folk music

Michael Eck returns with special guests to Caffe Lena on Friday night for a combined 60th birthday party/album release show. Eck debuted at Caffè Lena in 1990 and offered a sold-out solo album release show in fall 2022.For this event, Eck will be joined by an all-star ensemble featuring Rosanne Raneri, Kevin Maul, and Sten Isachsen and Bob Buckley. Together they will join in on old favorites, new songs – from “Fermata,” being released at the concert.

Lamenting the roll-back on women’s rights around the world, folk singer-songwriter Dawn Landes re-imagines The Liberated Woman’s Songbook in a new album that is available today.First published at the height of the Women’s Liberation Movement, Landes’ revision of the work is a collaboration with producer Josh Kauffman.

The new documentary film “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” is a biography that opens with her farewell tour, and uses her journals and archival footage and photographs to stunningly depict Baez taking stock of a life lived in the public eye – in an unsparing fashion and confronts sometimes painful memories.

Judy Collins has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism. She is bringing her "Holidays & Hits" tour to Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs, New York on December 16.

Over the last half a century, the legendary Judy Collins has thrilled audiences worldwide with her unique blend of interpretive folk songs and contemporary themes – a modern day Renaissance woman who continues to create music of hope and healing that lights up the world. Judy Collins returns to The Egg in Albany, New York to perform her greatest hits on July 15, 2023.

Pianist Jacqueline Schwab will perform a concert entitled “Mothers and Children: A Mother's Day Concert of Hope and Peace” at the Guilderland Public Library this Sunday, May 14 at 2 p.m.Schwab’s signature piano playing features in over a dozen of Ken Burns’ documentaries, including his Grammy-winning “Civil War,” “Baseball,” “The War” and others. As a solo pianist, she has performed vintage American music in almost every state of the union. Her latest album is “I Life My Lamp: Illuminations from Immigrant America.”

Music journalist Will Hermes is a regular contributor to NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. He’s the author of the upcoming “Lou Reed: The King of New York” which is scheduled to be published by FSG this fall. Hermes recently spent time exploring the music scene in Ireland and an article he’s written about what he heard and learned on the Emerald Isle will be published in The New York Times this weekend.

“Retirement Was Fun While It Lasted.” That’s the word Arlo Guthrie, the folk troubadour who made his first stage appearance at age 13. After six decades on the road, Arlo hung up his guitar a few years ago. But now he’s getting ready to return to the stage this spring in a new format, including appearances at The Egg in Albany on April 21st and Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe, Vermont on May 27th. The new tour is called “What’s Left Of Me.”

In June, singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky released her ninth solo album, “Last Days of Summer” - it features four covers and six new original songs, co-written with Kaplansky’s husband Rick Litvin. She joins us to talk about her songwriting, how she picks covers, and the band she assembled for this record.

Central Park in Schenectady, New York is ready, once again, to come alive for the summer, as Music Haven kicks-off its 32nd season of “traveling the world one concert at a time.” The much-heralded concert and event series will feature high caliber national and international touring artists, plus some theater and film, in its ambitious comeback season. On top of a boisterous itinerary that includes sun splashed reggae; South Louisiana Zydeco; Balkan party music; harmony-driven bluegrass – even Finnish folk music for the first time. We welcome Music Haven Producing Artistic Director Mona Golub.