FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2021
Media Contact:
Gina Hyams, PR Consultant
413-629-3175
[email protected]
Spencertown, New York–Spencertown Academy Roots & Shoots Streams presents a virtual folk concert by Taylor Ashton and special guests on Saturday, May 8 at 7:30pm. This concert is free (though tips are welcome via a virtual tip jar) and advance registration is not required. A link to the performance broadcast will be available via the Academy’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/spencertownacademy.
Taylor Ashton is a Canadian songwriter and singer living in Brooklyn, New York, who is influenced by the ways that traditional folk, pop, and R&B can live together on the clawhammer banjo. Born in 1989, he grew up surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the old growth rainforests of Canada’s west coast. He says he draws inspiration for songs from the primeval crookedness of traditional old-time music, the humor and heartbreak of Randy Newman, the cosmic emotionality of mid-career Joni Mitchell, and the sage vulnerability of Bill Withers.
Ashton’s debut solo record, “The Romantic,” was released last year on Signature Sounds Recordings. Although it was his first proper solo album, it follows four albums as frontman of his former band, Fish & Bird, as well as a stripped-down duo record with guitarist and songwriter Courtney Hartman. His latest release is 2021’s “Romanticize,” an EP of remixes and new songs, and a companion to “The Romantic.”
Roots & Shoots Streams Concerts is a series that showcases artists who reach back to earlier traditions in music (Americana, jazz, blues, rock, and world music) for inspiration, while incorporating more recent forms and influences of the present.
Founded in 1972, Spencertown Academy Arts Center is a cultural center and community resource serving Columbia County, the Berkshires, and the Capital region. Housed in a landmark 1847 Greek Revival schoolhouse, the Academy is located at 790 State Route 203 in Spencertown, New York. For more information, please contact [email protected].
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