Evening Star Presents Pierce Pettis

On Saturday, August 2nd, at 8 p.m., Pierce Pettis will return again to the Evening Star stage. Pettis, who was our very first Evening Star performer in 1997, will be accompanied by Don Porterfield on fretless bass and harmony vocals.

Pierce Pettis, adored by both critics and public alike, is one of this generation’s most masterful songwriters. His music is distinguished by his uncanny ability to capture universals in human experience by drawing on the humor and trials in daily life. Pettis’ music can simultaneously pull on our hearts and keep us laughing. The beautiful harmonies, inventive yet subtle percussion, strong guitar, and Pierce’s rich vocals are a constant throughout his body of work. And no one sings with more conviction.

Before releasing his most recent albums (Making Light of It, Everything Matters, State of Grace and his most recent, Great Big World) on Compass Records, Pettis released three critically acclaimed albums on the prestigious Windham Hill/ High Street label. Pierce has performed in all 48 continental states as well as in Canada and Europe, appeared nine times on American Public Radio’s Mountain Stage, been featured on National Public Radio’s E-town, Morning Edition and World Cafe and has appeared on VH-1, CBS News, and the Nashville Network.

During his long career Pettis has been a writer at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama, recorded for Fast Folk Musical Magazine in New York, won the prestigious New Folk competition for songwriting at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, and was a staff songwriter at Polygram and Universal Music Publishing in Nashville. He has received numerous songwriting awards including a 1999 Country Music Award from ASCAP for You Move Me — co-written with Gordon Kennedy and recorded by Garth Brooks on his album, Sevens.

His latest project involves two other writers popular at Evening Star. The New Agrarians is a new folk trio featuring Pierce, Kate Campbell, and Tom Kimmel. They will be touring a lot in 2009. And Pierce has already recorded his newest solo project which will be released in the last half of 2008. Don’t miss this amazing songwriter. Come see why other songwriters think he’s the best.

Opening the show will be Luke Brindley, from Vienna, VA.

Don’t miss this fabulous talent. Come and be reminded of why we go to see live music. Get your tickets soon, as this show is very likely an early sellout. Tickets are $20 non-members, $15 SNCA members with ID, $8 kids 6-17, under 6 free.

Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart at Evening Star, August 23

Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart from Ashland City TN west of Nashville will perform at Evening Star on Saturday, Aug. 23rd at 8 p.m.

Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart met for the first time 1992 at a songwriters night in Nashville TN. They knew that night it was “one of them things that are just meant to be“. They were married in 1993 while raising two children from Stacey’s first marriage, "When we got married I knew Mark understood he was marrying all three of us”. Stacey waiting tables and Mark playing night after night in and around Nashville from gigs to sessions balancing time to play their own music. It would be quite a balancing act at that time raising a family and trying to make a living along with all the other stuff that came with getting by, “but we managed” Stacey said.

Stacey Earle's first show was on an arena stage in Sydney, playing rhythm guitar in her brother's band, Steve Earle & the Dukes, on "The Hard Way" tour in 1990. Stacey appeared on Steve Earle and The Dukes recordings: The Hard Way 1990, Shut Up And Die Like An Aviator 1991 and Transcendental Blues 2000. "I would learn a lot from him; first of all I was allowed to grow up understanding what a songwriter was. Then "I got a major crash course in touring as a musician". Playing for Steve as a Duke, the first show would be before thousands of fans in a foreign country but was not terrifying, she said. "It was magical". "I knew right there and then I'm supposed to be doing this."

She spent about a year and a half on tour with her brother, and then returned to Nashville to start a career of her own as a country/folk singer/songwriter.

Mark Stuart went to the finest of Music schools. Mark started his schooling listening and admiring his uncle’s guitar playing and his Dads fiddling. Learning and listening to the greats, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, John Fogerty, The Beatles and many more. He would find himself playing in the School of Honky Tonks and Beer Joints in and around Nashville by age 15 in his dads’ band. By managing to stay awake in high school after playing late nights polishing every riff and bend and vocal chord he would go on by age 17 to form his own band make a record and still find the time to play on the road as lead guitar and vocals for acts like Freddy Fender and more, taking him into his 20's. Mark as well spent some time in the Dukes in the 1990s. Like Earle, he recalls it as a time of glamour: appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and MTV. "I had someone tuning my guitar, strapping on my guitar," he said. "Now we carry our stuff three flights up in the Red Roof Inn“.

Opening the show will be Markley and Balmer, a wife-husband duo from Dallas, TX.

Tickets are $20 non-members, $15 SNCA members with ID, $8 kids 6-17, under 6 free.

www.staceyandmark.com

2008 Evening Star Calendar of Concerts

Jan. 19 — Gretchen Peters (Zane Williams opens)
Feb. 16 — Cosy Sheridan
March 15 — David Massengill (Dave Potts opens)
April 19 — Double Bill — Tim Grimm / Michael Reno Harrell
May 17 — Susan Werner (Twilight Hotel opens)
June 14 — David Wilcox
Aug. 2 — Pierce Pettis (Luke Brindley opens)
Aug. 23 — Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart (Pat Wictor opens)
Sept. 20 — Billy Jonas(Beth Woods opens)
Oct. 18 — Small Potatoes (Greg Klyma opens)
Nov. 22 — Craif Carothers / John William Davis

Tickets available at snca.tix.com

Click here for more details about the 2008 Evening Star Concert Schedule.

New Compilation CD!

Copies of Evening Star Compilation, Vol. II are now available at the Center Gallery and cdbaby.com. Like the first volume, the CD includes live tracks from previous radio shows, plus a story by Andy Offutt Irwin. The CD, which is a fund-raiser for the Center, is available for $20 and once again we will sell 6 for $100. Additionally, for members only, if you buy the new CD at the Center Gallery for $20, you may purchase a copy of Vol I. for only $12. For non-members, Vol I. will be $15 with a purchase of the new one. (Discount applies only to purchases from the Center Gallery.)

Here is the list of tracks:

1 Jonathan Byrd — The Young Slaver
2 Richard Shindell — Wisteria
3 Annie Gallup — Circle / James
4/5 David Massengill — Intro / Number One In America
6 Jules Shear — Mercy
7 Louise Taylor — Maps Of Venice
8 Chris Rosser — Natural Wonder
9 Susan Werner — Barbed Wire Boys
10 Joe and Tree Brunelle — February Angel
11 Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen — Restless Wind
12 Anais Mitchell — Shenandoah
13 Ray Bonneville — Don’t Look Back
14 Billy Jonas — Zack’s Walk
15 Small Potatoes — Big ‘Ol Prairie Moon
16 Andy Offutt Irwin — Evening Star Theme
17 Andy Offutt Irwin — Story — Francine

Click here for more details.

Evening Star performers past and present

Click here for the list

Reservations recommended for all Evening Star performances.
Call 706-878-3300.