On May 16th, we welcome back the annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Preview Tour, for its sixth annual appearance at Common Ground. This year, we’re featuring two of the artists that were selected at the 2008 Festival’s Most Wanted Showcase as the audience favorites: Boston’s Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers and Austin’s Abi Tapia.

Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers is one of the most dynamic groups based in the Boston area today.   The members of BMUZ use an eclectic group of instruments. Bronwyn Bird plays the accordion and the ethereal nyckelharpa, the traditional bowed stringed instrument from Sweden, where she lived for a year.  Andy Reiner, who comes from a musical family and has studied at many a fiddle camp across the country, plays the five-string fiddle, and is especially rooted in the lively music of Cape Breton.  A fiddler who has studied traditional music in Ireland and Norway, Mariel Vandersteel also plays hardanger fiddle, the traditional string instrument of Norway.  Stash Wyslouch, who has traveled with his guitar through South America and is influenced by hip hop and funk, brings a driving sense of rhythm and groove to the group. Their many original compositions, while grounded in traditional genres, are refreshing, lively and full of verve. 

Abi Tapia smiles big when she sings. She can’t help it - she’s having so much fun. In 2002, she first found herself attracted to the sweet twang and straightforward approach of country music so she migrated to Austin, Texas, where she quickly rooted herself in the city’s thriving live music scene. Before long she picked up awards and recognition for her songwriting from The Wildflower Music Festival, Austin Songwriters Group and the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her lyrically driven songs have been sparking acclaim all over the U.S. She writes vulnerable ballads that dissect what it means to be confused or struggling, punchy songs about the life of a girl rocker and, like any good folksinger, her repertoire would not be complete without a few songs from the road. Abi recently relocated once again — to the Massachusetts Berkshires — just in time to experience a Northeastern Winter! Abi names diverse artists like Ani Difranco, Madonna, Steve Earle, Dolly Parton and Dar Williams as some of here favorite songwriters and performers.

Also Coming to Common Ground:

THE RIVERTOWNS JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL (JUNE 5TH-JUNE 14TH)

JUNE 6, 2009, 2-4 PM: THE RIVERTOWNS JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL, with The Holmes Brothers, Kemp Harris, and The Hastings Blues Mothers: Live at MacEachron Park, Hastings-on-Hudson

JUNE 6, 2009, 7:30 PM: THE RIVERTOWNS JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVALwith the First U Rock & Soul Revue, and Ralph Gunderman, jazz vocals

JUNE 12, 2009, 7:30 PM: THE RIVERTOWNS JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVALwith Pete Kennedy and the Matt Munisteri Trio

JUNE 13, 2009, 2:30-7:30 PM: THE RIVERTOWNS JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL, Live at Habirshaw Park/Beczak Environmental Center, Yonkers, featuring Bethany and Rufus, the Mandingo Ambassadors, and Hazmat Modine. Co-Sponsored by Global Exchange

MORE JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL EVENTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY!