2021 Season
2021 STREAMING CONCERTS
January 9, 2021 at 7:30
Jake Blount
Jake Blount is an award-winning banjoist, fiddler, singer and ethnomusicologist based in Providence, RI. He is half of the internationally touring duo Tui, a 2020 Strathmore Artist in Residence and a board member of Bluegrass Pride. He is a 2020 recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize. Blount specializes in the music of Black communities in the southeastern United States, and in the regional style of the Finger Lakes.
Mary-Elaine Jenkins
Mary-Elaine Jenkins’ music sounds like a premonition. Like sweat and perfume. Bourbon and salt water. Spanish moss on ruins. A product of her upbringing amidst the canopy of her Lowcountry family tree, Mary-Elaine carries herself as if she never left. But she did. First Washington DC, then Spain, and now Brooklyn. Venturing far from home, time and space removed from her roots has further distilled Mary-Elaine’s distinctly Southern charm.
Dan Whitener
Born and raised in Washington, DC, and a current player in the New York / New Jersey / Pennsylvania scene, Dan Whitener has hit the Billboard Bluegrass charts as a banjo player with both Emmy-nominated bluegrass-hiphop band Gangstagrass and Philadelphia’s Newgrass Americana band Man About A Horse. “We Are Gonna Be Okay,” with lyrics by Eileen Whitener, was included in the 2018 Spike Lee movie BlacKkKlansman.
February 13, 2021 at 7:30
Sophie Buskin
Sophie Buskin’s songs have been described as wise, laced with sly humor, and containing melodies that are different and surprising.
Sophie is a rising star, appearing at venues such as Rockwood Music Hall, the Cutting Room, Passim, the Red Lion, and White Eagle Hall. She has performed with Judy Collins, Mason Jennings, Little Anthony, Livingston Taylor and Paul Schaffer and founded the songwriters’ circle at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn.
Joshua Garcia
Joshua Garcia is a songwriter whose powerful lyrics and deeply moving vocals evoke comparisons to Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, his boyhood idols.
He is one of the most sought after singers in the NYC folk world. Joshua has opened for Don McLean and his 2020 solo streaming concert at the Tarrytown Music Hall was one of the highlights of the year. He recently released his first single, and is in the process of completing his debut full-length album, which will be a must own.
Rachael Kilgour
Rachael Kilgour is a Minnesotan songwriter and performing artist whose sincere, lyric-driven work has been called both brave and humane.
Her latest EP, Game Changer, examines the her tentative first steps into a new existence, post-heartbreak. With a clear head, Kilgour touches on the complicated nature of romance and relationship, sets up a stunning defense of queer love, and reassesses her priorities as a citizen of a changing wider world.
March 13, 2021 at 7:30
Jeremy Aaron
Jeremy Aaron’s style incorporates trad fiddle, jazz, soul, and poetry, but he’s rooted in the jam atmosphere, where the energy comes from spontaneous ideas and foot stomping like a musical roller coaster.
His intimate songs paint poetic portraits of adirondack forests, the nature of love, and the challenges we all face. His fiddle gets your toes tapping and his guitar stylings are full of surprises.
Jen Cork
Gravelly layered vocals and a haunted 1904 upright grand piano define singer songwriter Jen Cork’s current performances. With a versatile voice and vividly cinematic lyrics drawn from her dreams, Jen invites you in to share an emotionally charged listening experience.
Jen is currently stretching her wings as a producer in her Ithaca, NY home studio and booking outdoor shows for the upcoming year.
Austin MacRae
Shimmering lyrics, deft finger-picking and soaring melodies—Ithaca’s Austin MacRae is a troubadour whose songwriting is characterized by poetic lyrics and poignant stories from rural upstate NY..
He has performed at venues such as Club Passim, Kerrville Folk Festival (New Folk Finalist), and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (Emerging Artist). MacRae is currently at work on a collection of songs about being a step-father.
April 17, 2021 at 7:30
Grace Morrison
If folk, roots, and Americana were on a Venn diagram, Grace Morrison would be squarely in the center. Grace has become a regular on the national festival and touring circuit.
Her sophomore solo album “Reasons” debuted the #2 album on the Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Contemporary Country Airplay Chart.
Billy Woodward
Billy Woodward is a roots singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY. His unique songwriting and storytelling is a direct result of his life-long adoration of traditional folk/blues, R&B and rock & roll.
Woodward recorded his last EP, "The Beast In Me", at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, TN and has a new full-length album slated for release later this year.
Annie Sumi
Annie Sumi creates sonic landscapes that breathe with the rhythms of the earth. Her music brings attention to the practice of listening by offering a space for whispering melodies to be amplified.
With support from the Ontario Arts Council, her latest collection, Solastalgia, is set to release in October 2021.
May 15, 2021 at 7:30
Meghan Cary
Meghan Cary’s music has been hailed as healing, inspiring and infectiously joyful. Named Billboard’s “Critic’s Choice” for her debut EP, the stage actress turned folk rocker engages listeners with masterful storytelling and anthemic songs. Cary found solace in words and music after her fiancé unexpectedly passed away - and turned that passion into a platform empowering others to speak their truth by bravely sharing her own.
Scott Cook
Scott Cook toured around the world almost incessantly from 2007 until 2020, when the pandemic made living in a van less appealing. His latest album Tangle of Souls comes in a cloth-bound, 240-page hardcover book of road stories and ruminations, equal parts introspection and insurrection. He still believes, more than ever, that songs can change your life, and your life can change the world.
Suzie Vinnick
Roots and Blues singer Suzie Vinnick is a 3X Juno Nominee, CFMA Award winner, and a 10-time winner of the Maple Blues Award for songwriting, female vocalist, acoustic act and more. Suzie has a voice you’ll never forget. It soars, it growls, it whispers and it shouts from a deep, deep well of emotion. Suzie’s latest album is a full-band roots and blues extravaganza entitled Shake The Love Around
2021 In-Person CONCERTS
November 20, 2021 at 7:30
In-Person and Streaming Tickets Available
Eric Lee
A Pennsylvania-born songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Eric Lee shapes songs with stand-alone melodies and rich musical backdrops. From the personal to the sublime, they range from tales of honkeytonk heartache to anthems of social consciousness, and are told with a language of poetic and raw honesty. ee draws from a well of uncommon musical depth, having worked professionally in recording studios, festival stages, and on the road with acclaimed artists in both folk and bluegrass (The Kennedys, Eric Andersen, Peter Rowan) from an early age.
Rupert Wates
Rupert Wates has won over 40 songwriting and performing awards. In 2018 he performed as a Finalist in the Kerrville New Song Folk Contest and an Emerging Artist at Falconridge Folk Festival. More than 25 of his songs have been covered by other artists and he has released 9 solo albums, tracks from which have been played on radio worldwide. Colorado Central Magazine describes his songs as ‘sublime folk hymns’, while Folk And Acoustic Music Exchange adds ‘this is one gifted s.o.b…if you’re not hip to this guy you’re missing out’.
December 11, 2021 at 7:30
In-Person and Streaming Tickets Available
Katie Martucci
Katie Martucci returns to Voices in the Heights by popular demand. Katie is a performer (singer, guitarist & violinist), bandleader, composer and teacher living in Brooklyn, NY. Since graduating from the New England Conservatory in 2016, Katie has toured the United States with her trio The Ladles, founded the Tucci Swing Orchestra, released several solo recordings, and scored the National Geographic film 'Glen Canyon Rediscovered'. Katie teaches voice and songwriting at SUNY New Paltz, and leads several ensembles at the Jalopy School of Music in Brooklyn.
Billy Woodward
Billy Woodward a roots singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY. His unique songwriting and storytelling is a direct result of his life-long adoration of traditional folk/blues, R&B and rock & roll. His time in Memphis honed his music, creating a focus and energy that is palpable in his performances. If you love well crafted songs that get you movin’ and groovin’ Billy Woodward is not to be missed. Woodward recorded his last EP, "The Beast In Me", at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, TN and has a new full-length album slated for release later this year.