SATURDAY DECEMBER 4, 2010

8:00pm
THE DAVE ROWE TRIO
With special guest
JENNIFER JOHNSON
$20 ($17 members)

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Hairy-chested nautical songs, rollicking bluegrass and Appalachian tunes, old-timey instrumental masterpieces, broad-shouldered Celtic classics, captivating originals, and Down east wit pepper every show by the Maine-based Dave Rowe Trio.

This group of seasoned musicians seamlessly blends traditional and contemporary music with themes of northern New England, its interesting culture and rich heritage, effectively transporting the listener to the great state of Maine—from mountains to foothills to coast, from factory worker to farmer to fisherman.

The trio’s inventive use of instrumentation on guitar, mandolin, electric bass, and tin whistles along with their strong three part vocal harmonies which hearken back to the great folk bands of the 1960s create an unique musical tapestry rarely heard in the contemporary folk landscape.

Dave Rowe has a strong heritage to draw on, having grown up immersed in music. His father was Tom Rowe, Schooner Fare's bass player, whose driving rhythms laid the foundation for that group's robust sound. Tom's abiding joy in the music infected his son. By 15, he was making money making music as the bass player with the Makem Brothers, Tommy Makem's sons. At 19, he picked up a guitar for the first time, and then moved on to learning banjo and mandolin.

In 1993, the Rowe men did the most natural thing in the world and formed Rowe by Rowe. When they added Denny Breau (younger brother of legendary guitarist, Lenny Breau) in 1998, they became Turkey Hollow. This configuration toured extensively until Dave lost his dad to cancer early in 2004.

Dave scoured Maine to find musicians to breathe new life into a different configuration. He first found Kevin O'Reilly, an electric bass player with a background in rock music. Kevin provides a strong underpinning to the DRT sound while hanging on to his rock sensibilities. In addition to trio work, he explores the boundaries of bass guitar with his solo music. FACE magazine says, "O'Reilly is to be commended for pushing the bass guitar beyond where whoever created it in the first place imagined it might go."

Zach Ovington, fiddle player extraordinaire, grew up in Tennessee and first hit the road alongside some of Nashville’s best and brightest. Settling in Maine over a decade ago, Zach recently has done stints as the fiddler for the Hot Club of Portland as well as in the Sean Mencher Combo. When not on the road with the Dave Rowe Trio, Zach can also be seen filling in frequently in some of Maine’s best bluegrass ensembles.

The all-new Dave Rowe Trio is race-ready and road-tested. They have been astonishing audiences for over five years with their boundless energy, enthusiasm, and obvious love for what they do.

Opening the evening will be Jennifer Johnson. Born in New York NY and raised here in New Jersey, it was the ballet studios, Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and the piano bars of New York City that provided the initial backdrop and inspiration to studies spanning a broad spectrum of styles from opera and the jazz standards to Broadway-style singing, in both New York City and Los Angeles, before stumbling upon a traditional Irish music session in NYC in 2002, and... the Irish fiddle.

A trip to Ireland opened the door to a world of timeless music that would inspire the eclectic artist for years to follow. A rented violin, many large coffees, and some lessons with Patrick Ourceau in Brooklyn, led to regular yearly visits to Cape Breton Island with the fiddle and dance shoes, Irish step-dance with Niall O’Leary in NYC, then studies with Athena Tergis (Riverdance) and NY Sligo Fiddler Brian Conway.

Jennifer periodically teaches Cape Breton stepdance classes in New York City and has been performing regularly since 2005 as a Singer/Fiddler/Dancer for senior and student audiences locally in NJ. Her current repertoire spans from 1930s and 40s jazz classics to traditional Irish fiddle melodies and songs.