Hey folks: If you like old-tyme, fiddle music, singing and an eclectic acoustic mix, this is one of the best settings for a concert: Sunday, August 18, 2013 at 4:00 pm, the 15th Annual Old West Church (Calais). It's not miked, and it finishes by candlelight, a lovely scene. For 15 years, The Calais Concert has been organized by singer Deb Flanders (raised in East Montpelier) in honor of her great-aunt Helen Hartness Flanders, one of the pioneers of folk music history in the United States. This year, the concert will feature Vermont's Anna Roberts-Gevalt on fiddle and others on banjo, cello, and other instruments. Tickets are $15 at the door. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Vermont Folklife Center.

Helen Hartness Flanders, a native of Vermont, was an internationally recognized ballad collector and authority on folk music found in New England and in the British Isles. Today, 4,500 of her field recordings are housed at the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College. This collection is consulted frequently by folklorists and musicians locally, nationally, and internationally.

Roberts-Gevalt is a Vermont native who moved south to immerse herself in Appalachian music, has apprenticed with the masters of the Kentucky fiddle tradition: Bruce Greene, John Harrod and Paul David Smith, as well as banjo players Lee Sexton and Earl Thomas. NPR recently featured Anna and folk singer Elizabeth Laprelle on The Story with a segment called “Crank The Music” performing traditional Appalachian culture through music, story-telling and hand-made scrolls called “crankies”.

Pete Sutherland, Irish musician Eamon O'Leary, Vermont Symphony Orchestra cellist John Dunlop, violinists/fiddlers Laura Markowitz and Sofia Hirsch will round out the line-up.
For more info call 802-233-1015 or visit www.debflanders.net

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