Folk Music at Methuen Memorial Music Hall Ft. Kemp Harris & Woodshed

Name: Folk Music at Methuen Memorial Music Hall Ft. Kemp Harris & Woodshed
Start: 2024-10-27T15:00:00-04:00
Location: Methuen Memorial Music Hall

Schedule

Sun Oct 27 2024 at 03:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Methuen Memorial Music Hall | Methuen, MA

Come for this once in a lifetime event! The legendary singer-songwriter Kemp Harris and Woodshed are together on stage for the very first time! Set at the stunning Methuen Memorial Music Hall, the acoustics and grandeur of this venue will wow and amaze almost as much as the performers themselves. Get your tickets NOW, and we will see you at one of the top shows of the season!
BIOS:
KEMP HARRIS defies categorization. He is a singer and songwriter, a master weaver of American musical styles. He’s an actor, activist, author, and storyteller, and an award-winning educator who has taught young public school students for more than 40 years.
“It’s all about communication,” Kemp says. “Everything I do.”
Born in segregated Edenton, North Carolina, and transplanted to Massachusetts, where he bounced between relatives’ homes, Kemp learned to adapt to whatever world he found himself in - a talent that has come to define him as a person and an artist. He began writing songs at 14 and recording them in college, using a pair of old cassette players to track parts, and has been delighting music lovers ever since with his earthy, soulful creations.
Kemp honed his powerful, intimate performance style in Cambridge’s coffeehouses, developing into a magnetic frontman who has shared stages with artists such as Koko Taylor, Livingston Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, Kandace Springs and Taj Mahal. He has composed original music for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Complexions Contemporary Ballet, established a songwriting residency at Boston’s Wang Theater, and recently delivered a series of master classes at Berklee College of Music on the subject of Artists as Activists, alongside Chad Stokes of the band Dispatch and members of the dance troupe Urban Bush Women.
Kemp’s most recent album, Edenton, featuring vocals from the legendary Holmes Brothers, is a modern blues journey that fuses the personal and the political, the sacred and the profane, to haunting effect. Edenton’s title track, a bittersweet valentine to his birthplace, explores a simpler time in a racially-divided town with the clear-eyed grace that is a hallmark of Kemp’s work. Everything he makes is built on a foundation of social awareness and the desire to reflect the world as he sees and experiences it. Whether he’s performing a rousing soul tune backed by a 14-piece orchestra in a grand concert hall or a hushed meditation alone at his piano, Kemp speaks truth the only way he knows how: by baring his soul. Considering the state of the world, it is no wonder Kemp is back on the road playing to the biggest audiences of his life - selling out rooms from Northern New England to New York City and enjoying a wave of new fans who have discovered this seasoned Renaissance man via word of mouth.
“Nobody tries to pigeonhole me,” says a delighted Kemp, clearly thrilled to be taking his career to the next level. “My audience allows me to be myself and do it all.”
This resurgence spans all facets of Kemp’s creative life. On top of his busy concert and storytelling schedule, he recently landed acting roles in the feature film “Bleed for This” and the hit Showtime series “SMILF,” as well as a coveted slot in WGBH/PBS television’s storytelling series “Stories from the Stage.”
Kemp’s powers of observation, his unique gift for shining a light on the modern world and what it means to be alive, have only deepened over a lifetime devoted to the most basic and profound of pursuits: human connection. Whether he’s in the classroom, on a film set, leading a workshop, or performing on the concert stage, “at the end of the day,” Kemp says, “I’m an old black man telling stories and spreading the love.”
Here's what the press is saying...
Kemp Harris is a thief, a tease and a heartbreaker. He knows too much. And its all right there when he sings. Beautifully there. He'll take your breath away.
- Tom Ashbrook, Host of NPR's On Point
Earthy, insightful, haunting...sacred and profane. Harris is in perfect communion with the Holmes Brothers and his earthy band.
- Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat
Harris has his finger on the pulse of the modern world with an intensity born of awareness, and he writes with an understanding of what our lives lack. He delivers this wisdom with a timeless voice.
- Art Tipaldi, Blues Revue
That place was buzzing...a performance for the ages! What a night! Kemp is the real deal."
- Bill Huley, The Alternate Root & Extended Play Sessions
WOODSHED:
Jason Wood, Karen Gallant and A.J. Kiernan makes up the singer-songwriter trio of Woodshed. This band is down home country folk music at its finest, and will be sure to gain your ear’s attention! The stripped down nature of the writing intertwined with the soulful and spot on 3 part harmonies of this group will always leave you wanting more. Filled with relatable stories, sweet melodies and the ability to laugh and cry with life in all its absurdity, these three friends can’t wait to share their original brand of songs with their audience and the world.
Jason, Karen and AJ met several years ago at various open mics and shows, hovering around each others' musical world in mutual admiration, but never playing all together. Karen had met AJ wandering into a local open mic that she hosted, and the two quickly realized there was an incredible sound happening! But as time went on something was still missing. Soon, AJ needed a vocalist for a spot at a local gig, and asked Jason to sing with her. The response was great. But after some great conversations and a few jams, the three friends decided that joining forces was the way to go. Fast-forward to the Fall of 2023, where all three musicians finally caught wind of each other’s style and songwriting and decided to give making music together permanently a try. The sound was undeniable, and quickly got people talking in every room they played in! The trio has been creating tunes, performing and growing together as musicians ever since… and have no plans to stop any time soon.

*Kemp Harris and Woodshed are artists that will bring their audience a unique night of stories, sharing and songs. Don’t miss the opportunity to catch both groups on stage in one night for the very first time!*