Tues. May 30: David Wax Museum-Back for the first time since 2012, with both a new baby and a new album, David Wax Museum is better than ever.  Their 2010 breakout performance at the Newport Folk Festival made them the most talked-about band of the weekend, with NPR hailing them as “pure, irresistible joy.” They released a trio of albums that earned escalating raves everywhere from SPIN and Entertainment Weekly to the New York Times and The Guardian (which dubbed the music “global crossover at its best”). www.davidwaxmuseum.com 

Underwritten by the Wadsworth Russell Lewis Trust Fund

 

Tues. June 6: Roosevelt Dime – “A perpetual crowd pleaser” (New York Times)” this group combines elements of acoustic jug-band blues, classic New Orleans soul and neo-folk.  This will be their 4th CHIRP appearance. www.rooseveltdimemusic.com

 

Tues. June 13: Birds of Chicago – Allison Russell’s clarion voice wraps around the broken, country-soul croon of J.T. Nero, delivering echoes of mountain gospel, doo wop and classic soul with back porch instrumentation. Back after a stunning performance last summer. www.birdsofchicago.com

Underwritten by Naomi Manners Stern

Tues. June 20: Parsonsfield– The New York Times critic David Vescey hailed this band as “boisterously youthful yet deftly sentimental,” and No Depression raved that they’ll “give you rich five-part harmonies one minute, sound like bluegrass on steroids the next, and then rock you over the head with unbearably cool and raucous Celtic rhythms.” Past graduates of UCONN they are making their CHIRP debut. www.parsonsfield.com

 

Tues. June 27: Alexis P. Suter Ministers of Sound – Blues Music Award nominee (2013, 2015 and 2017) Alexis P Suter is a powerhouse bass/baritone vocalist who has enthralled her Ridgefield audience in the past. Her new project is a mix of Gospel, Blues, and Traditional American roots music. www.AlexisPSuter.com

Underwritten in part by The Leir Foundation

 

Thurs. June 29:  HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN – With “an arsenal full of technique and joy” (Jon Caramanica, NY Times), the “worlds most amazing Western Swing Band”(London, Sunday Times) returns for another CHIRP summer. Elana James, Jake Erwin, Whit Smith, three incredible virtuosos on fiddle, bass and guitar. www.hotclubofcowtown.com

Underwritten by the Alex Heckert Family

 

Tues. July 4: Susan Werner – “A clever songwriter and an engaging performer brings literacy and wit back to popular song,” says New Yorker Magazine.  “When it comes to crafting a song, Ms. Werner’s only peers are Jimmy Webb and Paul Simon,” writes No Depression. “This woman is great. Period.” (Nashville’s Music Row). www.susanwerner.com

Underwritten by Chris Pike of Ridgefield Music

Thurs. July 6: Fairfield Counts – Take your annual trip down Nostalgia Lane while you listen to the big band hits of the thirties and forties. Glen Miller, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and more.  www.fairfieldcounts.com

Underwritten in part by the Ridgefield Thrift Shop

Tues. July 11: Radio Free Honduras– Radio Free Honduras is a diverse collective of Chicago musicians, all united under one goal – to bring into the spotlight the artistry of Charlie Baran, once a major Honduran musician, but in America, by day, a school maintenance man. With lively percussion, eclectic instrumentation, and rich harmonies “Radio Free Honduras is great Latino music” (Toledo Blade) with a Gipsy Kings-meets-Los Lobos sound. Come and dance.  RadioFree Honduras.com

Underwritten by the Anna Maria & Stephen Kellen Foundation

 

Thurs. July 13: Gibson Brothers Trio – Two time IBMA Entertainers of the Year, The Gibson Brothers brand of bluegrass is a visceral mix of heritage and soaring harmony, making them the premiere brother duet of the genre following in footsteps of Stanley Brothers, etc.  Thrilled to have them making their first CHIRP appearance.  www.gibsonbrothers.com

Underwritten in part by Fairfield County Bank

 

 

Tues. July 18: Cherish the Ladies –“An astonishing array of virtuosity”(Washington Post).  One of the most engaging ensembles in the history of Celtic music ,fronted by the virtuoso Joan Madden, returns to Ridgefield. www.cherishtheladies.com

Underwritten by William Leventon

Thurs. July 20: The Mammals-Trad is rad once again – as Mike + Ruthy, the touring American folk act and founders of The Mammals have brought back the band that gave them their start and energized crowds in the early 2000s!!  come hear the power and high-energy roots and old-timey music. www.themammals.love/about

 

 

Tues. July 25: C.J. Chenier & His Red Hot Louisiana Band- It wouldn’t be a CHIRP summer without C.J. Chenier and his band. 2011 Grammy nominee C.J remains “heir to the zydeco throne.” (Billboard magazine).  Year after year CHIRP survey’s “Most wanted back.” (Photo by Richard Brooker) www.cjchenierandtheredhotlouisianaband.com

Underwritten by  the Alex Heckert Family

Thurs. July 27: The Straybirds – The Stray Birds is a band of musicians as subtle and nuanced as they are energetic, a band of writers as blatant and bold as they are coy, and perhaps most importantly, a band of people as friendly and compassionate as they are talented. An amazing trio, all originally from Lancaster, Pa., they have in last couple years since they were here in 2014 added a drummer to their mix. www.thestraybirds.com

Underwritten by Naomi Manners Stern

Tues .Aug. 1: Sweet Remains – 3 Singer-songwriters, each of whom contribute to the writing and the lush3-part harmonies that define the sound. Songs appeal to fans of folk-rockers such as John Mayer and Ray La Montagne. Over 20 million Spotify plays. TheSweetRemains.com

 

Thurs. Aug 3: Molsky’s Mountain Drifters– Molsky’s Mountain Drifters packs a punch with three of the most captivating performers in the recent generation of Old-Time and American Roots music. The band features Bruce Molsky, (Grammy nominated and Berklee College of Music Visiting Scholar) along with guitar genre bender Stash Wyslouch (of the Deadly Gentlemen) on guitar and vocals and master of the clawhammer banjo, Allison de Groot (of The Goodbye Girls). These striking musicians have come together for a new sound within the traditional music genre through their audacious approach. (photo Kate Orne). www.Mountaindrifters.com

Underwritten by Purkiss Capital Advisors, LLC.

 

Tues. Aug. 8: Big Sam’s Funky Nation – Noladelic PowerFunk. That’s the sound Big Sam’s have been whipping up for more than a decade. It’s high-energy music that mixes funk, rock & roll, hip-hop, and jazz into the same pot, gluing everything together with the brassy influence — and heavy grooves — of New Orleans. www.bigsamsfunkynation.com

Underwritten by Sam Hur of Ridgefield Cleaners

Thurs. Aug 10: Ruthie Foster -This woman can burn down any stage with her combustible blend of soul, blues, rock, folk and gospel. Nominated for a Best Blues Album Grammy — three times in a row. In addition to seven Blues Music Awards, three Austin Music Awards, the Grand Prix du Disque award from the Académie Charles-Cros in France, and a Living Blues Critics’ Award for Female Blues Artist of the Year. Top that if you can. RuthieFoster.com

Underwritten by Jon & Allison Stockel

 

Tues. Aug. 15: Dustbowl Revival- Dustbowl Revival’s upbeat, old-school, All-American sonic safaris exemplify everything shows should be: hot, spontaneous, engaging and, best of all, a pleasure to hear. ” L.A. Weekly. Awarded best live band in L.A.  with tuba, washboard, accordion, fiddle, mandolin, trumpet and guitar joyously pumping out early 20th century standards and original tunes. www.DustbowlRevival.com

Underwritten by the 3B’s Foundation

 

 

Thurs. Aug. 17: Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys –Best described as eclectic Americana, this band was named one of NPR Music’s 12 best live performance sessions of 2015.  Originally from Michigan but in Nashville now, their playing embodies the soul of a good jam or late night pickin’ session. In the last few years this band has honed in on a sound that’s entirely their own drawing from soul, blues, folk, jazz and maybe even a traces of techno beat. www.lindsayloumusic.com

Underwritten by Naomi Manners Stern

 

 

Tues. Aug. 22 : David Myles– Returning after last year’s debut at CHIRP, Myles “sounds like a cross between James Taylor and Michael Buble.”(Elmore Magazine). Canadian, Myles leaps easily from rock to jazz, Latin music and hip-hop to purely country croons. He’s a master of many genres and a Juno Award winner.(Riley Smith photographer)  www.davidmyles.com

Underwritten by Bob & Loire Leavitt

Thurs. Aug. 24: Phoebe Hunt and the Gatherers -Not easily categorized, Phoebe Hunt is an accomplished Americana instrumentalist with foundations in jazz and swing. She is skilled at taking seemingly disparate elements and is able to pull them together into a dazzling kaleidoscope of lush, coherent sound and rhythm patterns. Sounds of Americana and Texas Tinged Swing are woven with exotic rhythmic concepts culled from Phoebe’s time studying in India. www.phoebehuntmusic.com/the-gatherers

Underwritten in part by the law firm of Cohen &Wolf

 

Tues. Aug. 29:  The Bumper Jackson’s – Musically, early jazz spiced with old country and contemporary approaches to lyrics. “Bumper Jacksons bring sexy back for back alley jazz.”(The Alternate Route). “Their hellacious devil music will make you get up and dance.” (Huffington Post). Bumperjacksons.com

Thurs. Aug. 31: Harpeth Rising –Expansive three-part harmonies, elements of classical music, Latin grooves, jazz, bluegrass and even rock inform this young trio’s original music. All graduates of Indiana University’s famed Jacobs School of Music, these artists work embodies “Astonishing creativity” (John Platt, WFUV). HarpethRising.com