FridayFolk Concert
November 27 , 2009
Laura Bird
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FridayFolk Concert November 27 , 2009 Laura Bird |
Orillia Folk Society presents
Ontario songstress Laura Bird
Friday, November 27, 7:30 pm, Swanmore Hall
The Orillia Folk Society presents Laura Bird as part of its FridayFolk season on Friday, November 27. Opening the evening will be Mary-Florence Bartley. The show starts at 7:30 pm, at the Leacock Museum’s Swanmore Hall, 50 Museum Drive, Orillia.
A limited supply of EarlyBird tickets are available for $12 through the Mariposa Office at 37 Mississaga St. W., or 326-3655 (cash, credit card or cheque — reservations upon payment only). Once the EarlyBirds are gone, regular-priced tickets are $15 for adults, $7 for youth (ages 16 and under) — these are also available through the Mariposa Office, AND (new this year) online at http://takenotepromotion.com/store/. Any remaining seats will be available at the door (cash or cheque only).
Doors open at 6:45, with our dinner Bistro offered 6:45 - 7:30 pm. This month, we'll be serving meaty or vegetarian Lasagne made with fresh,home-made pasta, served with a green salad in lemon and parmesan vinaigrette and freshly baked Italian rustic bread, all Dinner reservations may be placed when you reserve your tickets, or by e-mailing bistro@orilliafolk.ca (book early and specify meat or veg, please). The bar will be open before the show and between sets; cookies, coffee & tea will also be available.
Laura Bird (http://laurabird.com)
"The melodic development of Laura's songs is solid and infectious, the lyrics always poignant and intelligent, poetic, earthy, and dramatic. Combine these ingredients with a voice dark, smooth and full of richness and you got yourself some mighty swell musical stories well worth the listening."
Lewis Melville, songwriter, musician, producer
Listen to samples:
Laura's songs speak to the strength, grace and truth she finds in the extraordinary and the everyday. Drawing inspiration from a mosaic of musical influences beginning with early folk roots and bluegrass to old jazz standards, her songs tug at the familiar; contemporary set against the backdrop of a traditional musical panorama. Through the keen eye of the observer her songs are sensitive, compassionate and heartfelt often drawing visual references from a childhood spent growing up in small town Ontario along the St. Lawrence River. With her warm, relaxed stage presence, finely honed guitar work, a painters' eye for lush images and sultry, smokey voice, you'll want to close your eyes and watch the mind movies inspired by Laura's soundtrack.
Laura has served on both the OCFF and ArtsCan Circle Board of Directors; she co-founded the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award; co-founded the Headwaters Acoustic Music Society and retired as Artistic Director of the Live! At the Opera House concert series in Orangeville in April 2008. During the eight years she devoted to the work of ArtsCan Circle, Laura shared her music with kids at risk, traveling to remote Aboriginal communities of Northern Ontario and Labrador. Laura began working with bluegrass/jazz multi-instrumentalist and award-winner Emory Lester in 2005 producing an EP Demo of some new tunes. In 2006, her song 'Heavy Load' accompanied by Lester was included on the bluegrass compilation project North To Ontario that subsequently went on to win Recording of The Year at the Central Bluegrass Awards.
For the past five years Laura has toured southern Ontario during a spring celebration of International Women's Day with a 'Quintana' of songstresses called the Pomelos. (Katherine Wheatley, Tannis Slimmon, Marianne Girard, Heather Katz, Chris MacLean, Eve Goldberg) What originally began as a 'one-off' concert, quickly morphed into an annual event where a fluid collective of solo female artists present their music in "Lilith Fair" - workshop style format, supporting one another with instrumentation and vocal harmony.
Laura recorded her new full-length project with co-producer Gene Gouthro at his Athlone Studios in Everett Ontario, which was officially released November 15th, 2008 at the Orangeville Opera House. As she had done with her debut recording Dreamwalker, she once again assembled a stellar core of support musicians and musical guests representing the innovative Fly By Night Orchestra. The result is 'The Water In Between', a beautiful collection of fourteen original compositions, showcasing both maturity in her songwriting as well as the warm intensity of her rich sultry vocals.
In spite of the late winter release of this project, The Water In Between was included in Penguin Eggs Magazine's DJ top ten favourites of 2008 and placed among Galaxie Folk-Roots satellite radio top ten high rotation album releases of 2009 for three consecutive months (March-May 2009). After a full summer of festival performances including the Red Roof Women's Music Festival, Blue Skies Festival and Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, Laura has a busy fall and winter schedule shaping up with an East Coast tour planned for October/November and her eye on the Canadian West Coast for 2010.
Mary-Florence Bartley (http://mary-flo.com)
In her younger days, Mary-Florence lived in Florida and for many years she sang with a travelling gospel group throughout the southern United States. Those musical roots are still evident today in Mary-Florence’s captivating vocals and instrumental stylings. Returning ‘home’ to Ontario, she now appears mainly as a solo act accompanying herself with acoustic guitar.
Mary-Florence is active in local theatre and has appeared in major roles in the musical productions of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ‘Into the Woods’, ‘The Mikado’ and ‘Little Women’, among others.
A recent hilight in Mary-Florence’s career has been her opportunity to work with country music legend, George Hamilton IV while on his local area tours. George IV also appeared as her special guest for her first concert for charity. ‘Mary-Florence and Friends’ is a regular series of concerts in support of Barrie area charities. In addition, George IV opened the doors for Mary-Florence to sing in Nashville at the famed ‘Texas Troubadour Theatre’.
Mary-Florence’s CD entitled; “A Family Affair”, is a musical tribute to her parents and is an eclectic collection of her parents’ favourites. She is currently working on another CD which will be released in the near future.
Download the Concert Poster here
Get your tickets now:
Online ***NEW***
Reserve tickets online at the Take Note Music Store, and pick up your tickets the night of the concert. (Regular-priced adult and youth tickets only)
At the Mariposa Office
EarlyBird and Regular-priced tickets can be reserved at 37 Mississaga St. W., tickets@orilliafolk.ca or 705-326-3655 until November 26.
At the door
Remaining Regular-priced adult and youth tickets will be available the night of the concert (cash or cheque only)
