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Community Corner

The Steel Wheels bring some New Grass Blue Grass to Marblehead

On Friday, May 16, the me & thee will introduce The Steel Wheels - a band that is certainly going places... on the line between old timey folk and something raw, new and bluegrassy.  Catch this band on their way to fame and glory. Louise Mosrie, acclaimed songwriter from Nashville, opens the show. Seeing and hearing Louise perform her eclectic mix of folk and English pop is like having a good friend sit down in your living room to play guitar and sing.  Doors open at 7:30 PM for this 8:00 PM show. The me & thee coffeehouse is located at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead at 28 Mugford Street.

The Steel Wheels are renowned for their raw energy and chemistry on stage, where they cluster tightly around a single microphone to adorn Trent Wagler's unmistakable tenor with bell-clear four part harmonies complimented by Eric Brubaker's fiddle, Brian Dickel's upright bass and Jay Lapp on the mandolin and guitars. The band’s own brand of acoustic Americana roots music reflects stylings of the past yet boldly embodies the strength of powerful original song writing. Their breakout album, Red Wing (2010), garnered critical praise and enjoyed tremendous success on the radio. It spent 13 weeks on the Americana Music Association’s Top 40 Chart, where it reached the number 15 slot, and cracked the Euro Americana Chart top 10.  The Steel Wheels were nominated for five Independent Music Awards in 2010, with “Nothing You Can’t Lose” taking top honors as Best Country Song.  Following 2011's release, Live at Goose Creek, The Steel Wheels continued to take theAmericana scene by storm with their album, Lay Down, Lay Low, which lingered for 10 weeks on the AMA’s Top 40 Chart and was the 2012 Americana Album of the Year from the Independent Music Awards.   Additionally NPR Music named “Rain in the Valley” their Song of the Day, marveling that the “heavy hymn […] is sparse and dense all at once.”  2013 brought yet another Americana charting release entitled, No More Rain.  

The Steel Wheels are selling out venues from coast to coast and appearing at many of the top festivals in the US & Canada.  These include Merlefest, Grey Fox, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, Ann Arbor Folk Festival, Fayetteville Roots Festival, Moab Folk Festival, Musikfest, Canmore Folk Festival,  Kerrville Folk Festival, and many others. 2014 shows no signs of slowing down with a full schedule of prestigious festivals and venues.  In July the band hosts their own annual Red Wing Roots Music Festival bringing over 40 bands to four stages for three days of music and community near their home in the Shenandoah Valley.  In addition as the schedule allows, the band organizes and perform the SpokeSongs bicycle music tour, during which the band members tow their instruments, equipment, and merchandise from one show to another via bicycle.  Past tours have spanned up to 11 days, 600 miles, and 10 shows.  The attention from these special SpokeSongs tours allows the band to raise extra money and awareness for charities and causes along the way.  

 Louise Mosrie’s British parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1960’s for work finally settling on a farm on fifty acres in middle Tennessee. Born in Delaware and moving to the South as a child, she had trouble reconciling the two cultures around her - shunning all things Southern - dislikingthe accent, the food and the slow sleepy ways of doing things in her small rural town. Louise began writing pop/folk songs in her early 20s while living in Knoxville after college, producing two independent albums before moving to Nashville in 2004 to work on her songcraft. There, she made friends and contacts in the Americana and bluegrass side of Nashville, playing rounds and writing with artists like Donna Ulisse & Rick Stanley, Diana Jones and producer Ray Kennedy. Ironically, the melodies and imagery that emerged most strongly in her writing after 2004 came straight from the southern culture she once dismissed. Influenced by artists such as Nanci Griffith, Allison Kraus and Lucinda Williams, her songs tell stories of joy, love, struggle and heartbreak through the vivid characters and scenery of southern life.

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Tickets for the performance by The Steel Wheels with Louise Mosrie are $18 in advance and $21 at thedoor. Tickets are available online at www.meandthee.org and can be purchased in person at the Spirit of ’76 Bookstore or the Arnould Gallery in Marblehead. The Landing Restaurant at 81 Front Street, Marblehead offers a 10% discount on dinner if you show your ticket or receipt.  Enjoy a meal before the show! As at all me & thee coffeehouse events, refreshments are available, including homemade pastries, coffee, and teas. The me & thee has a handicapped-accessible entrance and an accessible bathroom, is a smoke-free environment, and is easily reached by MBTA bus.

The me & thee is one of the oldest continually running acoustic coffeehouses in New England, and probably thecountry. It has been and will always be a volunteer, non-profit organization sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead.  For information and directions, call 781-631-8987 or check the website atwww.meandthee.org.

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