Deborah Silverstein & Charlie King

The Boston area may indeed be the center of the acoustic music universe with its thriving options of Open Mic venues.
One of the oldest and most venerable of these is at the Cantab Lounge in Central Square, Cambridge. Musician and host, bar none, is the esteemed Geoff Bartley. Geoff knew me from way back when and offered me a featured performer spot at his long-running Monday night Singer-Songwriter night. I pulled out my old standards and pulled together several of my old performing buddies. When a full house of longtime members of my old music community turned out for my Monday night, 10pm set, I knew there was no turning back for me. Another incredible stroke of good fortune, abetted by some serious ‘putting the intention out there’ on my part, led me to cross paths with local Boston musician, Eric Wells. Aside from a brief foray into folk music in his early years, Eric cut his musical teeth in the Boston rock and blues scene, playing electric guitar and touring over the years with many different bands. We were an unlikely duo, but he liked what I wrote and decided to dust off his old Martin and toss it into the ring with me. Slowly we’ve worked up a repertoire composed of both my old and lots of brand new compositions.

Charlie King is a musical storyteller and political satirist. He sings and writes passionately about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Pete Seeger hailed him as “One of the finest singers and songwriters of our time.”
Charlie has been at the heart of American folk music for over half a century and has been writing songs for the past 45 years. In October of 2017 he received the annual the Phil Ochs Award, in recognition of his music and activism for social and political justice in the spirit of Phil Ochs. His songs have been recorded and sung by other performers such as Pete Seeger, Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, John McCutcheon, Arlo Guthrie, Peggy Seeger, Chad Mitchell and Judy Small.
Charlie is currently touring with his latest recording Life & Love, Tears & Laughter, released in February 2017. Past honors include: an “Indie” award for one of the top three folk recordings of 1984; the War Resisters League’s 1998 Peacemaker Award given to Charlie and Odetta; the 1999 Sacco-Vanzetti Social Justice Award for which he was nominated by Pete Seeger; the 2009 International Labor Communications Association award for Best Labor History Story. In 2014 the Labor Heritage Foundation presented Charlie the Joe Hill Award. This lifetime achievement award recognizes excellence in the field of labor culture.
Charlie was born in 1947, and was raised in Brockton, MA. He cites as musical influences the folk music revival of the 1960’s, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War era.

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