(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- American folksinger Joe Crookston will headline at the Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series on Friday, April 6 at 7:30pm at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown. New York City native Emily Mure will open.
Joe Crookston is goodhearted, artful and intense, his music is original, imaginative, and enchanting, and the message within each song is clear and brilliant. If you love lyrics, Joe writes with an insight comparable to Jackson Browne. If you love a moving, inspiring song or the kind of magical madness of creative funk, Joe delivers it all: the music, the lyrics, the energy, and the fun. Joe Crookston's music and songwriting is deeply rooted in the grand celebration of life, death, ancestry and the interconnectedness of us all.
Born and raised in rural Ohio, with Hungarian musical roots, he inherited his love of music and song from his late mother, a prolific gospel singer/songwriter and accordion wizard. Whether it's his mesmerizing guitar sound, bubbling banjo, or Southern Fiddle tune, his music draws from his rural Ohio roots and exudes a remarkable intergenerational, universal, and timeless quality.
His audience rapport, musicianship and playful stage presence is intense, mesmerizing, and refreshingly dynamic. His keen musicianship as guitarist, claw hammer banjo player, fiddler, singer and songwriter fuse contemporary and traditional styles, and his writing simply and beautifully paints pictures with words.
Emily Mure has journeyed from playing concert halls as a classically trained oboist to busking as a singer-songwriter on the streets of Ireland. Her third album, Worth(September 2017) brings together all of her rich experiences as a musical traveler, spotlighting both her technical ability and gift for vulnerable, heartfelt songwriting.
Recorded at Dimension Sound Studios in Jamaica Plain, Mass., Worth blends Mure’s clear vocals with a variety of instruments – including strings, piano, organ and ukulele. It also takes listeners through a complex collection of themes that aren’t always easy to mine, such as coping with anxiety, saying goodbye to one’s hometown, and learning to cultivate self-acceptance.
The event is part of the Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series, sponsored by The Folk Project each Friday evening at the Fellowship. Admission is $10.00 per adult at the door. Children 12 and under are free. For further information, call 973-335-9489, or visit www.folkproject.org. The Folk Project website also offers music samples of Minstrel performers: www.Minstrel.folkproject.org.
The Folk Project is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Corporation whose mission is to present high caliber folk music performances and instructional workshops for the public and members; to encourage development of musicianship and performance skills in the northern New Jersey area; and to provide interesting social and learning activities relating to traditional and participatory folk music and dance.
Funding has been made possible in part by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
