Stevie Coyle, Jan. 17

Stevie Coyle launched Auburn House Concerts on September 7th, 2007. Now that we have built an audience we are having Stevie back so more of our friends will have a chance to experience this dynamite performer.

Stevie is the co-founder of the whiz-bang newgrass string band The Waybacks. He's gone solo now, and he'll be appearing live at Auburn House Concerts on the evening of Saturday, January 17th, 2009 at 8:00PM.

One astute music reviewer described Stevie's act as "like watching Leo Kottke, Jorma Kaukonen and David Lindley play mumbledy-peg with Garrison Keillor, Dan Hicks, John Hartford and Rene Descartes in Dave Barry's back yard."

Whatever it is, it's hot fingerstyle acoustic guitar and a rather oblique lyrical and personal view of life in modern times.

Reservations and information at tickets@AuburnHouseConcerts.org. Don't miss it. All the cool kids will be here.

Email List

We have been inviting artists into our house to perform for over a year now. Many people have been able to come and share this wonderful musical experience with us. Recently we installed some software, GroupMail, to enable us to manage the email addresses you have given us to keep you informed.

The software allows us to send individual emails as opposed to bulk mailings. This will help the messages get past some spam filters because it is addressed to you and only you.

To insure that all the emails from Auburn House Concerts make it to your Inbox please add info@AuburnHouseConcerts.org to your addressbook.

In an effort to reduce the number of emails we send, the people who reply to concert announcement emails will be excluded from the follow-on "reminder concert announcement" emails.

If you would like to get onto the Auburn House Concerts email list please send your request to info@AuburnHouseConcerts.org. Send your removal requests to this address as well.

Myra Joy to join Caswell

Joining Chris Caswell tomorrow night will be special guest Myra Joy on violoncello. She and Chris just played a well received concert at the Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley.

Myra also performs regularly with singers including The Black Brothers and Hans York, and has collaborated with Kitka, Melanie O’Reilly (AHC Nov. 2007) and Aisling.

Harps without Borders Workshop

Chris Caswell is going to present his workshop Harps without Borders the afternoon of his concert. This hour and a half workshop will allow you to explore the sounds and vibrations of the harp. No harp experience expected, just a love of listening to music.

Pictured is the prototype of the new Fairy Harp by Caswell Harps. It comes in different princess colors as well as a natural finish. It has the same effective range as a Soprano recorder, and the same stringing and spacing as the top end of the big harps. Chris promises to bring a couple up to Auburn for you to borrow and/or buy at the workshop.

For more information go the the Caswell Workshops webpage.

Gerry O’Beirne, Nov. 20

Coming to Auburn House Concerts later in Novermber is internationally renowned artist Gerry O'Beirne.


Born in Ennis, County Clare, along Ireland’s music-rich west coast, Gerry O’Beirne is a renowned singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (he plays 6 and 12 string guitar, tiple, ukulele and slide guitar; among others).

Gerry grew up in Ireland and in Ghana in West Africa, and has since lived in England, California, and Mexico. Gerry’s own compositions blend the passion found in traditional music with the freshness of contemporary song.

Chris Caswell, Nov. 8

Coming to Auburn House Concerts in Novemeber is harpist Chris Caswell.


Chris Caswell is a Renaissance man of the Celtic Arts. He is a renowned Celtic Harpist, harp maker and musician's musician.

Chris Caswell is a true Celtic bard and a natural raconteur. He casts a bright spell through his intense and creative playing, songs, and obvious delight in what he’s doing. His music is informed by Wales, the Middle East, Latin America, the French countryside—anywhere from which his experience can move the listener in an essential way.

The afternoon of the concert, Chris will lead two of his popular workshops—Harps without Borders, and Pizza-box Bodhrán—both for all levels.

Paddy Keenan and Tommy O'Sullivan Concert

The Paddy Keenan and Tommy O'Sullivan Concert on Friday night was incredible. The concert was sold out so we started a waiting/SRO list. As expected there were unexpected events in people's lives that prevented them from attending, and consequently, all the folks on the waiting list were able to find a seat.

Pete Grant joined Tommy and Paddy for most of the sets. Usually Pete plays the dobro in our sessions so it was a special treat to hear some of his pedal steel guitar music. At Paddy's request, Pete and Phyllis Grant did a song for the crowd. Then Bo Bowen, whistle, from Nine-8ths Irish was asked to join in for a set as well.

Sharon shot several videos that we hope to publish on the concerts website after the artists have reviewed and approved their release. The MP3 recorder did a fine job capturing a great performance so we don't foresee any problems getting a couple up in the next few weeks.

After the concert we had a nice short session. Paddy played his low D whistle and Tommy played the bar man, leaning on the kitchen counter enjoying the music.

Session after the Keenan & O'Sullivan Concert

Musicians, bring your instrument to the concert on Friday. Paddy and Tommy are going to be able to hang out after the performance. We'll have a session and hopefully they'll join us for a tune or two.

Mary and the Solder

Recorded at the Legacy concert on July 11, 2008; Justin Murphy (vocal, guitar) Valerie Plested (fiddle) and Don Penzien (bodhrán).



This was originally a Scottish song named Mary and the Solder. It is about a young woman who sees a bunch of solders parading and likes the look of one of them. She then tries to get him to marry her. He was not very interested until she tells him she has 50 guineas in her pocket. They get married and live happily ever after.

The jig that completes the set is Jimmy Ward's.

The Kill Set

Legacy concert on July 11, 2008; Valerie Plested (fiddle), Don Penzien (guitar) and Justin Murphy (flute).



The Kill Set is made up of the following tunes: Old Hag You've Killed Me / The Killavil Jig / The Killarney Boys of Pleasure / The Curlew [Jigs/Reels].

We'll To The Woods No More

Notorious concert on July 3, 2008; Eden MacAdam-Somer (vocal/violin).



This Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) composition for soprano and violin is part of his Song Cycle Along the Field, no. 2. We'll To The Woods No More. The lyric is from a collection of poetry entitled A Shropshire Lad by Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936). Normally performed as a duet Eden wrote this arrangement for solo voice and violin.

Bei Mir Bist Du Schön

Here is the first of three videos recorded at the Notorious house concert.

Bei Mir Bist Du Schön is a swing tune from New York's Yiddish vaudeville of the early 1930's.

AuburnHouseConcerts.org

After a very busy and entertaining July (Notorious and Legacy) Sharon and I decided to jump all the way into to house concert pool and build a website.

www.AuburnHouseConcerts.org

I've moved all the pages from www.ElbowMagic.com to the new site and left jump pages behind to teleport people to the new domain.

Please bookmark the site and tell your friends about it. Performers: room and board are part of the venue's offerings.

Note that we have a .org domain name because this whole operation is a charitable endeavor to promote music in our community.

Paddy Keenan and Tommy O'Sullivan, Aug 28

Coming to Auburn House Concerts in August are Paddy Keenan and Tommy O'Sullivan. We expect the show to sell out so make your reservations ASAP.

A founding member of The Bothy Band, Paddy Keenan is generally acknowledged as the most accomplished uilleann piper performing today. Paddy and Tommy O'Sullivan have been touring regularly since 1997. Paddy's solo album Na Keen Affair features Tommy, and their much acclaimed album The Long Grazing Acre was released in 2003. The pair tour and appear at festivals worldwide.

Auburn's own Pete Grant will be joining Paddy and Tommy on dobro and pedal steel guitar.

Legacy Concert

The Auburn House Concert staring Legacy was smokin'. (Remember, that is when we couldn't go outside because of the fires.) Once again the largest attendance to date. Many people had never heard of Legacy before and were delighted they took a chance. We overheard someone say that they knew Legacy from their recordings and were very impressed how great and tight they sounded at the concert.

We have posted two videos from the concert; Old Hag You’ve Killed Me / The Killavil Jig / The Killarney Boys of Pleasure / The Curlew and a song sung by Justin, Mary and the Solder.

Pictures of the concert are in the Auburn House Concerts Legacy Photo Album.

Notorious Concert

The Auburn House Concert staring Notorious was fantastic. The largest attendance to date and everyone loved it.

We have posted two videos from the concert; Bei Mir Bist Du Schön and We'll to the Woods No More.

Pictures of the concert are in the Auburn House Concerts Notorious Photo Album.