'The Seldovia Arts Council presented…"Seldovia summer … great fishing, hiking, boating… and a whole lot of great music! Seldovia Arts Council's biggest event of the summer, The Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival, has built a reputation over its five year history as the place to see exceptional musicians in an intimate venue, and this year's festival was no exception. Headline artists were Ann Rabson, Geoff Muldaur, and James Lee Stanley.
Ann Rabson is not only a world-class barrelhouse piano player and a respected Piedmont-style finger-picking guitarist, but a uniquely passionate and witty singer/songwriter with an immediately recognizable contralto voice. Her talent has earned her eight prestigious W.C. Handy Award nominations. "Rabson plays bluesy, honky-tonk piano with staggering authority." (Down Beat Magazine). Geoff Muldaur has his musical roots in the 1960's folk and blues scenes centered in Cambridge, MA and Woodstock, NY. Geoff has made recording appearances with such luminaries as Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, and Bonnie Raitt, plus two albums with then-wife Maria Muldaur and is indeed, 'one of the living masters of American home-grown music' (Peter Coyote). Folk vocalist and composer James Lee Stanley has recorded 20 albums and toured extensively, often with ex-Monkee Peter Tork with whom he recorded Two Man Band in 1995. Known for the power and passion of his finely crafted melodies, James Lee intersperses his performances with his trademark witty repartee.
Keyboard and accordion artist Radoslov Lorkovic has five critically acclaimed solo recordings, and numerous appearances and recordings with artists including Greg Brown, Andy White and Bo Ramsey. Rad returns from Festival 2004, as does outstanding Alaskan folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist Rick Brooks. Rick has shared the billing with such greats as Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, and Taj Mahal. Mike Campbell and Robin Hopper also returned to the Festiva. Mike sang original and often humorous Alaskan ballads in his amazingly deep baritone. Robin sang her award winning original tunes along with her daughter, Katie Hopper. New to the festival this year were The Emeralds, four young Alaskan musicians playing fiddle, bass, mandolin, guitar and piano. JuJuba, a 7 piece marimba band playing exhilarating, positive-energy music from Zimbabwe and southern Africa, joins us from Homer. Add The Alaskan Native Flute Circle, Earl and Alice Mullins, The Long and Short of It, Paul Boyd, Holly Wiley, and Seldovia's own The Wild Card, and we had an amazing festival! by Susan Zerwick
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Ann Rabson
