Event details

Event details

(((folkYEAH!))) presents: Willie Watson w/ special guest Joe Kaplow
Wed Sep | 15 2021 Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
Moe's Alley , 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz, CA
$20 / $25

About This Event

**Note: Until further notice, we will require proof of vaccination OR a negative test within 48 hours of the show for entry. Masks will also be required when indoors at Moe's. 

Acceptable forms of proof:

• Vaccination Record Card
• CA state QR code - https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov
• Picture of vaccination card that matches ID
• Negative test confirmation from an authorized testing facility that matches ID

Thank you! 
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(((folkYEAH!))) presents Willie Watson

Willie Watson

For nearly two decades, Willie Watson has made modern folk music rooted in older traditions. He’s a folksinger in the classic sense: a singer, storyteller, and traveller, with a catalog of songs that bridge the gap between the past and present. On Folksinger Vol. 2, he acts as a modern interpreter of older songs, passing along his own version of the music that came long before him.

Southern gospel. Railroad songs. Delta blues. Irish fiddle tunes. Appalachian music. Folksinger Vol. 2 makes room for it all. Produced by David Rawlings, the album carries on a rich tradition in folk music: the sharing and swapping of old songs. Long ago, the 11 compositions that appear on Folksinger Vol. 2 were popularized by artists like Leadbelly, Reverend Gary Davis, Furry Lewis, and Bascom Lamar Lunsford. The songs don’t actually belong to those artists, though. They don’t belong to anyone. Instead, they’re part of the folk canon, passed from generation to generation by singers like Watson. 

And what a singer he is. With a quick vibrato and rich range, he breathes new life into classic songs like “Samson and Delilah,” one of several songs featuring harmonies from gospel quartet the Fairfield Four. He’s a balladeer on “Gallows Pole,” whose melancholy melodies are echoed by the slow swells of a four-piece woodwind ensemble, and a bluesman on “When My Baby Left Me,” accompanying himself with sparse bursts of slide guitar. “Dry Bones” finds him crooning and hollering over a bouncing banjo, while “Take This Hammer” closes the album on a penitent note, with Watson singing to the heavens alongside a congregation of Sunday morning soul singers.

Arriving three years after Folksinger Vol. 1 — his first release since parting ways with the Old Crow Medicine Show, whose platinum-selling music helped jumpstart the 21st century folk revival — Vol. 2 expands Watson’s sound while consolidating his strengths. Several singers and sidemen make appearances here, including Gillian Welch, the Punch Brothers’ Paul Kowert, and Old Crow bandmate Morgan Jahnig. Even so, Watson has never sounded more commanding, more confident, more connected to the music that inspires him.

Joe Kaplow

Kaplow  describes music as his "currency for life. We all have something, or a  few things that we do, we work at, we commit to and that's how we pay  for our time here.  It's like life is a Ferris wheel at the county  fair.  You can't just ride all night.  Every 4 times around you have to stop at the bottom and pay for another half hour or whatever."  
 

Please Note: This event is 21 and over. Any Ticket holder unable to present valid identification indicating that they are at least 21 years of age will not be admitted to this event, and will not be eligible for a refund.