You’re invited to…

MONTHLY YIDDISH DANCE GROOVE with Steve Weintraub- Yiddish Dance Master!

Are you ready to party?

Be part of the ongoing cultivation of a lively Yiddish Dance scene!

Gain confidence and competence in a wide variety of dances to klezmer music as we learn and enjoy dances in groups, couples, squares, and solo in a cozy environment. Two or three dances will be taught each night, and the rest of the evening will be given over to enjoying dances led by top experts in the form. Dances will be set to live music by some the region’s best klezmer musicians with occasional surprise visiting artists.

All are welcome! Recommended for ages 12+.

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Tuesday, February 26
Tuesday, March 26
Tuesday, April 23
Tuesday, May 28
Tuesday, June 25

7pm Doors | 7:30pm Dancing

PFS Members / Veterans / Students with valid ID: $10

Not-Yet-Members: $15

Find ride shares, Facebook events, and lively discussion in the Monthly Yiddish Dance Groove @PFS Facebook group!

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ABOUT STEVE WEINTRAUB

Steve is a teacher, choreographer, and performer of Jewish dance, particularly Yiddish dance, the dance to klezmer music.

Born on Governor’s Island, Bar Mitzvahed in the Bronx, and living now in Philadelphia, Steven Lee Weintraub received his dance training in Manhattan with Alvin Ailey and Erick Hawkins, among others. He is in international demand as a teacher of traditional Yiddish dance at festivals and workshops including Klezkamp, Klezkanada, and festivals in Krakow, Furth, Paris and London to name a few. Steven delights in introducing people to the figures, steps and stylings of the dances that belong to Klezmer music. He has often been called the “Pied Piper of Yiddish Dance”; his years of experience leading and researching Yiddish dance allow him to quickly weave dancers and music together in astonishing ways. Young and old, from all backgrounds, find it easy to share in the joy of Yiddish dancing.

PFS Presents The Kennedys

Friday, June 28, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$12 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $15 Not-Yet-Members | $18 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About The Kennedys

At well over a million miles of roadwork, including two stints as members of Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra, Pete and Maura Kennedy show no signs of slowing down either on tour or in the creative realm.

Originally based in Austin, Texas, they spent a few years in the Washington DC area before moving to the East Village in New York City, where they have been based for most of the last two decades. The Kennedys are known nationwide as the hosts of the late lamented Dharma Café program on Sirius Satellite Radio, and on Broadway, they are regular cast members of Theatre Within’s annual tribute to John Lennon — working in that capacity with Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Jackson Browne, Cyndi Lauper and a host of others.

Life on the road and time spent in the creative ecosystem of the Village have informed their songwriting over the course of 14 duo albums and half a dozen side projects, and Safe Until Tomorrow is true to that tradition. What sets the album apart is the inclusion of several anthemic, rocking songs of social consciousness that convey a strong message best summed up in one of the song titles: “Be Silent No More.” The Kennedys’ music has been described as uplifting, empowering and encouraging. In these turbulent times, they rise to the occasion with Safe Until Tomorrow.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THE KENNEDYS

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE KENNEDYS ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE KENNEDYS

PMC Presents: The Cornerstones CD Release and Kicking Down Doors

Saturday, June 29, 2019
Doors 7:00pm | Music 7:30pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members Advance | $12 Not-Yet-Members Advance | $15 Doors | Kids 12 and under $5

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

The Cornerstones are a trio of musicians local to the Philadelphia, PA region, each different musical artists in their own way, but together create a new sound of acoustic roots music. Will Paynter and Jay Popky are the founding members of Sonoma Sound, but also play with many other bands and musicians. Stacy Weathers plays in multiple bands and is a well-known banjo player in the Philly area. Both Jay and Stacy are familiar to the Philadelphia Folksong Society and Philadelphia Folk Festival. The band released their debut CD, “Three By Three” in August 2018!

Kicking Down Doors (KDD) hails from Philadelphia and is a multicultural roots/rocker, soul and folk group and its sound is influenced by the diversity of its members and their musical backgrounds. Together with the group’s instrumentation and arrangements led by Ernie Tokay and the vocal stylings of lyricist Autumn Walden, KDD has been leaving patrons in venues wanting more at every listen. The band’s songbook of original tunes range from rock to easy listening, to energetic dance/groove to blues, country and folk and is ripe with simple introspective, memorable and relatable poetic lyrics penned by Walden, that are poignant, captivating, and in the moment reflective. Kicking Down Doors has recently released a collection of 10 original songs on its new CD – NOW, a mélange of music that takes you with them on their evolutionary ride that defines the Kicking Down Doors sound.

PFS Presents Damn Tall Buildings and Rare Spirits

Thursday, July 11, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF DAMN TALL BUILDINGS

About Damn Tall Buildings

In their early days, Damn Tall Buildings didnt rehearse they busked. Now, whether live or on record, the band still radiates the energy of a ragtag crew of music students playing bluegrass on the street. But anchoring that energy is their instrumental chops, their strong songwriting, and their varied influences that stretch beyond bluegrass, even beyond American roots music altogether. Whether sharing lead vocals and instrumental solos or blending their voices into loose, joyous harmony, the four members of Damn Tall Buildings (guitarist/lead vocalist Max Capistran, bassist/lead vocalist Sasha Dubyk, fiddler/vocalist Avery Ballotta and banjoist/vocalist Jordan Alleman) blend elements of bluegrass, blues, roots-rock and vintage swing to create a captivating, high-energy sound. Since their busking days, theyve made three albums: 2014s Cure-All, 2015s self-titled, and their forthcoming third album, Dont Look Down. The band has also relocated to Brooklyn, NY and toured widely, sharing stages with Sierra Hull and the California Honeydrops and appearing at festivals like Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Freshgrass Festival, where they took second place in the 2016 band competition. Their lyrics find beauty and glory in the mundane, workaday struggle of everyday life: time keeps passing, you dont like your job, you drink too much, you laugh with your friends, you search for a home, and you dream about what else might be out there. You carry on. This is what Damn Tall Buildings sings about, what they seek to share with their audience.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO DAMN TALL BUILDINGS ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DAMN TALL BUILDINGS

About Rare Spirits

Rare Spirits serve up high-proof Roots music with verve, humor and aplomb. Sweet harmonies, rollicking rhythms and an electrifying stage presence combine to sing songs of drinking, cheating, lying, stealing, shucking, jiving, killing, dying…and the occasional haunting. The band features Molly Hebert-Wilson on upright bass, Robare Pruyn on banjo and guitar, Noam Berg on mandolin and guitar, and Alex Bell on drums and percussion, each bringing their own special ingredient to the cocktail. They perform original songs, old time with a twist, and a special set that tells the history of Prohibition through song and story, from the Whiskey Rebellion all the way up to repeal in ’33. Pour yourself a double shot, and come see where booze, bluegrass, old time, and rock n’ roll meet on the other side!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF RARE SPIRITS

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT RARE SPIRITS

PMC Presents: Marion Halliday & Trickster Sister CD Release with Meghan Cary & Analog Gypsies

Saturday, July 13, 2019
Doors 7:00pm | Music 7:30pm

$10 for Members Advance | $12 Not-Yet-Members Advance | $15 Doors | Kids 12 and under $5

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

MARION HALLIDAY, a native Kentuckian, moved to Philadelphia full-time in 2013. Along with her band, Trickster Sister, Marion is proud purveyor of her own special blend of bluegrass and bourbon-infused Americana. She has found great inspiration in her new home-town, writing a range of songs that touch on Philly’s rich history. She has also written on more universal topics such as domestic abuse, gun violence, suicide, and the scourge of addiction ravaging our country. Much to the dismay of her young adult children, too, Marion’s music includes amusing reflections on relationships, as well as an abiding love of bourbon. A seasoned veteran singer-performer with a background in Celtic music (Marion was lead singer in Kentucky-based Celtic band My Darling Asleep as well as a member of Philly -based Molly Blooms), in late 2017 Marion released her debut EP of original music with her band Trickster Sister, ‘Walking in Tall Grass’, Several tracks from this debut album received airplay on a number of folk radio channels across the Northeast. Building on this EP release in 2017, in January 2018 Marion was named “One of the Ones to Watch” by NSAI for her songwriting; then in November, she appeared in the highly regarded NERFA Folk DJ Radio Showcase (nominated by WFDU host Ron Olesko). Most recently, in December, she was named runner-up for 2018 Best of Philly Live Performer (Folk/Country Category). Marion’s newest full-length CD exemplifies the range of her songwriting and will draw in the listener through her insightful story-telling, lush lyrics, and instrumentation.

Meghan Cary and Analog Gypsies
Winning over audiences from the fields of Philly Folk Fest to NYC’s infamous Bleecker Street, Meghan Cary with Analog Gypsies is equal parts folk, rock, gypsy jazz and jam band playing award-winning original tunes ranging from lean-in-and-listen ballads to get-up-and-shake-your-booty jams. At the core of the band are Meghan Cary and Peter Farrell. The Keyboard and guitar duo lays down a big musical footprint with cool grooves and tight vocal harmonies. Add to that the unique bass musings of Jocko MacNelly, the rhythmic melodies of drummer Quint Lange, the not-your-typical-bluegrass banjo playing and vocal harmony of Stacy Weathers, and the soulful and rhythmic harp and flute lines of Bob Beach, and you have the Meghan Cary with Analog Gypsies experience: an evening of great tunes, fun stories, singing in your seat, and dancing in the aisles. As one critic exclaims: “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll beg for more!” (Critic’s Pick – The News and Observer)

July Monthly Concert with Low Down Brass Band

Sunday, July 14, 2019
Doors 7pm | Music 7:30pm

Get your tickets here!

FREE for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF LOW DOWN BRASS BAND

About Low Down Brass Band

LowDown Brass Band (LDB), deftly synthesizes the gritty sounds of Chicago with the high energy street beat of the Crescent City. LDB brandishes a powerful brass frontline of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, with a funky backline of drums and sousaphone. Combining the poetic ferocity of Billa Camp with stellar vocal harmonies, adventurous improvisation, movement, and grooves, LDB creates an infectious and diverse sound that has something for every listener.​

Fresh off their headlining set at The 2018 Montreal Jazz Festival, LowDown maintains a constant performing and touring schedule throughout North America. Recent performances include the Lagunitas Beer Circus, Chicago Jazz Fest, Frendly Gathering, Alaska’s Salmon Fest, Chicago’s Do-Division Fest, Wakarusa, Cotai Jazz Fest, and a annual residency at Shoe Fest.

​Following an ambitious project titled LowDown Sounds, that included a critically acclaimed cameo by Roy Ayers on the track Everybody Loves The Sunshine, LowDown Brass Band is now touring their 2018 hip hop release titled LowDown Breaks featuring MC Billa Camp. This new record steps deeper into refining their unique sound, combining hip hop breaks with live soul samples and deep cut grooves.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO LOW DOWN BRASS BAND ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LOW DOWN BRASS BAND

PFS Presents Melanie Brulée

Saturday, July 20, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF MELANIE BRULEE

About Melanie Brulée

Born in Cornwall Ontario to bilingual parents, Toronto-based Melanie Brulée interweaves her native language into her art like she crisscrosses musical genres: with ease. From the first listen, you can hear how her years living in Australia and France have influenced her style and sound. The first offering rich surf-style guitar tones and catchy hooks and the latter blurring the lines between audience and performer, like a speakeasy cabaret. What most might call Americana, folk-rock or country music, Melanie colours with her own distinctive essence, bringing a vintage respect to a modern sound. Seeing her ease onstage, it’s clear that’s where she feels most at home, quickly winning over audiences with her charisma.

Melanie’s striking stage presence, unique vocal stylings and expressive confidence have opened several doors for her since the release of her French album Débridée (2015), giving her the chance to build a solid team including management, booking, distribution and publishing. Critically acclaimed by media in Québec as well as across Canada, the album earned Melanie a Stingray Music Rising Star Award as well as three Trille Or nominations at Canada’s largest recognition of excellence in the arts outside of Québec. Melanie was featured on the official Ontario 150 anthem ‘A Place to Stand’ which was highly distributed across the province during 2017.

Her singles have been on regular rotation on CBC, Radio-Canada as well as Sirius XM satellite in Canada and the USA, allowing her to build a following and tour the continent playing near 100 shows per year. Most recent highlights include opening for Kathleen Edwards, Whitehorse and Amanda Marshall as well as performances at renowned festivals such as Mariposa Folk Fest, Luminato, Francofolies, Montreal Folk on the Canal and multiple performances at Yonge-Dundas Square. Most recently, Melanie has been spending significant time honing her craft as a songwriter in Nashville with some of Music City’s finest in preparation for her upcoming 2018 release.

The success of Débridée opened another unexpected door, allowing her to begin a conversation about mental health with her audience. She began running workshops on self-confidence with students across North America, encouraging young people to talk about their fears and anxieties, offering tips and tricks on dealing with depression, and sharing her story as a suicide loss survivor. “After my father’s passing, I remember being so angry. The truth is that without being able to express myself through songwriting, I’d be an absolute mess. Sharing my story with others has helped me get through the pain and loss and I hope that I can offer the same refuge to others through music and open conversation.” Melanie’s third full-length album Fires, Floods & Things We Leave Behind further explores themes of family, loss and addiction and was released October 2018.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MELANIE BRULEE ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MELANIE BRULEE

July House Concert with Fluteus Maximus

Sunday, July 21, 2019
Potluck/Doors 2pm | Music 2:30pm

Click here to get your tickets!

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Fluteus Maximus

FLUTEOUS MAXIMUS is a four-piece ensemble that redefines the cover band genre. The unit’s many differences begin with multi-instrumentalist Jan Alba, whose flute playing provides the band with both its signature sound and its name. A classically trained musician, Jan gives familiar songs new life with her stunning soloing and lyrical counter melodies. FLUTEOUS MAXIMUS boasts an uncommon vocal versatility. Jan, Rusty Crowell and Lance Fingles all sing lead, which puts a wide range of artists on the band’s musical palette. The singers also provide thrilling three-part harmonies, which allows them to create vocal tapestries that take their material to another level. The four musicians bring with them many years of collective experience. For more than 15 years, Rusty & Jan have been a formidable presence on the Philadelphia-area music scene, having played the Philadelphia Folk Festival and hosted the popular open-mic nights at Malelani Café for the past six years, among their numerous gigs. Lance & Chuck, co-founders/co-composers of the original “progressive-pop” band Nytrous, have been musical partners for more than 45 years. Together, the four have conjured a one-of-a-kind musical concept perfect for bars, restaurants, private parties and any other place there’s a need for great music.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF FLUTEUS MAXIMUS

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FLUTEUS MAXIMUS

PFS and the hosts ask that guests act in a respectful manner and be considerate of the performers and other attendees–if you do not, you may be asked to leave by PFS staff or the hosts.

Advance registrations for this performance are REQUIRED.

Admission is free for PFS members and $10 for Advanced Tickets for non-members.

The event will be held in the Overbrook neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA. You will receive the exact address upon registering.

Please bring something to share! Potluck at 2pm, music at 2:30pm.

PFS Presents The Levins CD Release Concert with Katherine Rondeau

Saturday, September 7, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About The Levins
The Levins are a harmony-driven acoustic duo known for their sun-splashed, peace infused songwriting that connects on a universal level and celebrates our common humanity. These award winners (Indie Acoustic, Empower Music, CTFolk, S.Florida Festival, MASC) were 2017 SERFA and 2016 NERFA Formal Showcase Artists and 2014 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artists. In addition to performing/presenting at the Parliament of World Religions in Toronto, The Levins rounded out 2018 in San Francisco with the multiple show production of My “Friend Hafiz”, a theatrical circus directed by Broadway director Mindy Cooper, featuring the live music of their 2013 recording. Unique harmonies and tightly blended unison vocals, along with their guitar and piano interplay, reflect the couples own compatible musical/personal relationship which began after meeting at an open mic at The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley CA. Their My Friend Hafiz CD debuted in the top 20 on Folk DJ & their latest, TRUST, in the top 10. (Top 10 song/2015, J.Platt, WFUV) and “underscores the positive messages of love, peace and self-awareness. Each tune serves as another stepping stone toward a better day & a richer life.” Tom Staudter. Their newest recording, Caravan of Dawn came out in 2019!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THE LEVINS

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE LEVINS ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LEVINS

About Katherine Rondeau:

PFS Presents Songs From The Road Band

Thursday, September 12, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Songs From The Road Band

Songs From The Road Band is Charles Humphrey III (bass), Mark Schimick (mandolin), Sam Wharton (guitar), and James Schlender (fiddle). These veteran acoustic musicians have collectively received top accolades in the bluegrass, Americana, and jazz genres. Once primarily an album recording band, Songs From The Road Band has emerged as one of the heaviest touring bands in the country since March 2018. They are currently touring in support of their number one Americana, Bluegrass, and Classic Country chart-topping album Road To Nowhere. They are proud to call both Asheville, NC and Nashville, TN home.

Humphrey, a member of the NC Music Hall of Fame and a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer, received the International Bluegrass Music Association’s entertainer of the year award in 2011. Schimick’s signature high harmonies and energetic mandolin licks have pushed him to the top of the progressive and jamgrass scene alongside legends Larry Keel, Vassar Clements, and Tony Rice. Wharton is an award-winning singer and guitar picker who honed his chops in Telluride, CO Schlender, a two-time National fiddle award recipient, is one of the top five string fiddlers in the world, with a background in contest, classical, and jazz.

The Road Band delivers a one-of-a-kind show, featuring original songs from their four studio albums and crowd favorites from all musical genres. The band is known for their improvisational jams and light show, providing an engaging, high-energy experience for audiences around the country.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND

Friday, September 20, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$12 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $15 Not-Yet-Members | $18 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF ANA EGGE

About Ana Egge

Ana Egge grabbed hold of her life as a musician early on – as a teenager, she built her own guitar and moved to Austin, TX to observe, absorb and take risks. The striking depth and unusual maturity of her singing, playing, and songwriting got her noticed, and she recorded her first album, River Under the Road (1997) with the legendary western swing band, Asleep At The Wheel. The Austin Music Awards named her  “Best Singer/Songwriter” and “Best Folk Artist.” Over the ensuing years and 9 subsequent CDs, Ana has made good on that promising debut. She has worked with producers Martin Terefe, Jason Mercer, Joel Plaskett, Steve Earle, and Stewart Lerman, and recorded full albums with The Stray Birds and The Sentimentals. Ana’s last single, “We Are One,” co-written with Gary Nicholson, has gathered over five million Spotify spins. RnR called her last album, White Tiger, “wonderful” and No Depression deemed it “nothing less than a balm for the soul.” Now, in 2019, she has released Is It the Kiss, her eleventh album, a new batch of Egge originals of such singularly articulate and affecting honesty and sensitivity, as to once again deserve USA Today’s accolade, “[Ana] can write and sing rings around” her contemporaries.

Ana Egge grew up with parents who “dropped out,” choosing to raise four girls in a lovingly cobbled together combination of a small farmhouse on the North Dakota plains, a bus on the California Coast, and a hot springs commune in rural New Mexico, scraping together dimes and hand-me-downs. Ana learned that her life was truly hers to create. “We were always the outsiders,” she says. “I was taught how to shoot a gun and how to enjoy alfalfa sprouts and tofu. I ran around barefoot and learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 5. I grew up with all the time and space in the world.” Given her unconventional upraising, it’s not surprising that Ana has since been plotting her own journey, confident, fearless, and uncompromising. She’s been around the horn of life’s experiences, having forsaken the Great Plains for Sunset Park in Brooklyn, where she lives with her wife, Amy, and their 5-year old daughter, but she’s never lost touch with the free-spirited childhood and the Western landscape that formed her.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ANA EGGE ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ANA EGGE

PFS Presents Gina Chavez

Saturday, September 21, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

$14 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $17 Not-Yet-Members | $20 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Gina Chavez

Austin musician Gina Chavez never thought she’d see the day when two women could marry in Texas. Then again, she never thought she would marry a woman.

“Heaven Knows,” the first single off her upcoming five-song EP, Lightbeam, is the musical journey of twelve years in love; a love Chavez never thought she would experience.

“I was 24, staunchly Catholic and I’d had great, healthy relationships. But I’d never been in love,” Chavez said. “Then I met this girl with a smile that made me question everything I thought I knew.”

Lightbeam, set to release on Friday, September 14, 2018, is a sonic departure for Chavez who is known for her signature style of bilingual Latin folk-pop that topped the iTunes and Amazon Latin charts with her award-winning album, Up.Rooted. The 2015 Austin Musician of the Year traded her acoustic guitar for the smooth tones of a Gibson hollow body, and called upon producer Dwight A. Baker (MISSIO, Alpha Rev, The Wind and The Wave, Josh Abbott Band) to lay down five soulful and diverse songs, that expand upon her previous work with same lively and sophisticated spirit that her fans have grown to love.

Lightbeam boasts intensely personal lyrics — heaven knows our souls, our story / the shape of your heart when you hold me / wouldn’t tear us apart or disown me” — strong melodic hooks and a pop aesthetic that showcase Chavez’s versatility as an artist.

“These are songs my heart has been wanting to sing for so long,” Chavez said. “To shout from the rooftops that I am in love! To tell the world about this incredible woman who lights me up and calls me to my best self, and show that our love is more than tolerable. It’s the kind of love we’re made for.”

Recorded in eight days at Matchbox Studios in Austin, Texas, the EP features some of Austin’s finest — Dave Boyle (keys), Conrad Choucroun (drums), and Steve Terebecki (bass) — on five unapologetically personal tracks that explore longing, faith, beauty, and sacrifice.

“I took some time to allow myself to write,” Chavez said. “No boundaries, no genres, just me and my guitar, and I was pretty surprised when these soul-tinged songs bubbled up. But this is the story my heart wanted to tell; the story what it means to be a Catholic Latina and fall in love with a woman; the story of what it means to live your heart no matter what the world says.”

Chavez and her wife, Jodi Granado, met at the University Catholic Center at UT Austin. The next decade would see the couple through the ups and downs of a long-distance relationship, coming out to friends and family, hiding their love while volunteering in El Salvador, and building a life together in Austin. Last year, Chavez and Granado, still practicing Catholics, tied the knot at Tiny T Ranch just east of Austin — two years after marriage equality became legal in Texas.

With 10 Austin Music Awards, an NPR Tiny Desk with more than half a million views, frequent tours as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department, being named an official 2018 SXSW artist for the fifth year in a row with her six-piece band and a trip to Kyrgyzstan in April 2018, Chavez and her wife, Jodi, have embarked on a European mini-tour that kicks off the couple’s honeymoon and the release of “Lightbeam.”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF GINA CHAVEZ

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO GINA CHAVEZ ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GINA CHAVEZ

September Monthly Concert with Amanda Rheaume

Sunday, September 22, 2019
Doors 2:30pm | Music 3pm

Get your tickets here!

FREE for Members *While Supplies Last* | $10 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF AMANDA RHEAUME

About Amanda Rheaume

The fifth album from Ottawa-raised, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Amanda Rheaume, The Skin I’m In presents a compellingly portrait of an artist fully comfortable in her own skin, personally and musically.

Produced by Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo, Junkhouse) at The Tragically Hip’s famed Bathouse Studio, it sports a full-blooded band sound, thanks to the contributions of an A-list musical supporting cast.

Rheaume’s supple and expressive vocals fit neatly in the centre of the sonic landscape, while her eloquent and well-crafted songs were written with such noted collaborators as Jason Blaine, Melanie Brulée, Jim Bryson, Justin Glasco, and Tim Bovaconti.

One of Rheaume’s great gifts as a songwriter is her ability to take the personal and make it universal, drawing upon her own experience to deliver messages with a wide resonance. She digs deep on The Skin I’m In, reflecting upon her Metis heritage, as on the profoundly moving title track and “Return To The Water,” and addressing issues of identity and mental health.

Her earlier albums met with widespread critical acclaim. 2013’s Keep A Fireearned her a 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award for Aboriginal Songwriter of The Year as well as a Juno Award nomination for Aboriginal Album of the Year, while 2016’s Holding Patterns received a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination.

An engaging performer, Rheaume has developed a following across Canada and in Europe, where she tours regularly.

She has long employed her music as a force for good, as shown by three trips to Afghanistan to perform for Canadian military personnel, plus visits to the Alert base in Canada’s far north and the troubled Indigenous community of Attawapiskat.

Rheaume co-founded Babes4Breasts, an initiative that, through concerts and recording projects, raised money for breast cancer charities across Canada over a 10-year period.

This is an artist with a heart as big as her talent.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AMANDA RHEAUME ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AMANDA RHEAUME

**Ticketing Policy**

The Philadelphia Folksong Society is proud to offer its’ members one or two free tickets (depending on membership level) to our selected Monthly Member Concert and Monthly House Concert every month. Due to the large number of members and limited seating, we ask that members reserve tickets when they know they can attend. If a member has reserved a ticket and cannot make it to the member concert of their choosing, they must contact the PFS office by phone or email prior to the event to cancel. Failure to do so will result in an inability to reserve your free member ticket to the following member concert.

If you arrive at a PFS member concert and have not reserved a ticket, you will only be seated ten minutes before show time if seats are still available.

If a member concert is listed as “sold out,” please contact Katie Kresz at kkresz@pfs.org to secure your spot atop the waitlist. You will be notified prior to the concert if seats become available.

PFS asks that all members show respect to their fellow members and the Society through following this policy.

PFS Presents Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Boys

Friday, September 27, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$12 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $15 Not-Yet-Members | $18 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Jonathan Byrd

Jonathan Byrd and The Pickup Cowboys are musical gunslingers, vaudevillian hucksters, and old-fashioned tent revivalists. Between heartbreaking ballads and heart-lifting sing-alongs, the Cowboys entertain and get audiences involved in the show.

Byrd is a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran, and an award-winning songwriter from Chapel Hill, NC, known for literary, outsider songs that have become campfire favorites. The Chicago Tribune called Byrd “one of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years.”

Joined on drums by Austin McCall (Kaira Ba, Violet Bell), and musical renaissance man Johnny Waken on guitar, saw, and mandolin, Byrd shares the often-missed, always poignant tales of the small people that make the world such a big place.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF JONATHAN BYRD

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO JONATHAN BYRD ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JONATHAN BYRD

PFS Presents Talisk

Saturday, September 28, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Click here to get your tickets!

$15 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $18 Not-Yet-Members | $21 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF TALISK

About Talisk

In their five years, Scottish firebrands Talisk have stacked up several major awards for their explosively energetic yet artfully woven sound, including 2018’s Belhaven Bursary for Innovation & 2017’s Folk Band of the Year both at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award.

Mohsen Amini – the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year 2018, Hayley Keenan and Graeme Armstrong seamlessly meld concertina, fiddle and guitar to produce a multi-layered, enthralling signature that has effortlessly captivated audiences from the USA to Australia, and throughout the UK.

Appearances at world-leading festivals – including the Cambridge Folk Festival, Denmark’s Tønder, WOMAD UK and Las Palmas, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Celtic Colours, Milwaukee Irish Festival and five successive outings at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections – have amassed a die-hard following, whilst the world’s folk and world music media have also lauded high credits upon the trio. The release of their hotly anticipated second album, Beyond, in October 2018 was met with a five-star ‘Top of the World’ review in Songlines, praising the band as “incredibly infectious and endearing… fresh, invigorating, accomplished and playfully frisky.”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO TALISK ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TALISK

PFS Presents Roanoke

Friday, October 4, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$8 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $10 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Roanoke

Roanoke is a rising Folk/Americana band based out of Nashville, TN. Lead by Joey Beesley and Taylor Dupuis, the two come together to create rich harmonies and unforgettable songs of love, heartbreak, and exploration. Joined by band members Zach Nowak, and Kyle Breese. Roanoke uses their undeniable musical chemistry to create a unique and captivating sound full of cultural influences, roots instrumentation, and catchy, memorable melodies. Their self-titled debut album Roanoke is an invigoratingly classic Americana album filled with modern yet vintage tunes that make the audience sit and listen to a back-porch tale in true Americana fashion. Roanoke has struck a balance between the narrative songwriting of folk, the ear candy appeal of pop, and the roots authenticity of country music. With their growing fan base, and energetic live show, they are set to shake the alternative Americana Folk scene in no time. 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF ROANOKE

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ROANOKE ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ROANOKE

PFS Presents Irish Mythen with Andrea Nardello

Saturday, November 16, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$14 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $17 Not-Yet-Members | $20 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Irish Mythen

Irish Mythen was born in Ireland and now resides in Charlottetown Prince Edward Island Canada.

“This Island creates music and musicians, art and artists. I found a shift to take things more seriously when I moved here.” And she did just that. Her latest release, the self titled Irish Mythen, gained her recognition around the globe with nominations and wins coming from Music PEI, East Coast Music Association, Folk Alliance International and Socan. Write-ups in Australian Guitar Magazine, the Rolling Stone, and a plethora of online publications world wide have helped plant Irish firmly on the map of ‘Must See Artists’.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF IRISH MYTHEN

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO IRISH MYTHEN ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IRISH MYTHEN

OPENING ACT: ANDREA NARDELLO

Philly’s Andrea Nardello has garnered favorable comparisons to Melissa Etheridge and Shawn Colvin for melding pop songwriting smarts with a confessional and literate songwriting style, exploring relationships, romance, and her out family life. Nardello’s refined accessibility draws from folk, pop, rock, and even the swagger of hip-hop. She can tug at your heartstrings with her softer tunes and get you dancing on your feet with her upbeat songs and powerful voice. Fans ride an unforgettable emotional roller coaster during her live shows.

Nardello has been busy touring and has opened for well known artists like Colbie Caillat, Brandi Carlile, Tony Lucca, Gabe Dixon, Ron Pope, Emerson Hart of Tonic Fame, and Tim Reynolds of The Dave Matthews Band. After releasing ECHO, Nardello won the prestigious Philadelphia Songwriter’s Project Contest and won Tri-State Indie’s “Acoustic Artist Of The Year.” Her songs, “Leave The Light On” and “Home To Me” each won WSTW’s Award for Folk Song Of The Year.

Nardello also spends time fundraising for important causes like The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The MILE (Music Is Love Exchange). Nardello completed two service trips to Guatemala in support of the MILE. The MILE is a network of artists, musicians, and music lovers that bring positivity and change to the lives of disadvantaged and underserved children, strengthening families and communities both in the U.S. and abroad. Nardello is always willing to help, offer her time and believes that music is a universal language that helps heal and connects us all.

Nardello teamed up with long time friend and collaborator, Matt Duke, to produce her new EP, Human, which was released on Noble Steed Music, last year. This beautifully haunting EP was recorded in Nardello’s home. She is excited to share it with her fans and expects to tour in the fall.

“For me, “Human” is a collection of songs that explores vulnerable topics. Loving someone when they are broken. Striving to challenge yourself when you are stuck. The final stages of life and all that is unknown. It is truly a soundtrack of my life and the people in it. I always get nervous before releasing new music and my only hope is that anyone who listens can connect to these songs in some special way.”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF ANDREA NARDELLO

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ANDREA NARDELLO ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ANDREA NARDELLO

You’re invited to…

MONTHLY YIDDISH DANCE GROOVE with Steve Weintraub- Yiddish Dance Master!

Are you ready to party?

Be part of the ongoing cultivation of a lively Yiddish Dance scene!

Gain confidence and competence in a wide variety of dances to klezmer music as we learn and enjoy dances in groups, couples, squares, and solo in a cozy environment. Two or three dances will be taught each night, and the rest of the evening will be given over to enjoying dances led by top experts in the form. Dances will be set to live music by some the region’s best klezmer musicians with occasional surprise visiting artists.

All are welcome! Recommended for ages 12+.

***

Tuesday, February 26
Tuesday, March 26
Tuesday, April 23
Tuesday, May 28
Tuesday, June 25

7pm Doors | 7:30pm Dancing

PFS Members / Veterans / Students with valid ID: $10

Not-Yet-Members: $15

Find ride shares, Facebook events, and lively discussion in the Monthly Yiddish Dance Groove @PFS Facebook group!

***

ABOUT STEVE WEINTRAUB

Steve is a teacher, choreographer, and performer of Jewish dance, particularly Yiddish dance, the dance to klezmer music.

Born on Governor’s Island, Bar Mitzvahed in the Bronx, and living now in Philadelphia, Steven Lee Weintraub received his dance training in Manhattan with Alvin Ailey and Erick Hawkins, among others. He is in international demand as a teacher of traditional Yiddish dance at festivals and workshops including Klezkamp, Klezkanada, and festivals in Krakow, Furth, Paris and London to name a few. Steven delights in introducing people to the figures, steps and stylings of the dances that belong to Klezmer music. He has often been called the “Pied Piper of Yiddish Dance”; his years of experience leading and researching Yiddish dance allow him to quickly weave dancers and music together in astonishing ways. Young and old, from all backgrounds, find it easy to share in the joy of Yiddish dancing.

PMC Presents: The Cornerstones CD Release and Kicking Down Doors

Saturday, June 29, 2019
Doors 7:00pm | Music 7:30pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members Advance | $12 Not-Yet-Members Advance | $15 Doors | Kids 12 and under $5

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

The Cornerstones are a trio of musicians local to the Philadelphia, PA region, each different musical artists in their own way, but together create a new sound of acoustic roots music. Will Paynter and Jay Popky are the founding members of Sonoma Sound, but also play with many other bands and musicians. Stacy Weathers plays in multiple bands and is a well-known banjo player in the Philly area. Both Jay and Stacy are familiar to the Philadelphia Folksong Society and Philadelphia Folk Festival. The band released their debut CD, “Three By Three” in August 2018!

Kicking Down Doors (KDD) hails from Philadelphia and is a multicultural roots/rocker, soul and folk group and its sound is influenced by the diversity of its members and their musical backgrounds. Together with the group’s instrumentation and arrangements led by Ernie Tokay and the vocal stylings of lyricist Autumn Walden, KDD has been leaving patrons in venues wanting more at every listen. The band’s songbook of original tunes range from rock to easy listening, to energetic dance/groove to blues, country and folk and is ripe with simple introspective, memorable and relatable poetic lyrics penned by Walden, that are poignant, captivating, and in the moment reflective. Kicking Down Doors has recently released a collection of 10 original songs on its new CD – NOW, a mélange of music that takes you with them on their evolutionary ride that defines the Kicking Down Doors sound.

PFS Presents Damn Tall Buildings and Rare Spirits

Thursday, July 11, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF DAMN TALL BUILDINGS

About Damn Tall Buildings

In their early days, Damn Tall Buildings didnt rehearse they busked. Now, whether live or on record, the band still radiates the energy of a ragtag crew of music students playing bluegrass on the street. But anchoring that energy is their instrumental chops, their strong songwriting, and their varied influences that stretch beyond bluegrass, even beyond American roots music altogether. Whether sharing lead vocals and instrumental solos or blending their voices into loose, joyous harmony, the four members of Damn Tall Buildings (guitarist/lead vocalist Max Capistran, bassist/lead vocalist Sasha Dubyk, fiddler/vocalist Avery Ballotta and banjoist/vocalist Jordan Alleman) blend elements of bluegrass, blues, roots-rock and vintage swing to create a captivating, high-energy sound. Since their busking days, theyve made three albums: 2014s Cure-All, 2015s self-titled, and their forthcoming third album, Dont Look Down. The band has also relocated to Brooklyn, NY and toured widely, sharing stages with Sierra Hull and the California Honeydrops and appearing at festivals like Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Freshgrass Festival, where they took second place in the 2016 band competition. Their lyrics find beauty and glory in the mundane, workaday struggle of everyday life: time keeps passing, you dont like your job, you drink too much, you laugh with your friends, you search for a home, and you dream about what else might be out there. You carry on. This is what Damn Tall Buildings sings about, what they seek to share with their audience.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO DAMN TALL BUILDINGS ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DAMN TALL BUILDINGS

About Rare Spirits

Rare Spirits serve up high-proof Roots music with verve, humor and aplomb. Sweet harmonies, rollicking rhythms and an electrifying stage presence combine to sing songs of drinking, cheating, lying, stealing, shucking, jiving, killing, dying…and the occasional haunting. The band features Molly Hebert-Wilson on upright bass, Robare Pruyn on banjo and guitar, Noam Berg on mandolin and guitar, and Alex Bell on drums and percussion, each bringing their own special ingredient to the cocktail. They perform original songs, old time with a twist, and a special set that tells the history of Prohibition through song and story, from the Whiskey Rebellion all the way up to repeal in ’33. Pour yourself a double shot, and come see where booze, bluegrass, old time, and rock n’ roll meet on the other side!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF RARE SPIRITS

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT RARE SPIRITS

PMC Presents: Marion Halliday & Trickster Sister CD Release with Meghan Cary & Analog Gypsies

Saturday, July 13, 2019
Doors 7:00pm | Music 7:30pm

$10 for Members Advance | $12 Not-Yet-Members Advance | $15 Doors | Kids 12 and under $5

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

MARION HALLIDAY, a native Kentuckian, moved to Philadelphia full-time in 2013. Along with her band, Trickster Sister, Marion is proud purveyor of her own special blend of bluegrass and bourbon-infused Americana. She has found great inspiration in her new home-town, writing a range of songs that touch on Philly’s rich history. She has also written on more universal topics such as domestic abuse, gun violence, suicide, and the scourge of addiction ravaging our country. Much to the dismay of her young adult children, too, Marion’s music includes amusing reflections on relationships, as well as an abiding love of bourbon. A seasoned veteran singer-performer with a background in Celtic music (Marion was lead singer in Kentucky-based Celtic band My Darling Asleep as well as a member of Philly -based Molly Blooms), in late 2017 Marion released her debut EP of original music with her band Trickster Sister, ‘Walking in Tall Grass’, Several tracks from this debut album received airplay on a number of folk radio channels across the Northeast. Building on this EP release in 2017, in January 2018 Marion was named “One of the Ones to Watch” by NSAI for her songwriting; then in November, she appeared in the highly regarded NERFA Folk DJ Radio Showcase (nominated by WFDU host Ron Olesko). Most recently, in December, she was named runner-up for 2018 Best of Philly Live Performer (Folk/Country Category). Marion’s newest full-length CD exemplifies the range of her songwriting and will draw in the listener through her insightful story-telling, lush lyrics, and instrumentation.

Meghan Cary and Analog Gypsies
Winning over audiences from the fields of Philly Folk Fest to NYC’s infamous Bleecker Street, Meghan Cary with Analog Gypsies is equal parts folk, rock, gypsy jazz and jam band playing award-winning original tunes ranging from lean-in-and-listen ballads to get-up-and-shake-your-booty jams. At the core of the band are Meghan Cary and Peter Farrell. The Keyboard and guitar duo lays down a big musical footprint with cool grooves and tight vocal harmonies. Add to that the unique bass musings of Jocko MacNelly, the rhythmic melodies of drummer Quint Lange, the not-your-typical-bluegrass banjo playing and vocal harmony of Stacy Weathers, and the soulful and rhythmic harp and flute lines of Bob Beach, and you have the Meghan Cary with Analog Gypsies experience: an evening of great tunes, fun stories, singing in your seat, and dancing in the aisles. As one critic exclaims: “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll beg for more!” (Critic’s Pick – The News and Observer)

July Monthly Concert with Low Down Brass Band

Sunday, July 14, 2019
Doors 7pm | Music 7:30pm

Get your tickets here!

FREE for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF LOW DOWN BRASS BAND

About Low Down Brass Band

LowDown Brass Band (LDB), deftly synthesizes the gritty sounds of Chicago with the high energy street beat of the Crescent City. LDB brandishes a powerful brass frontline of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, with a funky backline of drums and sousaphone. Combining the poetic ferocity of Billa Camp with stellar vocal harmonies, adventurous improvisation, movement, and grooves, LDB creates an infectious and diverse sound that has something for every listener.​

Fresh off their headlining set at The 2018 Montreal Jazz Festival, LowDown maintains a constant performing and touring schedule throughout North America. Recent performances include the Lagunitas Beer Circus, Chicago Jazz Fest, Frendly Gathering, Alaska’s Salmon Fest, Chicago’s Do-Division Fest, Wakarusa, Cotai Jazz Fest, and a annual residency at Shoe Fest.

​Following an ambitious project titled LowDown Sounds, that included a critically acclaimed cameo by Roy Ayers on the track Everybody Loves The Sunshine, LowDown Brass Band is now touring their 2018 hip hop release titled LowDown Breaks featuring MC Billa Camp. This new record steps deeper into refining their unique sound, combining hip hop breaks with live soul samples and deep cut grooves.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO LOW DOWN BRASS BAND ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LOW DOWN BRASS BAND

PFS Presents Melanie Brulée

Saturday, July 20, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF MELANIE BRULEE

About Melanie Brulée

Born in Cornwall Ontario to bilingual parents, Toronto-based Melanie Brulée interweaves her native language into her art like she crisscrosses musical genres: with ease. From the first listen, you can hear how her years living in Australia and France have influenced her style and sound. The first offering rich surf-style guitar tones and catchy hooks and the latter blurring the lines between audience and performer, like a speakeasy cabaret. What most might call Americana, folk-rock or country music, Melanie colours with her own distinctive essence, bringing a vintage respect to a modern sound. Seeing her ease onstage, it’s clear that’s where she feels most at home, quickly winning over audiences with her charisma.

Melanie’s striking stage presence, unique vocal stylings and expressive confidence have opened several doors for her since the release of her French album Débridée (2015), giving her the chance to build a solid team including management, booking, distribution and publishing. Critically acclaimed by media in Québec as well as across Canada, the album earned Melanie a Stingray Music Rising Star Award as well as three Trille Or nominations at Canada’s largest recognition of excellence in the arts outside of Québec. Melanie was featured on the official Ontario 150 anthem ‘A Place to Stand’ which was highly distributed across the province during 2017.

Her singles have been on regular rotation on CBC, Radio-Canada as well as Sirius XM satellite in Canada and the USA, allowing her to build a following and tour the continent playing near 100 shows per year. Most recent highlights include opening for Kathleen Edwards, Whitehorse and Amanda Marshall as well as performances at renowned festivals such as Mariposa Folk Fest, Luminato, Francofolies, Montreal Folk on the Canal and multiple performances at Yonge-Dundas Square. Most recently, Melanie has been spending significant time honing her craft as a songwriter in Nashville with some of Music City’s finest in preparation for her upcoming 2018 release.

The success of Débridée opened another unexpected door, allowing her to begin a conversation about mental health with her audience. She began running workshops on self-confidence with students across North America, encouraging young people to talk about their fears and anxieties, offering tips and tricks on dealing with depression, and sharing her story as a suicide loss survivor. “After my father’s passing, I remember being so angry. The truth is that without being able to express myself through songwriting, I’d be an absolute mess. Sharing my story with others has helped me get through the pain and loss and I hope that I can offer the same refuge to others through music and open conversation.” Melanie’s third full-length album Fires, Floods & Things We Leave Behind further explores themes of family, loss and addiction and was released October 2018.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MELANIE BRULEE ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MELANIE BRULEE

July House Concert with Fluteus Maximus

Sunday, July 21, 2019
Potluck/Doors 2pm | Music 2:30pm

Click here to get your tickets!

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Fluteus Maximus

FLUTEOUS MAXIMUS is a four-piece ensemble that redefines the cover band genre. The unit’s many differences begin with multi-instrumentalist Jan Alba, whose flute playing provides the band with both its signature sound and its name. A classically trained musician, Jan gives familiar songs new life with her stunning soloing and lyrical counter melodies. FLUTEOUS MAXIMUS boasts an uncommon vocal versatility. Jan, Rusty Crowell and Lance Fingles all sing lead, which puts a wide range of artists on the band’s musical palette. The singers also provide thrilling three-part harmonies, which allows them to create vocal tapestries that take their material to another level. The four musicians bring with them many years of collective experience. For more than 15 years, Rusty & Jan have been a formidable presence on the Philadelphia-area music scene, having played the Philadelphia Folk Festival and hosted the popular open-mic nights at Malelani Café for the past six years, among their numerous gigs. Lance & Chuck, co-founders/co-composers of the original “progressive-pop” band Nytrous, have been musical partners for more than 45 years. Together, the four have conjured a one-of-a-kind musical concept perfect for bars, restaurants, private parties and any other place there’s a need for great music.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF FLUTEUS MAXIMUS

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FLUTEUS MAXIMUS

PFS and the hosts ask that guests act in a respectful manner and be considerate of the performers and other attendees–if you do not, you may be asked to leave by PFS staff or the hosts.

Advance registrations for this performance are REQUIRED.

Admission is free for PFS members and $10 for Advanced Tickets for non-members.

The event will be held in the Overbrook neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA. You will receive the exact address upon registering.

Please bring something to share! Potluck at 2pm, music at 2:30pm.

PFS Presents The Levins CD Release Concert with Katherine Rondeau

Saturday, September 7, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About The Levins
The Levins are a harmony-driven acoustic duo known for their sun-splashed, peace infused songwriting that connects on a universal level and celebrates our common humanity. These award winners (Indie Acoustic, Empower Music, CTFolk, S.Florida Festival, MASC) were 2017 SERFA and 2016 NERFA Formal Showcase Artists and 2014 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artists. In addition to performing/presenting at the Parliament of World Religions in Toronto, The Levins rounded out 2018 in San Francisco with the multiple show production of My “Friend Hafiz”, a theatrical circus directed by Broadway director Mindy Cooper, featuring the live music of their 2013 recording. Unique harmonies and tightly blended unison vocals, along with their guitar and piano interplay, reflect the couples own compatible musical/personal relationship which began after meeting at an open mic at The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley CA. Their My Friend Hafiz CD debuted in the top 20 on Folk DJ & their latest, TRUST, in the top 10. (Top 10 song/2015, J.Platt, WFUV) and “underscores the positive messages of love, peace and self-awareness. Each tune serves as another stepping stone toward a better day & a richer life.” Tom Staudter. Their newest recording, Caravan of Dawn came out in 2019!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THE LEVINS

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE LEVINS ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LEVINS

About Katherine Rondeau:

PFS Presents Songs From The Road Band

Thursday, September 12, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$10 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $12 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Songs From The Road Band

Songs From The Road Band is Charles Humphrey III (bass), Mark Schimick (mandolin), Sam Wharton (guitar), and James Schlender (fiddle). These veteran acoustic musicians have collectively received top accolades in the bluegrass, Americana, and jazz genres. Once primarily an album recording band, Songs From The Road Band has emerged as one of the heaviest touring bands in the country since March 2018. They are currently touring in support of their number one Americana, Bluegrass, and Classic Country chart-topping album Road To Nowhere. They are proud to call both Asheville, NC and Nashville, TN home.

Humphrey, a member of the NC Music Hall of Fame and a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer, received the International Bluegrass Music Association’s entertainer of the year award in 2011. Schimick’s signature high harmonies and energetic mandolin licks have pushed him to the top of the progressive and jamgrass scene alongside legends Larry Keel, Vassar Clements, and Tony Rice. Wharton is an award-winning singer and guitar picker who honed his chops in Telluride, CO Schlender, a two-time National fiddle award recipient, is one of the top five string fiddlers in the world, with a background in contest, classical, and jazz.

The Road Band delivers a one-of-a-kind show, featuring original songs from their four studio albums and crowd favorites from all musical genres. The band is known for their improvisational jams and light show, providing an engaging, high-energy experience for audiences around the country.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND

September Monthly Concert with Amanda Rheaume

Sunday, September 22, 2019
Doors 2:30pm | Music 3pm

Get your tickets here!

FREE for Members *While Supplies Last* | $10 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF AMANDA RHEAUME

About Amanda Rheaume

The fifth album from Ottawa-raised, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Amanda Rheaume, The Skin I’m In presents a compellingly portrait of an artist fully comfortable in her own skin, personally and musically.

Produced by Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo, Junkhouse) at The Tragically Hip’s famed Bathouse Studio, it sports a full-blooded band sound, thanks to the contributions of an A-list musical supporting cast.

Rheaume’s supple and expressive vocals fit neatly in the centre of the sonic landscape, while her eloquent and well-crafted songs were written with such noted collaborators as Jason Blaine, Melanie Brulée, Jim Bryson, Justin Glasco, and Tim Bovaconti.

One of Rheaume’s great gifts as a songwriter is her ability to take the personal and make it universal, drawing upon her own experience to deliver messages with a wide resonance. She digs deep on The Skin I’m In, reflecting upon her Metis heritage, as on the profoundly moving title track and “Return To The Water,” and addressing issues of identity and mental health.

Her earlier albums met with widespread critical acclaim. 2013’s Keep A Fireearned her a 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award for Aboriginal Songwriter of The Year as well as a Juno Award nomination for Aboriginal Album of the Year, while 2016’s Holding Patterns received a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination.

An engaging performer, Rheaume has developed a following across Canada and in Europe, where she tours regularly.

She has long employed her music as a force for good, as shown by three trips to Afghanistan to perform for Canadian military personnel, plus visits to the Alert base in Canada’s far north and the troubled Indigenous community of Attawapiskat.

Rheaume co-founded Babes4Breasts, an initiative that, through concerts and recording projects, raised money for breast cancer charities across Canada over a 10-year period.

This is an artist with a heart as big as her talent.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AMANDA RHEAUME ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AMANDA RHEAUME

**Ticketing Policy**

The Philadelphia Folksong Society is proud to offer its’ members one or two free tickets (depending on membership level) to our selected Monthly Member Concert and Monthly House Concert every month. Due to the large number of members and limited seating, we ask that members reserve tickets when they know they can attend. If a member has reserved a ticket and cannot make it to the member concert of their choosing, they must contact the PFS office by phone or email prior to the event to cancel. Failure to do so will result in an inability to reserve your free member ticket to the following member concert.

If you arrive at a PFS member concert and have not reserved a ticket, you will only be seated ten minutes before show time if seats are still available.

If a member concert is listed as “sold out,” please contact Katie Kresz at kkresz@pfs.org to secure your spot atop the waitlist. You will be notified prior to the concert if seats become available.

PFS asks that all members show respect to their fellow members and the Society through following this policy.

PFS Presents Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Boys

Friday, September 27, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$12 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $15 Not-Yet-Members | $18 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Jonathan Byrd

Jonathan Byrd and The Pickup Cowboys are musical gunslingers, vaudevillian hucksters, and old-fashioned tent revivalists. Between heartbreaking ballads and heart-lifting sing-alongs, the Cowboys entertain and get audiences involved in the show.

Byrd is a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran, and an award-winning songwriter from Chapel Hill, NC, known for literary, outsider songs that have become campfire favorites. The Chicago Tribune called Byrd “one of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years.”

Joined on drums by Austin McCall (Kaira Ba, Violet Bell), and musical renaissance man Johnny Waken on guitar, saw, and mandolin, Byrd shares the often-missed, always poignant tales of the small people that make the world such a big place.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF JONATHAN BYRD

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO JONATHAN BYRD ON SPOTIFY

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JONATHAN BYRD

PFS Presents Talisk

Saturday, September 28, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Click here to get your tickets!

$15 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $18 Not-Yet-Members | $21 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF TALISK

About Talisk

In their five years, Scottish firebrands Talisk have stacked up several major awards for their explosively energetic yet artfully woven sound, including 2018’s Belhaven Bursary for Innovation & 2017’s Folk Band of the Year both at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award.

Mohsen Amini – the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Musician of the Year 2018, Hayley Keenan and Graeme Armstrong seamlessly meld concertina, fiddle and guitar to produce a multi-layered, enthralling signature that has effortlessly captivated audiences from the USA to Australia, and throughout the UK.

Appearances at world-leading festivals – including the Cambridge Folk Festival, Denmark’s Tønder, WOMAD UK and Las Palmas, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Celtic Colours, Milwaukee Irish Festival and five successive outings at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections – have amassed a die-hard following, whilst the world’s folk and world music media have also lauded high credits upon the trio. The release of their hotly anticipated second album, Beyond, in October 2018 was met with a five-star ‘Top of the World’ review in Songlines, praising the band as “incredibly infectious and endearing… fresh, invigorating, accomplished and playfully frisky.”

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PFS Presents Roanoke

Friday, October 4, 2019
Doors 7:30pm | Music 8pm

Get your tickets here!

$8 for Members *While Supplies Last* | $10 Not-Yet-Members | $15 Doors

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

About Roanoke

Roanoke is a rising Folk/Americana band based out of Nashville, TN. Lead by Joey Beesley and Taylor Dupuis, the two come together to create rich harmonies and unforgettable songs of love, heartbreak, and exploration. Joined by band members Zach Nowak, and Kyle Breese. Roanoke uses their undeniable musical chemistry to create a unique and captivating sound full of cultural influences, roots instrumentation, and catchy, memorable melodies. Their self-titled debut album Roanoke is an invigoratingly classic Americana album filled with modern yet vintage tunes that make the audience sit and listen to a back-porch tale in true Americana fashion. Roanoke has struck a balance between the narrative songwriting of folk, the ear candy appeal of pop, and the roots authenticity of country music. With their growing fan base, and energetic live show, they are set to shake the alternative Americana Folk scene in no time. 

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