Wharf Cove Farm

Live Music is good for your soul…

Home of the Peaks Island Tiny Porch Concert Series and the Long Winter’s Night Concert Series

Bringing world class acoustic roots musicians to Peaks Island for the pure joy of sharing something beautiful together. Looking for tickets to an upcoming show? DM me and I’ll give you the details. Thanks for your interest. Let’s hang out and experience some time and some music together.

Peaks Island House Concert Series 2024:

As we wrap up our Long Winter’s Night Series at the New Brackett Church we want to thank the entire community for making Peaks Island and the PI House Concert Series a welcome place for touring musicians. We’d also like to thank everyone at the NBC for making the Sanctuary warmly available and open in the darkest time of year. You do so not only for us, but for us all- graciously reminding we who call this place home the meaning of community. Thanks Pastor Will and the NBC leaders and members. This winter we will once again collaborate with the New Brackett Church to bring world class roots music to the sanctuary for the benefit of our community. Show time is 7pm – 8:30pm. These concerts are free for folks under 18 and folks over 80. We ask for a suggested donation of $20 however- we welcome everyone regardless of their ability to pay. This music is an endeavor to bring something beautiful to our community for all to enjoy.

February 9^th– Walsh Jordan Wilson.
Come and experience a brilliant night of music on Peaks Island

Walsh / Jordan / Wilson is an utterly unique musical project, and one that has been a long time in the making. Mandolinist Joe K. Walsh and pianist Jed Wilson first met over twenty years ago when both were making their bones on the Boston scene. Wilson came from a background in jazz, Walsh from bluegrass, but each recognized in the other a fellow traveler on the path of improvisation and musical discovery. A collaboration wasn’t yet in the cards, as each was busy with other pursuits: Walsh with Joy Kills Sorrow, The Gibson Brothers, Darol Anger, and then his own projects; Wilson with Heather Masse, Aoife O’Donovan, and various jazz ensembles. The two crossed paths again several years later in Maine, where each had relocated by happenstance. In the meantime, both had expanded their musical palettes considerably, crossing borders and expanding horizons, in search of the ineffable magic that can be found equally in a great folk song or down some uncanny improvisational by-road. Additionally, each had developed a unique compositional voice. When Walsh and Wilson finally decided to put together a band, there was no question who to call. Both immediately thought of Ella Jordan, the remarkable fiddler best known for her work with the progressive bluegrass band Mile Twelve. When the three finally got together, there was no doubt that something special was in the offing. Primarily a vessel for Walsh and Wilson’s original songs, the trio breathes new life into the folk tradition with fresh melodies that somehow feel timeless. 

March 29^th– Evie Ladin

Evie Ladin is an American musician, singer-songwriter, percussive dancer, choreographer, square dance caller living in Oakland, California. Ladin’s 2012 CD titled Evie Ladin Band was voted Americana Album of the Year by the Independent Music Awards (IMAs). Ladin is also the Executive Director of the International Body Music Festival. Ladin’s work often explores the intersection of Appalachian music and dance with the traditions of the African Diaspora. The polyrhythmic heat of Evie Ladin’s clawhammer banjo, resonant voice, real stories and rhythmic dance have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Lincoln Center, Celtic Connections to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Brazil to Bali. A prolific creator and gracious facilitator, Evie grew up steeped in traditional folk music/dance up and down the East Coast, bringing a syncretic vision to new work while holding fast to the roots. Evie writes clever lyrics with mature arrangements, calls rowdy square dances for urban crowds, choreographs new body music/percussive dance for contemporary dance and film, leads seminars in movement anthropology, rocks straight up old time clawhammer banjo, and gardens, from the vibrant home base of Oakland, California. She’s won ribbons and arts fellowships, performed in sold out concert halls and cozy living rooms, and toured around the world, to every state in the US except Florida. She’s never been to Florida.

April 19^th– Yard Sauce with Chris Moore, Mitch Reed, Jeff Christmas

YARD SAUCE is an acoustic, folk, and Americana Maine-based trio. Their live concerts draw from the group’s eclectic musical tastes, diverse regional folk music influences, and a deep catalog of original songs.Singer/songwriter and classically-trained vocalist Jeff Christmas (guitar and vocals) hails from North Carolina and teaches music at Bowdoin College; Mitch Reed (fiddle) adds strong Cajun and Creole flavors from his home state of Louisiana – he played with the premier Cajun band Beausoleil for 10 years, and; Chris Moore’s (mandolins and vocals) country, bluegrass, and folk sensibilities are shaped by his upbringing in rural Maine and 10 years in Nashville. Chris has also been a lifelong student of traditional Shaker music and their concert will feature several selections from the Shaker’s vast repertoire.

May 10^th– Pine Tree Flyer

Make Way for the Pine Tree Flyers!

Four of the finest voices in New England’s traditional music scene shine a renewed light on the tunes of the Northeast with excitement and respect. From festival stages and concert halls to raucous August nights at fiddle camp, the Flyers are here to make sure New England music has a seat at the table as a distinct and vital American tradition. All residents of Portland, Maine, Katie McNally (fiddle), Emily Troll (accordion), Owen Marshall (guitar), and Neil Pearlman (piano) cut their teeth playing for contra dances and learning from the greats. Individually, they’ve toured the world playing Irish, Scottish, and Quebecois music and they bring this wellspring of knowledge and technical prowess to the American music that was born from these traditions. 

Each member of the band brings years of experience and dedication to their craft: Marshall and Pearlman have taught at Maine Fiddle Camp since they were teens, Troll plays in the acclaimed contra dance band Anadama, and McNally performed for over a decade with New England supergroup Childsplay. Momentum is growing for the Flyers and in their first year as a band, they’ve toured internationally and domestically, gracing the stages of festivals such as Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours, Festival of Small Halls, Ossipee Valley Music Festival and playing concerts and dances across their home state of Maine. 

While New England tunes may not be well known outside of the Northeastern United States, the Flyers are proving that their musical heritage is as vibrant and vital as any American folk tradition. 

July 12^th– Jeremiah McLean Triton

ALEX KEHLER, låtmandola, nyckelharpa, violin, voice
JEREMIAH MCLANE, accordion, piano
TIMOTHY CUMMINGS, pipes, whistles
Hailing from Vermont and Québec, Triton offer music rooted in the traditional dance repertoire of Northwestern Europe. The three are masters of the piano accordion, the quieter, bellows-blown bagpipes, and fiddle and nyckelharpa, together creating a beguiling and orchestral blend which utterly subverts the common stereotypes of their Old World instruments. Their repertoire includes bourrées from central France, triple-time hornpipes from the Scottish Borders, the Swedish slängpolska, the Breton hanter dro, and compelling originals reflecting these influences. Unified by their zeal and musical craftsmanship, their performances are also punctuated with engaging commentary on the music and instruments.

Thursday, August 22^rd– Reverie Road with Winifred Horan, John Williams, Katie Grennan and Utsav Lal

Reverie Road is a fresh, eclectic Celtic supergroup, featuring fiddler Winifred Horan and accordionist John Williams (founding Solas members) alongside former Gaelic Storm fiddler Katie Grennan and Jazz and Raga pianist Utsav Lal (Young Steinway Artist). This powerful combination is made up of four of today’s leading traditional and virtuosic folk artists who have captured the hearts of international audiences from studios to stages over the last three decades. Firmly grounded in their collective Irish roots, Reverie Road embraces humor with musical insight and natural abilities. Original textural adventures weave the roots of Irish musical traditions with new departures and curated gems including distilled airs, continental waltzes, and upbeat reels and jigs. The band chemistry of two accomplished classically-trained fiddlers who share a common history as award winning Irish dancers along with two instrumentalists who have sought to redefine traditional accompaniment and rhythm sections amount to a compelling concert experience that will lift audiences’ hearts and have them on their feet. For more information, go to http://www.reverieroadmusic.com

Recent Past Performances:

December 10, 2023 The Seamus Egan Project Celebrating our 50^th Show!

The Seamus Egan Project

It’s hard to think of an artist in traditional Irish music more influential than Seamus Egan. From his beginnings as a teen prodigy, to his groundbreaking solo work with Shanachie Records, to his founding of Irish-American powerhouse band Solas, to his current work as one of the leading composers and interpreters of the tradition, Egan has inspired multiple generations of musicians and helped define the sound of Irish music today. As a multi-instrumentalist, he’s put his mark on the sound of the Irish flute, tenor banjo, guitar, mandolin, tin whistle, and low whistle, among others. As a composer, he was behind the soundtrack for the award-winning film The Brothers McMullen, co-wrote Sarah McLachlan’s breakout hit, “Weep Not for the Memories,” and has scored numerous documentaries and indie films since. As a bandleader, Solas has been the pre-eminent Irish-American band of their generation for the past 20 years, continuously renewing  Irish music with fresh ideas, including a collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens on their 2015 album. As a performer, few others can make so many instruments or such wickedly complex ornaments seem so effortless. Music comes as naturally to Seamus Egan as breath, but his mastery of the tradition is only one facet of his plans to move the music forward.  

In 2018, Seamus Egan began touring as a solo performer, bringing along friends and musical guests, and making music as Seamus Egan Project that points towards the origins of Solas in the 1990s. Originally a band of friends who gathered to enjoy the late night craic of the Irish sessions in Philadelphia and New York, Solas was able to meld the breakneck speed and fun of these late night jams with a more sensitive feel for complex arrangements and composition that came from Egan’s love of other music genres like jazz, classical, bluegrass or rock. Revisiting this period in his music, focusing on the three solo albums he cut before Solas, Egan’s looking back to that initial burst of creativity that followed the breathtaking four All-Ireland Championships he won on four different instruments by the young age of 14 and his turns as a star soloist in his later teens with Mick Moloney’s The Green Fields of America.  

Growing up under the wing of powerful elder musicians, Egan’s always paid homage to his roots, but he’s thought of these roots less as a heritage and more as a universal language to be shared. Just as classical or jazz cuts across all ethnicities and unites communities around the world, Egan saw Irish music the same way, and the ensuing decades only served to support this idea. Today, musicians play Irish music all over the world, and part of this comes from the constant evolution the tradition has seen in the past century. Certainly this idea of musical evolution has kept Egan centered through the twenty years he’s spent as founding member of Solas, but the first real inkling of this came from his groundbreaking 1996 album, When Juniper Sleeps. Here, Egan began to explore the further reaches of the Irish tradition, blazing his way at spectacular speed through Irish reels, but also bringing in rich compositions and arrangements, and crafting soundscapes to enrich the melodies. This album dropped nearly the same year as Solas’ debut, self-titled album, so it’s no surprise that Egan would reach back to this time period to create new music for new generations. 

Joining the Seamus Egan Project  on tour

Jenna Moynihan is a young Scottish fiddler and experimentalist who knows that tradition is meant to be a starting point for great inspiration, not a wall. Jenna is from Lakewood, New York and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. While studying, she was selected to receive the Fletcher Bright Award & and The American Roots Music Award – two honors given annually to one outstanding string player. She performs in a duo with Scottish harpist, Mairi Chaimbeul and has performed with The Milk Carton Kids, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards Darol Anger & The Furies, Old Blind Dogs, Hamish Napier, Bruce Molsky, Phil Cunningham, and as a soloist at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops. In addition to a busy touring schedule, Jenna teaches at music camps & courses throughout the year. www.jennamoynihan.com

Kyle Sanna has been active as a composer, producer, guitarist, and improviser in New York City since 2000. His compositions have been performed at the Bach House in Eisenach, Germany, the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman, Sydney’s ABC studios, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and points between. He has given guitar workshops at the Montana State Women’s Prison, at an orphanage in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and at numerous universities and festivals from Alaska to Cuba. 

As a guitarist Kyle primarily performs improvised music and traditional Irish music. He has shared the stage or studio with many of today’s virtuosos, including multiple Grammy Award-winning artists Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile, as well as with some of the greatest living interpreters of the Irish tradition including Kevin Burke, Martin Hayes, and Seamus Egan, and with many members of New York’s improvised music scene. kylesanna.com

Owen Marshall  Vogue magazine calls musician Owen Marshall “A guitar/mandolin/banjo player rivaled in character only by the occasional three-pronged carrot” (Vogue 2009). With the music traditions of Quebec and Nova Scotia just over the border from his home in Vermont and the strong Irish musical scene of Boston to the south, Owen was immersed in the various textures and sounds of the Celtic music from an early age. In addition to touring with acts such as The Press Gang, Copley Street, Haas, Marshall, Walsh, and dance band Riptide, Owen is in demand at music camps throughout New England and the U.S., where he shares his approach to accompanying traditional music. www.owenmarshallmusic.com

November 11th: An Evening with Legendary Irish Fiddler Kevin Burke

Kevin Burke is an Irish master fiddler considered one of the finest living Irish fiddlers. For nearly five decades he has been at the forefront of Irish traditional music and Celtic music, performing and recording with the groups The Bothy Band, Patrick Street, and the Celtic Fiddle Festival. He is a 2002 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Peaks Island House Concerts Tiny Porch Season 2023:

In collaboration with PI New Brackett Church and the PI Radio Station, I am proud to announce the 2023 Tiny Porch Series.

This summer we are excited to announce will partner with 5th Maine Regiment Museum as our summer location location for our live world class roots music performance series.

Show dates are listed below and summer showtimes run 6:30-8:00pm

Suggested donation $20.00 under 18 and over 80 free. Kids need to attend with adult friends or family.

May 12th: SpringTide with Elsie Gawler, Ethan Tishcler and Willy Clemetson

*Special Note* Location for this show is New Brackett Church

Springtide is Elsie Gawler (cello), Ethan Tischler (guitar), and Willy Clemetson (fiddle) – musicians, songwriters, and emissaries of the Mid-Coast Maine fiddling scene. We combine a love of high energy traditional Celtic and Scandinavian fiddle music, heartfelt original tunes and songs, and spacious creative improvisation to produce our unique trio: Springtide. We aim to lift audiences with the music of the landscapes we come from, drawing inspiration from the tidal rhythms and creative energies of the coastal land we’re grateful to call home.

June 2nd: Pine Tree Flyers

Make way for…THE PINE TREE FLYERS!

Four of the finest voices in New England’s traditional music scene shine a renewed light on the tunes of the Northeast with excitement and respect. From festival stages and concert halls to raucous August nights at fiddle camp, the Flyers are here to make sure New England music has a seat at the table as a distinct and vital American tradition. All residents of Portland, Maine, Katie McNally (fiddle), Emily Troll (accordion), Owen Marshall (guitar), and Neil Pearlman (piano) cut their teeth playing for contra dances and learning from the greats. Individually, they’ve toured the world playing Irish, Scottish, and Quebecois music and they bring this wellspring of knowledge and technical prowess to the American music that was born from these traditions. 

Each member of the band brings years of experience and dedication to their craft: Marshall and Pearlman have taught at Maine Fiddle Camp since they were teens, Troll plays in the acclaimed contra dance band Anadama, and McNally performed for over a decade with New England supergroup Childsplay. Momentum is growing for the Flyers and in their first year as a band, they’ve toured internationally and domestically, gracing the stages of festivals such as Celtic Colours, BCMFest, and Ossipee Valley Music Festival and playing concerts and dances across their home state of Maine. 

While New England tunes may not be well known outside of the Northeastern United States, the Flyers are proving that their musical heritage is as vibrant and vital as any American folk tradition. 

July 14th: Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection

Erica Brown and The Bluegrass Connection is a five-piece band featuring some of the finest  musicians in New England. The band features award winning fiddler and singer Erica Brown, Matt Shipman on mandolin, Lincoln Meyers on guitar, Eli Gilbert on banjo and Kris Day on bass. They are energetic, fun and diverse as they incorporate music from the traditional Bluegrass, Folk and Country repertoire as well as French Canadian fiddle music and original songs. 

July 20th: Special Thursday Night Show with Hamer, Knowles and O’Leary

Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. He has recorded albums with Sarah Jarosz, Anais Mitchell, Session Americana, Kristin Andreassen, JKLOL, Laura Cortese, and many others. His self-produced solo release from 2018, Alameda, features eight original tracks with contributions by John Fatum, Jeff Picker, Sarah Jarosz, Hannah Read, Dylan Foley, and Tim Britton. In 2013, he and Anais Mitchell won a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Child Ballads, a collection of new adaptations of English and Scottish folk songs. Acoustic Guitar magazine wrote, “A gifted guitarist and singer, Hamer is able to hit close harmonies and weave gorgeous instrumental lines.”

Liz Knowles has brought her distinctive sound; the fire and finesse of Irish fiddle music combined with the tonal richness of the classical violin, to concert stages and festivals across the world. Her auspicious beginnings as the fiddler for Riverdance and as soloist on the soundtrack for the film Michael Collins established her as a virtuosic and versatile performer, and she has since performed as soloist with such orchestras as the New York Pops and the National Symphony Orchestra, played on Broadway with The Pirate Queen and The Green Bird, and traveled the world for over four years as music director, composer and performer with Celtic Legends and Celtic Dances. She has played in some remarkable and magical locations around the world including an island festival off the coast of France where the concert had to be timed with the tides and a Malaysian festival at the foot of a rainforest, both with the String Sisters. Her trio, Open the Door for Threehas played in a bullring and at the Kennedy Center and the newly formed Martin Hayes Quartet recorded their first album, Blue, at the stately Bantry House on the west coast of Ireland.

Eamon O’Leary started playing Irish music while growing up in Dublin. When he moved to New York City in the early 90’s, he immersed himself in the city’s traditional music scene and travelled widely, performing with many of the great players in Irish music. In 2004 he and fiddler Patrick Ourceau released the album Live at Mona’s. Eamon has taught at many traditional music programs around the world and also records and performs original music. His last solo album, All Souls, was released on Reveal Records in 2018. Other recent recordings of note include The Alt with John Doyle and Nuala Kennedy, and The Immigrant Band, a joint old-time and Irish endeavor with John Doyle, John Herrmann, and Rafe and Clelia Stefanini.

Our friends are heading north to the Belfast Celtic Celebration and are stopping by Peaks Island to share some magic with our community along the way.

August 4th: Ethan Setiawan

Originally from Goshen, Indiana, Ethan Setiawan tried out numerous instruments before finding his way to the mandolin.  “I played the cello, and tried out banjo and ukulele as a kid”, he explains, “But I really liked the mandolin, it was small but packed a bigger punch than the ukulele. Anyway, that was the one that stuck”, he laughs.  Years later, Setiawan has a command of the instrument far beyond his twenty-five years, and has won both the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield, KS and the Rockygrass Mandolin Championship.  On his new album, “Gambit”, Setiawan takes the calculated musical risks of a seasoned player.  He moves aptly between stylistic influences, harkening back to the experimental string band music pioneered in the early 80s while presenting entirely original compositions. 

Special Sunday Show September 17th with Troy MacGillivray and Kimberely Fraser

Kimberley Fraser was born on Cape Breton Island, and nurtured within its rich musical heritage. She first began to impress audiences at the age of three with her step-dancing talents. Soon after that she took up both the fiddle and the piano. Since then, Kimberley has built a distinguished career, travelling and performing all over the world from Victoria to Afghanistan. Dan MacDonald of the Cape Breton Post says about Fraser’s versatility, “She has matured to become one of the stellar players of the Cape Breton fiddle tradition, equally at home at a house party, playing for a square dance or on stage for a concert in Bras d’Or or Boston, Scotsville or Scotland.” Kimberley is also in demand for her piano skills, accompanying musicians at home and abroad.

Troy MacGillivray … Raised in Lanark, Nova Scotia, his musical prowess can be attributed to an especially rare combination of commitment and bloodline. By the age of six, Troy was already impressing audiences with his step dancing skills. By 13 he was teaching piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne’s, Cape Breton. He has completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, has spent four years in a stringed orchestra and has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University.

September 29th: Rakish

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Violinist Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn unite to form “Rakish.” The pair gets their namesake from the traditional Irish tune Rakish Paddy, an origin that aptly suits the duo and their shared background in traditional Irish and Scottish music. Yet “rakish” itself also suggests something strikingly unconventional in its appearance, and Maura and Conor knowingly embrace this wealth of connotation in their music, drawing on the music they grew up with and performing it with their own slant. In a performance that is something more akin to concert music, Rakish explores tunes and songs from Irish and American folk traditions in a way that reflects their shared interest in and love for chamber and improvised music. Maura Shawn, a two-time U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and a winner of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Competition, wields the technical range of an accomplished classical violinist and the deep sensitivity of a traditional musician. Conor, a native to the Irish music communities of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD, makes his home in Boston playing guitar for a number of traditional music acts and bands.

Rakish has performed on Front Row Boston, Brian O’Donovan’s 2020 “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” the Burren Backroom Series, and they can be heard on broadcasts of GBH’s “A Celtic Sojourn.” They have appeared at esteemed festivals including the Boston Celtic Music Festival, the Bellingham Irish Music Festival, and the Rockport Celtic Music Festival. Rakish is a recipient of the 2019 Iguana Fund Grant generously supported by Club Passim.

Concerts will be preformed at the New Brackett Church on Peaks Island in the late fall and winter while shows in the spring and summer are hosted at the 5th Maine Museum

If you’re coming from town catch the 5:35 and gather a picnic from Hannigans Island Market or the Greeks of Peaks or Milly’s Skillet food trucks. You can always come early and spend the day on island and enjoy a meal at one of our terrific chef owned and family operated restaurants like The Cockeyed Gull, Il Leone, or the Island Lobster Company.

Here’s the Summer Casco Baylines Ferry Schedule for Peaks Island: https://www.cascobaylines.com/schedules/peaks-island-schedule/winter/

We’ll look forward to welcome you all here soon to share some music together.