Summer Concert Series 2019

Lake George Arts Project’s Summer Concert Series kicks off with a double bill featuring Circle of Willis and the Stony Creek Band.

Circle of Willis

This trio is fronted by the “Mad Fiddler” Nelson Rock, and also features Michael Kelley on keyboards and vocals, along with drummer Bobby Assini.

Rock has performed throughout the Northeast and at Mardi Gras in New Orleans along with the Neville Brothers. Kelley is a veteran performer, having played with many of the northeast’s best bands, including Blotto, the Lustre Kings, John Kribs, Ernie Williams, and Mark Emanatian.

Stony Creek Band

The Stony Creek Band is one of the Adirondack region’s most enduringly popular bands. Since forming in the early 1970’s, the band has evolved from an acoustic trio playing traditional folk and country to an eclectic Americana outfit featuring exhuberant, superbly tight eclectic arrangements. Their inspiring songs ring with the unsilenceable voices of everyday heroes. Never saccharine or self-absorberd, Stony Creek is a band of mature, seasoned artists who play with an intuition only possible among first-rate artists whose collaboration has spanned four decades.

 The Stony Creek Band performs a combination of country, blues, rock, and bluegrass. It’s members are Hank Soto on electric guitar,  John Strong on acoustic guitar, Dave Maswick on bass, Fred Lantz on mandolin, and Mike Lomaestro on drums. All are singer/songwriters. 

~ As described by Caffe Lena’s

Frank Vignola is one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. His stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List” for the Wall Street Journal. Vignola’s jaw dropping technique explains why the New York Times deemed him “one of the brightest stars of the guitar”.

He will be joined by long-time collaborator Vinny Ranioli and the brilliant young guitarist, Jan Knutson.

Vinny Raniolo and his dynamic playing has brought him to 18 countries performing alongside Frank Vignola, Tommy Emmanuel, Vince Giordano, and Deana Martin. Vinny has also been featured on three PBS Music shows including the heavily programmed Tommy Emmanuel and Friends, Frank Vignola’s Four Generations of Guitar, and in the Music Gone Public series. Film and recording credits include soundtracks and on-screen appearances for HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”, Woody Allen’s film “Café Society” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”.

Jan Knutson is an extremely versatile musician. This talented young guitarist has performed at major venues across the country. Jan was a 2016 Strathmore Artist, was featured at the 2017 Richmond Folk Festival, and has had the honor of performing with such luminaries as Bucky Pizzarelli, Julian Lage, and Martin Taylor. Jan has recorded two solo CDs and currently studies with Rodney Jones at the Manhattan School of Music.

NOTE: Tonight’s MURIA MULDAUR show has been moved indoors due to inclement weather. Join us at King Neptune’s Pub, 1 Kurosaka Lane (about 2 blocks south of the park)

Check back after 4:30 pm, here on our website, or on our Face Book page, Instagram or call us.

Thank You!

Maria Muldaur is best known world-wide for her 1974 mega-hit “Midnight at the Oasis,” which received several Grammy nominations. And this year she’s been nominated again in the Best Traditional Blues category for her 41st album ‘DON’T YOU FEEL MY LEG ~ The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Barker.’

Despite her considerable pop music success, her 50-year career could best be described a long and adventurous odyssey through the various forms of American Roots Music. She began her recording career in 1963 with the Even Dozen Jug Band and shortly thereafter, joining the very popular Jim Kweskin Jug Band, touring and recording with them throughout the 60s. In 2011 Maria released Steady Love, a contemporary electric Blues album that reflects the kind of music she loves to perform live – what she calls “Bluesiana Music” – her own brand of New Orleans-flavored Blues, R&B and “Swamp Funk.”

Huntertones brings people together around the globe with fun, imaginative and fearless music. Their high energy, horn-driven sound features genre bending compositions and unconventional covers. Every show is a social experience celebrating the joy of music.

Honest, genuine, skillfully executed music without limitations that is uplifting and cannot be quantified. – Jon Batiste

Mulebone

Mulebone is the Brooklyn-based blues musical duo of Hugh Pool on guitar, boot board, vocals, and harmonica, and John Ragusa on any number of flutes, tin whistles, jaw harp, and Conch shells. This is a predictably unpredictable group, delightful, unusual, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Some of the best blues you’re likely to hear this side of 1925. Hugh and John don’t just rehash classics from the blues greats, they recreate them as their own, and write originals that fit in seamlessly with that repertoire. The real deal. – JEFF RASPE, Music Wizard WBJB-FM; 90.5

Matt Mirabile

From sweet and soulful to full on jam Matt Mirabile has it covered. Deeply rooted in Blues, Soul, R&B, and Funk, he began performing at age twelve and quickly went from a being a young novelty player to being a serious threat on the guitar. With nearly two decades of professional playing experience Mirabile’s musical journey has brought him to many parts of the US and even Europe. He has shared the stage with blues greats such as, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Lurrie Bell and Kenny Neal. Mirabile plays with a tone and feeling well beyond his years and keeps his audience wanting more.

Tonight’s performance by Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys is in King Neptune’s Pub. 

King Neptune’s is 1 Kurosaka Lane, behind the post office. Two blocks south of Shepard Park.

Jim Gaudet & the Railroad Boys’ sound is steeped in the tradition of “Acoustic Americana Roots Music.” They deliver a dynamic blend of traditional mountain music fused with Gaudet’s diverse contemporary songwriting. Gaudet’s unique percussive rhythms become the perfect springboard for his voice to follow and his melodies are downright infectious. It’s typical during any live performance to see the band’s fans shouting right along on favorites like “So Far So Good.” Gaudet has assembled a strong cast of characters in the Railroad Boys.

Individually the Railroad Boys are Jim Gaudet on guitar and vocals, Bobby Ristau on bass and vocals, Sten Isachsen on mandolin and vocals, and Mat Kane on fiddle.

The McKrells are one of the Capital District’s most well-known Irish and bluegrass acts, who performed at the top of the local music scene for 15 years before taking a hiatus in 2006. Folk singer, songwriter, and artist Kevin McKrell has had his songs recorded and performed by artists from around the world. He has performed in theaters, clubs, and on festival stages across the United States, Canada, Ireland and the U.K.

Led by Kevin, the New McKrell’s is a high energy collective and a who’s who of North Country Roots Music, each player a top draw in their own right. John Kribs is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is known throughout the Northeast for the classic roots rock band Johnny and the Triumphs, along with the beloved Raquette River Rounders.

On mandolin is Orion Kribs, a world-class string player capable of break neck speed and nuanced solo work so crucial to the McKrell sound.

Arlin Greene is the bass backbone of the group, a member of a musical family that has attained legendary status in the northeast. Son of the great Smokey Greene, he is a bassist of exceptional abilities, whether it is a high energy bluegrass stomp or one of McKrells’ Celtic ballads.

On percussion is Brian Melick, an active teacher and instrumentalist that has been featured on over 375 professional recordings.

On fiddle is Doug Moody, a Buffalo N.Y. legend for his work with the alt-country band The Steam Donkeys.

With each player in The New McKrells capable of lead singer status, the harmony vocals of this collective of like-minded musicians are stunning, the energy explosive, and each song a gem. They have been called amazing, stunning, brilliant … McKrellica.

Benefitting from years of unassuming and understated hipness, this Milwaukee based band brings forth a funky, lyrically charged racket that sits comfortably with soulful sounds the world over. Intricate but free-swinging, explosive yet intimate, fresh and green as grass. Taking cues from the dance bands of western Louisiana (and his native Midwest), the streets of New Orleans, touring African and Caribbean combos and the soul, funk & blues of his youth, Cebar is a masterful synthesist of rhythmic culture.

Tomorrow Sound are an elite crew of offhand adepts who bring plenty of their own wood to the fire. Drummer Reggie Bordeaux casts his nets with a mystifying subtlety bringing his own fleet-footed refinement and grease. Multi-instrumentalist Bob Jennings, lends his bandleader the luxury of implying a much larger ensemble with his multi-hued contributions on keys and reeds. Bassist Mike Fredrickson (a distinguished singer-songwriter in his own right) anchors and prods with the best of them.

Based in Saratoga Springs, NY, Big Medicine has been exciting audiences from Albany to Lake George and beyond for a decade and a half. Performing for local venues, festivals, weddings, television – events of all kinds – public and private.

The band is led by Jeff Walton on guitar, harmonica and vocals, and features the beautiful voice of Becky Walton. Tim Wechgelaer plays violin, mandolin and guitar; Rick Bolton is on lead guitar; and Pat Perkinson and Mike Lomaestro hold it down on bass and drums.

Strong vocals and harmonies by all members are accompanied by supple R&B and folk-rock grooves with rich acoustic-based textures. A healthy dose of originals, seductive renditions of songs by others, and an unbridled creative energy… great reasons to check out Big Medicine.