The Stage at HEIRLOOM promises to be the perfect compliment to the artisanal marketplace and local food eatery. A place to relax, enjoy the day, and connect with community. Live acoustic music and spoken word will take you on journey, introducing you to artists across a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, all performing within the core event theme of heirloom – authentic, handmade, traditional – according to their own interpretations and life experiences. Join. Sit. Listen.
DOUBLE DIAMOND
Double Diamond is the latest musical collaboration between Berkshires’ Sarah McNair and Karl Mullen, formerly of indie folk favorite Wandering Rocks. This bluegrass duo will make the hills shimmy and shake as they pluck their way through some classic rollicking tunes. (Fresh Grass, 2013)
GRAZIELLA HARTMAN
Graziella Hartman is making her professional debut at Heirloom. She is 12 years old is writing and performing original songs.
TRIO CAFE BUDAPEST
Hailing from Williamstown, Mass., Jimmy Bergin (viola), Ted Gilley (bass) and Bill Wootters (keyboard) will kick off our HEIRLOOM festival with gypsy jazz standards and hefty dose of local flavor.
NORMAN BURDICK
A local legend, Norm’s music and presence lift up the minds and spirits of all who hear him play.
CONNOR KELLY
Common Folk Creator Connor Kelly is a visual artist and musician in his senior year at Drury High School. “Common Folk people are some of most kind and generous I’ve ever met. I became a member of Common Folk many months ago, and my experience has been great. Because of the collective, I recently my performed at Bright Ideas Brewing as part of Common Folk’s “Tuesday Tunes.” Common Folk, to me, is a place where you can put all worries behind you and just be you. Common Folk lets him be an artist without questioning his or her work. It is such a free environment and the motivation to create fills the air.”
JAMES BARRY
James Barry is best known for his performances on Broadway and Nat’l Tours in shows like Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Million Dollar Quartet, and works locally quite often with Berkshire Theatre Group and Chester Theatre Company. Wherever he has lived for the past 20 years, he has also been performing his own original music with bands and on his own. Influenced by everyone from the Beatles to the Buzzcocks, Ronnie Spector to Robyn Hitchcock, Big Star to Little Walter- James’ quirky brand of original power pop celebrates our 20th century musical heritage in the jingle jangle morning and in the still of the night. And he loves Irish trad.
SHLOMO FRANKLIN
Growing up, Shlomo Franklin’s identity depended on where you met him. In Monsey, NY, he was a Hasidic Jew who spent his days studying Yiddish and the Torah at an ultra-Orthodox religious school. Roughly 75 miles north in Bethel, NY, he was a farmboy milking cows and baling hay in the rolling fields that surrounded the site of the iconic Woodstock festival. In his head, though, Shlomo Franklin was always a dreamer. Without access to TV, radio, or popular culture, he used his imagination to transcend the boundaries of his youth and create a world all his own. Now at the tender age of 22, he’s vividly brought that world to life with his stunning debut EP, ‘Don’t Love Anybody.’ Produced by GRAMMY-winner C Lanzbom, the stripped-down collection filters ’60s and ’70s folk rock through a thoroughly modern lens, tipping its cap to some of American music’s most iconoclastic songwriters.
Franklin’s songs situate him in a long lineage of troubadours and poets, who manage to make sense of our nonsensical world, who tackle well-worn emotional territory from the kind of fresh perspective that makes it feel like virgin ground. He wrings every ounce of honesty and emotion from the music when he sings, delivering a series of intimate, unforgettable performances. At some turns a gentle tremble, at others an eerie, raspy wail, his voice is hopeful but experienced, weary but insistent, often sounding as if it’s lived dozens more lifetimes than the man it belongs to.
GREG HALL
In story and sound, the music of Greg Hall lives somewhere between the classic country tradition of Willie Nelson, and modern singer-songwriters like Josh Ritter. He leans on his upbringing on a farm in Connecticut, and the landscapes of western Massachusetts, where he lives today, as inspiration for upbeat country tracks and thoughtful folk tunes about loss, aging, identity and making sense of the weird modern world. Greg’s latest release “Live! At The Barnhouse” shows off his ability to tell even more complex stories with a full band behind him. Though you’ll feel the references in Greg Hall’s music, and thoroughly enjoy his sly wink-and-a-nod style covers, audiences can also see that his unmatched musical fashions and studied approach is what’s missing in modern folk and country.
Stage programming is free with your HEIRLOOM entry!
Thank you to musician Karl Mullen for curating such a phenomenal line-up of local artists for all to enjoy.