Music & Poetry at the Festival
MUSICIANS
Dave Richardson
Dave Richardson is an observer. With his warm, expressive voice and his acoustic guitar, he invites listeners to experience snippets of life through his songs: a fragment of overheard conversation, the recollection of a feeling, a snapshot of an event.
Dave’s musical influences include song collectors and re-interpreters like Jean Ritchie, Pete, Seeger, and Martin Carthy. He grew up listening to ‘60s pop and classic rock, and his love of a catchy melody can be easily heard in his music. His songs reflect a unique point of view steeped in folk traditions and infused with an undeniably modern lyrical and musical sensibility.
Dave can be found performing in folk clubs, bars and cafes, and open-air venues across New England. He is planning an extended tour to support his first nationally released studio album, engineered, mixed, and co-produced by Dan Cardinal (Josh Ritter, Arc Iris, Lula Wiles) and due out in early 2018.
Ida Mae Specker & Faith Wood
A 3rd generation fiddle player, Ida Mae was born in a one-room cabin in the woods of Vermont. She began performing with her family band, The Speckers, in 2005. VPR’s Robert Resnik calls the Speckers “Vermont Folk Heroes.” She is joined by singer-songwriter Faith Wood. With tight vocal harmonies and palpable chemistry, the duo plays a rambunctious fusion of original and traditional music that owes as much to punk rock as Appalachia. Their live show synthesizes their diverse influences and features contemporary lyrics set to old-time melodies with a rock n' roll heartbeat.
Reckless Breakfast
Reckless Breakfast is the product of years of evolution in the Upper Valley Bluegrass scene. Their playful antics, creative arrangements of many different genres (hip hop, rock, pop, folk) into bluegrass and stock of classic flatpicking numbers are sure to delight any listener. Their simple harmonies and boisterous instrumentals appeal to many different audiences, though they are especially popular among the Dartmouth Outing Club crowd.
Jen Freise, fiddle, Ford Daley, Dobro and Dave Lloyd, guitar, provide virtuosic instrumental leads, while Rory Gawler's vocals, banjo or mandolin and Duff Cummings' bass round out the sound. Now featuring Laura Jean Binkley on vocals as well. With Jen, Laura Jean and Ford singing harmony, the tunes will appeal to the most hardened bluegrass fan, and the good-old fashioned string band sound is accessible to all.
Still Hill
Formed in early 2016 and hailing from the woods of central Vermont, Still Hill plays a unique blend of progressive bluegrass dipped in folk, Americana, and old time roots music. Members include Adam Granade (upright bass), Rob Lees (guitar and vocals), Niles Franc (banjo, harmonica, and vocals), Jen Freise (fiddle and vocals), and Cody Williams (mandolin and vocals). Still Hill’s original songwriting, instrumental improvisation, and 3-part harmonies will make you hoot, holler, dance and leave you wanting more each and every time.
POETS
Major Jackson
Major Jackson is an American poet, professor and the author of three collections of poetry: HOLDING COMPANY (W.W. Norton, 2010) and HOOPS (W.W. Norton, 2006), both finalists for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature-Poetry and LEAVING SATURN (University of Georgia, 2002), winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and finalist for a National Book Critics Award Circle. He is also a recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress.
Jackson is the Richard Dennis Green and Gold Professor at University of Vermont and a core faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars. He served as a creative arts fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, as the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence at University of Massachusetts-Lowell and currently serves as the Poetry Editor of the Harvard Review.
Dave Richardson
Dave Richardson is an observer. With his warm, expressive voice and his acoustic guitar, he invites listeners to experience snippets of life through his songs: a fragment of overheard conversation, the recollection of a feeling, a snapshot of an event.
Dave’s musical influences include song collectors and re-interpreters like Jean Ritchie, Pete, Seeger, and Martin Carthy. He grew up listening to ‘60s pop and classic rock, and his love of a catchy melody can be easily heard in his music. His songs reflect a unique point of view steeped in folk traditions and infused with an undeniably modern lyrical and musical sensibility.
Dave can be found performing in folk clubs, bars and cafes, and open-air venues across New England. He is planning an extended tour to support his first nationally released studio album, engineered, mixed, and co-produced by Dan Cardinal (Josh Ritter, Arc Iris, Lula Wiles) and due out in early 2018.
Ida Mae Specker & Faith Wood
A 3rd generation fiddle player, Ida Mae was born in a one-room cabin in the woods of Vermont. She began performing with her family band, The Speckers, in 2005. VPR’s Robert Resnik calls the Speckers “Vermont Folk Heroes.” She is joined by singer-songwriter Faith Wood. With tight vocal harmonies and palpable chemistry, the duo plays a rambunctious fusion of original and traditional music that owes as much to punk rock as Appalachia. Their live show synthesizes their diverse influences and features contemporary lyrics set to old-time melodies with a rock n' roll heartbeat.
Reckless Breakfast
Reckless Breakfast is the product of years of evolution in the Upper Valley Bluegrass scene. Their playful antics, creative arrangements of many different genres (hip hop, rock, pop, folk) into bluegrass and stock of classic flatpicking numbers are sure to delight any listener. Their simple harmonies and boisterous instrumentals appeal to many different audiences, though they are especially popular among the Dartmouth Outing Club crowd.
Jen Freise, fiddle, Ford Daley, Dobro and Dave Lloyd, guitar, provide virtuosic instrumental leads, while Rory Gawler's vocals, banjo or mandolin and Duff Cummings' bass round out the sound. Now featuring Laura Jean Binkley on vocals as well. With Jen, Laura Jean and Ford singing harmony, the tunes will appeal to the most hardened bluegrass fan, and the good-old fashioned string band sound is accessible to all.
Still Hill
Formed in early 2016 and hailing from the woods of central Vermont, Still Hill plays a unique blend of progressive bluegrass dipped in folk, Americana, and old time roots music. Members include Adam Granade (upright bass), Rob Lees (guitar and vocals), Niles Franc (banjo, harmonica, and vocals), Jen Freise (fiddle and vocals), and Cody Williams (mandolin and vocals). Still Hill’s original songwriting, instrumental improvisation, and 3-part harmonies will make you hoot, holler, dance and leave you wanting more each and every time.
POETS
Major Jackson
Major Jackson is an American poet, professor and the author of three collections of poetry: HOLDING COMPANY (W.W. Norton, 2010) and HOOPS (W.W. Norton, 2006), both finalists for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature-Poetry and LEAVING SATURN (University of Georgia, 2002), winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and finalist for a National Book Critics Award Circle. He is also a recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress.
Jackson is the Richard Dennis Green and Gold Professor at University of Vermont and a core faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars. He served as a creative arts fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, as the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence at University of Massachusetts-Lowell and currently serves as the Poetry Editor of the Harvard Review.