For over fifteen years David Wilcox has been making music that bravely navigates a path through the emotional static of modern life towards a better place. With a style that the Boston Globe says “combines the best of both pop and modern folk aesthetics,” he writes songs that are wake up calls to the heart, balm for the soul. Most familiar to folk audiences as a founding member of the female trio Red Molly, Carolann Solebello opens the show.

“For me, it feels like when I look out at the world there’s just a need for people to be talking about where they get their hope now,” David Wilcox says, “That’s what my music has always been about. These days, there’s so much adversity and loss of hope that anything you can offer that’s on the positive side is a welcome relief.”

David’s own musical story began in college, when he took up the guitar after hearing a fellow student playing “Buckets of Rain” by Bob Dylan. It was the first time he had ever experienced music as something that anyone can do. He picked up the guitar and began to experiment. Within a few months, he was writing his own songs. Drawing on influences from James Taylor to Motown to Joni Mitchell (she inspired him to explore alternate tunings); he created a sound that is both highly personal and emotionally forthright. “I’m drawn to artists who disclose something about themselves and let you in their world,” Wilcox says.

From his debut in 1987 with The Nightshift Watchman through standouts such as How Did You Find Me Here (1989), What You Whispered (2000) and Live Songs and Stories (2001), he has consistently delivered music that he New York Daily News credits with giving “sensitive singer/song­writers back their good name.” His latest release, Reverie, was recorded in front of an audience, but it doesn’t sound like a “live album” since the crowd was nearly silent. It was done this way to capture the energy of the connection, where songs breathe and expand by the combined conductivity of the crowd.

. . .

A New York City native, Carolann Solebello first fell in love with mountain music — and the bluegrass and country that grew out of that tradition — while working as an actor in East Tennessee and Kansas. Tunes and techniques she learned from musicians in both places fundamentally changed her approach to songwriting and guitar playing, and subsequently colored her work with Red Molly.

Back before she teamed up with Abbie Gardner and Laurie MacAllister to form Red Molly, Carolann embarked on her musical journey as a solo performer. In the late 1990s, she abandoned a comfortable theatrical career and leapt headlong into the teeming pool of singer-songwriters in her hometown. Armed with a powerful voice and percussive guitar style, she soon found herself swimming in the downtown club scene, recording her first solo album, Just Across the Water (2000), and establishing her own independent label, Elizabeth Records, to release it. In very short order, the soloist became one-fourth of a quartet, folk-pop group CC RAILROAD — and later, one-third of that celebrated trio, Red Molly.

Since parting with the trio to better balance career and family responsibilities, Carolann continues to earn accolades from reviewers and presenters on her own, performing her New York-inflected brand of original and traditional music as a solo artist. She is currently touring primarily in the Northeast, and recording a new CD, due for release in Spring 2011.

Photo of Carolann by Jeff Fasano

• For David Wilcox, music is a personal compass for finding his way home. Lining it up with something deep inside, his words become image-filled poetry that dance to an internal rhythm. Challenging situations, elusive ideas, and long-suppressed feelings are directed into inspiring metaphors of hope. Coupled with a seamless melody, it is all delivered in the language of his heart. Performing Songwriter
• Fueled by brilliantly articulate guitar, an honestly pretty baritone, and deft lyrics, he combines the best of both pop and modern folk aesthetics. Boston Globe
• . . .
• It is wonderful to hear Carolann’s powerful, soaring alto featured on its own. The songs [on Glass of Desire] are personal but touch on universal themes of family, transition and fulfillment. Scott Sheldon - Sing Out! (Sep 1, 2010)
• . . . a voice that is strong and expressive. Musical theater has given her the ability to define the emotional underpinning in any song. Richard Cuccaro - Acoustic Live (Jul 7, 2005)