Hippo Magazine announced its Best of 2010 awards yesterday, and Studio 99 won several categories for Nashua! Congrats Elise!

1. Best Date Place
2. Best Place From Which to Enjoy the View
3. Best Place to Be Seen

If you haven’t been up to the Studio, yourself a favor and check out an upcoming show or participate in a jam session. Here’s a sample of the some of the cool stuff that willl be happening in the coming weeks:

Tonight at 8, They’ll be hosting Bread and Bones, a Vermont-based folk trio with a strong traditional/roots tradition.

“…the fine art of storytelling put to song, whether it’s about the down-and-out, leaving one’s homeland, or a dark encounter in a Dublin park.”

Opening for Bread & Bones will be Pesky J. Nixon, a Boston-based acoustic/folk/rock band which trades in infectious grooves and gorgeous vocal harmonies.

Saturday 3/20 @ 8, Craig Bickhardt will grace our stage. Formerly a country/folk hit maker writing songs for others, Bickhardt is now touring in support of his most recent release, Brother to the Wind.

“Songs of life, with intruiguing character sketches and penetrating observations, of restless searching and revealing discovery.” – The Raleigh News and Observer

Sunday 3/21 @ 8, chamber music will return to Studio 99! Constantine Finehouse, piano, and Olga Casceanova, violin, will present a program of music by Chopin, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel.

The studio is located at 115 Main Street, back entrance (off of the Water Street lot), Nashua, NH 03060-2710 Phone: 603-562-5179. Check out Studio 99’s Web site at http://www.studio99nashua.com/
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THE CLAIRE LYNCH BAND
with
AMOS, STOCKWELL AND BUCHWALD

Tickets: $18 General / $16 Students and Seniors
Ticket reservations and info: 802-254-9276
Venue: The United Church of Putney at 15 Kimball Hill in Putney, VT

Twilight Music presents an evening of bluegrass and Americana music with The Claire Lynch Band and special guests, Amos, Stockwell and Buchwald. By any measure, the Claire Lynch Band is high on the bluegrass world’s A-List, with musicians whose accolades include the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year award and two Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album (Claire); two IBMA Guitar Player of the Year awards (Jim Hurst); two IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards (Mark Schatz); and Canadian Open Mandolin Championship and Florida State Championship awards on both fiddle and mandolin (Jason Thomas).

Claire Lynch began her musical career in the mid 1970’s with the Front Porch String Band, a quartet which became one of the sharpest, most exciting post-modern bluegrass bands on the circuit. In 2004, she formed The Claire Lynch band with multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire, Jim Hurst. In 2005, Claire signed her second three-album deal with Rounder Records, and has since released CDs containing an IBMA Song of the Year nominee and a #1 song on the National Bluegrass Survey. Her latest CD, Whatcha Gonna Do, took the #1 spot on the January 2010 BMP national bluegrass CD chart.

An in-demand songwriter and recording session vocalist, Lynch’s songs have been recorded by Patty Loveless, the Seldom Scene, Cherryholmes, Kathy Mattea, the Whites and Stephanie Davis, and her exquisite harmonies have graced albums by such artists as Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea, Jesse Winchester, Sarah Watkins and Ralph Stanley.

The Claire Lynch Band includes Jim Hurst (guitar, banjo, vocals), Mark Schatz (bass, clawhammer banjo, percussive dance) and Jason Thomas (fiddle, mandolin, vocals). After five years with the band, Jim moves on to pursue his solo career after this weekend’s concerts in New England. Hurst has released three CDs, and recorded and toured worldwide with Trisha Yearwood, Sara Evans, Holly Dunn, Missy Raines, Travis Tritt, John Cowan, Tim O’Brien and others. A prominent figure in the new acoustic music scene, Mark Schatz has worked and/or recorded with an impressive variety of artists including Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Maura O’Connell, Tony Rice, John Hartford, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Tim & Mollie O’Brien and most recently, Nickel Creek. He also acts as Musical Director for the internationally-acclaimed Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, which showcases his other talents – clawhammer banjo and Southern Appalachian clog dancing. Toronto native, Jason Thomas (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), is an award winning multi-instrumentalist who plays a wide range of musical styles. He has performed and recorded with the likes of Tony Rice, David Grier, Matt Flinner, Vassar Clements, Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien.

“a sterling, silvery vocal presence and a gift for supple, emotional ornamentation…. Lynch’s talent is a diamond… gorgeous voice and sense of purpose, supported by a superb ensemble”
- The Washington Post

“the perfect mix of that famed trio Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. She’s got the interpretive skills of Ronstadt, the clear and pure voice of Harris and the bluegrass soul of Parton.”
- The Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Claire has complimented many of my records with her beautiful harmonies, but she has one of the sweetest, purest and best lead voices in the music business today. I’m so happy to see and hear her shine on her own. I love this CD and I love Claire. She’s a great gal.” – Dolly Parton

“Claire Lynch is a rare talent indeed. She has a beautiful, effervescent voice which can handle both contemporary and traditional musics with complete authenticity. I love to listen to her and I love to sing with her.” – Linda Ronstadt

Amos, Stockwell and Buchwald, five seasoned Vermont singers and pickers, will open the concert. The band features Bob Amos, for many years the guitarist and lead vocalist with Sugar Hill recording artists, Front Range, his daughter, Sarah Amos, on vocals, 2005 Merlefest bluegrass banjo contest winner, and member of newgrass and contemporary folk trio, The Stockwell Brothers, Bruce Stockwell, Kelly Stockwell (former Goodtimer) on bass, and Adam Buchwald on mandolin. The group plays a mix of hard driving, traditional bluegrass standards and Amos’ original songs.

For more information, visit www.clairelynch.com, www.bobamos.com, www.brucestockwell.com and www.myspace.com/circlestrings.

April 17^th, 2010 they’ll host  David Grier, an astonishing Nashville-based guitar virtuoso.

May 8^th, 2010 they’ll host The Joseph Brent Trio, a virtuosic classical/jazz mandolin player from NYC. He will be performing with his trio of mandolin, bass, and clarinet. They play everything from classical-jazz and are all professors at the Mannes school of Music in NYC.

Amy Black and the Red Clay Rascals (GTSB sister band) will be performing at Caffe Paradiso, 45 Palmer Street in Lowell on March 13th as a part of hometown legend Jack Kerouac’s birthday celebration.

For more information visit the event Web site at http://www.cometolowell.com/

The Boston Swing Dance

When – Saturday, March 13th

Admission – $15, which includes a beginners’ lesson.

Student Discount – $10 (Show your current student ID to get $5 off the admission price.)

Beginners’ Lesson – starts at 8:00 pm. The one hour lesson includes beginning swing dance, Two-Step, and ends with one intermediate swing dance move.

The band – plays from 9:00 to midnight.

Get ready for a night of Western Swing! Not to be confused with the dance “West Coast Swing”, Western Swing can be described as country jazz, popularized during the Big Band era by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Asleep at the Wheel is a group playing it today. This music really swings.

The Doughboys, known as “The Best Two-Step Band in the Land”, is also great to swing dance to. Joined by Joyce Andersen, the evening will offer plenty of swinging, Two-Stepping and good times. Oh, and feel free to wear your cowboy duds. If you want to check out some Western Swing music, listen to Asleep at the Wheel here, or check out the music clip of The Dixie Doughboys below.

The lesson will be taught by Susan Huppe and Roger Weiss and will include the usual Swing and Two-Step, as well as the 10-step Polka (taught after the first set).

Click here to hear them do “There’s an Old Watermill” (3Mb mp3 file)

Check them out on Youtube:  Honey Don’t Sugar Moon Right or Wrong

The BBU is pleased to welcome Blue Highway on Saturday, March 20th for a concert at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington , MA . We last presented the band in 2009 at Joe Val, but this time they’ll have the evening all to themselves for a big evening to celebrate the band’s 15th anniversary.

It is rare for a band to last for 15 years in any genre, even if it goes through various lineup changes. It is astonishing to keep the same five members throughout a career that has produced numerous awards. Blue Highway is the very paradigm of a modern bluegrass band: a truly self-contained ensemble that excels on every level.

Instrumentally, their sound is defined by the intricate interplay of eleven-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Dobro Player of the Year Rob Ickes, hard-driving banjo player Jason Burleson, and the rippling mandolin and fiddle of Shawn Lane . Vocally, bassist Wayne Taylor has one of the most soulful and identifiable voices in the music, which blends seamlessly with Lane’s pure tenor. Guitarist and vocalist Tim Stafford remains one of the most respected and admired flat pickers on the scene, contributing propulsive rhythm and nimble lead playing in addition to stirring lead and harmony vocals.

It is as songwriters, however, that Blue Highway have truly enlivened and extended bluegrass. All members contribute, from Burleson and Ickes’s jaw dropping instrumentals to the nuanced, poetic songs of Taylor , Lane, and Stafford . Of their last album of new material, 2008’s all-original Through the Windows of a Train, NPR’s Folk Alley said, “Through the Window of a Train covers such topics as war, the homeless and mortality – not typical fodder for bluegrass bands. Familiar topics also surface (trains, lost love, wanderlust), but they’re presented with new perspectives.”

To mark the band’s 15th anniversary, they have recently released Some Day, an anthology featuring previously released and new material, on Rounder Records. As their innumerable awards (including multiple IBMA awards, Grammy nominations, and a Dove award) attest, Blue Highway represent the pinnacle of expression in bluegrass, echoing back the timeless roots of the music while continuing to find new musical and lyrical contexts to explore.

Help Blue Highway celebrate fifteen years by visiting http://www.bluehighwayband.com/Pages/15Years.html

Blue Highway video from the 2009 Joe Val Bluegrass Festival – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdxiKChcrTo