The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series™
Time: 7:30 PM unless otherwise noted. 2nd Fridays are usually Open Stage/audition night. (Check the schedule for rare exceptions.)
Location: Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ, a smoke & alcohol free environment. DIRECTIONS
Admission: Unless otherwise noted, $10 on your way in plus the balance of what you think the show was really worth on your way out. All exit donations go directly to the Headline Act. Vaccinated children 12 and under may attend free, but must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Until such time that children under 5 may be safely vaccinated, alas they will not be admitted.
Streaming: All Troubadour concerts may be viewed in person or live-streamed, except as noted.
For More Information: Email troubadour@folkproject.org or call 973-335-9489.
Buy Troubadour tickets online: You may purchase tickets in advance for Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series shows by clicking on the Live Tickets link in the show listing below. Online sales cease a bit before midnight on the day before the event. Tickets will still be available at the door on the day of the show unless the event is completely sold out, in which case there will be a prominent notice posted on this website. Some events accept admissions payment only at the door, with no advance sales.
To say that Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman play the Celtic Harp and guitar is like saying Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe pick out tunes on the banjo and mandolin. These two are past masters of their craft, and their craft is virtuoso performance on their chosen instruments. “Awesome” is a word overused these days, but I was drop-dead awe-struck by their performance. Their forte is the Irish and Scots repertoire, but they take detours into old-time American tunes and swing (!!) This is a must-see show even for people who are not into harp music. They are jaw-dropping mind-bending out-freaking-standing.
“You can’t do that on a dulcimer!” Well, maybe you can’t but Sam Edelston can. Sam has taken the mountain dulcimer from its backwoods Appalachian origins to genres most players never dreamed of, from bossa nova to bluegrass to Black Sabbath. His instruments range from the traditional 3-string diatonic fretting to fully chromatic electric with two pedalboards. He is being featured in dulcimer festivals across the country. Sam is a brilliant and innovative player, and no slouch on the hammered dulcimer or guitar either. Sam’s skewed sensibilities on what might be “appropriate” for the dulcimer extend to his music as well. Look for parodies, mash-ups, and other delightfully warped songs from this innovative musician
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Abbie Gardner is best known to the Troubadour regulars as the dobro player with the infectious smile from the band Red Molly. As a solo artist she performs mostly her original songs of love and loss, both gritty and sweet, propelled by her clear and expressive vocals and impeccable slide guitar playing. There’s a pure Country feel to her delivery, channeling Lucinda and Bonnie, but remaining pure Abbie.
Vic Lennard is a singer-songwriter from Cambridge in the UK but visits his son and grand daughters in Morristown whenever he can. His acoustic styles are reminiscent of James Taylor and John Martyn, while his songwriting covers everyday topics that listeners relate to, with intriguing back stories accompanying each song.
Folk Project member musicians don costumes and sing scary songs. Details to follow.
Sam Robbins is a familiar name to many Folk Project regulars. He opened for Trout Fishing in America in 2022, on our “Streaming Tuesdays” video series, and most recently at our 2023 Fall Getaway. Sam plays a nice mix of originals and interesting covers. He is possessed of a lovely voice, good guitar chops, and an engaging stage personna. One might call him a “Sensitive Singer-Songwriter”, but if so, he wears the title well.
A singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem, Lara Herscovitch was described in The Boston Globe as “a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit…” Sound Waves Magazine calls her music “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best… good for your ears AND your soul.” Acoustic Live in NYC adds, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Mad Agnes has won hearts on two continents with their signature intricate harmonies, compelling songwriting, and passionate delivery. The genre-bending trio — Margo Hennebach, Adrienne Jones, and Mark Saunders — creates an exciting, inclusive performance, delivering new original songs, selections from their thirteen album catalog, story telling and impromptu vocal improv.
Singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. Shawna spent years on the road, playing festivals, halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, supporting her warm voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment, and drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the USA. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone. Her latest album, Hurricane Coming, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and an Ontario Folk Music Award.
Note: Chorus Song Night this year falls a week earlier than its usul 1st Friday in November slot in order to make room for Jay Ungar & Molly Mason on December 1st.
No livestream video for this show.
Chorus Song Night is an evening of songs for you, the audience to sing. A panel of four experienced songleaders will offer songs with choruses, some familiar, and others easily picked up, and songs that most folkies know already to one extent or the other. We do this show unamplified so you can hear yourselves and each other as well as the songleaders on stage. Raise your voices. Add your harmonies. If you like to sing, this is the night for you.
The songleaders:
- Ken & Pat Rolston (Key figures in the Folk Project favorite quartet, WSAGNBSCALRME) hark back to the founding days of the Project. Their voices blend with the ease of two natural singers who have been singing together most of their lives. Their material ranges from acapella traditional ballads to swing to Randy Newman to whatever else suits their wide-ranging musical tastes. And the charming blend of Ken’s mad-wizard personna levened by Patsy’s tolerant sanity makes them a joy to experience onstage.
- Hal Guitarist is a young singer who channels the songwriters who, at his age, formed the backbone of the socially conscious Folk movement of the early 60’s. From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs, he convincingly delivers the classic songs with the freshness and fervor of those early pioneers of the movement,.
- Pete & Bernie DeMaio are regulars and favorites among the participants of the Folk Project’s “Songs that Sing to Me” online Monday Night songswap. They are beloved by the participants for their beautifully blending harmonies and country and pop repertoire.
- Mike Agranoff: Program Chairman of the Troubadour with a vast repertoire of chorus songs of all sorts, some original, some gleaned, some humorous, and some serious.
Note: This show is rescheduled from its original date of November 3.
Since joining forces in the late 1970s, fiddler and mandolinist Jay Ungar and guitarist and bassist Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. They have won countless awards and provided music for movies and television, including Ken Burns’ classic Civil War PBS documentary. Their music runs the gamut from hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project members perform songs of the season. All proceeds to benefit the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. More details to follow.
Have a wonderful holiday!
As the Troubadour’s Program Chairman, Mike Agranoff has been its public face for decades. Many regular attendees have heard snippets of music from him at an Open Stage or in informal music sessions offstage. But he’s also a regularly touring seasoned performer, and a full set from him can be pretty impressive. His prodigious skills on guitar and concertina support a wide variety of music. Expect anything from irreverent parodies to traditional ballads; from blazing dance tunes to Bach concerti; from great chorus songs to his signature spoken-word recitations. In addition to some old favorites, expect brand new and long-abandoned songs from his vast repertoire along with musical help from some of the Folk Project’s best musicians.
Jerry Krantman collects wonderful songs. Some you may recognize from the far edges of your memory. Others that you may wonder why you never heard before. He also writes songs. Some of his lyrics have a lot of fun with the English language. His highly developed sense of false modesty prevents him from saying more.
Those of you who saw her open for Toby Walker last June know that Deni Bonet can rock a violin like nobody’s business. And her partner Chris Flynn can stay with her note for note. Deni also writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again and again. For years, Deni has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter and performer. She is, simply, a musical total package. Her style ranges from pop to roots-rock to new folk. And her portfolio includes gigs at Mountain Stage, the White House, Carnegie Hall, and the Great Wall of China. (No kidding!)
Zuko, Phillips, Cohn, & Starr have been performing throughout NJ and NY since their formation in July 2021. Known for their four-part harmonies, soaring guitar riffs, and clever arrangements, the group has been wowing local crowds with their sets of original and cover material. Longtime Troubadour attendees will remember Jen Starr and Erica Cohn as core members of Harmonytryx, , while Jeff Phillips and Michael Zuko asre alumni of the rock band, The Voltaires. As ZPCF, they’ve blended a folky, melodic style with those vocal harmonies backed by guitar, bass and djembe.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project member musicians regale us with songs of love
Details to follow
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Tom Chapin‘s music spans generations from the heady Greenwich Village days when he performed with his brothers Harry, and Steve, and dad Jim, through to today. He serves up a tasty mix of story songs, ballads, comedic and political songs, family music, sing-alongs, old-time folk classics and a favorite song or two of his late brother Harry’s. With an agile fingerstyle guitar, gentle humor, audience inclusiveness, and a concern for the Earth and its resources, Tom puts on a memorable show.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Beppe Gambetta, the Italian bluegrass flatpicking champion. Sounds like an ethnic joke, but Beppe is no joke. Early in life he was captured by the music of such greats as Doc Watson and Tony Rice, and soon got to the point where he was sharing festival stages as an equal with his heroes. Equally adroit on mandolin, he can blaze through a hot bluegrass tune or croon a lovely Italian traditional ballad. And all with an elegant continental charm that is a joy to experience.
Carole Wise is a singer/songwriter from Brunswick Maine. Her music is sweet and soulful, drawing on a lifelong passion for education, the beauty of the natural world, and the adventures of finding truth through life’s challenges. What particularly grabs the listener is that voice. There is a compelling intensity, to that voice that says “Listen! This is important.” And it usually is.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
We were incredibly fortunate to be so convenient to the Tannahill Weavers‘ touring this spring that we were able to book them. Traditional Celtic music at its best! With fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, haunting ballads and a good dose of humor, this venerable Celtic supergroup has been transforming traditional material and bringing it into the modern world, for nearly half a century. In 2019 the Tannies were nominated for Folk Album of the Year and Folk Band of the Year in Scotland. Recently they have been joined by piper Iain MacGillivray, who is Scotland’s youngest Clan leader and has worked recently on such exciting productions as Outlander and Men in Kilts.
Perhaps the very name of The Loose Canons will give you some insight to their approach to music. This 11-member choral group sings intricate vocal arrangements of folk songs, do wop, classical favorites as well as audience participatory pieces. But they specialize in parodies, satire, novelty songs, and other bits of musical tomfoolery.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
To say that Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman play the Celtic Harp and guitar is like saying Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe pick out tunes on the banjo and mandolin. These two are past masters of their craft, and their craft is virtuoso performance on their chosen instruments. “Awesome” is a word overused these days, but I was drop-dead awe-struck by their performance. Their forte is the Irish and Scots repertoire, but they take detours into old-time American tunes and swing (!!) This is a must-see show even for people who are not into harp music. They are jaw-dropping mind-bending out-freaking-standing.
“You can’t do that on a dulcimer!” Well, maybe you can’t but Sam Edelston can. Sam has taken the mountain dulcimer from its backwoods Appalachian origins to genres most players never dreamed of, from bossa nova to bluegrass to Black Sabbath. His instruments range from the traditional 3-string diatonic fretting to fully chromatic electric with two pedalboards. He is being featured in dulcimer festivals across the country. Sam is a brilliant and innovative player, and no slouch on the hammered dulcimer or guitar either. Sam’s skewed sensibilities on what might be “appropriate” for the dulcimer extend to his music as well. Look for parodies, mash-ups, and other delightfully warped songs from this innovative musician
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Abbie Gardner is best known to the Troubadour regulars as the dobro player with the infectious smile from the band Red Molly. As a solo artist she performs mostly her original songs of love and loss, both gritty and sweet, propelled by her clear and expressive vocals and impeccable slide guitar playing. There’s a pure Country feel to her delivery, channeling Lucinda and Bonnie, but remaining pure Abbie.
Vic Lennard is a singer-songwriter from Cambridge in the UK but visits his son and grand daughters in Morristown whenever he can. His acoustic styles are reminiscent of James Taylor and John Martyn, while his songwriting covers everyday topics that listeners relate to, with intriguing back stories accompanying each song.
Folk Project member musicians don costumes and sing scary songs. Details to follow.
Sam Robbins is a familiar name to many Folk Project regulars. He opened for Trout Fishing in America in 2022, on our “Streaming Tuesdays” video series, and most recently at our 2023 Fall Getaway. Sam plays a nice mix of originals and interesting covers. He is possessed of a lovely voice, good guitar chops, and an engaging stage personna. One might call him a “Sensitive Singer-Songwriter”, but if so, he wears the title well.
A singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem, Lara Herscovitch was described in The Boston Globe as “a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit…” Sound Waves Magazine calls her music “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best… good for your ears AND your soul.” Acoustic Live in NYC adds, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Mad Agnes has won hearts on two continents with their signature intricate harmonies, compelling songwriting, and passionate delivery. The genre-bending trio — Margo Hennebach, Adrienne Jones, and Mark Saunders — creates an exciting, inclusive performance, delivering new original songs, selections from their thirteen album catalog, story telling and impromptu vocal improv.
Singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. Shawna spent years on the road, playing festivals, halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, supporting her warm voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment, and drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the USA. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone. Her latest album, Hurricane Coming, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and an Ontario Folk Music Award.
Note: Chorus Song Night this year falls a week earlier than its usul 1st Friday in November slot in order to make room for Jay Ungar & Molly Mason on December 1st.
No livestream video for this show.
Chorus Song Night is an evening of songs for you, the audience to sing. A panel of four experienced songleaders will offer songs with choruses, some familiar, and others easily picked up, and songs that most folkies know already to one extent or the other. We do this show unamplified so you can hear yourselves and each other as well as the songleaders on stage. Raise your voices. Add your harmonies. If you like to sing, this is the night for you.
The songleaders:
- Ken & Pat Rolston (Key figures in the Folk Project favorite quartet, WSAGNBSCALRME) hark back to the founding days of the Project. Their voices blend with the ease of two natural singers who have been singing together most of their lives. Their material ranges from acapella traditional ballads to swing to Randy Newman to whatever else suits their wide-ranging musical tastes. And the charming blend of Ken’s mad-wizard personna levened by Patsy’s tolerant sanity makes them a joy to experience onstage.
- Hal Guitarist is a young singer who channels the songwriters who, at his age, formed the backbone of the socially conscious Folk movement of the early 60’s. From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs, he convincingly delivers the classic songs with the freshness and fervor of those early pioneers of the movement,.
- Pete & Bernie DeMaio are regulars and favorites among the participants of the Folk Project’s “Songs that Sing to Me” online Monday Night songswap. They are beloved by the participants for their beautifully blending harmonies and country and pop repertoire.
- Mike Agranoff: Program Chairman of the Troubadour with a vast repertoire of chorus songs of all sorts, some original, some gleaned, some humorous, and some serious.
Note: This show is rescheduled from its original date of November 3.
Since joining forces in the late 1970s, fiddler and mandolinist Jay Ungar and guitarist and bassist Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. They have won countless awards and provided music for movies and television, including Ken Burns’ classic Civil War PBS documentary. Their music runs the gamut from hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project members perform songs of the season. All proceeds to benefit the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. More details to follow.
Have a wonderful holiday!
As the Troubadour’s Program Chairman, Mike Agranoff has been its public face for decades. Many regular attendees have heard snippets of music from him at an Open Stage or in informal music sessions offstage. But he’s also a regularly touring seasoned performer, and a full set from him can be pretty impressive. His prodigious skills on guitar and concertina support a wide variety of music. Expect anything from irreverent parodies to traditional ballads; from blazing dance tunes to Bach concerti; from great chorus songs to his signature spoken-word recitations. In addition to some old favorites, expect brand new and long-abandoned songs from his vast repertoire along with musical help from some of the Folk Project’s best musicians.
Jerry Krantman collects wonderful songs. Some you may recognize from the far edges of your memory. Others that you may wonder why you never heard before. He also writes songs. Some of his lyrics have a lot of fun with the English language. His highly developed sense of false modesty prevents him from saying more.
Those of you who saw her open for Toby Walker last June know that Deni Bonet can rock a violin like nobody’s business. And her partner Chris Flynn can stay with her note for note. Deni also writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again and again. For years, Deni has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter and performer. She is, simply, a musical total package. Her style ranges from pop to roots-rock to new folk. And her portfolio includes gigs at Mountain Stage, the White House, Carnegie Hall, and the Great Wall of China. (No kidding!)
Zuko, Phillips, Cohn, & Starr have been performing throughout NJ and NY since their formation in July 2021. Known for their four-part harmonies, soaring guitar riffs, and clever arrangements, the group has been wowing local crowds with their sets of original and cover material. Longtime Troubadour attendees will remember Jen Starr and Erica Cohn as core members of Harmonytryx, , while Jeff Phillips and Michael Zuko asre alumni of the rock band, The Voltaires. As ZPCF, they’ve blended a folky, melodic style with those vocal harmonies backed by guitar, bass and djembe.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project member musicians regale us with songs of love
Details to follow
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Tom Chapin‘s music spans generations from the heady Greenwich Village days when he performed with his brothers Harry, and Steve, and dad Jim, through to today. He serves up a tasty mix of story songs, ballads, comedic and political songs, family music, sing-alongs, old-time folk classics and a favorite song or two of his late brother Harry’s. With an agile fingerstyle guitar, gentle humor, audience inclusiveness, and a concern for the Earth and its resources, Tom puts on a memorable show.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Beppe Gambetta, the Italian bluegrass flatpicking champion. Sounds like an ethnic joke, but Beppe is no joke. Early in life he was captured by the music of such greats as Doc Watson and Tony Rice, and soon got to the point where he was sharing festival stages as an equal with his heroes. Equally adroit on mandolin, he can blaze through a hot bluegrass tune or croon a lovely Italian traditional ballad. And all with an elegant continental charm that is a joy to experience.
Carole Wise is a singer/songwriter from Brunswick Maine. Her music is sweet and soulful, drawing on a lifelong passion for education, the beauty of the natural world, and the adventures of finding truth through life’s challenges. What particularly grabs the listener is that voice. There is a compelling intensity, to that voice that says “Listen! This is important.” And it usually is.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
We were incredibly fortunate to be so convenient to the Tannahill Weavers‘ touring this spring that we were able to book them. Traditional Celtic music at its best! With fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, haunting ballads and a good dose of humor, this venerable Celtic supergroup has been transforming traditional material and bringing it into the modern world, for nearly half a century. In 2019 the Tannies were nominated for Folk Album of the Year and Folk Band of the Year in Scotland. Recently they have been joined by piper Iain MacGillivray, who is Scotland’s youngest Clan leader and has worked recently on such exciting productions as Outlander and Men in Kilts.
Perhaps the very name of The Loose Canons will give you some insight to their approach to music. This 11-member choral group sings intricate vocal arrangements of folk songs, do wop, classical favorites as well as audience participatory pieces. But they specialize in parodies, satire, novelty songs, and other bits of musical tomfoolery.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
To say that Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman play the Celtic Harp and guitar is like saying Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe pick out tunes on the banjo and mandolin. These two are past masters of their craft, and their craft is virtuoso performance on their chosen instruments. “Awesome” is a word overused these days, but I was drop-dead awe-struck by their performance. Their forte is the Irish and Scots repertoire, but they take detours into old-time American tunes and swing (!!) This is a must-see show even for people who are not into harp music. They are jaw-dropping mind-bending out-freaking-standing.
“You can’t do that on a dulcimer!” Well, maybe you can’t but Sam Edelston can. Sam has taken the mountain dulcimer from its backwoods Appalachian origins to genres most players never dreamed of, from bossa nova to bluegrass to Black Sabbath. His instruments range from the traditional 3-string diatonic fretting to fully chromatic electric with two pedalboards. He is being featured in dulcimer festivals across the country. Sam is a brilliant and innovative player, and no slouch on the hammered dulcimer or guitar either. Sam’s skewed sensibilities on what might be “appropriate” for the dulcimer extend to his music as well. Look for parodies, mash-ups, and other delightfully warped songs from this innovative musician
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Abbie Gardner is best known to the Troubadour regulars as the dobro player with the infectious smile from the band Red Molly. As a solo artist she performs mostly her original songs of love and loss, both gritty and sweet, propelled by her clear and expressive vocals and impeccable slide guitar playing. There’s a pure Country feel to her delivery, channeling Lucinda and Bonnie, but remaining pure Abbie.
Vic Lennard is a singer-songwriter from Cambridge in the UK but visits his son and grand daughters in Morristown whenever he can. His acoustic styles are reminiscent of James Taylor and John Martyn, while his songwriting covers everyday topics that listeners relate to, with intriguing back stories accompanying each song.
Folk Project member musicians don costumes and sing scary songs. Details to follow.
Sam Robbins is a familiar name to many Folk Project regulars. He opened for Trout Fishing in America in 2022, on our “Streaming Tuesdays” video series, and most recently at our 2023 Fall Getaway. Sam plays a nice mix of originals and interesting covers. He is possessed of a lovely voice, good guitar chops, and an engaging stage personna. One might call him a “Sensitive Singer-Songwriter”, but if so, he wears the title well.
A singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem, Lara Herscovitch was described in The Boston Globe as “a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit…” Sound Waves Magazine calls her music “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best… good for your ears AND your soul.” Acoustic Live in NYC adds, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Mad Agnes has won hearts on two continents with their signature intricate harmonies, compelling songwriting, and passionate delivery. The genre-bending trio — Margo Hennebach, Adrienne Jones, and Mark Saunders — creates an exciting, inclusive performance, delivering new original songs, selections from their thirteen album catalog, story telling and impromptu vocal improv.
Singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. Shawna spent years on the road, playing festivals, halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, supporting her warm voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment, and drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the USA. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone. Her latest album, Hurricane Coming, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and an Ontario Folk Music Award.
Note: Chorus Song Night this year falls a week earlier than its usul 1st Friday in November slot in order to make room for Jay Ungar & Molly Mason on December 1st.
No livestream video for this show.
Chorus Song Night is an evening of songs for you, the audience to sing. A panel of four experienced songleaders will offer songs with choruses, some familiar, and others easily picked up, and songs that most folkies know already to one extent or the other. We do this show unamplified so you can hear yourselves and each other as well as the songleaders on stage. Raise your voices. Add your harmonies. If you like to sing, this is the night for you.
The songleaders:
- Ken & Pat Rolston (Key figures in the Folk Project favorite quartet, WSAGNBSCALRME) hark back to the founding days of the Project. Their voices blend with the ease of two natural singers who have been singing together most of their lives. Their material ranges from acapella traditional ballads to swing to Randy Newman to whatever else suits their wide-ranging musical tastes. And the charming blend of Ken’s mad-wizard personna levened by Patsy’s tolerant sanity makes them a joy to experience onstage.
- Hal Guitarist is a young singer who channels the songwriters who, at his age, formed the backbone of the socially conscious Folk movement of the early 60’s. From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs, he convincingly delivers the classic songs with the freshness and fervor of those early pioneers of the movement,.
- Pete & Bernie DeMaio are regulars and favorites among the participants of the Folk Project’s “Songs that Sing to Me” online Monday Night songswap. They are beloved by the participants for their beautifully blending harmonies and country and pop repertoire.
- Mike Agranoff: Program Chairman of the Troubadour with a vast repertoire of chorus songs of all sorts, some original, some gleaned, some humorous, and some serious.
Note: This show is rescheduled from its original date of November 3.
Since joining forces in the late 1970s, fiddler and mandolinist Jay Ungar and guitarist and bassist Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. They have won countless awards and provided music for movies and television, including Ken Burns’ classic Civil War PBS documentary. Their music runs the gamut from hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project members perform songs of the season. All proceeds to benefit the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. More details to follow.
Have a wonderful holiday!
As the Troubadour’s Program Chairman, Mike Agranoff has been its public face for decades. Many regular attendees have heard snippets of music from him at an Open Stage or in informal music sessions offstage. But he’s also a regularly touring seasoned performer, and a full set from him can be pretty impressive. His prodigious skills on guitar and concertina support a wide variety of music. Expect anything from irreverent parodies to traditional ballads; from blazing dance tunes to Bach concerti; from great chorus songs to his signature spoken-word recitations. In addition to some old favorites, expect brand new and long-abandoned songs from his vast repertoire along with musical help from some of the Folk Project’s best musicians.
Jerry Krantman collects wonderful songs. Some you may recognize from the far edges of your memory. Others that you may wonder why you never heard before. He also writes songs. Some of his lyrics have a lot of fun with the English language. His highly developed sense of false modesty prevents him from saying more.
Those of you who saw her open for Toby Walker last June know that Deni Bonet can rock a violin like nobody’s business. And her partner Chris Flynn can stay with her note for note. Deni also writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again and again. For years, Deni has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter and performer. She is, simply, a musical total package. Her style ranges from pop to roots-rock to new folk. And her portfolio includes gigs at Mountain Stage, the White House, Carnegie Hall, and the Great Wall of China. (No kidding!)
Zuko, Phillips, Cohn, & Starr have been performing throughout NJ and NY since their formation in July 2021. Known for their four-part harmonies, soaring guitar riffs, and clever arrangements, the group has been wowing local crowds with their sets of original and cover material. Longtime Troubadour attendees will remember Jen Starr and Erica Cohn as core members of Harmonytryx, , while Jeff Phillips and Michael Zuko asre alumni of the rock band, The Voltaires. As ZPCF, they’ve blended a folky, melodic style with those vocal harmonies backed by guitar, bass and djembe.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project member musicians regale us with songs of love
Details to follow
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Tom Chapin‘s music spans generations from the heady Greenwich Village days when he performed with his brothers Harry, and Steve, and dad Jim, through to today. He serves up a tasty mix of story songs, ballads, comedic and political songs, family music, sing-alongs, old-time folk classics and a favorite song or two of his late brother Harry’s. With an agile fingerstyle guitar, gentle humor, audience inclusiveness, and a concern for the Earth and its resources, Tom puts on a memorable show.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Beppe Gambetta, the Italian bluegrass flatpicking champion. Sounds like an ethnic joke, but Beppe is no joke. Early in life he was captured by the music of such greats as Doc Watson and Tony Rice, and soon got to the point where he was sharing festival stages as an equal with his heroes. Equally adroit on mandolin, he can blaze through a hot bluegrass tune or croon a lovely Italian traditional ballad. And all with an elegant continental charm that is a joy to experience.
Carole Wise is a singer/songwriter from Brunswick Maine. Her music is sweet and soulful, drawing on a lifelong passion for education, the beauty of the natural world, and the adventures of finding truth through life’s challenges. What particularly grabs the listener is that voice. There is a compelling intensity, to that voice that says “Listen! This is important.” And it usually is.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
We were incredibly fortunate to be so convenient to the Tannahill Weavers‘ touring this spring that we were able to book them. Traditional Celtic music at its best! With fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, haunting ballads and a good dose of humor, this venerable Celtic supergroup has been transforming traditional material and bringing it into the modern world, for nearly half a century. In 2019 the Tannies were nominated for Folk Album of the Year and Folk Band of the Year in Scotland. Recently they have been joined by piper Iain MacGillivray, who is Scotland’s youngest Clan leader and has worked recently on such exciting productions as Outlander and Men in Kilts.
Perhaps the very name of The Loose Canons will give you some insight to their approach to music. This 11-member choral group sings intricate vocal arrangements of folk songs, do wop, classical favorites as well as audience participatory pieces. But they specialize in parodies, satire, novelty songs, and other bits of musical tomfoolery.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
To say that Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman play the Celtic Harp and guitar is like saying Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe pick out tunes on the banjo and mandolin. These two are past masters of their craft, and their craft is virtuoso performance on their chosen instruments. “Awesome” is a word overused these days, but I was drop-dead awe-struck by their performance. Their forte is the Irish and Scots repertoire, but they take detours into old-time American tunes and swing (!!) This is a must-see show even for people who are not into harp music. They are jaw-dropping mind-bending out-freaking-standing.
“You can’t do that on a dulcimer!” Well, maybe you can’t but Sam Edelston can. Sam has taken the mountain dulcimer from its backwoods Appalachian origins to genres most players never dreamed of, from bossa nova to bluegrass to Black Sabbath. His instruments range from the traditional 3-string diatonic fretting to fully chromatic electric with two pedalboards. He is being featured in dulcimer festivals across the country. Sam is a brilliant and innovative player, and no slouch on the hammered dulcimer or guitar either. Sam’s skewed sensibilities on what might be “appropriate” for the dulcimer extend to his music as well. Look for parodies, mash-ups, and other delightfully warped songs from this innovative musician
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Abbie Gardner is best known to the Troubadour regulars as the dobro player with the infectious smile from the band Red Molly. As a solo artist she performs mostly her original songs of love and loss, both gritty and sweet, propelled by her clear and expressive vocals and impeccable slide guitar playing. There’s a pure Country feel to her delivery, channeling Lucinda and Bonnie, but remaining pure Abbie.
Vic Lennard is a singer-songwriter from Cambridge in the UK but visits his son and grand daughters in Morristown whenever he can. His acoustic styles are reminiscent of James Taylor and John Martyn, while his songwriting covers everyday topics that listeners relate to, with intriguing back stories accompanying each song.
Folk Project member musicians don costumes and sing scary songs. Details to follow.
Sam Robbins is a familiar name to many Folk Project regulars. He opened for Trout Fishing in America in 2022, on our “Streaming Tuesdays” video series, and most recently at our 2023 Fall Getaway. Sam plays a nice mix of originals and interesting covers. He is possessed of a lovely voice, good guitar chops, and an engaging stage personna. One might call him a “Sensitive Singer-Songwriter”, but if so, he wears the title well.
A singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem, Lara Herscovitch was described in The Boston Globe as “a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit…” Sound Waves Magazine calls her music “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best… good for your ears AND your soul.” Acoustic Live in NYC adds, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Mad Agnes has won hearts on two continents with their signature intricate harmonies, compelling songwriting, and passionate delivery. The genre-bending trio — Margo Hennebach, Adrienne Jones, and Mark Saunders — creates an exciting, inclusive performance, delivering new original songs, selections from their thirteen album catalog, story telling and impromptu vocal improv.
Singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. Shawna spent years on the road, playing festivals, halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, supporting her warm voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment, and drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the USA. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone. Her latest album, Hurricane Coming, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and an Ontario Folk Music Award.
Note: Chorus Song Night this year falls a week earlier than its usul 1st Friday in November slot in order to make room for Jay Ungar & Molly Mason on December 1st.
No livestream video for this show.
Chorus Song Night is an evening of songs for you, the audience to sing. A panel of four experienced songleaders will offer songs with choruses, some familiar, and others easily picked up, and songs that most folkies know already to one extent or the other. We do this show unamplified so you can hear yourselves and each other as well as the songleaders on stage. Raise your voices. Add your harmonies. If you like to sing, this is the night for you.
The songleaders:
- Ken & Pat Rolston (Key figures in the Folk Project favorite quartet, WSAGNBSCALRME) hark back to the founding days of the Project. Their voices blend with the ease of two natural singers who have been singing together most of their lives. Their material ranges from acapella traditional ballads to swing to Randy Newman to whatever else suits their wide-ranging musical tastes. And the charming blend of Ken’s mad-wizard personna levened by Patsy’s tolerant sanity makes them a joy to experience onstage.
- Hal Guitarist is a young singer who channels the songwriters who, at his age, formed the backbone of the socially conscious Folk movement of the early 60’s. From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs, he convincingly delivers the classic songs with the freshness and fervor of those early pioneers of the movement,.
- Pete & Bernie DeMaio are regulars and favorites among the participants of the Folk Project’s “Songs that Sing to Me” online Monday Night songswap. They are beloved by the participants for their beautifully blending harmonies and country and pop repertoire.
- Mike Agranoff: Program Chairman of the Troubadour with a vast repertoire of chorus songs of all sorts, some original, some gleaned, some humorous, and some serious.
Note: This show is rescheduled from its original date of November 3.
Since joining forces in the late 1970s, fiddler and mandolinist Jay Ungar and guitarist and bassist Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. They have won countless awards and provided music for movies and television, including Ken Burns’ classic Civil War PBS documentary. Their music runs the gamut from hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project members perform songs of the season. All proceeds to benefit the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. More details to follow.
Have a wonderful holiday!
As the Troubadour’s Program Chairman, Mike Agranoff has been its public face for decades. Many regular attendees have heard snippets of music from him at an Open Stage or in informal music sessions offstage. But he’s also a regularly touring seasoned performer, and a full set from him can be pretty impressive. His prodigious skills on guitar and concertina support a wide variety of music. Expect anything from irreverent parodies to traditional ballads; from blazing dance tunes to Bach concerti; from great chorus songs to his signature spoken-word recitations. In addition to some old favorites, expect brand new and long-abandoned songs from his vast repertoire along with musical help from some of the Folk Project’s best musicians.
Jerry Krantman collects wonderful songs. Some you may recognize from the far edges of your memory. Others that you may wonder why you never heard before. He also writes songs. Some of his lyrics have a lot of fun with the English language. His highly developed sense of false modesty prevents him from saying more.
Those of you who saw her open for Toby Walker last June know that Deni Bonet can rock a violin like nobody’s business. And her partner Chris Flynn can stay with her note for note. Deni also writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again and again. For years, Deni has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter and performer. She is, simply, a musical total package. Her style ranges from pop to roots-rock to new folk. And her portfolio includes gigs at Mountain Stage, the White House, Carnegie Hall, and the Great Wall of China. (No kidding!)
Zuko, Phillips, Cohn, & Starr have been performing throughout NJ and NY since their formation in July 2021. Known for their four-part harmonies, soaring guitar riffs, and clever arrangements, the group has been wowing local crowds with their sets of original and cover material. Longtime Troubadour attendees will remember Jen Starr and Erica Cohn as core members of Harmonytryx, , while Jeff Phillips and Michael Zuko asre alumni of the rock band, The Voltaires. As ZPCF, they’ve blended a folky, melodic style with those vocal harmonies backed by guitar, bass and djembe.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project member musicians regale us with songs of love
Details to follow
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Tom Chapin‘s music spans generations from the heady Greenwich Village days when he performed with his brothers Harry, and Steve, and dad Jim, through to today. He serves up a tasty mix of story songs, ballads, comedic and political songs, family music, sing-alongs, old-time folk classics and a favorite song or two of his late brother Harry’s. With an agile fingerstyle guitar, gentle humor, audience inclusiveness, and a concern for the Earth and its resources, Tom puts on a memorable show.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Beppe Gambetta, the Italian bluegrass flatpicking champion. Sounds like an ethnic joke, but Beppe is no joke. Early in life he was captured by the music of such greats as Doc Watson and Tony Rice, and soon got to the point where he was sharing festival stages as an equal with his heroes. Equally adroit on mandolin, he can blaze through a hot bluegrass tune or croon a lovely Italian traditional ballad. And all with an elegant continental charm that is a joy to experience.
Carole Wise is a singer/songwriter from Brunswick Maine. Her music is sweet and soulful, drawing on a lifelong passion for education, the beauty of the natural world, and the adventures of finding truth through life’s challenges. What particularly grabs the listener is that voice. There is a compelling intensity, to that voice that says “Listen! This is important.” And it usually is.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
We were incredibly fortunate to be so convenient to the Tannahill Weavers‘ touring this spring that we were able to book them. Traditional Celtic music at its best! With fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, haunting ballads and a good dose of humor, this venerable Celtic supergroup has been transforming traditional material and bringing it into the modern world, for nearly half a century. In 2019 the Tannies were nominated for Folk Album of the Year and Folk Band of the Year in Scotland. Recently they have been joined by piper Iain MacGillivray, who is Scotland’s youngest Clan leader and has worked recently on such exciting productions as Outlander and Men in Kilts.
Perhaps the very name of The Loose Canons will give you some insight to their approach to music. This 11-member choral group sings intricate vocal arrangements of folk songs, do wop, classical favorites as well as audience participatory pieces. But they specialize in parodies, satire, novelty songs, and other bits of musical tomfoolery.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
To say that Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman play the Celtic Harp and guitar is like saying Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe pick out tunes on the banjo and mandolin. These two are past masters of their craft, and their craft is virtuoso performance on their chosen instruments. “Awesome” is a word overused these days, but I was drop-dead awe-struck by their performance. Their forte is the Irish and Scots repertoire, but they take detours into old-time American tunes and swing (!!) This is a must-see show even for people who are not into harp music. They are jaw-dropping mind-bending out-freaking-standing.
“You can’t do that on a dulcimer!” Well, maybe you can’t but Sam Edelston can. Sam has taken the mountain dulcimer from its backwoods Appalachian origins to genres most players never dreamed of, from bossa nova to bluegrass to Black Sabbath. His instruments range from the traditional 3-string diatonic fretting to fully chromatic electric with two pedalboards. He is being featured in dulcimer festivals across the country. Sam is a brilliant and innovative player, and no slouch on the hammered dulcimer or guitar either. Sam’s skewed sensibilities on what might be “appropriate” for the dulcimer extend to his music as well. Look for parodies, mash-ups, and other delightfully warped songs from this innovative musician
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Abbie Gardner is best known to the Troubadour regulars as the dobro player with the infectious smile from the band Red Molly. As a solo artist she performs mostly her original songs of love and loss, both gritty and sweet, propelled by her clear and expressive vocals and impeccable slide guitar playing. There’s a pure Country feel to her delivery, channeling Lucinda and Bonnie, but remaining pure Abbie.
Vic Lennard is a singer-songwriter from Cambridge in the UK but visits his son and grand daughters in Morristown whenever he can. His acoustic styles are reminiscent of James Taylor and John Martyn, while his songwriting covers everyday topics that listeners relate to, with intriguing back stories accompanying each song.
Folk Project member musicians don costumes and sing scary songs. Details to follow.
Sam Robbins is a familiar name to many Folk Project regulars. He opened for Trout Fishing in America in 2022, on our “Streaming Tuesdays” video series, and most recently at our 2023 Fall Getaway. Sam plays a nice mix of originals and interesting covers. He is possessed of a lovely voice, good guitar chops, and an engaging stage personna. One might call him a “Sensitive Singer-Songwriter”, but if so, he wears the title well.
A singer-songwriter-poet-performer gem, Lara Herscovitch was described in The Boston Globe as “a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence… big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit…” Sound Waves Magazine calls her music “expertly written prose… songwriting at its best… good for your ears AND your soul.” Acoustic Live in NYC adds, “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global concern and a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Mad Agnes has won hearts on two continents with their signature intricate harmonies, compelling songwriting, and passionate delivery. The genre-bending trio — Margo Hennebach, Adrienne Jones, and Mark Saunders — creates an exciting, inclusive performance, delivering new original songs, selections from their thirteen album catalog, story telling and impromptu vocal improv.
Singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. Shawna spent years on the road, playing festivals, halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, supporting her warm voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment, and drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the USA. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone. Her latest album, Hurricane Coming, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and an Ontario Folk Music Award.
Note: Chorus Song Night this year falls a week earlier than its usul 1st Friday in November slot in order to make room for Jay Ungar & Molly Mason on December 1st.
No livestream video for this show.
Chorus Song Night is an evening of songs for you, the audience to sing. A panel of four experienced songleaders will offer songs with choruses, some familiar, and others easily picked up, and songs that most folkies know already to one extent or the other. We do this show unamplified so you can hear yourselves and each other as well as the songleaders on stage. Raise your voices. Add your harmonies. If you like to sing, this is the night for you.
The songleaders:
- Ken & Pat Rolston (Key figures in the Folk Project favorite quartet, WSAGNBSCALRME) hark back to the founding days of the Project. Their voices blend with the ease of two natural singers who have been singing together most of their lives. Their material ranges from acapella traditional ballads to swing to Randy Newman to whatever else suits their wide-ranging musical tastes. And the charming blend of Ken’s mad-wizard personna levened by Patsy’s tolerant sanity makes them a joy to experience onstage.
- Hal Guitarist is a young singer who channels the songwriters who, at his age, formed the backbone of the socially conscious Folk movement of the early 60’s. From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs, he convincingly delivers the classic songs with the freshness and fervor of those early pioneers of the movement,.
- Pete & Bernie DeMaio are regulars and favorites among the participants of the Folk Project’s “Songs that Sing to Me” online Monday Night songswap. They are beloved by the participants for their beautifully blending harmonies and country and pop repertoire.
- Mike Agranoff: Program Chairman of the Troubadour with a vast repertoire of chorus songs of all sorts, some original, some gleaned, some humorous, and some serious.
Note: This show is rescheduled from its original date of November 3.
Since joining forces in the late 1970s, fiddler and mandolinist Jay Ungar and guitarist and bassist Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. They have won countless awards and provided music for movies and television, including Ken Burns’ classic Civil War PBS documentary. Their music runs the gamut from hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project members perform songs of the season. All proceeds to benefit the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. More details to follow.
Have a wonderful holiday!
As the Troubadour’s Program Chairman, Mike Agranoff has been its public face for decades. Many regular attendees have heard snippets of music from him at an Open Stage or in informal music sessions offstage. But he’s also a regularly touring seasoned performer, and a full set from him can be pretty impressive. His prodigious skills on guitar and concertina support a wide variety of music. Expect anything from irreverent parodies to traditional ballads; from blazing dance tunes to Bach concerti; from great chorus songs to his signature spoken-word recitations. In addition to some old favorites, expect brand new and long-abandoned songs from his vast repertoire along with musical help from some of the Folk Project’s best musicians.
Jerry Krantman collects wonderful songs. Some you may recognize from the far edges of your memory. Others that you may wonder why you never heard before. He also writes songs. Some of his lyrics have a lot of fun with the English language. His highly developed sense of false modesty prevents him from saying more.
Those of you who saw her open for Toby Walker last June know that Deni Bonet can rock a violin like nobody’s business. And her partner Chris Flynn can stay with her note for note. Deni also writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again and again. For years, Deni has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter and performer. She is, simply, a musical total package. Her style ranges from pop to roots-rock to new folk. And her portfolio includes gigs at Mountain Stage, the White House, Carnegie Hall, and the Great Wall of China. (No kidding!)
Zuko, Phillips, Cohn, & Starr have been performing throughout NJ and NY since their formation in July 2021. Known for their four-part harmonies, soaring guitar riffs, and clever arrangements, the group has been wowing local crowds with their sets of original and cover material. Longtime Troubadour attendees will remember Jen Starr and Erica Cohn as core members of Harmonytryx, , while Jeff Phillips and Michael Zuko asre alumni of the rock band, The Voltaires. As ZPCF, they’ve blended a folky, melodic style with those vocal harmonies backed by guitar, bass and djembe.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Folk Project member musicians regale us with songs of love
Details to follow
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Tom Chapin‘s music spans generations from the heady Greenwich Village days when he performed with his brothers Harry, and Steve, and dad Jim, through to today. He serves up a tasty mix of story songs, ballads, comedic and political songs, family music, sing-alongs, old-time folk classics and a favorite song or two of his late brother Harry’s. With an agile fingerstyle guitar, gentle humor, audience inclusiveness, and a concern for the Earth and its resources, Tom puts on a memorable show.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Beppe Gambetta, the Italian bluegrass flatpicking champion. Sounds like an ethnic joke, but Beppe is no joke. Early in life he was captured by the music of such greats as Doc Watson and Tony Rice, and soon got to the point where he was sharing festival stages as an equal with his heroes. Equally adroit on mandolin, he can blaze through a hot bluegrass tune or croon a lovely Italian traditional ballad. And all with an elegant continental charm that is a joy to experience.
Carole Wise is a singer/songwriter from Brunswick Maine. Her music is sweet and soulful, drawing on a lifelong passion for education, the beauty of the natural world, and the adventures of finding truth through life’s challenges. What particularly grabs the listener is that voice. There is a compelling intensity, to that voice that says “Listen! This is important.” And it usually is.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
We were incredibly fortunate to be so convenient to the Tannahill Weavers‘ touring this spring that we were able to book them. Traditional Celtic music at its best! With fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, haunting ballads and a good dose of humor, this venerable Celtic supergroup has been transforming traditional material and bringing it into the modern world, for nearly half a century. In 2019 the Tannies were nominated for Folk Album of the Year and Folk Band of the Year in Scotland. Recently they have been joined by piper Iain MacGillivray, who is Scotland’s youngest Clan leader and has worked recently on such exciting productions as Outlander and Men in Kilts.
Perhaps the very name of The Loose Canons will give you some insight to their approach to music. This 11-member choral group sings intricate vocal arrangements of folk songs, do wop, classical favorites as well as audience participatory pieces. But they specialize in parodies, satire, novelty songs, and other bits of musical tomfoolery.
The Folk Project Open Stage, North Jersey’s premier open stage, is back live on the second Friday of every month. The Main Stage features two-song (or ten minutes, whichever is shorter) sign-up slots for our audience. To sign up to perform email Chairman Todd at openstage@folkproject.org.
Admission: $5 at the door only (tickets for the live show not available online.) Children 12 and under free but must be accompanied by parent or guardian.