When:
Sunday, May 14, 2017 8:00p -
10:00p

Where:
Club Passim
47 Palmer St
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
$15-18

Categories:
Art, Food, Meetup, Music, Nightlife, Performing Arts

Event website:
http://passim.org/club/austin-elliott-and-lied-tos

Based in Western Massachusetts, Austin and Elliott is comprised of singer/songwriters Christopher Thomas Elliott and Lisa Austin. Combining folk and rock influences, their dark but catchy original songs combine bracing harmonies, thought-provoking lyrics, and driving acoustic guitar work.
After years of performing on their own as solo artists, they began collaborating in 2003 with Lisa adding harmony vocals to Chris’s songs. Since then, they’ve deepened their musical partnership, incorporating new instrumentation such as hand drum and banjitar and honing their twin vocal attack.
Their latest recording, Cradle and Crow, was recorded at home in the wilds in western Mass, and features 13 original songs about love gone wrong and death gone right. Their previous record, the 5-cut Truth That Hurts, is their first full-band effort, produced by Lorne Entress (Lori McKenna, Catie Curtis, Mark Erelli) and featuring guitarist Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jonatha Brooke, Ellis Paul) and bassist Paul Kochanski (Resophonics). Their debut CD 13 Songs Plus is packed with 21 songs performed in stark, powerful fashion.
Influences? Think duos like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Richard and Linda Thompson, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Richard and Mimi Farina, the Handsome Family and Timbuk 3. The more you listen, you'll hear: Natalie Merchant, Bob Dylan, the Decemberists, REM, Robyn Hitchcock, Randy Newman, the Pogues, Pixies, James McMurtry, Todd Snider, Grace Slick, and more.
Stuff about Chris
Born and raised in Binghamton, NY and currently residing in Montague, MA, Christopher Thomas Elliott likes to rhyme, sing, and play guitar as a solo performer and as half of dark folk duo Austin & Elliott. Since moving to Boston in 1994 to escape food service jobs and go to grad school, has become a fixture of the underground acoustic scene in New England. He starting writing funny songs in his teens, and when he got a beat-up Ovation guitar while at Bard College, the satirical edge of his writing sharpened. Going on to an MFA from Emerson College, he has developed writing style that ranges from darkly serious to deadly funny. His hand-made acoustic guitar is by luthier Alan Carruth, its powerful tone accommodating his soft fingerpicking and hard strumming style. According to Club Passim's Matt Smith, "his songs run the gamut from bitingly ironic to honestly beautiful." Or in the words of Marilyn Ray Beyer of 91.9FM WUMB: "Laugh now, think later... A poet in a songwriter suit." He was a finalist in the Rose Garden Songwriting Competition--twice. Check out his solo CD "Satellite, UFO, Jet Plane, or Star.” In addition to his songster activities, Chris has self-published a mock heroic epic poem, Ferding and the Fly, Book I: A Ballad of Garbage and Picnics, which recounts the saga of a young boy’s crusade to swat a fly and the fly’s quest to conquer a picnic.
Stuff about Lisa
A native of Western Massachusetts, Lisa Austin began playing live in earnest after moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1998. With a voice that recalls Natalie Merchant, she was a Lillith Fair semi-finalist for an opening spot at the 1999 Colorado Lillith Fair, and since then she has played and sung in many venues throughout Boulder and Massachusetts. While Chris takes a more cerebral approach to music making, Lisa is the more intuitive, creating original harmony lines by ear and unearthing the emotional core of songs. In addition to singing, she plays guitar, 6-string banjo, bass and percussion, adding energy to the live show. Her songwriting is dark and traditional-folk inspired, filled with rural imagery, reflecting her love of and reverence for the natural world. She often sings from unique points of view, such as a fisherman drowning at sea or a westward journeying pioneer who discovers his family dead on Christmas Day. In addition to music-making, Lisa is involved with animal rights and spay/neuter advocacy.
Lisa and Chris love to travel around New England performing. From coffeehouses to night clubs, venues played include: in the greater Boston area, First Night Boston, Club Passim, the Nameless Coffeehouse, the Burren, the Cantab, Java Joe's, TT the Bear's Place, Johnny D's, Perk's Coffeehouse, and more. Further west, First Night Northampton, the Luthier's Co-op, the Iron Horse, the Center for Arts in Natick, Amazing Things Arts Center (Framingham), the Dove Cafe and Capo's (Lowell), the Pioneer Arts Center (Westford), the Java Hut (Worcester), the Stagecoach Inn (Groton), Studio Session Live for HCAM TV (Hopkinton), the Sit 'n' Bull (Maynard), Mocha Maya's (Shelburne Falls), Club Helsinki (Great Barrington), and more. Around the Northeast: Tupelo Music Hall (Londonderry, NH), Vanilla Bean Cafe (Pomfret, CT), Langdon St. Cafe (Montpelier, VT), Postcrypt Cafe (New York City), the New Jersey Folk Fetival, and more. We've opened for Rod McDonald and Cindy Bullens, and Chris (solo) for Grey Eye Glances, Ratsy, and Gideon Freudmann. Live on the radio: WUMB 91.9FM (UMASS Boston), WMUA 91.1FM (UMASS Amherst), WMFO 91.5FM (Tufts University), WUML 91.5FM (Lowell, MA), WMPG 90.9FM (Portland, ME), WSCA 106.1FM (Portsmouth, NH), among others.

http://www.austinandelliott.com/

Taking their name from the revered Everly Brothers song, "When Will I Be Loved," The Lied To's (Susan Levine and Doug Kwartler) collaborate to put the challenges of romantic relationships squarely under their musical microscope. The duo creates a formidable blend of folk, rock and country-tinged music with subject matter keenly focused on the negotiation of these relationships in the wake of difficult times and burdensome pasts.

The Lied To's are Susan Levine and Doug Kwartler, two Massachusetts-based singer-songwriters with countless individual awards, performances, tours, song placements, and writing accolades between them. They joined musical forces in 2014, released their debut cd in February 2015, and have been playing together ever since.

Past praise for each songwriter has included quotes from people like Nick Noble, host of the "The Folk Revival," on WICN in Worcester, MA who says, "Doug Kwartler brings to the 21st century the passion and perception of the great 20th century folk singers like Woody Guthrie and early Bob Dylan." Columnist, Joel Brown, in an article for The Boston Globe noted that Susan Levine has, "Some of the wistful knowledge of Dolly Parton at her best." Susan has been a finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, and the International Songwriting Competition, among others. Doug has been an emerging artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and had his songs placed on television shows, including CSI and All My Children.

Susan Levine and Doug Kwartler were on separate paths as artists, each balancing songwriting and performing with the responsibilities of family and parenting. During this time, both went through challenging divorces and both became single parents. Fast forward to 2014 when a chance meeting at an open mic brought Susan into Doug's recording studio (Hollow Body Studios). Soon after, the two began sharing shows and backing each other up at solo gigs. As they continued to play and sing together, and with their common past experiences informing their writing and mission, the chemistry became undeniable and “The Lied To's” were born.

The Lied To's released their self-titled debut cd at the legendary Club Passim in February 2015. The cd garnered excellent reviews, and received significant airplay on folk radio and Americana stations, rising to #3 on the Roots Rock charts. In addition to shows at Club Passim, the duo has played at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN, as well as venues in Virginia, New York, Connecticut and throughout Massachusetts.

http://liedtomusic.com/

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05/14/2017 20:00:00 05/14/2017 22:00:00 America/New_York Austin & Elliott and The Lied To's Based in Western Massachusetts, Austin and Elliott is comprised of singer/songwriters Christopher Thomas Elliott and Lisa Austin. Combining folk and rock influences, their dark but catchy original ... Club Passim, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 false MM/DD/YYYY