Songs from the Hudson River is our latest project and will have its debut performance on Friday February 13th from 8:00pm to 9:00pm at Barbes in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Barbes is a great place to have a beer (if that's your thing) and hear some great music; and if you know Barbes, you better get there early if you want a seat!
In honor of the Hudson River Quadricentennial Celebration going on throughout 2009, Songs from the Hudson River is a collaboration with the wonderful singer-songwriter Joy Askew.
Joy is an accomplished singer-songwriter who has performed with Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Joe Jackson, Jack Bruce and others. We are very excited to have Joy with us for this project.
All the compositions are inspired by historical, fictional, and contemporary life and communities on and around the Hudson River. From the Indian Point Nuclear Plant near Peekskill to the small upstate town, Hudson, formerly known as the "vice capital of the Northeast" to Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" each composer met with Joy individually to discuss the concept for their piece and various musical ideas. Then over a period of a few months Joy went to work crafting lyrics that the composers worked with to create their piece.
In addition to Barbes on February 13th, we will be performing a slightly expanded version of the project, with additional songs Joy wrote that are inspired by the Hudson River in SoHo at Roulette on Sunday March 22nd at 8:30pm and 2 hours north of NYC at the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, New York on Saturday May 30th at 8:00pm.
All the performances are with Joy and a 6-person Pulse ensemble featuring the outstanding musicians Dan Willis (woodwinds), Lis Rubard (horn), Julianne Carney (violin), Will Martina (cello), Dan Loomis (bass), and Diana Herold (percussion) in a dynamic melding of singer-songwriter and contemporary chamber music sensibilities.
We hope to see you at one (or more than one!) of the performances.
Joe
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