Concerts

American Icons Series

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The American Icons Series is a unique program that brings to New Mexico the literal greats of American roots music. We present up to a dozen tours annually by these American masters. In addition, we present a variety of roots artists in smaller, more intimate New Mexico venues.

Sponsor the American Icons Series

WOMEN'S CELEBRATION
ELIZA GILKYSON
TOM RUSSELL
TAJ MAHAL
GREG BROWN

Tickets now on sale for the 2nd annual Santa Fe
WOMEN'S CELEBRATION
featuring ODETTA, THE BE GOOD TANYAS,
SANTA FE ALLSTARS,MASNAVI BELLYDANCE COLLECTIVE,
KUMUSHA MARIMBA ENSEMBLE, LAURIANNE FIORENTINO,
JENNY GAMBLE
poetry by PRISCILLA BACA Y CANDELARIA

The Be Good Tanyas at the 2006 Thirsty Ear Festival.
Photo by Jennifer Esperanza.

Saturday, May 31, 2008
Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe
Free music, performance art, & kids' programming during the day.
Ticketed events in the evening.
$29 for each general admission ticketed event.
SW Roots members please call 505-473-5723 for discount.
Limited Gold Circle seats available ($150 VIP seating in 1st five rows to Odetta, The Be Good Tanyas & Eliza Gilkyson)
TICKETS AT LENSIC BOX OFFICE, 505-988-1234
All events before 6:30 p.m. are free!

Purchase Ticket to May 31 ODETTA performance
Purchase Ticket to May 31 BE GOOD TANYAS performance
Purchase Ticket to June 6 ELIZA GILKYSON performance
Purchase GOLD CIRCLE Pass (a seat in the first 5 rows to ODETTA, BE GOOD TANYAS, and ELIZA GILKYSON)

The 2nd annual Santa Fe WOMEN'S CELEBRATION, a nonprofit (501c3) community event, features a full day of programming in celebration of women artists and creativity. The event brings together national and local women musicians and performers, features up to a dozen booths showcasing New Mexico's cottage industry women artists and artisans, and provides a forum for local women's issues and educational groups.

FREE EVENTS:
(subject to change)
2:00: Doors open
2:15-2:45: KUMUSHA WOMEN'S MARIMBA ENSEMBLE (marimba). PRISCILLA BACA Y CANDELARIA (spoken word) opens.
3:00-4:30: SANTA FE ALLSTARS (alt-folk). JENNY GAMBLE (singer-songwriter) opens.
4:45-5:15: MASNAVI DANCE COLLECTIVE (belly dance.) PRISCILLA BACA Y CANDELARIA (spoken word) opens.
5:30-6:00: BE GOOD TANYAS concert for kids next door at Santa Fe Children's Museum. For families with kids only!
Celebrating the Feminine photography exhibit by JENNIFER ESPERANZA.

TICKETED MUSIC EVENTS:
6:30-8:00: ODETTA concert. LAURIANNE FIORENTINO opens.
8:30-9:45: THE BE GOOD TANYAS concert.

ODETTA: (6:30 p.m. May 31) Odetta's blues focus on empowerment, mutual respect, poverty & racism, workingman's problems, and the tireless strength of women. In 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. dubbed her "the queen of American folk music" after her concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Dr. King himself. The next year she would march with King from Selma to Montgomery. For decades, in fact, Odetta has been at the forefront of the fight for justice and equal rights in America. And her greatest weapon has always been her powerful voice. Born Odetta Gordon in 1930 in Birmingham, Odetta dreamt of becoming an opera star, but a painful appraisal of racism in America prompted her to chuck classical for folk. "My education on several levels started with my getting into folk music," she says. "I started learning history that we were not being taught in school. The 'heroes' that we learned about in school were the ones who garnered money for themselves and had their boots on our necks." By the '60s she was a fixture in Greenwich Village. Bob Dylan sang nothing but Odetta songs for months after hearing her first recording in the early 1960s. Odetta has continued to tour worldwide and, in 1999, she was awarded a National Medal of the Arts. For the past few years she dedicated herself almost exclusively to blues and spirituals.

THE BE GOOD TANYAS: (8:30 p.m. May 31) A runaway favorite at the Thirsty Ear Festival, this Canadian alt-folk, all-female trio is composed of Frazey Ford, Samantha Parton, and Trish Klein, whose passion for old-time music and talent for creating drop-dead gorgeous harmonies have made them one of the most beloved folk acts to emerge in recent years. Their classic debut, Blue Horse, featured their trademark heavenly harmonies, stirring melodies, and a singular balance of the band''s appreciation for traditional music with its taste for the contemporary. Blue Horse, a critical darling and popular success, catapulted the band to international fame. That record was followed by 2003's Chinatown and, three year's later, Hello Love, one of the most exceptional Americana releases of the decade.

SANTA FE ALLSTARS: (3:00 p.m. May 31) New Mexico's hottest roots band began as a "why not" proposal by a beer-hall waitress. Made up of roots luminaries Sharon Gilchrist, Susan Holmes, Joe West and Ben Wright, the band has very quickly become something of a small-town supergroup. Gilchrist, who recently left the Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet to concentrate fulltime on her Allstars duties, continues to enchant audiences with her top-notch mandolin playing. She played in local bluegrass band Mary & Mars with fellow Allstar Ben Wright, a man just as comfortable ripping through a weird rock set as fingerpicking an old standard. Holmes has been a rhythm section stalwart for years, holding down the bottom end for everyone from Bill & Bonnie Hearne to the Buckarettes. The proudly askew West has long been the alt-country king of Santa Fe, a songwriter known for equal parts parody and straight-up emotion. Collectively they are a powerhouse: smart, fun, and a little twisted.

MASNAVI DANCE COLLECTIVE (4:45-5:15 May 31) is a group of bellydancers who create an evocative journey of beauty with delightful American Tribal, Oriental, Egyptian and Turkish bellydance. Based in Santa Fe, the troupe is made up of five bellydancers of varying backgrounds. Members include Nancy Fatima, Diane Felton, Sally Mittler, Jasmine Quinsier and Ariel Poling, with occasional appearances by Corinna Levy.

KUMUSHA MARIMBA ENSEMBLE (2:15-2:45), an all-woman Santa Fe band, has been performing African "community dance" music on handmade wooden instruments for over a decade. The outfit has performed throughout New Mexico and is a favorite at the Santa Fe Wine Festival, on the Plaza, and at many other community events.

JENNY GAMBLE (3:00 May 31) has been involved as an artist and a producer in the New Mexico scene for a decade, playing events as diverse as the Thirsty Ear Festival, Gathering of Nations, and Rock'n the Rally. Her music features elements of R&B, Americana and folk, and her vocals have been compared to Jewel, Melissa Etheridge and Chrissie Hynde. With only one voice, a violin and an acoustic guitar this music will melt you down and bring you home.

PRISCILLA BACA Y CANDELARIA (2:15 and 4:45) s a spoken word artist, teacher, farmer and lifelong resident of Albuquerque. She has toured the country in support of the "Case of Poetic Justice and Committing Poetry in times of War" project and has read at many venues throughout the U.S. She has published in Maple Leaf Rag III and other magazines and has three chap books in print: La Resolana, Duende, and Sones de Amor. All her work is written bilingually, espanol y ingles. She will perform with guitartist Christian Orellana of Concepto Tambor.

LAURIANNE FIORENTINO (6:30) is a Santa Fe-based musican & songwriter.

Santa Fe's favorite singer-songwriter ELIZA GILKYSON
featuring special guest TONY GILKYSON

Friday, June 6, 2008 at 7:30pm
Railyard Performance Center, 1611-B Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe
SW Roots Music Members should call 473-5723 for member discount.
$30 advance. $35 door. General Admission.
Tickets at Lensic Box Office, 505-988-1234.
BUY ONLINE

"Masterfully structured, startlingly intimate songs in a beautifully lived in voice." —Boston Globe

On June 6, the Women's Celebration continues with a set by singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson at the Railyard Performance Center. Easily one of New Mexico's favorite singer-songwriters, Eliza Gilkyson's deeply personal, often political songs have wowed both critics and audiences, especially since hooking up with Redhouse Records in 2000 to release a spate of critically acclaimed discs. This string of artistic successes has secured Gilkyson's place on the Americana scene with a rock-solid collection of songs, lean production, and a vocal confidence that often invites comparisons to her peers and admirers Patty Griffin and Lucinda Williams. A Grammy nominee and Austin Music Hall of Famer, Gilkyson's latest, Your Town Tonight, is a live outing that captures the gusto of her emotive shows and features songs that span her entire career, including early originals like "Rose of Sharon" and "Lights of Santa Fe." It also features Gilkyson's knock-dead version of Dylan's "Jokerman," one of her finest achievements.

singer-songwriter TOM RUSSELL

Saturday, July 26, 2008. 7:00 & 8:45 performances.
GiG Performance Space, 1808 Second St., Santa Fe
$29 General Admission. Only 65 seats available.
SW Roots Music Members should call 473-5723 for member discount.
Tickets at Lensic Box Office 505-988-1234
BUY ONLINE

"An uncanny sense of place that advertises him as one of the remaining guardians of a dwindling narrative sensibility." —Associated Press

Singer-songwriter Tom Russell was born in Los Angeles in 1950 and now makes his home on the border of El Paso-Juarez. A writer, painter and musician, he began his music career in the bars of Vancouver's skid row. With 20 albums of original material to his credit, including the 2005 classic homage to his friend Charles Bukowski, Hotwalker, Russell's songs have appeared in a dozen films and have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith, Doug Sahm, Dave Alvin, Joe Ely, Ian Tyson and others. He is credited, along with Dave Alvin, with establishing the Americana radio format with their co-produced 1994 tribute to Merle Haggard, Tulare Dust.

a Thirsty Ear Festival pre-event featuring roots icon TAJ MAHAL

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 7:30pm
Santa Fe Brewing Company, 27 Fire Place Rd. (off Hwy 14)
$32 advance, $36 door. All-ages outdoor show. SW Roots members call 473-5723 for a discount.
Tickets at Lensic Box Office 505-988-1234
BUY ONLINE

One of the greatest American roots musicians of all time, with more than 40 albums to his credit, Taj Mahal has played a vital role in preserving traditional blues and African-American roots music for four decades. A famously versatile musical chameleon, Taj has tapped into Hawaiian music, Caribbean rhythms, African forms, American folk, you name it — always remaining true to rootsy traditions yet infusing all with a deep blues that is central to his sound and soul. Regardless of genre, his heart belongs to old-time country blues. Taj recorded his self-titled debut for Columbia Records in 1968, collaborating with Ry Cooder, and his first album remains a must-have classic. Several more excellent albums for the label followed through the early 70s, which along with steady touring established him as a popular, charismatic, laidback performer of great sophistication, wit, and intelligence. Even his children's albums are anything but childish. His insatiable thirst for varied styles and sounds has led to dozens of albums, hundreds of folk, blues, and world music festival appearances, and a broad audience of unparalleled eclecticism. We are proud to welcome Taj and his trio for an under-the-stars concert in the Santa Fe Brewing Company's spacious courtyard as part of our ongoing American Icons Series.

singer-songwriter GREG BROWN

Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 7:30
Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe
Reserved. SW Roots members call 473-5723.
Tickets at Lensic Box Office 505-988-1234
BUY ONLINE FOR SF SHOW
AND
Friday, November 7, 2008 at 8:00
KiMo Theater, 423 Central NW, Albuquerque
Reserved. SW Roots members call 473-5723.
Tickets at 505-883-7800 and all Ticketmaster outlets BUY ONLINE FOR ABQ SHOW

An unpretentious, compelling, and humorous performer with a dark, rich, idiosyncratic voice, Greg Brown is, hands down, one of America's great singer-songwriters. His insightful lyrics paint powerful and often deceptively simple images on a canvas of gospel, blues, country, rock, and jazz. Everyone from Willie Nelson to Carlos Santana has covered his songs. The son of a guitar-playing poet and a banjo-picking Pentecostal preacher, he was born in the Hacklebarney section of southeastern Iowa. At age 10 he found a Big Bill Broonzy album in Kansas, and his fate was sealed. Years later, he landed a job running hootenannies at Gerdes Folk City in the Village. Over time he recorded a spate of critically acclaimed records and earned his way into the most prestigious theaters and festivals throughout the country. We're proud to welcome Greg back.

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