A Not-So-Silent Night with Christine Havrilla + Mama’s Black Sheep

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Mama’s Black Sheep is the soulful collaboration of singer-songwriters Ashland Miller (guitar/vocals) and Laura Cerulli (drums/vocals). Together, this duo creates a blend of hit worthy originals and covers with a unique spin. Each song allows you to travel with time, whether you’re swinging to Country, Rocking to Pop, Grooving to Soul, or swaying to the Blues; there’s always something to move your body and stir your soul!

Touring together since 2008, Miller & Cerulli (veterans of the singer-songwriter circuit), will make you feel like every aspect of their journey is in Real-Time. Creating a sound all of their own, Mama’s Black Sheep is driven by Miller’s versatile guitar grooves, Cerulli’s innovative percussion, and two voices that blend like honey & whiskey in perfect harmonious balance. These ladies rock to their own beat, sharing songs of life and love, and empowering the listener to live boldly beyond the barriers.

Mama’s Black Sheep has four well received CD’s to their credit (Unmarked Highway, 2010; Drivin’ On, 2011; Live @ The Bevy, 2016; The Sheep Save Christmas, 2018), and a fully illustrated kids book based on the title track of their Holiday recording, “The Sheep Save Christmas” was released in 2019. The band’s newest single “OCEAN” is available as a digital download and was used as a vehicle for fundraising for four non-profit organizations in St. Croix, USVI, where the duo travels each winter to perform.

Mama’s Black Sheep has been burning up the road touring extensively throughout the continental U.S. and the Caribbean, playing nearly 200 shows a year. While much of their touring is done as a duo, they are occasionally seen as a trio, or full band with the addition of Helen Hausmann on violin and/or Christine Havrilla on bass.

Ashland and Laura, produce magical tapestries of songs, weaving energetic color and rich texture to create an infectious and lively conversation between guitar and percussion. This thought-provoking duo will tantalize your aural appetite, regardless of your musical taste buds, with a diverse blend of blues, soul, country, pop, and more by unapologetically dipping into the well of all music genres. It’s called soulful, poetic story telling with an irresistible groove.

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Award-winning Philadelphia native Christine Havrilla brings her “well-built, catchy, smart tunes” (Upstage Magazine) to audiences everywhere, touring solo and also with the support of her band, Gypsy Fuzz. Christine utilizes the soft gritty texture of her vocals to express warmth and honesty listeners quickly embrace as well as her aggressive, raw, trash-style guitar playing and looping.

What’s Up Magazine exclaims, “Christine breaks out the gasoline and sets fire to the typical Roots/Folk genre with blazing guitars.” Ed Kiggins of inD Round raves, “Christine is one of the hardest working women in music. With her child prodigy-come-of-age guitar virtuosity, a supremely passionate and emotive voice, and an arsenal of wonder songs that have endeared her to a loving and devoted audience, she is in a class all of her own…we simply call her brilliant!” 2020 brought the difficulty of Covid and a cancer diagnosis, but, Christine pressed on with many virtual opportunities which included WHYY picking up the band’s quarantine video of “Desire” for their House Concert Series 2020 while WXPN’s The Key (August 2020) raved about the same video saying, “The song is a jagged rocker reminiscent of Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt!”

Christine was also featured on WDIY’s Parlor Sessions, Sellersville Theatre’s Soundbooth Sessions, Wawa’s Welcome America 4th of July Event, and World Café Live’s House Concerts to name a few. The Dover Post (2019) exclaims, "Christine Havrilla is a tough-as-nails front-woman with a serious habit of rocking a plethora of stages." Nor’easter Magazine states, “Christine Havrilla is a creative, talented powerhouse wrapped up in one complete package!” Mike “Jacobs” McKenna of Steel Notes Magazine says, “This ambitious Philly native manifests her talent in certain ways that allows her to create eclectic music which will grab your heart and leave a lasting memory.” Named "One of the Top Ten Indie Artists" by The Advocate Magazine, The Washington Post writes, “(Havrilla’s) songs are intelligent and moving, the arrangements are incisive and colorful, and, best of all, Havrilla consistently comes across as a confident and seasoned performer.” Christine has also shared the stage with an eclectic list of artists like Brandi Carlile, Chely Wright, Jeffrey Gaines, America, Trigger Hippy, Jill Sobule, Janis Ian, Patty Larkin, Erin McKeown, Karla Bonoff, Susan Werner, Antigone Rising, Melissa Ferrick, Dave Mason, & Davy Knowels.

Listed with Takamine Guitar’s Worldwide Artists, Clayton Picks, and Telefunken Microphones, she was also a featured Artist for American Musical Supply’s Singer/Songwriter Month, nominated for About.com's Reader's Choice Awards, and awarded the 2010 Garden State Film Festival’s “Best Contemporary Country Song” for “Blinders”. Christine’s song “Hail” won the “2019 Homey Awards” for “Best Country/American Song and has been praised by Inessa at 101.9 KINK.FM calling Gypsy Fuzz "Yet another fun late-year discovery!" Michaela Majoun, former DJ from 88.5 WXPN, applauds her "terrific, big sound”, while Philadelphia Magazine states, “She rocks!” Christine, a self-taught musician since the age of 5, performed at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and was featured in Curve Magazine in November 2020 to talk about connecting with fans during Covid. After three years of releasing “Live Sessions” (2015-2018) & celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the album “Some Other Thing”, the band released a 2019 studio album called “Sunless Escapade”, recorded at Studio 1311 outside of Philadelphia, PA. Lyric Videos for 8 of Christine’s songs were released in late 2020 and an acoustic re-mix single of “Thinking of You Lately (1996) came out in January of 2021. Christine can be found writing, recording, experimenting, plus playing bass for Mama’s Black Sheep and 3 Stories High.

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The historic Milton Theatre is a uniquely diverse venue where you will find the best local, regional, national, and international talent. Free municipal and on-street parking are available. Full bar and light food options available. This facility is fully accessible.

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