From: Martin Snodin [martin.snodin_at_homecall_dot_co_dot_uk]

Sent: 13 March 2011 10:24

Subject: Acoustic Sussex Newsletter 2011-03-13

 

Newsletter                   13 March 2011

Contact details
Tel. 01342 716975
or email:
info_at_acousticsussex_dot_org_dot_uk

Reminder of upcoming Chequer Mead shows

Click here for Acoustic Sussex website link to Future Gigs

To hear song samples for all upcoming artists, take a listen to the Playlists on our MySpace website

Friday 18 March
Click here for more details below

PLATINUM-SELLING ARTIST
Sandi Thom

Friday 8 April
Click here for more details below

  WINNER OF BEST ALBUM 2010 2 FOLK AWARDS
(NEW DATE) Cara Dillon

Thursday 28 April
Click here for more details below

REVERED AMERICANA SINGER-WRITER
Mary Gauthier

Friday 20 May
Click here for more details below

SHADES OF DYLAN AND EARLY ROD STEWART
Jon Allen

Sunday 19 June
Click here for more details below

AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH GRETCHEN PETERS, SUZY BOGGUSS, & MATRACA BERG
Wine Women & Song

(ORIGINALLY 8 APRIL)
Friday
18 March 2011
8pm
Sandi Thom

at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

Support: Marcus Bonfanti:
www.chequermead.org.uk

£15 (£12.50 conc)
Box Office 01342 302000

 

 

 

 

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Originally regarded as part of the ?nu folk' scene, Sandi Thom has since been compared to artists as diverse as Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell and KT Tunstall. In 2006, she had an incredible early rise to fame from her renowned Tooting basement to a debut hit single with 'I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker' and a platinum-selling album ?Smile? It Confuses People' that topped the charts in 7 countries.

After spending the last four years touring the globe with her incredible live band and working with her partner and blues legend Joe Bonamassa, Spring 2011 sees Sandi performing at some of the UK's more intimate venues', including a return to Chequer Mead, which she last played in 2007.

Her set will include tracks from her new album 'Merchants & Thieves', which this year topped  the UK iTunes Blues Chart and reached number 5 in the equivalent US Chart. The album showcases a new sound from Sandi Thom, bringing to light her increasingly-evident passion for the blues.

"If you like great music played by great musicians, then go see Sandi Thom and the band, as they're one of the best live acts around at the moment." BlastRadio

"It's clear that everyone in the room was blown away, a true testament to Sandi's will as an artist, and that she is in fact one of British music's greatest assets." Gigape.

STOP PRESS: Sandi's new single - a great version of 'House of the Rising Sun' is now available to download from all the usual music sites.

 


Sandi Thom

(ORIGINALLY 19 FEBRUARY)
Friday
8 April 2011
8pm
Cara Dillon

at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

Support tbc
www.chequermead.org.uk

£17.50 ((£15 conc)
Box Office 01342 302000

 

 

 

 

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Returning two years after her last visit to Chequer Mead, Irish songstress Cara Dillon has that rare talent that you only come across a handful times in your whole life. Her staggeringly beautiful voice has the ability to reach inside the soul of a song and imbue material with not only profound sweetness but also poignancy and depth.

Cara was brought up in the rich cultural heritage of her native Co. Derry. Having won the All Ireland Traditional Singing Trophy aged only 14 she went on to sing with Oige, De Dannan and then Equation. It was in this band that she met her husband and musical collaborator Sam Lakeman. The combination of Cara's expressive vocals and Lakeman's rippling piano and fresh production squeezed new life into the music. Their original songs sit happily alongside the traditional, reinforcing the debt they owe, whilst pointing to a distinct and distinguished musical identity all of their own.

In 2010, she released independently her widely acclaimed 4th album 'Hill Of Thieves', which won Best Album in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2010, a DVD 'Live At The Grand Opera House' was also released, with Cara performing the album and other selected songs, for one night only in Belfast.

Whether she's singing her native traditional songs of lost love and emigration, or their original compositions, you will be hard pressed to find a more emotive and captivating performer. Cara Dillon is at the very top of her field and one has the feeling she'll be there for a very long time..

"What may well be the world's most beautiful female voice..." Mojo

"Dillon's crystalline, angelic voice is an instrument of rare beauty capable of melting the sternest of hearts" BBC

"The Irish, of course, breed prize winning musicians like racehorses, but even among these Dillon's a wonder - wide-eyed all-Ireland champion? Dillon's vocals, expressive beyond her years, are right on the money." Q

 


Cara Dillon

Thursday
28 April 2011
7.30pm
Mary Gauthier

at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

Support:
Ben Glover
www.chequermead.org.uk

£15 (£12.50)
Box Office 01342 302000

 

 

 

 

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Mary Gauthier has an incredible life story. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Louisiana. At age 15, she ran away from home, and spent the next several years in drug rehabilitation, halfway houses, and living with friends. She spent her 18th birthday in a jail cell.  Struggling to deal with being adopted and her sexuality, she used drugs and alcohol.

Spurred on by friends, she enrolled at Louisiana State University as a philosophy major, dropping out during her senior year. After attending the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she opened a Cajun restaurant in Boston, which she ran for eleven years. After achieving sobriety, she was driven to dedicate herself full-time to songwriting, and embarked upon a career in music. She wrote her first song at age 35, and has since released seven albums. The latest, the highly autobiographical The Foundling has received tremendous reviews.

"With ?The Foundling', Mary Gauthier has created her first masterpiece. Not for the easily frightened, it is the most raw, brave and ultimately satisfying album I've heard in a very long time. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. " No Depression Magazine

"Not since Lennon howled "Mother" have there been songs as naked and fraught as "Mama Here, Mama Gone" and "March 11, 9162?. 5 stars UNCUT Magazine

"With a voice like a grazed hawk, she sings bluesy Southern Gothic tales?Whatever you are doing I guarantee you'll stop and listen to every word." 4 Stars MOJO Magazine

"Without question, The Foundling is one of the most brilliant and heartbreaking pieces of music you will hear this year or any year." 5 Stars The Sun

Support for the show is Ben Glover, .and Irish songer-songwriter based mainly in Nashville, whose debut 2009 album was our 'best of the year' (and his latest in heading for a similar accolade in 2010). We've been trying to book a gig with Ben for 3 years, so finally we get to see him play, alongside an artist who he has worked with in the last year, including co-writing songs.

 


Mary Gauthier


Ben Glover

(ORIGINALLY 13 MAY)
Friday
20 May 2011
8pm
Jon Allen

at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

Support:
Fiona Sally Miller
www.chequermead.org.uk

£12.50 (£10 conc)
Box Office 01342 302000

 

 

 

 

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Jon Allen is a singer-songwriter born in Winchester. His debut album Dead Man's Suit was released in 2009 on Monologue Records, producing two hit songs - In Your Light and Going Home, which featured in a worldwide advert for the Land Rover Freelander 2. His music is evocative of the folk-rock scene of the late 60s/ early 70s and was was first tipped by BBC Sound of 2009.  Since moving to London, Allen has shared the stage with artists such as Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, KT Tunstall, Seal

With shades of a young Bob Dylan or even Rod Stewart, Jon possesses a soulful, slightly gravely voice.  His song-writing is so beautifully melodic,  many of his songs could have been written at any time in the last thirty years and already sound like classics.

"A breathtaking debut" Q Magazine

"Rootsy?authentic?heartfelt"  Clash Magazine

"A young Rod Stewart"  Esquire."

"Could be from Dylan's ?New Morning.' Like Cat Stevens, Nick Drake.." Uncut

"A Little Gem" OK! Magazine

"Wow" Maverick Magazine

"When I heard this mans fantastic voice on the radio I had to zap it with my mobile to find out who it was" Jools Holland

Support for the show is Fiona Sally Miller, a Brighton-based singer-songwriter

 


Jon Allen

Sunday
19 June 2011
7.30pm
Wine, Women & Song
(Gretchen Peters, Suzy Bogguss & Matraca Berg)

at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

www.chequermead.org.uk

£20 (£18.50 conc)
Box Office 01342 302000

 

 

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What happens when you put three women - three critically acclaimed, award-winning singer-songwriters, three old friends, three artists with three unique voices - on a stage together with some guitars and a bottle of good cabernet? You get Wine, Women & Song. The three women in question are Suzy Bogguss, Gretchen Peters and Matraca Berg.

All CMA winners, Suzy (Horizon Award), Gretchen (Song of the Year for "Independence Day") and Matraca (Song of the Year for "Strawberry Wine") first played a 10 city UK tour together in May 2007 to huge critical and audience acclaim. The three friends have a long history: Bogguss has co-written with both Berg and Peters, and recorded songs by both. Since that first sold-out UK tour, the women have been writing and recording together, and released a special tour-only EP, "The Sewanee Sessions" for their second UK tour in 2009.

Of the trio, the Nashville Scene's Michael McCall says: "together they shatter nearly every Nashville stereotype. They're three smart, progressive, well-balanced women - anti-divas, if you will - who spin real-life tales steeped in modern love and ripe with wit, depth and spiritual profundity."

The UK's Maverick magazine called the show "pure magic... by no means a slick, glitzy, polished performance; just three superb singer- songwriters sitting together informally and having a great time."

 


Suzy Bogguss Gretchen Peters, & Matraca Berg

Don't forget that as well as our own shows, the Acoustic Sussex website has a Regional Gig Guide and links to venues and clubs in the South East that offer folk, roots and acoustic music.

 


Regional Gig Guide

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More information can be found on our website: www.acousticsussex.org.uk. You can also find us on MySpace (with Playlists of tracks from upcoming artists) at: www.myspace.com/acousticsussex.

If you know anyone who you think may enjoy our events, please forward this email to them.

 

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