By K.D. Norris
St. Cecilia Music Center’s Acoustic Café Folk Series is usually one of the West Michigan winter season’s entertainment musts — if you don’t remember Rosanne Cash’s visit just before the March 2020 pandemic shutdown, you missed out. Whether it is straight folk, Americana or alt-something or another, the series offers something for every acoustic taste.
So, while St. Cecilia’s continues to be empty of live audience, for awhile longer anyway, it is continuing a series of virtual folk and blues concerts to begin 2021 including many West Michigan artists free for the viewing and listening.
The first of the free concerts will be this week, when Ralston Bowles and Michael Crittenden hit the Royce Auditorium stage Thursday, Jan. 21, for a 7 p.m., performance streaming free of charge on St. Cecilia’s Facebook and YouTube channels, and accessed through scmc-online.org.
The Michigan Folk and Blues Virtual Series 2021, continuing the partnership between St. Cecilia and the Acoustic Café radio show and its host Rob Reinhart, will stretch into April.
The other free virtual concerts include the King Biscuit Trio on Feb. 18; Rachel Davis and Dominic John Davis on March 25 (from their current home in Nashville); and Jen Sygit and Josh Rose on April 8 and back from the Royce Auditorium stage.
When Ralston Bowles and Michael Crittenden take the stage this week, audiences will tune into two of Grand Rapids best known folk musicians as they share the stage (but not at the same time for safety reasons) for a night of great music making and storytelling.
Bowles, often called “the ambassador of West Michigan music,” is an award-winning folk and Americana singer-songwriter who has released several critically acclaimed albums — including “Carwreck Conversations” and “Rally at the Texas Hotel” – and, according to supplied material, has toured the United States and Europe, sharing stages with the likes of Bob Dylan, Shawn Colvin and Arlo Guthrie.
Crittenden is an award-winning producer, songwriter and performer — not to mention founder and frontman for folk-rock’s Troll for Trout. He is not only a producer, player, studio owner and musical collaborator, but has been a key figure in the songwriting contest part of the ArtPrize competition as well as the Mackinac Island Songwriter’s Workshop.
In addition to the free local artist folk series concerts, St. Cecilia will also offer two “ticketed” and one free concerts by national and international artists including Mariza Sings Amália, to be live streamed on Jan. 29 (with tickets costing $40 with a 48-hour viewing window); Judy Collins on Feb. 12 (also $40 with 48-hour window); and Kat Edmonson on March 4 in a free concert also available on St. Cecilia’s Facebook and YouTube channel.
As an added attraction, Edmonson will be doing an interview with Rob Reinhart, host the Acoustic Café radio show.
For a complete list of all virtual concerts offered by St. Cecilia for home viewing, see scmc-online.org/virtual/.
