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Meredith Axelrod

The Sanctuary

This performance brings back a longtime Sanctuary favorite, Meredith Axelrod, to present another set of American traditional music. Axelrod, who first visited three years ago with Frank Fairfield, is a delightfully unique interpreter of early jazz and blues music from the start of the 20th century. Opening the evening will be a duo comprised of local singers Hannah Rosencrans & Alison Kinney, who will be singing a collection of folk ballads in rich harmony. Saturday May 5th doors at 7:00 music at 7:30 $10 - 25 sliding scale ____________________________________________ “Meredith Axelrod sings and plays guitar as if she really returned to the pre-mic days. We’re not talking revisionist copy of so and so from way back when; we’re talking as if we plucked an original out of the era and time-traveled…” – JL Stiles “It takes more than passion to do what Meredith does. It takes guts; conviction. She is unflinchingly committed to authentic recreation of the tunes in her repertoire–swampy blues and early American roots music.” – Gary Rametta Delightfully engaging and unassumingly comic, Meredith Axelrod envisions the limitless potential of early twentieth century music, whether it be Ragtime, Music Hall, Pop Standard, Boogie Woogie, Tin Pan Alley, String band, Jazz, Country, Blues or even Jug Band music, and embodies the spirit that brought the music into existence in the first place. Her vocal style is unusual, probably because she learned to sing by listening to how folks did it a century ago – through the medium of cylinders and 78-rpm records. The dominant theme throughout her expansive repertoire, is that, whatever the genre, these are songs she learns from the original sources (records and / or sheet music) which were released between the 1890s and the 1930s. Part of the allure of old time music, indeed any music throughout the history of recorded music, is hearing the original recordings as played and sung by the original performers in their heyday, loving what they’re doing and doing it because it means something to them in that moment, never because of nostalgia, and Meredith brings the same unbridled passion, earnest devotion and candid vitality to all of her music; she has found possibility and joy in the treasures of cultural folklore. _____________________________________________ Hannah Rosencrans and Alison Kinney sing traditional american folk song in harmony. They play with the unaccompanied voice and ornament simple melodies with hand-clapping, clogging, and the occasional banjo. Their sparse song arrangements give precedence to the stories offered: tales of women, of crime and murder, of love and flirtation, and of death and heavenly yearning. They draw on various traditions including ballad singing, gospel, shape note, and bluegrass, all the while channeling the voices that have taught them to love this music: Jean Ritchie, Texas Gladden, and Hazel Dickens among many others.

DATES/TIMES

WHERE

• The Sanctuary

PRICE

• $10