BFS Concerts & Bozeman Music Jams

BRYAN BOWERS
With Special Guests JOHN LOWELL and TOM MURPHY

Wednesday, February 15, 7:30 pm
Pilgrim Congregational Church
2118 South 3rd in Bozeman
Tickets at the door beginning at 7:00 pm: $14
($2 discount to BFS members and seniors, $5 age 5-12)

With a performing career spanning over 35 years, Bryan Bowers is to the autoharp what Earl Scruggs is to the 5-string banjo. His performances combine instrumental virtuosity with warmth, eloquence, expression and professionalism. People magazine said, "...This man makes more music from an autoharp than you can imagine from a 12-string guitar and a harpsichord combined. He has more stage presence and charisma than any stage performer in recent memory." He has long been a favorite at festivals in the Midwest and a member of the Autoharp Hall of Fame since 1993.

Bowers describes having been mesmerized near his Virginia home as a child when hearing the singing of field workers and gandy dancers, near Petersburg, site of the Civil War's Battle Of The Crater fame. Years later, he was again inspired when hearing someone perform on the Autoharp, a multi-stringed instrument most known at that time on early Carter Family recordings. Today, his numerous recordings reveal what remarkable beauty can be drawn from strumming steel strings over fine wood.

Joining Bryan on stage will be one of Montana's finest flatpicking guitarists and Bluegrass singer-songwriters, John Lowell. Lowell performs regularly with several bands, including Kane's River, The Growling Old Men, and many more. His original songs have also been covered by many other recording artists, including the latest CD released by Bryan Bowers, "Crabby Old Man." Tom Murphy’s sparkling mandolin has earned him a following for many fans of the 8-string here in the Gallatin Valley. He plays with several groups around the region, including some select dates with Lowell.  It will be a complete treat to hear Bryan with these two local favorites!

For more information visit Bryan's web site at: http://bryanbowers.com/

STEPHANIE DAVIS BAND in two local appearances:

Concert - Saturday, February 18 – 7:30 p.m. (Door opens @ 7:00)
Pilgrim Church, 2118 South Third Avenue, Bozeman
Tickets at the door:  $17  ($2 discount BFS members, seniors),  $5 children 5-12

AND

Cowboy Dance - Sunday, February 19 - 8:00 pm (Door opens @ 7:30)
The Buckhorn Theatre in Livingston.
Admission is $17 in advance, $20 at the door, kids 12 and under free. Advance tickets can be purchased at www.ticketriver.com, or by calling 222-9600

To cowboy and western music fans, Stephanie Davis needs little introduction. The fourth-generation Montanan spent several years in Nashville, honing her craft, and getting her songs into the hands of the right folks. She frequently appears at the Western Folklife Center's National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and other events across the West, and has been heard many times on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Country music superstar Garth Brooks has recorded many of her songs, as have Don Edwards, Trisha Yearwood, Maria Muldaur, Joey and Rory, Roger Whittaker, Daniel O'Donnell, Martina McBride, Sam Moore and many others. She's recorded a number of albums, including six CD releases on her own Recluse Records label.

She was at the special National Memorial "Dream Concert" at Radio City Music Hall in New York in September, 2007, to benefit the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC. Garth Brooks sang "We Shall be Free," the chart-topping song he and Stephanie co-wrote, and other participants at the event included Stevie Wonder, Jessye Norman, Aretha Franklin, and many distinguished guests. She toured with Garth Brooks in November, 2007. On October 31, 2007, George Cole's RealTime program on Yellowstone Public Radio aired a one-hour special, "A Visit With Stephanie Davis," recorded at her Montana ranch. You can listen to the archived program at the show's web site. Don't miss this rare chance to hear one of country music's finest songwriters in person!

Now, just a word or two about this fantastic band! The musicians accompanying Stephanie Davis are known to many fans of western music around these parts: Ray Doyle (guitar, mandolin), T. Scot Wilburn (guitar, fiddle, pedal steel), Rick Bryceson (drums), and Jack Schmermund (bass). Stephanie Davis will wrangle an acoustic guitar and play on the fiddle.

For listening and dancing, you won't likely have more pleasure than attending both of these rare chances to hear the Stephanie Davis Band.

ANDY REINER
Friday, February 24, 2012 – 7:30 p.m. (Doors open @ 7:00)
Pilgrim Church, 2118 South Third Avenue, Bozeman
TICKETS :  (only at the door) $12  ($2 discount BFS members, seniors),  $5 children 5-12

This concert will make any lover of the fiddle, or any stringed music lover smile for joy knowing that various folk musical styles are being well maintained by a younger generation. Andy Reiner presents an evening of (Appalachian, Celtic, Scandinavian, and Bluegrass) fiddle music, songs, original compositions, and stories and music collected on the road as a cultural ambassador in Southeast Asia.

Reiner is an award-winning fiddler from Lexington, MA. He began playing at age 5, learning fiddle from his father Dave Reiner, a fiddle contest champion and author of instructional fiddle books with publisher Mel Bay. Summers of fiddle camps and travel changed his life forever, while he studied Old Time, Bluegrass, Irish, Cape Breton, Quebequois, Swing, and other fiddle styles and repertoire.  He graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Andy’s fiddle playing reflects a diversity of styles ingrained along the way -- playing early on with the Reiner Family Band, heavy metal with Devil in the Kitchen, folk/hip-hop with FiddleFoxx, Swedish/old time with Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers and touring Southeast Asia for The State Department as a cultural ambassador with The Earth Stringband.  Andy has composed five major works for string orchestra, which have been performed at the Berklee Performance Center and the Kennedy Center, as well as a book of 54 original compositions for fiddle. He now resides in Brighton, MA where the jamming never ends. In between tours he teaches lessons, composes, and runs his own production and publishing companies!

The Bozeman Folklore Society (BFS) is an all volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, enjoying and sharing the music, dance, arts, crafts, and skills of traditional cultures. The BFS is an associate group of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). And we invite you to join and become involved with our effort to continue to present live music and promote dancing in our community. Volunteers are needed, as well as your support to continue to share our love for all the richness in the folk traditions.

Every Sunday - Irish Jam: 7:30 pm at the 317 Club, on the north side of Main two doors west of Rouse Street