Vicky Vitello is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist based in the Hudson Valley. Raised in Eastern Massachusetts, she received numerous accolades in the performance arts before attending Belmont University music school in Nashville, Tennessee. With producer Dave Kaufman she recorded an EP (2003) of original music before turning to family life but is currently working on a new record. Vitello’s vocals have been described as a rare and stunning combination of pristine rawness and honest emotion that stop you in your tracks and invite everyone to feel everything.

Steevee Dee is a writer and performing artist based in the Berkshires. She has performed and presented original work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova, 54 Below, Dixon Place, Shakespeare & Company, A.R.T., and House of Yes, among many other venues. Her play Hollow received multiple workshops and international readings, while Devil in the Hole, an aerial country-rock musical she created with Justin Badger, was developed at Dixon Place and House of Yes and was a finalist for the Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program. Her short play The Black Bride of Texas was produced and won an Audience Favorite award at the Durango Arts Center. As a member of The Fremonts, a cabaret-Americana duo, she co-created two acclaimed albums and The Failure Cabaret, which earned rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe. Alongside her full-time corporate job, she freelances as a creative strategy coach and voiceover artist. 

Francesca Hoffman is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and event producer based in Kingston, NY. A classically trained flutist and self-taught guitarist, ukulele player and percussionist, she has been writing songs since 2011 and recorded her debut EP, “Decade,” in 2020.  In 2023 she finally began performing her songs live with support from pianist/accordionist and singer Meghan Quinn and drummer Benji Marx, and in late 2024 she released her first full-length LP, “The Aftermath.” Francesca’s songwriting draws inspiration from the Indigo Girls, Patty Griffin, Fleetwood Mac, the Secret Sisters and more. She describes her sound as “folk-pop” or “honest-rock,” as it features straightforward lyrics and an emphasis on counter-melodies and vocal harmonies. Her focus on universal topics of love, heartbreak and healing make her music especially relatable. Francesca is also the owner of Unicorn Bar, a queer-focused bar/venue in Kingston, NY. 

In April 2025, Peter Mulvey and Jenna Nicholls, along with guitarist Ross Bellenoit, traveled to Floyd, a smallmountain town located in the Blue Ridge Highlands ofSouthwest Virginia, for five uninterrupted days ofrecording. What emerged isFloyd Mercantile— a recordthat feels both intimate and timeless.The makeshift studio was a decommissioned general store called (you guessed it!) Floyd Mercantile — aweathered wooden building standing across the road froman open pasture where cows wandered and grazed in thegentle early spring. (One cow even volunteered to be onthe album cover.) Inside those old walls, the trio recordedthe album live — no isolation booths, no heavyoverdubbing — just three musicians in a room, listeningclosely and letting the songs unfold in real time.The sessions were recorded by Jeff Oehler and filmed intheir entirety by partner Sue Bibeau and their associateSkylar Locke. Together, Sue and Jeff compriseBeehivePro, an audio, visual, and design collective famed for theirintimate recordings and thoughtfully considered visuals.They captured not just the sound, but the atmosphere —the wood floors, the daylight through the dusty windows,and the creak of the porch boards could all be consideredsession players on this album.The repertoire bridges eras. Mostly comprised of songsPeter and Jenna wrote separately, there are a few gemsfrom the Great American Songbook: “Skylark" (HoagyCarmichael/Johnny Mercer), “Them There Eyes" (MaceoPinkard/Doris Tauber/William Tracey), and “I'll Be SeeingYou" (Sammy Fain/Irving Kahal).The visual and sonic tones of the project reflect theperiods these songs evoke — even the newly composedtracks feel in conversation with another time. The goal wasnot nostalgia, but continuity: to stand inside the lineage ofAmerican song and add something honest and present toit.Floyd Mercantile is not just an album. It’s a document ofplace. Of three musicians in a room. Of songs — old andnew — allowed to breathe in the quiet of a Virginia afternoon.

Rabbit Ears Feat. Robin Irion and Johnny Irion

werhouse singer/songwriter grew up in a traveling Cabaret troupe, and she’s been on the move ever since. Combining the best of jazz, Motown, and soul, Weege’s original songs are full of spirit.

Whether she’s crooning a heartbroken ballad or belting out the blues, Lexi Weege's dexterous voice is at the heart of it all. Her acrobatic vocals soar high and plunge low, tugging at your heartstrings.

Her nearly twenty years of experience is evident in the craft of her songwriting, and in the bold confidence she exudes onstage. Lexi Weege's six releases, national tours, and hundreds of shows have happened independently, without any label backing. A true believer in the
power of DIY, Weege is surely an old soul, and one of a kind.

In 2020, Weege joined forces with mountain folk singer songwriter and guitar slinger JJ Slater, and the pair began recording and touring under the name Signature Dish. The Dish released a record of reimagined blues classics and dubbed the collection “They’re Red Hot!” in 2025.

Weege released an album of original jazz compositions, titled “Renaissance Painting,” in October 2025, and is currently in the studio working on a followup record expected to be released in fall of 2026!

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

Guthrie Family Singers are a harmony-driven trio featuring Sarah Lee, Serena, and Robin Guthrie—a dynamic blend of folk, indie, country, gospel, and classic girl-group sounds, delivered with the kind of natural chemistry only a family can offer. Granddaughters of the legendary Woody Guthrie, they represent the third and fourth generations of one of America’s most iconic musical families—true folk royalty in both lineage and spirit.

Originally from Western Massachusetts and now based in Austin, Texas, Their music featuressweet songs, tight harmonies, and a deep-rooted connection that rings with authenticity.

Friday Night Dance Party every month!

Sam is a lifelong singer, songwriter, everything else writer, comedian, and actor in New Jersey/New York. She released her debut album in January of 2017, and is currently working on her next release. She regularly sings with Joe McGinty’s Losers Lounge, Scotch Bonnet, and plays solo acoustic shows. Her love of old country, soul, and comes through in her songwriting and set lists.

She is an alumnus of Atlantic Acting School in NYC, and a recent graduate of Smith College with a dual degree in English and Psychology and Poetry Concentration.

Pearla released her debut album in 2023 on Spacebomb Records. Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime is Coming drew widespread acclaim from tastemakers including Pitchfork, NPR, BrooklynVegan, WNYC, Consequence, Under the Radar, Spotify Fresh Finds, Rough Trade, KCRW and more. Pearla was selected as a SXSW / Luck Reunion Artist On The Rise that year, and has since shared stages with Kacy & Clayton, A.O. Gerber, Miss Grit, Sister., Katie Von Schleicher, L’Rain, and Lily Talmers, among others.

“Rodriguez’s latest work feels like a homespun space of refuge, emphasizing her songs’ intimacy and interiority”

– Under the Radar

Pearla, the project of Brooklyn-based Nicole Rodriguez, has released her sophomore album, Song Room, today, April 24, 2026. Pearla also announced a tour spanning the U.S. and including her first shows in Europe, starting today with a NYC album release show at Purgatory with support from hemlock and Léna Bartels. Tickets are available here.

On Song Room, the album, Pearla says, “This is a collection of songs about love and time and the boundaries of the self. I wrote it during a time when I found myself actively seeking pockets of solitude to rest from the world. I’ve always viewed song as a steady place that one could go - like a room - outside of what is linear and tactile, but somehow even closer to it all at the same time. It’s the first record that I produced on my own, and a lot of it was done in my apartment. It was an experiment in self-trust and learning when and how to listen to myself and when and how to invite in the hearts and minds of others. It’s a balance I’m always looking to strike - what does it mean to be alone? What does it mean to be together? Making this album was my reckoning with those questions. In releasing it, I find myself longing less for those pockets of quiet and more for the world outside of them.”

This release follows her latest singles, “Loved By Me” (music video), “Imagine Your Face” (music video), “Be Around” (music video), “To Love Something,” “You Didn’t Do Anything Wrong, You Just Broke My Heart,” all of which are featured on Song Room.

Song Room – stream official audio

Download ‘Song Room’ album cover

Song Room the album

For singer-songwriter Nicole Rodriguez–Brooklyn-based by way of Freehold, New Jersey–song has always been a place. Sitting somewhere between the physical and metaphysical, it is where time bends, where the self becomes both contained and connected to all that surrounds, and where one can return again and again and again.

After a series of major life changes and losses, Rodriguez found herself in a state of porousness and dissolution, in constant search of a feeling of containment. She became fixated on rooms as a structure: what is possible within the privacy of four walls, in perfect solitude? What expands, and what dissipates? She moved into a tiny studio apartment in Bushwick, which soon became her quiet refuge outside of time, where boundaries between realms dissolved and her inner world had space to speak.

Working with a minimal home-recording setup, Rodriguez broke ground for what would become Song Room, her intimately homespun sophomore album as Pearla. The record was self-produced, mixed by Bennett Littlejohn (Hovvdy, Katy Kirby, TOPS), and mastered by Edsel Holden (Sinai Vessel, Free Range). Recorded largely in her Brooklyn apartment, with some sessions at Thump Recording with Tyler Postiglione, the album marks a turn toward experimental home production, utilizing unconventional, earthly samples (such as whale songs, wind as a drum, and the ticking of a broken oven), together with the distinctive, magical sounds of omnichord and autoharp, swirling synths, and acoustic guitar. The record is anchored by her spellbinding voice and a unique sonic landscape, with contributions from friends and musicians Izzy Oram Brown (Why Bonnie, Léna Bartels), Margaux Bouchegnies (Dougie Poole, Closebye), Jack McLoughlin (Waylon Wyatt, Willow Avalon), Pele Greenberg (Bloomsday, Eliza Edens), Luiko Yoshimoto, Claire Wellin (San Fermin), Alex Harwood (Bloomsday), and Kacey Fassett.

Pearla’s musical range recalls the vocal power of Angel Olsen, the delicate articulation of Laura Marling, and the weary vulnerability of Bill Callahan. BrooklynVegan describes her 2023 debut album, Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime Is Coming, as “beautifully realized indie pop and folk… augmented with touches of country twang….” Nonetheless, Pearla doesn’t wear her influences overtly; she lets folk tradition guide her deft storytelling, allowing the stories to travel as far as her curious explorations will take her.

Throughout Song Room, she explores themes of love and its ability to contain and dissolve, to stretch and collapse time, and to bridge the spaces between the real and the surreal. While Pearla was concerned with the mysteries of the external world in her debut (aptly described by Pitchfork as “a detective of uncertainty”), this collection is an intimate look at the interior, the relational, and the capacity and bounds of the heart and mind.

Song Room also finds Pearla in a tug-of-war between the inner and outer worlds, creating moments of tension that are at times raw and exposing, and at others cosmic and harmonious. In “Good Dog,” she pivots her fear of losing herself in another person toward the stable accuracy of the moon: “If I become whoever I’m near / let it be the moon tonight / not the emptiness around it.” Similarly, in “Sky is White,” she hopes to trade her own painful and intrusive thoughts for the elegant design of a mountain landscape: “If the thoughts are in my mind / and my mind in my skull / and my skull in my body / and my body is small / then the thoughts must be smaller / than I even think they are / how can they hurt me / the mountain is bigger / it’s still and it’s sturdy / and I am with her.”

In the quiet of the song room, Pearla is met with flashes of the divine: a “thousand shining and green” tadpoles surviving chlorine exposure; the sight of 25 shooting stars per hour; a silver cat singing in her ear; the depths of doggy heaven; a waterslide that sends her out to sea. She offers this sacred space to us as listeners with a warmth and openness that allows us to find ourselves at home within its strange magic.

OTHER PRAISE:
“A survey not of the exterior but interior, though one which nevertheless finds a vast world full of strange beauty.” – Various Small Flames

“lonesome and driving” – Our Culture

“the Pearla sound is continuing to grow” — Various Small Flames

“...her lyrics sometimes sound taken from a children’s book or an old, forgotten fable, her hearty voice a guide to existential questions about death, doubt, and dreams… Nicole Rodriguez is a detective of uncertainty” — Pitchfork

“dreamlike… expressive… fantasy painted with wonder” — Consequence

"folksy and philosophical…Annie Dillard-esque" — NPR Music

“The immaculately decorated folk and clever lyricism of New York’s Nicole Rodriguez lingers on the mind” — Rough Trade

“Pearla’s music has an enduring, timeless appeal” — i-D 

“...she builds a sound world through play and exploration” — WNYC Soundcheck

“beautifully realized indie pop and folk tracks augmented with touches of country twang and stirring orchestration” — BrooklynVegan

“transcendent storytelling weaves together an indie-folk record that finds strength in its vulnerability” — Consequence

“Every listen lifts you slightly further out of your body” — Paste Magazine

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

The Lucky 5 is a hard-swinging jazz band that blends 30’s and 40’s style swing with gypsy and Parisian flavors to create a unique blend of music that stands by itself. Combining originals and creative reworks of old standards, The Lucky 5 continues to be a favorite among music lovers young and old alike.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

Moon Radio features the collaborative songs of acclaimed singer Julia Haltigan & vibraphone wizard Yusuke Yamamoto. With a focus on Julia’s pure golden voice, their romantic, nostalgic music is simultaneously dreamy and euphoric, giving one the sensation of floating on air. Julia is renowned as one of the best vocalists in New York City, evoking both jazz greats such as Anita O'Day and Peggy Lee and pop icons like Debbie Harry and Brigitte Bardot.

THE SMOOTA TÊTE-A-TÊTE & MOON RADIO
Julia Haltigan: vocals & guitar
Dave Smoota Smith: trombone
Yusuke Yamamoto: vibraphone
Tony Jarvis: bass
Dylan Fusillo: percussion

The Smoota Tête-a-Tête is a groovy and intimate otherworldly exotica jazz group. Moody and melodic, the band sets the perfect atmosphere for an underground cocktail bar on the dark side of Venus. Featuring trombone, bass clarinet,, flute, vibraphone, bass and percussion, the band is led by trombonist and composer Dave ’Smoota’ Smith, known from his work with TV On The Radio, Run The Jewels, Aaron Neville, Steven Tyler, Valerie June, Burnt Sugar, and Rev. Vince Anderson & The Love Choir.

Julia, Yusuke and Smoota have enjoyed working together for years in various bands, often at the off-Broadway sensation Sleep No More, and, after starting their projects around the same time, decided to create a one-of-a-kind showcase of both. Sharing the same musicians, both acts perform together throughout each set, setting a warm and friendly mood. After playing acclaimed shows at residencies in Brooklyn and Manhattan and multiple tours of Western Mass, both bands are currently recording their debut albums.

Berkshire greats Jordan Weller, Matt Downing, Kip Beacco and Dan Teichert!

Arthur Terembula is a touring artist and passionate student of the country blues and ragtime guitar. A translator of the sounds of the 1920’s & 1930’s blues. He reimagines the music from those times, rewriting and interpreting the songs of Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Elizabeth Cotten, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis, and other various country blues figures. You can find Arthur with his ear close to a speaker and guitar in hand, humming and whittling away at the fretboard.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

https://martybush.bandcamp.com/album/the-low-lonesome-sound

While attending art school in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 90’s Dan Blakeslee, a Maine native discovered that he had an equal and deeply rooted connection to music. He would sneak into the galleries to play his guitar through the late hours of the evening surrounded by easels and oil paintings. After four years in “Charm City,” he returned to his childhood home in the Tatnic Woods of South Berwick, ME. That summer he played street corners in New Hampshire and Maine while working at a lobster restaurant. His employer urged him to sever ties to manual labor for one of a more musical nature. A phone call from a friend offering him a room in Somerville, MA began his journey south in 1995. While settling into this artful community he began to practice his craft in the smoke-laden subways of Boston. He now has been making music and art in the New England region ever since, leading him to tour the U.S. He has performed with Langhorne Slim, Josh Ritter, David Wax Museum, Lydia Loveless, The Lumineers, Deer Tick, The Low Anthem, Brown Bird, Sean Rowe, Jonah Tolchin, Old 97’s, Death Vessel, Kimya Dawson among others. In 2015 his dream of playing Newport Folk Festival became a reality, where Bob Dylan went electric 50 years earlier.

The hills and highways are made for wandering, this is forever rooted in Dan Blakeslee who performs an average of 160+ shows per year. In a gymnasium at Laconia Prison (NH) in 2005, a crowd of 150 inmates became hushed after hearing Blakeslee’s songs of hardship, hope, and true grit later released as a live album. In the late winter of 2006 brought him a string of 27 shows with Tiger Saw (Dylan Metrano, Alan Bull, Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors)) to the southern US and straight up the Mississippi River igniting his passion to continue on this path for the years to come. In June of 2012 upon returning from the 120-mile journey by foot on the Massachusetts Walking Tour Blakeslee mapped out a tour of a different shape slated for the fall of that year. This venture spanned 7 states, with Blakeslee performing 31 shows in 25 days as his Halloween alter ego “Doctor Gasp” making a connect the dots Jack-O-Lantern face on a map of New England. 2013 brought him to Austin, TX in March for SXSW followed by a tour with his band “The Calabash Club” in late June of that year.

Blakeslee has released ten full-length albums to date. Two of them were recorded by long-time art school friend Ron Harrity (Peapod Recordings) the first “Lincoln Street Roughs” was recorded in a warehouse called The Map Room in Portland, Maine in 2007. The next was “Tatnic Tales” released on May 10, 2011. It is a collection of Blakeslee’s country folk songs most stemming from real life experiences. This album features his band The Calabash Club who formed in a Dover, NH basement in October of 2008. The members: Mike Effenberger – piano, Nick Phaneuf – bass, and Jim Rudolf – drums; are the essential ingredients in this acoustic folk outfit. “Tatnic Tales” was recorded in Dean Ludington’s barn in North Berwick, ME by the railroad as the friendship between the members of the band bloomed. “Tatnic Tales” is the first full-length album the band has recorded together to date. Blakeslee’s following album “Owed To The Tanglin’ Wind” was recorded at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI by Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky (The Low Anthem). It was released on August 19th, 2014 with which Blakeslee did extensive touring in 2015. This album received “Album Of The Year” from Red Line Roots. Blakeslee was also awarded 2014 “Folk Artist Of The Year” at the Boston Music Awards, and “Male Performer of The Year” at the 2015 New England Music Awards. After a pause between full-band records his long awaited album “The Alley Walker” recorded by studio wizard Chris Chase (The Noise Floor) featuring his band The Calabash Club came out in 2017 to much acclaim. After touring the US a couple of times and much journeying it was time to get back in the studio. Blakeslee had been dreaming of making a full-length Christmas album for over a decade inspired by his retro music collection. So on a cold winter night in 2019 Blakeslee stepped into the studio for the first session of “Christmasland Jubilee”. This full-length album by Dan Blakeslee and the Calabash Club was revealed on December 1, 2020, and is their third release together.

A prolific artist, Dan Blakeslee has made over 600 rock posters in his career some of which are featured in the book “Art of Modern Rock” published by Chronicle Books. He has done album covers for dozens of bands including Assembly of Dust, Slaid Cleaves, The Tan Vampires, Jonah Tolchin, and many more. After seeing his posters, The Portsmouth Brewery (NH) asked Blakeslee to draft 8 beer label designs and the Northampton Brewery (MA) followed soon after commissioning him to make a label six-pack design. His beer label art has garnered national recognition with the Alchemist Brewery’s (VT) “Heady Topper” in 2012 and “Focal Banger” in 2014. His hand silk-screened posters have traveled the USA in the “National Poster Retrospecticus” in 2013 curated by the LAP Gallery and his own 100 piece Rock Poster Expo that has been exhibited numerous times through the years.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

Sparkbyrd is a harmony-driven trio blending Americana, folk, country, and subtle psychedelia into music that feels both timeless and intimate. 

Drawing inspiration from the spirit of the 1970s and artists like Joni Mitchell, John Prine, Gram Parsons, and Gerry Rafferty, Sparkbyrd crafts songs rooted in love, heartbreak, truth, authenticity, and the natural world.

Made up of Chelsea Dawn Davis, Adrien Reju, and Lauren Willow White, Sparkbyrd leans into raw storytelling, organic instrumentation, and emotionally resonant performances. Their sound is vulnerable and cinematic, built to linger long after the last note fades

Party of the Sun is a psychedelic folk band from New Hampshire, composed of Ethan McBrien, Rory Hurley, and Garrett Cameron.

Since 2006, both McBrien and Hurley have recorded and performed together in various projects. Throughout his career, McBrien has always had an interest in folk music; writing many songs influenced by the Americana tradition.

In the fall of 2015, McBrien and Hurley began recording this material. These collaborative sessions at McBrien’s home - a small sheep farm in Marlborough, NH - were the impetus of what has become Party of the Sun.

Since their inception, the band has released two full-length albums - Trekker and Fullest Hour, and five EPs - Lay Low, Goldenwood, and Capsule I, II, & III.

With coverage including Atwood Magazine, Under The Radar, Glide, UNXIGNED, For The Rabbits, and alexrainbirdMusic, Party of the Sun’s music has been described as heartfelt, warm, and meditative. Exploring themes of connectedness, time, nature, and fatherhood, Party of the Sun crafts timeless folk with nods to psychedelia and Americana. 

Party of the Sun has been featured in television shows such as Deputy on Fox and Charmed on The CW. They have shared the stage with acts including Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Haley Heynderickx, William Tyler, Habibi, Robert Randolph, Footings, and more.

Steeped in the aura of the perennially mythologized psychedelic culture of Southern California, then relocating to the Hudson Valley, The Stevenson Ranch Davidians has, since 2006, revealed itself in shifting configurations; making music influenced by the timeless essence of ‘60s psych, folk and soul, woven with strands of early American roots music. While the lineup has continually coalesced around lead singer and songwriter Dwayne Seagraves, the collective has always had a guiding vision and goal: to create music that seeks to simultaneously demystify and deify the human experience.

The other members bring a range of talent, experience and inspiration to The Stevenson Ranch Davidians’ sound. In addition to co-founding member and Davidians’ bassist, Jessica Latiolait, the band includes the sole Englishman in the fold and composer by day, Misha Bullock on drums and background vocals, as well as Sara Minsavage on keyboards and percussion. The newest addition to the collective, on guitar and pedal steel is Tyler Love, whose past endeavors include playing guitar and keyboards for Burger Records band, Roya, and producing and engineering Brooklyn-based band, Habibi.

After releasing their third LP, Amerikana, in 2017 the band embarked on two extensive European tours in 2019 and 2020. In early 2020 they began a residency in San Francisco until being forced into an indefinite hiatus due to various governmental mandates during the Covid outbreak.

The band re-emerged in the summer of 2023 to jump back into the live music circuit and begin writing new material. In March of 2025 they spent 10 days at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California recording what will be their fourth LP for release in Fall of 2025.

Kate Prascher is a singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for her evocative songwriting. She was thrilled to be named an IBMA Songwriting Showcase finalist in 2021. Inspired by her Tennessee roots and influenced by master song crafters like Hazel Dickens and Gillian Welch, singles The Fox and the River and City of Ghosts showcase Kate's versatility as both writer and performer. Her songs are outspoken and sometimes tender, by turns playful and heart-piercing.

Ink 19 described Kate’s "delicate and expressive singing" and “intangible vintage feel". Christine King writes,

“Kate Prascher is a jewel waiting to be discovered".

Kate's past work includes her 2019 solo EP Bright Like This, 2016's Almanac recorded with The Tumble and a self-titled EP released by The Wildwood Sisters. She has performed with numerous artists as a singer, mandolinist and duet partner.

Kate Prascher’s new album, 'Shake the Dust' is a recognition of our everyday darkness. It wades through the undercurrents of memory drawing half-portraits of characters both real and imagined while shining a light on the complex web of our relationships. 

Shake the Dust is expected in summer 2024 and features Bobby Hawk (Taylor Swift), Bennett Sullivan (Bright Star), Nate Sabat (Mile Twelve) and Jason Borisoff (Cricket Tell the Weather). Expect new songs from a voice that has been described as having an “intangible vintage feel.”  

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

2x ‘Performer of the Year’ - New England Music Awards. Boston Music Award nominee.
Soulful original songs with compelling lyrics and pop-sensibility. Steeped in jazz & classic rock. "soaring folk-gospel...tender, defiant...genius."

Howard Fishman is an author, musician, composer, theatre-maker, and cultural essayist, based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, and his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Telegraph, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, ArtForum, The Village Voice, and The San Francisco Chronicle. His book debut, TO ANYONE WHO EVER ASKS: THE LIFE, MUSIC, AND MYSTERY OF CONNIE CONVERSE, is out now from Dutton (Penguin Random House

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

Lexi Weege is no stranger to the road. The Western Mass-based powerhouse singer/songwriter grew up in a traveling Cabaret troupe, and she’s been on the move ever since. Combining the best of jazz, Motown, and soul, Weege’s original songs are full of spirit.

Whether she’s crooning a heartbroken ballad or belting out the blues, Lexi Weege's dexterous voice is at the heart of it all. Her acrobatic vocals soar high and plunge low, tugging at your heartstrings.

Her nearly twenty years of experience is evident in the craft of her songwriting, and in the bold confidence she exudes onstage. Lexi Weege's six releases, national tours, and hundreds of shows have happened independently, without any label backing. A true believer in the
power of DIY, Weege is surely an old soul, and one of a kind.

In 2020, Weege joined forces with mountain folk singer songwriter and guitar slinger JJ Slater, and the pair began recording and touring under the name Signature Dish. The Dish released a record of reimagined blues classics and dubbed the collection “They’re Red Hot!” in 2025.

Weege released an album of original jazz compositions, titled “Renaissance Painting,” in October 2025, and is currently in the studio working on a followup record expected to be released in fall of 2026!

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

Though better known for building the institution that is Boston’s imminent post-everything band, Pile, Rick Maguire’s work as a solo artist is the thread that started it all. Sinewy and hypnotic guitar lines that to the untrained ear may recall such easy signposts as Slint or (Smog) slowly reveal themselves to be something more, something so hypnotic that all frame of reference is lost in the process. Maybe it’s a bit like standing in place, staring at a subway train that never stops going. Or maybe it’s the blues. Who can say?

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

Wild Weeeds is the manifestation of five mutant rock n’ rollers that grew out of the ponds, lakes and streams of Columbia County, NY. Wild Weeeds play “Garage Rock” like the Seeds, the Standells and the early Stones but mix in New Wave, Copake surf music and their own unique warped energy. RandyJoe Weeed plays guitar like blues rockers from the Summer of Love, Whyman B Weeed lays down slithering smiling bass lines, Marc E Marc Weeed is the lake child of Keith Moon, and Moss Weeed is a rockabilly Lou Reeed. Together they are certainly wild..... The Wild Weeeds!!!

In another era, I would have played square dances, been a court musician, or a circus fiddler, and loved every minute of it,” says veteran LA violinist and songwriter Chris Murphy, whose spirited and haunting original music bends genres and even centuries with ease.

Murphy grew up in an Irish-Italian family near New York City, surrounded by the disparate sounds of his neighbors’ traditional music: Italian mandolin songs, pulsing Latin rhythms, and bracing Irish rounds. Eventually falling under the spell of late, great multi-instrumentalist David Lindley (Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan) Murphy went on to explore Turkish and Indian music at Bard College, and studied composition at Boston’s prestigious New England Conservatory of Music.

Since then, Murphy has hypnotized crowds in more than forty US states, done extensive tours of England, Belgium , and The Netherlands, and amassed a breathtakingly deep catalog of over 500 works. His over fifteen original albums—including 2023’s brilliant “The Road & the Stars”—boast A-list players from the Tom Waits band, Wilco, X, The Desert Rose Band, Elvis Costello, and the Buena Vista Social Club.

“To me, music is liquid,” Murphy explains thoughtfully. “I’ll twist and turn, and hammer and mold, and shape, cut, and paste the music to create a fresh experience for my audience at all costs.”

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain!

The format for 2026:

Sign up at 6pm.

7-9pm: Slots for individual or groups. 10 mins or 2 songs ish.

9-close: Circle and Jam at the host’s discretion.

The Bird Calls is a prolific indie-folk/singer-songwriter project founded by Reading, Pennsylvania native Sam Sodomsky. Known for its intimate, bedroom-recorded sound, the project has released dozens of albums on Bandcamp exploring themes of melody, memory, and everyday life.

In the tender, surrealist world that Knishkowy has developed under the name Adeline Hotel, stories have been told through sprawling psych-rock epics (2020’s Solid Love), stark solo guitar performances (2021’s Good Timing), piano-led orchestral song cycles (2021’s The Cherries Are Speaking), and lush, jazzy compositions that felt like a genre unto themselves (2023’s Hot Fruit). Inspired by indie lifers and fellow world-builders like Jim O’Rourke and Phil Elverum, the Ruination Records co-founder has rewritten the rule book with each new project, inviting listeners to join as he discovers new channels for his singular voice. By now the sound of Adeline Hotel is equally identifiable through Knishkowy’s dextrous fingerpicking—the aural equivalent of tracing your fingers through cool sand at sunrise—as his low, whispered vocals and autumnal melodies.

Synthesist Eric Hnatow and vocalist Haley Morgan make music as Home Body, harnessing light, sound, and movement to present a throbbing synth spectacle oozing with raw energy and emotional grit. Hailing from western Massachusetts, the duo plays with form and improvisation, enchanting audiences with their infectious spirit and danceable, moody electro-pop. Live, they punctuate their sound with manual light manipulation, reaching beyond their performance to create a high-vibration spectacle that is physically and emotionally moving. 

“Some of the best songwriting of their generation.” - LA Times

"Some of the best folk-rock music you will ever hear.” - TapeOp

“A national treasure.” - Anais Mitchell

”A party band with a conscience” - Boston Globe

"In the vanguard of today's vibrant folk revival" - PopMatters

“One of New York State’s finest treasures.” - Americana UK

“These two will shatter any preconceived stereotypical notions of what it means to be a folk musician.” - Coastal Journal

“Nonet marshals the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world” - No Depression

“The Mammals tell stories that are at once topical and timeless, bearing a message of hope
and empowerment with a modern string-band sound.” - Freshgrass Festival

“Hailed by many as Americana trailblazers, Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda, happily married and exuding togetherness on stage, are also gently-mannered activists with well-crafted songs that successfully ask potent questions of politicians and raise issues to probe how we can improve the planet. They deliver their material persuasively and in an eloquent manner with enjoyment of their music underpinning the approach overall. The music is the motivator throughout.” - Celtic Music Radio

There has always been something disarmingly human about The Mammals. Long before culture fractured into its current bewildering kaleidoscope of noise and contradiction, they were already tending to the quiet, essential work: remembering the stories that hold people together, and singing them with an honesty that resists corrosion. Their music feels less like performance and more like a gathering—a return to the communal spaces where truth is spoken gently, without spectacle.

Formed by Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar, The Mammals emerged from the fertile soil of folk tradition, but not as preservationists. They listened closely to the past but their instinct was always restorative rather than nostalgic. They carried forward the lineage of protest music, family harmony, and grassroots resilience, weaving them into something alive, awake, and stunningly contemporary. Their songs carry the emotional clarity of people who understand what is at stake—not just politically, but spiritually, culturally, even ecologically.

Their work is concerned with the fragile foundations of real life: home, community, lineage, the dignity of work, the precarity of hope. They write like people who have seen both the beauty and the unraveling of the American story and who still believe, stubbornly, in the possibility of repair. And their performances—welcoming, unrushed, almost ceremonial—create a space where audiences can breathe again, remembering themselves in the process.

Out of this ethos emerged The Hoot, the biannual festival at the Ashokan Center that Mike and Ruthy helped build from dream to gathering place. The Hoot is not simply an event; it is an act of cultural care—an invitation for people of all ages to come together in the woods, to listen, to dance, to learn, to reconnect. It is a living manifestation of what The Mammals believe in: music as community, community as medicine, and the land itself as teacher. The festival has become a kind of sanctuary, a reminder that joy and belonging are not luxuries but necessities.

The Mammals make music for a world that is forgetting how to listen. In their harmonies is a reminder that truth is rarely loud, that connection can be a form of resistance, and that art—when rooted in sincerity—can help us navigate even the most unsettled times. They offer not answers but companionship, a kind of melodic refuge where the heart can regather its strength. Their newest release, Touch Grass Vol. 1 & 2, continues this work—songs rooted in land, kinship, and the urgent need to reconnect with the world beneath our feet. The albums feel like field notes from the heart: intimate, grounded, and offered in a spirit of repair.

In an era defined by fracture, The Mammals remain devoted to wholeness: to the places they sing about, the communities they nurture, and the fragile, enduring human spirit at the center of it all.

Since she was 12 years old, Samoa Wilson has been captivating audiences with a voice the New York Times calls “sweet, effortless, old-timey”. Raised in the riverbed of traditional North American folk music, she came up in the Boston scene, under the wing of jug band and folk legend Jim Kweskin. Her two duos, the Four O’Clock Flowers, and Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones, have become staples of the thriving New York City folk community. Additionally, her vintage jazz trio has been filling ears with material from the golden era of 20's and 30's musical treasure; a sound at once more bluesy and more contemporary than expected. Her choice of repertoire makes the difference: torchy and honeyed renditions of haunting little-known tunes, from a woman’s perspective. From the source of the traditional and classic material, she poses a modern complaint, salutes the transformation of women’s work and suffering into women’s triumph. 

“ ... a deep understanding of the early era of recorded pop ... a gorgeous, fun sound.” — The Boston Herald 

The Lucky 5 is a hard-swinging jazz band that blends 30’s and 40’s style swing with gypsy and Parisian flavors to create a unique blend of music that stands by itself. Combining originals and creative reworks of old standards, The Lucky 5 continues to be a favorite among music lovers young and old alike.

Singer-songwriter Bobby Sweet is an engaging storyteller and dynamic performer. The Berkshire native and sixth generation musician has received praise for his Country-Americana style and story songs about real life. Stylistically, Bobby’s music resides somewhere between John Prine, Jackson Browne, and a countryfied Bruce Springsteen, with a hint of Texas Swing. Between 2008 and 2016, Bobby toured the US and Canada as lead guitarist with Arlo Guthrie. His travels with Guthrie included performances at Carnegie Hall, the New Orleans Jazz Fest, and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, among many other landmark venues. Bobby’s songs have aired on many hit television series, such as Nashville, Touched By An Angel, Walker Texas Ranger, CSI, and Judging Amy. He has released seven solo albums to date. He will be performing with his trio featuring pedal steel guitarist Pete Adams and vocalist Lara Tupper.

5 Pound Horse has created a regional and international buzz around electric live performances where anything’s on the table — French-language songs, banjos, marimbas, melodies from Africa and Ireland and anywhere else they draw inspiration. They’ve graced Berkshires institutions like The Dream Away Lodge and MASS MoCA’s FreshGrass Festival, appeared at Pittsburgh venues like the Thunderbird Music Hall and James Simon’s sculpture studio Pittsburgh PA, and thrown legendary parties at their home BarN in Williamstown, MA. They toured Europe in 2024 playing as The Durgas and 5 Pound Horse combined into one group. The band are poised to record their first EP with producer Ronan Chris Murphy (King Crimson, etc).

Heart-stirring, original, and epiphany-inducing, 5 Pound Horse is ready to ride into a town near you for a night to remember. Saddle up!

Berkshire greats Jordan Weller, Matt Downing, Kip Beacco and Dan Teichert!

While attending art school in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 90’s Dan Blakeslee, a Maine native discovered that he had an equal and deeply rooted connection to music. He would sneak into the galleries to play his guitar through the late hours of the evening surrounded by easels and oil paintings. After four years in “Charm City,” he returned to his childhood home in the Tatnic Woods of South Berwick, ME. That summer he played street corners in New Hampshire and Maine while working at a lobster restaurant. His employer urged him to sever ties to manual labor for one of a more musical nature. A phone call from a friend offering him a room in Somerville, MA began his journey south in 1995. While settling into this artful community he began to practice his craft in the smoke-laden subways of Boston. He now has been making music and art in the New England region ever since, leading him to tour the U.S. He has performed with Langhorne Slim, Josh Ritter, David Wax Museum, Lydia Loveless, The Lumineers, Deer Tick, The Low Anthem, Brown Bird, Sean Rowe, Jonah Tolchin, Old 97’s, Death Vessel, Kimya Dawson among others. In 2015 his dream of playing Newport Folk Festival became a reality, where Bob Dylan went electric 50 years earlier.

The hills and highways are made for wandering, this is forever rooted in Dan Blakeslee who performs an average of 160+ shows per year. In a gymnasium at Laconia Prison (NH) in 2005, a crowd of 150 inmates became hushed after hearing Blakeslee’s songs of hardship, hope, and true grit later released as a live album. In the late winter of 2006 brought him a string of 27 shows with Tiger Saw (Dylan Metrano, Alan Bull, Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors)) to the southern US and straight up the Mississippi River igniting his passion to continue on this path for the years to come. In June of 2012 upon returning from the 120-mile journey by foot on the Massachusetts Walking Tour Blakeslee mapped out a tour of a different shape slated for the fall of that year. This venture spanned 7 states, with Blakeslee performing 31 shows in 25 days as his Halloween alter ego “Doctor Gasp” making a connect the dots Jack-O-Lantern face on a map of New England. 2013 brought him to Austin, TX in March for SXSW followed by a tour with his band “The Calabash Club” in late June of that year.

Blakeslee has released ten full-length albums to date. Two of them were recorded by long-time art school friend Ron Harrity (Peapod Recordings) the first “Lincoln Street Roughs” was recorded in a warehouse called The Map Room in Portland, Maine in 2007. The next was “Tatnic Tales” released on May 10, 2011. It is a collection of Blakeslee’s country folk songs most stemming from real life experiences. This album features his band The Calabash Club who formed in a Dover, NH basement in October of 2008. The members: Mike Effenberger – piano, Nick Phaneuf – bass, and Jim Rudolf – drums; are the essential ingredients in this acoustic folk outfit. “Tatnic Tales” was recorded in Dean Ludington’s barn in North Berwick, ME by the railroad as the friendship between the members of the band bloomed. “Tatnic Tales” is the first full-length album the band has recorded together to date. Blakeslee’s following album “Owed To The Tanglin’ Wind” was recorded at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI by Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky (The Low Anthem). It was released on August 19th, 2014 with which Blakeslee did extensive touring in 2015. This album received “Album Of The Year” from Red Line Roots. Blakeslee was also awarded 2014 “Folk Artist Of The Year” at the Boston Music Awards, and “Male Performer of The Year” at the 2015 New England Music Awards. After a pause between full-band records his long awaited album “The Alley Walker” recorded by studio wizard Chris Chase (The Noise Floor) featuring his band The Calabash Club came out in 2017 to much acclaim. After touring the US a couple of times and much journeying it was time to get back in the studio. Blakeslee had been dreaming of making a full-length Christmas album for over a decade inspired by his retro music collection. So on a cold winter night in 2019 Blakeslee stepped into the studio for the first session of “Christmasland Jubilee”. This full-length album by Dan Blakeslee and the Calabash Club was revealed on December 1, 2020, and is their third release together.

A prolific artist, Dan Blakeslee has made over 600 rock posters in his career some of which are featured in the book “Art of Modern Rock” published by Chronicle Books. He has done album covers for dozens of bands including Assembly of Dust, Slaid Cleaves, The Tan Vampires, Jonah Tolchin, and many more. After seeing his posters, The Portsmouth Brewery (NH) asked Blakeslee to draft 8 beer label designs and the Northampton Brewery (MA) followed soon after commissioning him to make a label six-pack design. His beer label art has garnered national recognition with the Alchemist Brewery’s (VT) “Heady Topper” in 2012 and “Focal Banger” in 2014. His hand silk-screened posters have traveled the USA in the “National Poster Retrospecticus” in 2013 curated by the LAP Gallery and his own 100 piece Rock Poster Expo that has been exhibited numerous times through the years.

My name is Leo DiSanto, and I'm a song and story man and compulsive adventurer. A rural Pennsylvania yokel with a passport, a guitar, and a blog, I've hauled my wanderlust wagon everywhere from gypsy camps in Transylvania to monasteries in the high Himalaya to the wild interior of Alaska. I see this more or less as my existential mission: to inspire and be inspired.

This website is meant to be the nexus for my various musical endeavors, adventure chronicles, sporadic literary efforts, out-loud dreams, swashbuckling blunders, bungling philosophical considerations, and general windmill tilting. Information about and music by my original string band, Vinegar Creek Constituency, can be found at http://www.vinegarcreekconstituency.com, where you can name your price for downloads of all our albums. Our music can also be found on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora, YouTube, and all the usual places; links to us on those sites are on the VCC homepage. 

I love to spend some of my time on this beautiful, ape-infested earthrock getting to know the people who connect in some way with the things I make, so please feel welcome to contact me through this website to give me feedback; share interesting factoids, daring recipes, or pictures of your dog; discuss weird metaphysics; or inquire about enlisting my services as a writer/ entertainer. 

If you take delight in my various deeds and creations, please keep this ramshackle human entertainment factory in production by making a pledge of as little as one measly buck on patreon.com- it's the most direct way to support my work, kind of like buying your cabbage from the farmer who grows it rather than the big distributors (or industry execs) who lowball him for it. Here's the link to my Patreon page: 

BIO

A songwriter’s songwriter, known for his lyric craft, distinctive voice and soulful songs steeped in classic rhythm & blues, pop, jazz, folk and country, Milton first gained notoriety in his hometown New York City when his song “In The City” became a hit on New York’s WFUV radio. His live performances, which include material from every one of his albums, are praised for their wit, humor, and captivating charm.

Milton has toured extensively throughout the states since 2005, as a headliner and appearing as support for his hero and mentor Chris Smither, in addition to shows and tours with Joan Osborne, Steave Earle, Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore,  Sonny Landreth, Colin Hay, Kat Edmonson, Josh Ritter and many more.

In late 2019, Milton premiered his 5th and finest album Studio City with a sold out show at City Vineyard NYC.  The album, a veritable tour de force of songwriting and studio craft, features 12 ultra-catchy, concise tunes ranging in style from Sinatra-esque full orchestra swing, to Sgt. Pepper-like whimsical comedy to vintage country and New Orleans rhythm and blues.  In concert, Milton and his ultra-sharp band of NYC veteran session players deliver the songs seamlessly with Milton’s own graceful live arrangements.