College friends Kelsey Taylor and Shafer Green reunite for a night of original and eclectic music, collaboration, and good times. They’re bringing an intimate, one-night-only performance to The Green Room.
Choro das 3 is a trio of three sisters from São Paulo, Brazil, who are highly regarded as some of the best choro musicians in the world. Choro is an enormously appealing musical style that originated in Brazil over 100 years ago and is now popular internationally.
In Brazil, Choro das 3 has been featured on national television, played for the president, and played for huge audiences at national festivals. The band toured the US annually from 2013 to 2019, playing concert venues, festivals, and universities from coast to coast. They’ve also toured internationally and have released 11 CDs.
Are y’all ready? You better get ready. Because Sarah Potenza is not messing around. Her latest release, Road to Rome, shines new light on a songwriter whose career already includes multiple albums as front-woman of Sarah and the Tall Boys, game-changing appearances on The Voice and America’s Got Talent, and an acclaimed solo debut titled Monster. Rolling Stone gushed, “Potenza is to the blues what Adele is to pop: a colossal-voiced singer who merges her old-school influences with a modernistic sound.” She is a songwriter taking the wheel and driving toward her own destination, and you want to be there for the journey.
Crosstown Arts Autumn 2023 resident artists will present free artist talks in The Green Room.
Adam Larson is an American saxophonist, composer and author. An endorsed artist for P. Mauriat saxophones, The Boston Sax Shop and Key Leaves, Adam began playing saxophone at the age of 11. Described by critic Howard Reich of The Chicago-Tribune as “a player for whom the word ‘prodigious’ was coined”, by Peter Hum of the Ottawa Citizen as “a saxophonist who brings Donny McCaslin and Mark Turner to mind”, and by Nate Chinen of The New York Times as “the sort of jazz musician who gets flagged early on as a promising talent and then hustles to meet every requirement for success”, Larson has garnered numerous awards that distinguish him as one of the most promising artists of his generation.
Kyshona blends roots, rock, R&B, and folk with lyrical prowess. She is both a sought after collaborative vocalist working with artists like Margo Price whom she accompanied on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Adia Victoria who features Kyshona, Price and Jason Isbell in her single “You Was Born to Die”, and a burgeoning performer in her own right whose 2020 release Listen, was voted BEST PROTEST ALBUM of 2020 by Nashville Scene.
Shain Shapiro launches his new book, This Must Be the Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better, in conversation with Music Export Memphis’ Elizabeth Cawein.
For this performance, Ben Ricketts (piano/vocals/electronics) will be joined by the Vanishing Imaginary Orchestra, a small ensemble featuring Julia Rice (guitar), Dylan Van Zile (bass), and Kole Oakes (tapes/synthesizer/samples). This performance ensemble recreates and reimagines songs from Ricketts’ wide-ranging catalogue, bringing them to life with a mix of tight arrangements, adventurous improvisation, and expansive audio exploration. Local songwriter Rachel Maxann will be opening the show.
In the attempt to pioneer a new sound while exploring his Eritrean origins, trumpeter Hermon Mehari composed an album entirely influenced by the harmonies, rhythms, and melodies of Eritrean music. However this work, “Asmara” (Komos), doesn’t only come from his musical side — the songs have an emotional bent and express the different aspects of his perspectives towards his relationship with family and the culture.
John Fullbright’s debut album was called “preternaturally self-assured,” while NPR said “it’s not every day a new artist earns comparisons to great songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Randy Newman, but Fullbright’s music makes sense in such lofty company.” The Wall Street Journal crowned him as giving one of the year’s 10 best live performances, and the album also earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Americana Album and the ASCAP Foundation’s Harold Adamson Lyric Award.