended the parameters of contemporary Celtic music. Ranked by peers and predecessors alike alongside the guitar world’s all-time greats, his fiendishly dexterous, dazzlingly original playing draws on traditions from the entire Celtic world, along with further ranging flavours such as jazz and eastern European music.
Long applauded for his uncanny ability to transpose the delicate, complex ornamentation characteristic of traditional bagpipe or fiddle tunes – even the phrasing of a Gaelic song – onto his own six strings, McManus is being increasingly acknowledged as a pioneering figure in bridging the realms of Celtic music and other guitar genres, performing with the likes of Alasdair Fraser, Kevin Burke, and Natalie McMaster, among others. He has come to represent Celtic music in the guitar world, making appearances at guitar specific festivals such as the Chet Atkins Festival in Nashville; the Ellnora Guitar Festival in the Krannert Center, with the likes of Pat Metheny, Kaki King, Molly Tuttle, and Steve Dawson; and he has appeared at Guitar Festivals in Italy, Australia, France, Scotland, England, and Germany. He played at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in the “All Star Guitar Night” with Béla Fleck and more, headlined by the legendary Les Paul. His ability to reach audiences unfamiliar with traditional music is amazing, even reaching into classical events such as the Dundee and Derry Guitar festivals, appearing six times between the two!