Who’s Who in Montague? -- Brief Performer Bios
Click here for extended bios/website links

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On the Common 

 

Expandable Brass Band: Inspired by the Honk Festival and New Orleans-style "Second Line'' street bands, the Expandables play a lively variety of classic and funky tunes, featuring drums, trumpets, trombones, saxophones, tubas, and tenor banjo.  Got a horn?  Bring it & join in!

 

Montague Common Singers:  Singing through the pandemic and beyond. Join us on our 809th day raising voices together on the Common. Easy tunes and choruses. Sing a song, share a song, or just listen!

 

Montague Common Hall
 

Contra Dance Tunes Open Session:  Dance tunes from New England and beyond, led by Rebecca Weiss (fiddle) and Besky Hollingsworth (piano).  Come to play, or come to listen.  Bring your acoustic instrument and join in! (Sorry, no winds.) Masks are required for this event. 

 

Becky’s Badass Bassoons: Montague’s own Becky Eldridge leads a quartet of double-reeded mayhem.  

Stephen Katz sings and plays mostly original compositions on cello and guitar.  His groove-driven music is made possible by a  strumming approach he calls “Flying Pizzicato,” a technique that appears both easy and impossible at the same time.
 

Klez Kabal is a klezmer string trio playing old-timey European klezmer music with a modern chamber music vibe.

 

Sophisticated Lady & the Tramps  Father & daughter Gary & Amanda Bernhard (piano/vocals respectively) are joined by Joe LoMonaco (drums) & James Daggs (bass).  Together they play and sing their favorite standards (from the 30s and 40s) and contemporary songs. 

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 1st Congregational Church

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Harvey Diamond & John Lentz: Legendary pianist Harvey Diamond & vocalist John Lentz keep alive the blues-based vocal tradition of American jazz music.  Together they play music that is immediate, real, accomplished, and accessible.  

 

AyreCraft will perform a program of late 16th & early 17th century lute song repertoires, paired with modern popular songs.  Think of the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts visited by Archie Fisher, Bob Dylan, Taylor Swift, and Richard Thompson, all accompanied on period instruments.  

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Mark Fraser & Matthew Duncan (cello/piano) will perform an eclectic mix of classical repertoire (Hindemith, Milhaud), original compositions, and jazz standards. 

Pergola 

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Mary Fraser & Julia Friend play traditional tunes from Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas interpreted through life in Montague.  Mary & Julia will get anyone's feet tapping and ears intrigued.

 

Michael Nix performs new classical compositions and arrangements for seven string banjar. Nix designed the banjar, a modern seven-string banjo that  combines elements of five-string banjo and classical guitar. 

 

Addie, Becky, & Joe (of Orkestar Banitsa) perform traditional dance music from the Balkans – Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece – on clarinet, accordion, and bass. Becky Ashenden, Addie Rose Holland, and Joe Blumenthal. 

 

Porch 

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Vimana translates the current state of politics and unrest into an instrumental melodic context that weaves into militant psychedelic rock, astral jazz, Asian funk, & a little something else. 

 

Louise Mosrie is “like listening to Patty Griffin and Susan Tedeschi at the same time. Highlight of the 30A Songwriter Festival." - Central Square Records, Seaside Florida. 

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Fatty Bolger mixes tight grooves with crisp guitar - melding genres, decades, and feels into familiar yet contemporary originals. Get on your feet and shake it off!

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Barn 

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The frost heaves and haleS: The Daily Hampshire Gazette praised The Frost Heaves & HaleS for their “Musical Promiscuity... psychedelic, electronic, folk, pop, rock, Americana, experimental,” and “songs with lyrical details and…lines that pop out as though in 3-D.”

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Pat & Tex LaMountain are “upbeat and rhythmic, inspirational and catchy.” In addition to their originals, Pat & Tex perform American standards, swing tunes, folk, rock, jazz, bluegrass, gospel, and country classics. 

 

Brian Bender and the Robby Roiter Jazz Duo Brian (trombone, piano, vocals) and Robby (guitar) perform a fun blend of jazz standards, original compositions, and an occasional pop tune.

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  Strolling

 

Mary Fraser and Julia Friend see Pergola 

 

Rebecca Weiss & Rose Jackson are young folks playing old music. They discovered a mutual love of classic contra dance tunes hardy enough to keep you going through a New England winter. Expect to hear reels, jigs, and waltzes, all decorated with twin fiddle harmonies. 

 

Tim Van Egmond plays mountain and hammered dulcimers, limberjack, and mouth bow.