OccasionalMusic.org provides details on upcoming concerts in Corrales, Bernalillo, and other nearby communities. We don't book the shows or sell the tickets; we just do our best to make sure our audience has an opportunity to be IN the audience when these world class performers pass our way.
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Southwest Roots Music
presents
John Gorka
Thursday, September 26, 2024
7:00 doors / 7:30 performance / no opener.
Old San Ysidro Church, Corrales, NM
$35 advance / $40 door
John will also play a Santa Fe show on 9/27 –
INFO HERE
John Gorka is a world-renowned singer-songwriter who got his start at a neighborhood coffeehouse in eastern Pennsylvania in the late 1970s, encountering legendary folk troubadours Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton, Claudia Schmidt and the like. Their brand of folk-inspired acoustic music inspired him to write and perform his own songs at NYC’s legendary Fast Folk circle (a breeding ground for many a major singer-songwriter), Kerrville Folk Festival (where he won the New Folk Award in 1984) and, eventually, in Boston, where his soulful baritone voice and original songwriting began turning heads. Those who had at one time inspired him – Suzanne Vega, Bill Morrissey, and Shawn Colvin among them – had become his peers. His first album, I Know, was released in 1987 to popular and critical acclaim. A number of formative records followed, and his albums and ceaseless worldwide touring brought new accolades and fans hungry for Gorka’s rich, multifaceted, quite beautiful songs. In 2010, he released an album with Red House label-mates Lucy Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson under the name Red Horse. Eliciting widespread praise, it landed on the Billboard Folk Charts and was one of the most played albums on folk radio. Gorka has graced the stages of Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, Etown, among others. When he is not playing festivals, theaters and clubs throughout America and Europe, Gorka spends his time with his wife and children in Minnesota.
with opener Kent Gurley
Sunday, October 13
Doors: 6:30 Music: 7:00 - 9:00
Solamente Natural Plaster
135 North Camino Del Pueblo
Bernalillo, NM 87004
Here I Am, Nashvillian songstress Alice Wallace declares on her new album, released June 28, 2024, via Mule Kick Records. It’s a title that hints at her deeply personal, confessional songwriting style, one that invites the listener to gaze at her beating heart as each intimate secret pours out, propelled by a powerful, expressive delivery that marks her as one of the true vocal talents of her generation.
Alice does not hide behind the microphone, but uses it to amplify everything inside her champing to get out. She’s survived the highs and lows of life, love, and the music industry and finally produced the album she feels she was destined to make. Here I Am, she says, the real Alice Wallace.
This album marks a return to themes of self-examination after several collections that featured predominantly story songs. “I needed to make a record that was really true to myself, both for me and for my fans who have encouraged me in ways I am so grateful for,” Alice explains. “Songs are how I process. And writing this album helped me process so much of what has happened in the last few years.”
Alice moved to Nashville four years ago after more than a decade in southern California, and Here I Am is the first of her albums to be recorded in true Music City style, backed by a lineup of world-class musicians and recorded in two whirlwind days with no rehearsal, just the way the best session players like to do it. Produced by Nick Buda (Taylor Swift, Martina McBride, Dolly Parton) the album features some of the most talented musicians Nashville has to offer. In addition to Buda on drums, the record features Grammy-winning guitarist Kenny Greenberg (Willie Nelson, Wynnona Judd, Hayes Carll), bassist Ted Pecchio (Doyle Bramhall II, Susan Tedeschi) and keyboardist Jimmy Wallace (The Wallflowers). And although Alice had never played with any of the musicians before, the combined talents in the room made for an electric experience that brought her songs to life in vibrant and unexpected ways.
Southwest Roots Music
presents
Crys Matthews
Thursday, November 7, 2024
7:00 doors / 7:30 - 9:00 performance
Old San Ysidro Church, Corrales, NM
$25 advance / $30 door / GA / no opener
Standing firmly in the long beautiful shadow of Woody Guthrie, Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls "the poster-child for intersectionality," Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation called Matthews’s gift "a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides." She is made for these times and, with the release of her new, hope-fueled, love-filled social justice album Changemakers, Matthews hopes to take her place alongside some of her heroes in the world of social-justice music like Sweet Honey in the Rock and Holly Near.
Matthews began performing in 2010, but cemented her acclaim at Lincoln Center as the 2017 New Song Music and Performance Competition grand prize winner. That year she also released two new projects—her album of thoughtful songs on love and life called The Imagineers, and her EP called Battle Hymn for an Army of Lovers, which tackles social justice themes. Matthews also won the People’s Music Network’s Social Justice Songs contest at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance. Loyal fans quickly followed as Matthews racked up performances at large music festivals and prestigious venues across the country including the Sundance Film Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, and locally at venues like The Birchmere, TheHamilton, Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, and Jammin' Java. In her TedTalk about difficult conversations called "Sing, Don't Shout—An Alternative Approach" Matthews spoke about being born and raised in a small town in southeastern North Carolina by an A.M.E. preacher, and how she witnessed the power of music from an early age. A former drum major and classically-trained clarinetist turned folk singer, Matthews is using her voice to answer Dr. Martin Luther King's call to be "a drum major for justice."“
I believe in hope,” Matthews said. “As a social-justice songwriter, it is my duty to keep breathing that hope and encouragement into the people who listen to my music.” And, from the title track to the last track, Changemakers does just that all while tackling some heavy topics like immigration, the opioid crisis, Black Lives Matter, and gun safety to name a few.“ Ani DiFranco said, “People used to make records as in a record of an event," said Matthews, “so I hope that these songs will serve as a time capsule, a record of the events of the last four years and what it was like to live through them.” Crys Matthews's thoughtful, realistic and emotional songs speak to the voice of our generation and remind us why music indeed soothes the soul.
Southwest Roots Music
presents
Ordinary Elephant
Saturday, November 9, 2024
7:00 doors / 7:30 - 9:00 performance
Old San Ysidro Church, Corrales, NM
$27 advance / $32 door / GA / no opener.
Ordinary Elephant will also play Santa Fe on 11/8
INFO HERE
Ordinary Elephant has spent the better part of the last decade on a never-ending tour that’s earned married couple Crystal & Pete Damore widespread critical acclaim. In 2017, the duo took home the International Folk Music Award for Artist of the Year on the strength of their breakout album Before I Go. Two years later, they returned with the similarly lauded Honest, which the Associated Press hailed as “one of the best Americana albums of the year.”
The band’s new stripped-down, self-titled collection is the purest distillation of their sound yet, showcasing the arresting power of the couple’s gorgeous harmonies and intricate fretwork. The songs are rooted in rich, character-driven storytelling, and theperformances are similarly transportive, fueled by delicately intertwined banjo, guitar, and octave mandolin. Though the songs were born out of a period of deep uncertainty, the record itself is a work of profound self-assurance, one delivered by a duo whose personal and professional lives embody the limitless possibility of honest, organic collaboration and reveling in the simple beauty of the moment.
SOUTHWEST ROOTS MUSIC PRESENTS
David Berkeley
Album Release Show
Join us to celebrate the release of A Pail Full of Fire
in a truly magical setting.
Friday, November 15, 7:00pm
HISTORIC OLD SAN YSIDRO CHURCH
966 Old Church Rd. - Corrales NM
As many of you know, David Berkeley’s gift as a songwriter is in finding light through darkness, the hope in the hardship. His gift as a performeris in weaving hilarious stories in between his heartbreaking songs. Berkeley has been called a “musical poet,” by thecSan Francisco Chronicle, “a double fantasy of Nick Drake and Donovan,” bycRollingstone.com, and praised bycNew York Times for his “lustrous, melancholy voice." He was a guest on This American Life, and he’s won many songwriting awards and honors including ASCAPs Johnny Mercer Songwriting Award.
David returns to the old church to release his latest album, A Pail Full of Fire. Produced by Todd Sickafoose (Hadestown, Ani DiFranco) andrecorded in Eugene, Oregon, Berkeley's ninth solo album showcases him at the peak of his songwriting and vocal game. The arrangements aresimple yet lush--pedal steel, piano, upright bass, and acoustic guitar--and feature Berkeley's beautiful voice (complimented by Anna Tivel'sharmonies). Like most of Berkeley's extensive catalog, this collection does not shy away from hard questions. These songs are meditations on love, aging, and children growing up. The tenderness and beauty in Berkeley's delivery and in the production, however, provides comfort even when the lyric challenges. Please join us for what promises to be an unforgettable evening.