Singer-songwriters Louise Coombe and Cliff Eberhardt Headline April PVFS Song and Story Swap
Cliff Eberhardt and Louise Coombe.
Source: Pioneer Valley Folklore Society
Singer-songwriters Louise Coombe and Cliff Eberhardt are the guest artists at the Pioneer Valley Folklore Society’s April Song and Story Swap. The monthly performance will take place at First Church, 165 Main St. in Amherst on Saturday, April 4, from 7-9 p.m. Admission is free, with a suggested minimum donation to the artist of $7.50. Free parking is available in the lot behind the church.
At song and story swaps, people of all ages and experience levels gather to share traditional, newly written, or personal stories and songs. You can tell, sing, or lead everyone in singing, or request a song or a story. Listeners are welcome. The theme for the opening round of sharing for the April event is “Defiance”.
About the Artist
Originally from a cattle farm in rural Tennessee, Louise Coombe (formerly Louise Mosrie) is a celebrated songwriter whose work has been described as “William Faulkner with a guitar”. Her storytelling approach blends country, bluegrass, and folk, earning her top honors at prestigious festivals including Kerrville Folk and Telluride Bluegrass. Her breakthrough 2010 album, Home, debuted at #1 on the Folk DJ charts. Coombe is known for a powerful, expressive voice that has drawn comparisons to Patty Griffin and Susan Tedeschi.
Cliff Eberhardt, a founding member of New York City’s Fast Folk Music Cooperative, has been a mainstay of the acoustic music scene for decades. Known for his penetrating lyrics and masterful guitar playing, his songs have been covered by legends such as Richie Havens, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Shawn Colvin. His 2007 album, The High Above and the Down Below, was named one of the year’s top five albums by USA Today. In 2018, Cliff was hired to write and perform in a modern re-telling of the Sophocles play, Philoctetes – called The Heal. In 2021, he released Knew Things – an
album of original songs that includes a few from The Heal. The album reached #4 on the Folk Alliance International’s Folk Radio Chart.
Learn more about Louise Coombe at https://louisecoombe.com/ and Cliff Eberhardt at https://cliffeberhardt.net/
The monthly Song & Story Swap, now in its thirtieth year, is sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Folklore Society of western Massachusetts. Visit the Folklore Society website at https://pvfs.us.
For information contact Paul Kaplan, 413-687-5002.