Manitou Music Festival welcomes Josh White, the Photographers and Kat Eggleston

From staff reports

The Manitou Music Festival continues its 19th season of exciting and diverse concerts, featuring classical, jazz, blues, folk, country and bluegrass music in some of Leelanau County’s most idyllic settings.

On Wednesday, July 22 at 8 p.m., Josh White, Jr. will perform outdoors at the Lake Street Studio Stage in Glen Arbor. Rain location is the Glen Arbor Township Hall.

A master of vocal inflection and involvement, White is considered one of music’s premiere performers. In the shadow of his father, Josh White, Jr. invokes the presence of the Senior, making music for the masses and masses for the music. His simple acoustic renditions reveal layer after layer of intrinsically belabored design, pure, unadulterated chords and notes, along with deeply intense lyrics.

Here’s what Big City Blues Magazine had to say about White’s 2001 album “Cortelia Clark”:

“There is a richness and musical fulfillment here from the simple balladeer playing his guitar and singing with an integrity reserved for masters. His guitar picking and rhythm action are tremendously artistic, stretching each note and ringing the strings. From the opening title tune, the authenticity oozes. Josh White, Jr. could teach a course on premium vocals and attention to fine guitar action. White’s voice will not disappoint! This disc stands tall on well-chosen material, perfectionist guitar work, And a voice as rich, real, and appealing as it comes.”

In 2006, White appeared at the African-American Music Foundations’ First Annual Spirituals Festivals; at San Diego State University’s Tribute Concert to Josh White (Sr.) for their Black History Month; and at the Black History Month tribute to his father at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum in Hyde Park, NY, where he used to play as a boy when it was the home of Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt.

In 2004, he celebrated his father’s music at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

In 2002, White joined Judy Collins, Pete Seeger, Odetta, John Sebastian, David Amram, John Hammond, Jr., Bethany Yarrow (Peter’s daughter), John Sebastian and Oscar Brand at New York’s Cooper Union Theatre for the fund and conscious-raising concert to establish the “Folk Music Museum” in New York’s Greenwich Village City, from which came the Bitter End Records’ compilation album “The Folk Music Museum in Greenwich Village” where he performed “The Strangest Dream” and “Southern Exposure.”

In 2001, White co-starred with Odetta, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton and Oscar Brand in the National PBS-TV Tribute Special to Woody Guthrie, “Woody & Me.”

In 2000, he was chosen as the sole performer representing the State of Michigan (his home state) on the Millennium stage at Washington’s Kennedy Center, celebrating “Michigan State Day.”

In recent years, Josh White, Jr. has added to his multi-dimensional talents and touring schedule, by becoming a “single-digit” (as he calls it) performer, doing children and family concerts, including school concerts for grades K-4. And with the release of the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp honoring his father (and Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Sonny Terry) he does a music/lecture session on his father, Josh, Sr. for grades 5 through 12. He provides an extraordinary, interactive experience for young people. He has appeared many times on the Nickelodeon Network and he along with his good friend, Ron Coden, hosted their own PBS special, “Josh and Ron’s Family Adventure.”

Photographers & Kat Eggleston

On Sunday, July 26 at 8 p.m. the Photographers & Kat Eggleston will perform outdoors at the Lake Street Studio Stage.

The Photographers, Maren Hoopfer and John Hanson, is a homegrown Traverse City roots music band who weave original songs about ships, mustaches, best friends and Dalmatians into original folk and indy tunes. Maren plays Ukulele, glockenspiel, keyboard and vocals, John is on guitar and vocals and Dan Mills on percussion.

Michael Parrish of Dirty Linen said about Kat Egglestone: “She is a virtuoso guitarist and hammer dulcimer player, and her songs blend vivid, often gripping, imagery with memorable lyrical melodies.” And Sonny Thomas of The Fiddle and Bow Folk Society said, “In my 35 year love affair with folk music I don’t remember a time when the scene was so aburst with outstanding songwriters. Kat Eggleston, in my opinion, is one of the best.”

Kat is one of the most accomplished singers / songwriters today. Elating audiences with her beautiful blend of sweet melodies and gentle honesty, Kat’s music is universally appreciated by young and old, alike. Kat has four CD’s released, three of which are available from Waterbug Music, one from Redwing Music. Additionally, she is one of the lead singers of The Otters, and has made a CD with Kate MacLeod.

Kat Eggleston’s songs touch a wide range of life’s experiences with unusual clarity and authority. On “Second Nature” we’re in for honest lyrics honestly sung. In a clear alto with flawless intonation, Kat Eggleston goes straight to the lyrical and emotional truth of every word and every note. Her musings on home, childhood and her father’s garden are gems of direct, unassuming plainspokenness. “Fury” and “The Stranger” — the first a narration of domestic violence, the second a surprising, slightly oblique tale of an abortion told to a friend — push hard at our senses and then demand we return again to pick up the pieces we dropped on first hearing, pieces that fill in another and another of the gaps in our comprehension of these difficult and personal experiences.

Please Visit www.manitoumusicfestival.com for information. All tickets are $15 (Children 18 and under are free, except for the July 30 Benefit Concert). Tickets may be purchased at concert venues, or by calling the Glen Arbor Art Association (231) 334-6112 or Lake Street Studios (231) 334-3179. The Manitou Music Festival is a presentation of the Glen Arbor Art Association, a nonprofit (501(c) 3) organization.