John Sebastian Comes to Bethel Woods

The intimate, indoor Event Gallery at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts will host 1969 Woodstock festival alum, John Sebastian on Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. Reserved seating tickets will go on-sale to the general public on Thursday, December 20th at 10:00 a.m. at www.BethelWoodsCenter.org

Plus, make a night of it and join us as Bethel Woods puts a farm fresh twist on its Event Gallery concert experience with a bountiful Pre-Show Farm-to-Table Dinner. Taking place in the open-air Market Sheds overlooking the original Woodstock festival field, the multi-course dinner will feature delicious recipes using locally sourced ingredients and is presented by Bethel Woods' own Executive Chef. The communal, family style seating wholly embodies the "Peace, Love and Music" atmosphere and is wonderful to experience with neighbors and friends, both old and new. Seating is limited. Early Bird Tickets (offer ends on 12/28/18) are $50.00 and Regular Tickets (after 12/28/18) are $55.00 (ticket price increases $5.00 seven days prior to the event date). Please note that the pre-show farm-to-table dinner ticket purchase does not include admission to the concert and vice versa.

Over four decades the contributions of John Sebastian have become a permanent part of our American musical fabric.

His group The Lovin' Spoonful played a major role in the mid-'60s rock revolution, but what leader, singer and songwriter Sebastian had in mind was actually a counter-revolution. "We were grateful to the Beatles for reminding us our rock & roll roots," John explains, "but we wanted to cut out the English middlemen, so to speak, and get down to making this new music as an 'Amer- ican' band."

This the Lovin' Spoonful did like nobody before or since, putting their first seven singles into the Top 10. This was unprecedented, and utterly unthinkable at the height of Beatlemania. At first they'd taken older material from blues, country, folk and jug band sources - what we now term "roots music" - and made it sound modern. Then, in a series of original songs composed and sung by John Sebastian, they did the reverse, creating thoroughly modern music that sounded like it contained the entire history of American music. Which it did.

You know the songs by heart: "Do You Believe In Magic?" "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice." "Day- dream." "Younger Girl." "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?" "Summer In The City." "Rain On The Roof." "Nashville Cats." "Six O'Clock." "Darling Be Home Soon." "Younger Generation." These songs did more than simply answer the British invasion, they carried the musical tradition into the future.

This music had an immediate and indelible impression on the public consciousness, but John Sebastian was already a name well-known to the cognoscenti. He was born March 17, 1944 in New York City. His father was a noted classical harmonica player and his mother a writer of radio programs. Regular visitors to the family's Greenwich Village home included Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie, so it was no surprise when young John became a fan of, and then a participant in, the folk music revival that swept the nation in the late '50s. Making his bow as a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band, his skills on guitar, harmonica and autoharp soon made him a sought-after accompanist on the Village folk scene, working with Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, Mississippi John Hurt, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan and many others.

So the Lovin' Spoonful was not his first act, and it certainly wasn't its last. After leaving the group he founded, he bore witness to another turn of the musical zeitgeist with his performances at massive festivals like Woodstock and its English equivalent the Isle of Wight. He had been involved in music for films (most notably Francis Ford Coppola's You're A Big Boy Now and Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily) and Broadway, but when producers of a TV show called Welcome Back Kotter commissioned a theme song in 1976, Sebastian's "Welcome Back" became a chart-topping solo record.

Thankfully John's induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 hasn't slowed him down. Whether the stage is at Carnegie Hall or a folk festival in some far-flung locale, John is still out there spreading his gospel of American roots music. He is the subject of the current PBS special Do You Believe In Magic: The Music of John Sebastian, and a new album of duets with David Grisman is due later in 2007. He has also lent his music in support of social, environmental and animal rights causes. Recently he joined a delegation of songwriters (including Lamont Dozier, Allen and Marilyn Bergman, and Mike Stoller) in Washington, DC to campaign on behalf of the National Music Publisher's Association.

A special presale for Bethel Woods Members begins Tuesday, December 18th at 10 a.m. To learn more about additional member benefits and pre-sale access, visit http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/supportthearts/membership-opportunities.

The Museum at Bethel Woods is half-priced, three hours before show time every evening Pavilion or Event Gallery concert day. Valid concert ticket required for this special offer. To learn more visit http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/the-museum.

For more information about Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, please visit www.BethelWoodsCenter.org. Be sure to download the Bethel Woods App for up-to-date information and special pre-sale codes.