Tim Eriksen
Fri, September 11, 2026 – 7:30 PM – Nelson Town Hall – Nelson NH
The Monadnock Folklore Society is excited to welcome back Tim Eriksen & Peter Irvine for a concert at the Nelson Town Hall on Friday, September 11 at 7:30 PM.
Admission is $25/$20(in advance). Children under 16 are admitted free with paying adult.
Tim Eriksen is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, fiddle, bajo sexto, kaval, bansuri) from Amherst, Massachusetts. He is known for transforming American tradition with his startling interpretations of old ballads, love songs, shape-note gospel and dance tunes from New England and Southern Appalachia. He combines hair-raising vocals with inventive accompaniment on banjo, fiddle, guitar and bajo sexto – a twelve string Mexican acoustic bass – creating a distinctive hardcore Americana sound.
Peter Irvine is a founding member of legendary band Cordelia’s Dad. When he’s not playing drums and percussion or teaching, Peter runs his his successful Entertainment Law practice in Northampton, MA.
On their new album ‘Absence and her sister’ Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine return to their roots in folk minimalism and gothic Americana- new and ancient songs of their native New England informed by the wide palette of their other collaborations. The two are probably best known for their musical contributions to films including the Oscar-winning Cold Mountain and cult horror phenomenon The Outwaters, and as founding members of the anomalous folk-noise outfit Cordelia’s Dad, “the only band to have performed with both Doc Watson and Nirvana.” But while echoes of punk-folk and “shapenote” music abound on Absence and her sister, so does the dissonance and rhythmic complexity of their Bosnian band Žabe I Babe, the deep groove they picked up from collaborators like banjo master Dwight Diller and East African gospel singers the Naamaara sisters, and the love of experimentation and power of repetition celebrated in Terry Riley’s “In C,” the first piece the two ever played together as teenagers.
This promises to be a night you won’t easily forget. One listener describes one of their concerts as sounding “like it could have come from any time in the last five thousand years, or the next five thousand. My son, the Ursula Le Guin fan, thinks they sound like a pair of bards from one of the more remote islands in Earthsea. I leave their shows with my senses fully activated in a way that rarely happens at my age.” Dr. Ethan Hein – ‘Ethan teaches you music’
“One of the best singers in music”
-T Bone Burnett
“otherworldly”
-Barbara Kingsolver
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Cosy Sheridan & Sloan Wainwright
Fri, September 18, 2026 – 7:30 PM – Nelson Town Hall – Nelson NH
Cosy Sheridan & Sloan Wainwright will appear in concert at the Nelson Town Hall on Friday, September 18 at 7:30 PM. ‘Pay what you can’, suggested Admission is $20 and children under 16 are admitted free with a paying adult.
Join two master performers, singers and songwriters Cosy Sheridan and Sloan Wainwright for the opening night concert for The Song Sessions workshops. Add in Charlie Koch on bass and Glen Roethel on lead guitar andyou have a night of uplifting and joyous songs. They will each be performing separately and together as a quartet.
Sloan Wainwright has played the great concert halls, the most storied listening rooms and top music festivals while also teaching at the nation’s leading music retreats. As a member of an acclaimed family of artists (brother Loudon Wainwright, sister-in-law Kate McGarrigle, nephew Rufus Wainwright and nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche), Wainwright has charted an artistic path all her own. A unique hybrid of pop, folk, jazz and blues, Sloan’s music is unified by her melodious tone and rich, powerful contralto. She will be backed up by Glen Roethel on guitar and harmonies.
Cosy Sheridan has been called “a buddhist monk in a twelve-step program trapped in the body of a singer-songwriter” and also one of the era’s finest and most thoughtful songwriters. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and The Cowgirl Hall of Fame, as well as coffeehouses, festivals and concerts throughout the country.* “*An unapologetically tuneful writer with sticky lyrics,*” *wrote* Sing Out Magazine. *Backed by the rhythms and harmonies of bass player Charlie Koch, she is a top shelf guitarist with
a distinctive percussive right hand technique* .“*You can’t make it into double digits, and continue touring for twenty or so years, unless you know what you’re doing, and do it well*,”* wrote *The Chicago Examiner. *Cosy is the founder and director of The Song Sessions, and also Moab Folk Camp in Moab, Utah.
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Mari Black Trio Workshops
Sun, October 4, 2026 – 11:00 AM – Nelson Town Hall – Nelson NH
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Mari Black Trio Concert
Sun, October 4, 2026 – 3:00 PM – Nelson Town Hall – Nelson NH
We are excited to welcome back the Mari Black Trio for a weekend of events in the first weekend of October. On Saturday night, October 3, the trio will play for the Peterborough Contradance in the Peterborough, NH Townhouse. Then on Sunday morning the trio will be offering workshops in musicianship, splitting into two groups, one for melody and one for accompaniment. On Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM the trio will present a concert program titled ‘Fiddling Around the World’. The workshops and the concert will take place at the Nelson Town Hall.
Concert admission is ‘pay what you can’ $20 suggested/under 16 FREE with paying adult. Workshop is $35 and includes concert admission.
World champion fiddler MARI BLACK presents a joyous extravaganza of dance-inspired music from around the globe! With her virtuosic playing, sparkling stage presence, and fun-filled stories tying the whole journey together, Mari will have you tapping your toes and dancing along to fiddle music from around the world: Celtic, Canadian, and American fiddling, swing, tango, klezmer, and more. Family-friendly and full of fun, fiddling, and musical surprises!
Called “one of the brightest fiddlers around today” (Brian O’Donovan, WGBH radio), multistyle violinist and champion fiddler MARI BLACK delights audiences around the world with her energetic playing, sparkling stage presence, and dazzlingly virtuosic fiddling. Raised on a rich blend of traditional musical styles, Mari burst onto the international stage when she became Scotland’s Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion, 2-time U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, and 2-time Canadian Maritime Fiddle Champion, all within a three-year period. Ever since then, she has been spreading her love for dance-based music, performing as a featured artist at performing arts centers, Celtic festivals, Scottish Highland Games, celebrated folk venues, world music concert series, and acclaimed classical venues including Carnegie Hall. She can even be heard (and seen!) in the award-winning video game BioShock: Burial at Sea. Mari has appeared with such diverse artists as Irish fiddle master Liz Carroll, Americana master Mark O’Connor, and jazzman Willie Ruff, and been featured on the BBC Radio Scotland, Fox and CBS morning news, and NPR’s “Here and Now.” She has played concerts in Brazil, Scotland, Canada, China, Korea, Zimbabwe, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, and France…and she can’t wait for the next stop! Currently touring nationally with her trio, Mari’s favorite thing to do is sweep audiences away on a spirited musical adventure featuring dance music from around the globe: Celtic, American, and Canadian fiddling, jazz, tango, klezmer, folk, original works, and more!
https://vimeo.com/865612346/6ac88d64cf?fl=pl&fe=vl