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Single Tree Music and the Historic Manchester Trust
Present Meg Hutchinson: Live at The Crowell

With a special opening performance by Joe Wilkins

Saturday, May 18th at 8pm

ABOUT MEG HUTCHINSON:
Meg Hutchinson is an award-winning songwriter who artfully documents the human condition. With a poet’s ease, she makes the personal universal, allowing people’s stories to come alive through her unique vocals and haunting melodies. Since the release of her Red House Records debut NPR Music, XM/Sirius Radio and several times on the syndicated show The Winnipeg Free Press as were songwriters like Greg Brown and Joni Mitchell, and poets like Mary Oliver, William Stafford, William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost. When Hutchinson inherited her grandmother’s 1957 Martin guitar at age eleven, her love of words found an inspiring instrument, and there was no turning back. “Songwriting is not something I chose, I’ve just somehow always known that this is what I love to do. This is what I can’t help but do,” she says.

After graduating from college with a degree in creative writing, Hutchinson quit her longtime job on an organic lettuce farm and settled in Boston. In between gigs at pubs, coffeehouses and train stations, she won a Boston Music Award for her first studio album Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, the The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest in North Carolina, all in the course of a year, causing national publications like She settled in Boston, where she quickly became an integral part of the vibrant songwriting community. Like every great performer who has come out of the Boston scene, Hutchinson took to the subway, performing in Park Street, Downtown Crossing and Davis Square stations--honing her chops in the same method of predecessors like Martin Sexton, John Mayer, Paula Cole and Tracy Chapman.

After recording her live CD Crit Harmon (Lori McKenna, Martin Sexton, Mary Gauthier) to record Red House Records. Label president and veteran producer Come Up Full over the course of more than a year in Boston. An instant folk hit, the album was one of the most played on folk and college radio and landed her on many “best of the year” lists.

Meg Hutchinson went on to tour with such artists as Joe Pug, handily winning over new fans on both sides of the Atlantic. She was also a favorite at International Folk Alliance Conference, showing that this was a young talent to be reckoned with.

In fall of 2009, Meg Hutchinson joined fellow songwriters Natalia Zukerman to record the holiday EP WFUV, WUMB and The Living Side, Meg Hutchinson shows that she is a songwriter that has fully arrived. Combining her raw storytelling folk style with tasteful, intimate production, the album showcases her sweet, earthy vocals and her most powerful songwriting to date. It confirms that she is indeed one of the great voices of the next generation of acoustic musicians. 

www.meghutchinson.com

ABOUT JOE WILKINS:
A resident of the North Shore, Joe Wilkins writes, records and performs continuously in the Greater Boston area and beyond. Listening to and absorbing everything from Afrobeat to Zydeco – Wilkins’ songwriting and sounds are eclectic and varied – Americana, Bluegrass, Folk, and Gypsy Jazz are all styles that influence The Wilkins Noise. Performances vary from full band with electric guitar – to intimate, acoustic gigs, often accompanied by accordion, mandolin and stand up bass. Wilkins enjoys collaborating and performing with a large group of musicians hailing from all around the north east – Geoff Goodhue, Ryan Goodhue, Luke Conlin, and Dennis Monagle are a few names that you’ll find repeatedly working, writing and performing with Wilkins.

At a young age Wilkins’ Uncle would send him cassette tapes of strange sounds and instruments. These tapes would end up being the catalyst for a lifetime of musical creation. Starting on drums and percussion, Wilkins picked up the guitar at about 15 years old and has been playing ever since. Recording and touring in Pop, Afrobeat, Folk, Rock, and Fusion/Funk bands – Wilkins is a seasoned player in many genres and is adept at Electric Guitar as well as Finger-style and flat-pick Acoustic Guitar. He also plays Bass Guitar, Drum Set, Lap Steel Guitar, Ukulele and Oud.

Wilkins’ influences are numerous – but some artists continue to inspire his songwriting and singing such as Thom Yorke and Radiohead, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Greg Brown, Ryan Adams, Paul Simon and Rufus Wainwright as well as other more obscure folk artists like Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy), and the UK’s Scott Matthews.

From eclectic acoustic originals to classic rock standards – Wilkins and his band (The Wilkins Noise) does it all and are a good pick for a night of upbeat and soulful music spanning many styles.