(WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- As part of its 10th Anniversary slate of events, The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University presents the folk-Americana music dueo, The Pine Hill Project, on Sunday, November 1. Scheduled for 7:00 p.m. inside the Pollak Theatre, the concert marks the first area appearance for the project co-fronted by two musical friends and contemporaries — the professional psychologist turned singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky, and Lakehurst-born folk artist Richard Shindell. At the same time, it represents a long-awaited “welcome back” to the Monmouth campus for both performers, who previously appeared on the Pollak stage in 1999 (and in the company of Dar Williams) as members of Cry Cry Cry.
That one-off partnership notwithstanding, The Pine Hill Project represents the first true collaboration for the two musicians, even after numerous harmonizing guest shots on each other’s albums throughout the years. The 2015 release Tomorrow You’re Going finds the veteran solo performers interpreting compositions by an eclectic group of influences, with classic clarity and road-seasoned wisdom — and, in a nod to the realities of the modern music business, a Kickstarter campaign that summoned the Project into being through the magic of fan-based online financing.
On record, Kaplansky and Shindell team with Grammy winning Americana producer Larry Campbell and a small-combo band that boasts legendary Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne; drawing from a musical mix encompassing everything from the traditional folk-blues “I Know You Rider” to U2’s “The Sweetest Thing,” with whistle-stops at the works of Greg Brown, Nick Lowe, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.
It’s an approach that has extended to the Project’s live performances; an itinerary that has seen Shindell, Kaplansky and Campbell augmenting their sets with interpretations of signature songs by The Band (“The Weight”) and others. A performance by The Pine Hill Project — a still-new band that carries the heft of its founders’ celebrated solo catalogs and unerring instinct for great songcraft — promises an excursion to that crossroads where folk, rock, country, pop and blues kick off their shoes and share a dance.
Tickets for the November 1 concert by The Pine Hill Project are priced at $29 and $39 (with special Gold Circle seating available for $49), and can be reserved through the Monmouth University Performing Arts Box Office at 732-263-6889, or online at www.monmouth.edu/arts. Tickets for other upcoming concerts in the 2015-16 season of Performing Arts events — including Madeleine Peyroux (November 13) and Hugh Masekela and Larry Willis (November 14) — are on sale now.
