Atwater-Donnelly Duo to Play at Stoughton Public Library

Image via Wikipedia"The Atwater-Donnelly musical duo visits the Stoughton Public Library on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. for a toe-tapping concert of traditional American folk music and Irish music and dance.

Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly blend gorgeous harmonies and play guitar, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, mandolin, tin whistle, harmonica, banjo, bones, spoons, limberjacks. They will also mix in some Appalachian clog dancing.

Parking is available both behind and next to the library, and at the Jones School on Walnut St.

The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Stoughton Public Library and by the Stoughton Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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Atwater-Donnelly Duo to Play at Stoughton Public Library - Stoughton, MA Patch:

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Dolly Parton At Verizon Wireless Theater

Dolly Parton seems like the kind of person so determined to make sure her audience has a good time, she's not above putting them to the thumbscrews to make sure that happens. Luckily, it didn't come to that Tuesday at a near sold-out Verizon Wireless Theater.

Parton (re)introduced herself to the adoring crowd by saying that she loves playing in Texas because every movie she's been in -- or close enough -- her character has been from the Lone Star State. And her two-hour-plus set was a lot like Texas weather: Don't like it, stick around a few minutes and it'll change.



Photos by Jason Wolter
​So if the uptempo gospel-pop of "He's Everything" might have made some of the less spiritually inclined on hand squirm, the almost a cappella Smoky Mountain harmonies of "Precious Memories" could have made believers out of them. They should have, for sure.
If her latest bid for country chart success, the glossy take-a-hand tune "Together You and I," didn't quite work, there was always past triumphs "Jolene" and "Here You Come Again," which most assuredly did. "Holding Everything," a duet with producer/bandleader Kent Wells, may be the real hit off her latest album, Better Day, anyway.

Even Dolly acknowledged that her version of "Stairway to Heaven" -- presented in abbreviated bluegrass form Tuesday, with several verses lopped off -- may have been better left in the hands of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, et. al. It's her husband's favorite song, she said, but when he heard her version, he wondered if it should have been called "Stairwell to Hell" instead. It wasn't that bad, but her takes on both the Beatles' "Help!" and Collective Soul's "Shine" survived the classic/modern-rock-to-bluegrass transition much, much better.

Dolly never took off that coat of many colors she put on all those many years ago -- neither she nor Aftermath would be foolish enough to reveal how many -- and her chameleonic nature is key to her considerable charm. And although her covers of "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Son of a Preacher Man" were nothing to sneeze at, the best parts of Tuesday's show weren't when she was putting on Tina Turner or Dusty Springfield's heels, but dipping into her own history.

That started with honoring her mother on "Coat of Many Colors." Equally affecting, if not more, was her tribute to her dad on an "Smoky Mountain Memories," presented as a stock-still Celtic ballad with her drummer's solemn taps on a bodhran and Parton's own high-lonesome tin-whistle melody. Likewise, you could have heard a feather drop during "Little Sparrow," her warning to all the "tender young maidens" out there, and a rip-snorting "Muleskinner Blues" had everything but the cruel crack of the driver's lash.

Last Night: Dolly Parton At Verizon Wireless Theater - Houston Music - Rocks Off

2 polkas on whistle from Boys of the Lough

A polka from Finland, followed by three reels, first one from piper Séamus Ennis, second from fiddle player Gerry O'Connor, and the third is "The Ivy Leaf". From a concert by The Boys of the Lough.

Cathal McConnell, from Ballinaleck, Co. Fermanagh (whistle).
Christy O'Leary, from Kenmare, Co.Kerry (whistle).
John Coakley, from Bantry, Co.Cork (piano).

Irish Tin Whistle Tutorial from Tradschool

Curtain closes on Montana Artists Refuge's 18-year run

BASIN — There are places where creativity blossoms. You can breathe in their heady energy as soon as you step into the space.
For the past 18 years, the Montana Artists Refuge in Basin has been such a place — welcoming some 300 artists to this tiny historic mining town.
Into the refuge’s high-ceiling, airy studios came actors, dancers, composers, musicians, opera singers, painters, sculptors, writers of fiction and nonfiction, poets, screenwriters, filmmakers, multi-media artists, costume designers and more. They journeyed from as far as China and Poland or as near as Missoula and Great Falls.
Many looked shell-shocked when they first drove into the tiny town of 212 — a place so sleepy dogs nap in the middle of Basin Street, the main thoroughfare.
But as sun and mountain air and starry skies poured in their studio windows, a door in the mind swung open — spilling out plays, poems, music.
The last artists came and left in September, with the refuge officially closing its doors Oct. 1.

Curtain closes on Montana Artists Refuge's 18-year run

Local Irish folk duo keeps traditional music alive

Local Irish folk duo keeps traditional music alive » Local News » Ad-Express and Daily Iowegian, Centerville, IA