Diane Birch, Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear and More Set for 'Soulful Summer' Lineup at Joe's Pub
By: BWW News Desk Jun. 03, 2015
This summer, Joe's Pub at The Public (425 Lafayette, NYC) welcomes a slate of artists that defy genre but share a core of unadulterated and soulful vocals. The calendar promises a season of outstanding music performances from artists ranging from jazz man Brian Blade, making his singer-songwriter debut, to indie songbird Diane Birch to NPR phenomenon Fantastic Negrito to SXSW success story and mother-son duo Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear.
Tickets are available online, via phone (212.967.7555) or in person at The Public's Box Office (425 Lafayette, NYC).
Saturday, June 20 at 9:30PM
$20
Brian Blade brings his singer-songwriter project Mama Rosa to Joe's. A revealing journey through 13 songs about family, loved ones, travels and a sense that these things that shape and inspire us have to be shared with others to complete a circle. Though he is well-known for his work as a jazz musician, he has been writing and recording material with lyrics for as long as he's been making music. Mama Rosa grew naturally from the four-track home demos that he made over the years - several of which can be heard on this album. There is an initial spark close to the moment of inspiration and that intimate vibe is felt throughout Mama Rosa.
Wednesday, June 24 at 7:30PM
$35
Nona Hendryx and Mamafunk will brew up an organic mixture of un-fried funk for you natural funk lovers. The night will feature down and dirty funk, so old school that you will want to break out your polyester, wedges and rock an Afro, and a heaping helping of summer-in-the-city rhythmsthat will cool the hot night. Hendryx invites her audience to let their hair down, take it off and rock the house.
CROSS CULTURE / JULES & THE JINKS
Friday, June 26 at Midnight
$14
Cross Culture is a hip-hop-rooted, multi-genre band led by New Yorker Saidu Ezike. High-energy performances matched with the vivid story-telling and lyricism of Ezike has set this band apart from many others. The momentum continues to remain strong for this group of highly-motivated individuals as they released their first single Leap Frog Loverz in 2015 to much praise.
Jules and The Jinks is the brain child of first-generation native New Yorkers Julissa Lopez and Erik Rosenberg. Despite their different backgrounds (Dominican from The Bronx and Jewish from The Upper West Side), the two were united by their love of Otis Redding, Etta James and Led Zeppelin. Though their music flirts with blues, funk and Afro-pop, the music of Jules and The Jinks is best described as soul. Their debut single No Compromise was released earlier this year. AFROPUNK described it as "a song that deserves to be blaring from car speakers while driving through borough blocks."
KELLYLEE EVANS: I REMEMBER WHEN ALBUM RELEASE
Tuesday, June 30 at 7:30PM
$15
Singer-songwriter Kellylee Evans is a chameleon-like performer on the rise. Her natural charm and improvisational jazz vocal style have shined on her journey through jazz, soul, pop and hip-hop over the past decade. She has released two solo albums of original songs in Canada and earned two Juno Award nominations - winning "Best Jazz Vocal Album" for Nina, her impassioned tribute to Nina Simone - captivated adoring French and Canadian fan bases. She has performed around the world, opening John Legend, Dianne Reeves, Derek Trucks, George Benson, Willie Nelson and more. Her latest album I Remember When (July 2015, Motéma Music) refreshes songs by hip-hop royalty Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Kanye West and more.
Wednesday, July 8 at 7:00PM
$22-35
San Francisco singer/songwriter Matt Alber returns to Joe's Pub for an intimate acoustic evening of original and familiar songs including his new love anthem, "Handsome Man." Alber's new duo, The Lonelies, with Aaron Curry will also mark their New York debut with a few special duets.
DORIAN WOOD / YIDDISH ART TRIO
Thursday, July 16 at 9:30PM
$15
Singer/composer Dorian Wood returns to New York to perform a rare solo show at Joe's Pub, fresh off two successful back-to-back European tours. "Armed with a vocal charisma that would befit a preacher and an experimental streak that would make avant-gardists swoon" (WNYC Culture), Wood is a wunderkind with a headstrong DIY discipline. He has brought his emotionally-charged performances to venues big and small around the world, with a voice that channels the skill and ferocity of such auteurs as Scott Walker, Nina Simone and Tom Waits. This show is a double bill with the group Yiddish Art Trio.
Wednesdays, July 22, August 12 & September 2 at 9:30PM
$15 Adv / $20 Doors
"I really love the kind of tracks you can cry to on the dance floor," says Diane Birch. "There's a rejoicing, a liberation, and a baring of your soul." That marriage of darkness and light, of pain and abandon lies at the core of Speak A Little Louder (2013, S-Curve Records), Birch's last album. It's a captivating and deeply moving record; a window into her complex and challenging journey into womanhood documented with intense emotional honesty, indelible melodies and rousing hooks.
Speak A Little Louder followed the pianist/singer/songwriter's 2009 debut, Bible Belt, which opened in the Billboard Top 100 and prompted comparisons to Laura Nyro and Karen Carpenter along with glowing reviews from The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and more. Birch has shared the stage with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Betty Wright and appeared on The Today Show, Letterman, Leno, Conan, Kimmel and Ellen. But amidst the success was devastating loss. Birch faced the end of a long-term relationship, recovering from the pain of heartbreak only to lose her father, a major inspiration for Bible Belt, to cancer a short time later. The tragedy left her questioning her future but, in the end, she came full circle, finding beauty in the difficulty.Friday, July 24 at 7:30PM
$20
The Jones Family Singers - an 11-member gospel collective comprised in part by seven siblings and their father - have been tearing up churches and festivals alike for over two decades. A follow-up to their powerhouse performance at globalFEST 2015, the Texas-based group returns to New York. "Modern practitioners of a long musical tradition...infusing their joyful, reverent songs with elements of vintage soul and R&B," said the Wall Street Journal. On a whirlwind spurred by their 2014 debut album The Spirit Speaks, the Jones Family Singers have performed at Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center, and festivals like Newport Folk Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival with a two week tour of Russia. Beyond the nightclubs and festival stages, the group consistently makes good on their ministry, bringing their powerful music to prisons, interfaith events and community celebrations.
Saturday, July 25 at 9:30PM
$20
Jay Brannan has been writing and performing his own sweet and sad folk songs, tempered with wit since 2006. Brannan has released a string of albums, all of which topped the iTunes Singer/Songwriter & Billboard Heatseekers charts: goddamned, produced by Will Golden (Meiko, Michelle Branch); In Living Cover; and Rob Me Blind, produced by the legendary David Kahne (Regina Spektor, The Bangles, Paul McCartney, Kelly Clarkson, Lana Del Rey, etc). Brannan has toured the world extensively, including North America, Europe, Brazil, South Africa, Israel and Australia. His 2013 EP release Around the World in 80 Jays, a collection of nine international cover songs spanning six languages, was inspired by those travels. Brannan put out Always, Then, & Now, an album of acoustic originals, in 2014.
Monday, July 27 at 7:30PM
$15
Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear is a soulful folk band from Kansas City, whose sound is anchored by twin guitars and two big, booming voices. But they are also mother and son. The music started in Kansas City, where Madisen Ward grew up watching his mom, Ruth Ward, perform cover songs at local coffeeshops. Madisen began writing his own songs and, soon after, the two began playing entire shows together, eventually favoring Ward's original material. Their music spins tall tales (and a few biographical truths) about life in the Midwest, unfolding like short stories. For years, they kept a low profile - no record label, no manager, no budget. But it was hard not to notice Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear.
Word spread and the pair began to perform all over the country, stealing the show at the 2014 Americana Music Festival and opening for the late legend B.B. King. The cross country acclaim included an NPR Tiny Desk Concert and a wildly successful run at SXSW 2015. They recently put out Skeleton Crew, their first release on Glassnote Records on May 19, 2015.
Tuesday, July 28 at 9:30PM
$12
Fantastic Negrito is a man's truth told in the form of black roots music. Each song is the true story of a musician from Oakland who experienced the highs of a million dollar record deal, the lows of a near fatal car accident that put him in a coma, and is now in the phase of rebirth despite his playing hand being mangled. The music emphasizes rawness and space, and features slide guitar, drums and piano. Rather than update the Delta Blues, Fantastic Negrito leaves the original sounds of Lead Belly and Skip James intact, building bridges to a modern sound with loops and samples of his own live instruments. But the primary element that drives Fantastic Negrito's music is uncut realness and zero concern for "pop" anything. He was the winner of NPR Music's first-ever Tiny Desk Concert contest.
Thursday, July 30 at 7:30PM
$15
Sam Lee burst on to the folk scene at the end of the noughts, blazing a trail as an outstanding singer and song collector, the driving force behind the eclectic, award-winning folk club The Nest Collective. The group brought traditional music to all kinds of new stages and venues, and founded a burgeoning song collectors' movement that inspires a new generation of performers to draw on living source singers rather than books and records. Though Lee collects new versions of old songs on his iPhone and laptop, his repertoire is steeped in the reek and smoke of folk history and lore, parting the veil on vivid scenes from the U.K.'s deep history.
Friday & Saturday, July 31 & August 1 at 7PM
$30
After a featured appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a successful tour of Southeast Asia, and an exclusive appearance at the Commissioner's Tailgate for Superbowl XLVIII, William Blake and Michael Thomas Murray are ready to bring Echoes of Etta, their award-winning tribute to the legendary singer, back to Joe's Pub.
Blake's peerless vocal prowess as an R&B and Jazz singer has made him the darling of the New York nightlife scene: Birdland, the Carlyle, Town Hall, Carnegie Hall and more. Teamed with acclaimed music director, pianist, and Echoes conceiver Murray (The Chantels, Forever Dusty, 50 Shades! The Musical), Blake has found the perfect vehicle for his soulful three octave range and guileless lyric interpretation in what BroadwayWorld calls "One of the best tribute shows of this, or any year."
Saturday, August 15 at 7:00PM
$12 Adv / $15 Doors
Tuelo & Her Cousins are a New York City-based band cousins that shares a kindred love for music that rocks the soul. Formed by singer-songwriter Tuelo Minah in 2013, the band continually play at some of New York's best venues including Rockwood Music Hall, the Apollo Music Cafe and Lincoln Center. Their unique take on rock and roll combines driving beats and catchy hooks with Tswana-Bushmen rhythms to tell dreamlike tales of struggle and triumph. No matter where they play, the cousins always get audiences singing, clapping and shaking their bones to the call of Tuelo's booming voice.
TAJ WEEKES & ADOWA: LOVE, HERB & REGGAE ALBUM RELEASE
Friday, August 21 at 9:30PM
$14
Love is all you really need. That's what Taj Weekes believes. And love doesn't know boundaries. It's the heartbeat of life. It doesn't matter who you love, just as long as you do love. That's the message behind "Here I Stand" the first single from Taj Weekes & Adowa's fifth album, Love, Herb & Reggae.
Musically, "Here I Stand" comes as a surprise from someone known as a reggae musician. On this outing the reggae influence is very subtle, behind a tango rhythm and blues-y chord changes that frame Weekes's passionate vocal delivery. "The reggae is still there," Weekes explains. "It's just in a different place. The drums and bass add the flavor. We kept it simple to focus attention on the lyrics. We wanted it to be a track everyone would notice."
For tickets, go online at joespub.com, call 10AM-7PM daily at 212-967-7555 or visit in person at The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC, The Box Office window opens daily at 2PM. Unless otherwise noted, there is a $12 food or two (2) drink minimum per person for every show.
ABOUT JOE'S PUB AT THE PUBLIC Named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Joe's Pub at The Public opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub consistently presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. The organization also offers unique opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that provides musicians the resources and tools needed to develop original theater works. Commissioned artists have included Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Bridget Everett, Allen Toussaint and more. In 2011, the Pub received a top-to-bottom renovation, leading to improved sightlines, expanded seating capacity and a new menu from acclaimed Chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER AT ASTOR PLACE Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public Theater is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare and the classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in equal measure. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day. Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues-including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to its beloved, free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours Shakespearean productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City's five boroughs. The Public's wide range of programming includes free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company's dedication to making theater accessible to all, new and experimental stagings at The Public at Astor Place, and a range of artist and audience development initiatives including its Public Forum series, which brings together theater artists and professionals from a variety of disciplines for discussions that shed light on social issues explored in Public productions. The Public Theater is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities.
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