Call Montpelier Arts Center today at 301-377-7800 or go online to purchase your tickets!
Blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter James Cotton has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time. Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is most famous for his work on the harmonica. In 1965 he formed the James Cotton Blues Quartet, and in the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters’ Grammy -winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter. After battling throat cancer in the 1990s, Cotton released two studio albums and continued to tour with his band. He won a Grammy in 1996 for Best Traditional Blues Album for his album Deep in the Blues, and was nominated in 2014 for a Blues Music Award as Best Instrumentalist in the Harmonica category. Tickets: $30/person
Standout Washington, D.C. jazz vocalist Sharón Clark has brought festival and concert audiences to their feet across the U.S. and Europe. A winner of the Gold Medal and $10,000 top prize in Savannah Music Festival’s American Traditions Competition, Ms. Clark has headlined the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, the historic Lincoln Theater, and the Cape May Jazz Festival. She has appeared with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and has performed by invitation for President William Jefferson Clinton. Tickets: $25/person
Most recently recognized in the 2013 Irish Music Awards and the 12th Annual Independent Music Awards, RUNA draws on the diverse musical backgrounds of its band members and offers a contemporary and refreshing approach to traditional and more recently composed Celtic material. Their repertoire of highly energetic and graceful acoustic melodies, along with their fusion of music from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and the U.S., gives their arrangements of traditional songs and tunes a fresh sound. Tickets: $25/person
The Ron Kearns Quintet has been a favorite at jazz festivals and venues all over the United States. Led by veteran recording artist, producer, and educator Ron Kearns on saxophone, with Paul Wingo on guitar, Kent Miller on bass, Mark Prince on drums, and Michael Thomas on trumpet/fluegelhorn, the Washington, D.C.-based group performs acoustic jazz in the style of the Old Blue Note Records recordings of Be Bop and Hard Bop. The Ron Kearns Quintet has delighted audiences at the Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, and London’s 100 Club, to name a few, with their own style of elegant, lyrical, and often playful melody. Tickets: $25/person
Since their early years as teens in a Washington, D.C. church choir, Maureen Andary and Sara Curtin have developed a unique musical relationship. Intricate harmonies soar over multi-instrumental arrangements of ukelele, guitar, flute, hand percussion, accordion, banjo, glockenspiel, and the occasional kazoo/mouth trumpet solo. The Sweater Set was awarded 2013, 2012, and 2011 WAMMIES for Best Contemporary Folk Duo and in 2011, they were Artists-in-Residence at the Strathmore Center for the Performing Arts. Listeners are invited into their joyful friendship as their songs play out like musically elaborate gossip about the perils of courtship, lust, and heartbreak. Tickets: $25/person
With a career spanning over 50 years, Freddy Cole sounds a lot like his legendary brother Nat King Cole, yet has his own vocal personality that is darker, smokier, and jazzier. He debuted in 1952 with the single “The Joke’s on Me” and has since recorded and performed prolifically, gaining him a broad homegrown and international following. Cole was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and nominated for a Grammy for Best Vocal Jazz Album in 2010. He leads the Freddy Cole Quartet, which regularly tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. Tickets: $30/person
Named a “Rising Star” Male Vocalist in Down Beat magazine’s 2009 Critics Poll, DeSare has lived up to the distinction by winning critical and popular acclaim for his concerts throughout the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong. “Two parts Sinatra to one part Billy Joel” (New York Times), Tony DeSare performs with infectious joy, wry playfulness, and robust musicality, bringing his old-school class from jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to headlining with Don Rickles in Las Vegas. With three Top Ten Billboard jazz albums and features on the CBS Early Show, NPR, and the Today Show, Tony is also an award-winning composer; his compositions range widely between romantic, funny, and soulful. Tickets: $30/person
Ian B. Walters plays spirited, updated blues and standards as well as contemporary tunes, and is known for his unique piano sound, dripping with soul vocals and all-around good vibes. Classically trained and influenced by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, James Booker, Memphis Slim, and Mississippi John Hurt, Walters’ inventive interpretations refresh great old songs. One of the most sought-after performers in the Washington, D.C. area, he can often be spotted playing blues festivals and clubs solo or with his backup band, the SwampKeepers. Tickets: $25/person
Albert Castiglia is an artist who sings from the gut, shoots guitar licks from the hip, and writes songs that articulate one’s hopes, fears, and heartaches. Having opened for ZZ Top, Elvin Bishop, and The Radiators, Castiglia’s colorful history includes touring as the legendary Junior Wells’ lead guitar player before Wells’ death in 1998, and then joining Sandra Hall for national tours. His unique style of modern day blues with a traditional core has made him a favorite high -energy performer at festivals across the country. Tickets: $25/person
As a classical and fingerstyle guitarist, Ewan Dobson has established himself as one of Canada’s most brilliant and exhilarating young guitarists. He has won numerous awards at local, national, and international competitions, including the Kiwanis Music Festival, the International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, and the Montreal Guitar Grand Prix. Dobson is noted for the intensity and virtuosity of his fingerstyle playing, and his music is influenced by video game music, extended technique, bluegrass, classical, folk, techno, heavy metal, and trance. Tickets: $25/person
Over the past 25 years, Ken Navarro has performed in every major U.S. city and has had numerous Top 5 hits on national radio. He began his recording career in Los Angeles performing and recording with artists like Doc Severinsen, Nell Carter, John Patitucci, Ann Jillian, and Alex Acuna, and has shared the stage with artists such as Spyro Gyra, Chuck Mangione, Najee, Chris Botti, The Rippingtons, Jean-Luc Ponty, Keiko Matsui, David Benoit, and many others. Tickets: $25/person
