David Mallett returns to Marblehead on April 1

On Friday, April 1, the me&thee coffeehouse welcomes David Mallett, one of the “most memorable Mainers” of all time to its stage. According to folk music critic, Scott Alarik, Mallett is “always compelling, always musical…there is something about his phrasing that lends an urgency and boldness to his song. His deep, clear voice has a storyteller’s naturalness to it, a poet’s intelligence.” Kyle Morgan, another talented Mainer opens the show for Mallett. Doors open at 7:30 PM for this 8:00 PM show at the me&thee coffeehouse which is located at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead at 28 Mugford Street.

The cool breezes of Maine’s northlands have flowed through the songs of David Mallett for over four decades. In addition to being featured on his fourteen albums, Mallett’s pen has provided material for an eclectic list of artists that includes Pete Seeger, Alison Kraus, Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, John Denver and the Muppets. His tune, “The Garden Song,” is one of America’s most popular folk songs, having been recorded more than 150 times and sung around the world. He has toured consistently in folk clubs, concert halls and festivals for thirty years.

A turning point in Mallett’s career came in 1975, after he discovered that Noel Paul Stookey, of Peter, Paul and Mary, had moved to Blue Hill, Maine and was opening a recording studio. Within six months of their initial meeting, Mallett found a true mentor in Stookey. In addition to producing Mallett’s first three albums, Stookey helped to bring his songs to a national audience. Moving to Nashville in the early 1990s, Mallett continued to record and write new songs. “I did a little bit of everything,” he said, “wrote a lot of tunes, made some good records, got to know a lot of singers and played with some wonderful musicians like Roy Huskey, probably the most respected acoustic bass player in America, and drummer Kenny Malone. All in all, I think I learned how to make records better.”

Since returning to Maine in 1997, Mallett has continued to tour nationally and has written and recorded six CDs in 12 years. He also successfully explored the spoken word realm with his 2007 release, The Fable True, a collection of Henry David Thoreau’s stories about his visits to Maine in the mid 1800s, with instrumental soundtrack. Mallett’s latest, Greenin Up, is a compilation of some re-recordings of his finest work. Released in conjunction with Maine Farmland, Trust, it is a celebration of rural life.

When he is not touring, the place where he makes his songs is in his writing room in an old farmhouse with a view across the field and a tintype of his great-great grandfather on the wall. “I like to keep reaching out to touch the past,” he says, “to connect it with what’s going on now. To me music is one of the few things that is timeless . . . human emotion is one continual chain.”

Kyle Morgan is a nomad artist of word and melody, a philosophizing songster whose dynamic style resists simple categorization. Though his writing draws heavily on the tradition of American song and its roots in old-time balladry and country-blues, there's too much Beatles and Kinks mixed in to accurately label it 'Americana'. As evidenced by his debut 2013 release, Starcrossed Losers, Morgan has the uncanny ability to shift musical moods on a dime from rock'n'roll fueled angst to intimate nylon stringed love songs. Currently residing in Portland, Maine and originally from the Appalachian foothills of central Pennsylvania, Morgan sings his way across America, sometimes with his band, the Starcrossed Losers, and sometimes alone.

Kyle was formerly one-third of Portland roots trio, Tumbling Bones. Since early 2013, he up and down the east coast and across the Atlantic to Ireland, England, and Germany. In June of 2014, they released their first full-length album, Loving a Fool, which included four of Morgan's original songs and reached #5 on the Folk DJ charts. The band was selected for the American Music Abroad program: a U.S. State Department-backed cultural ambassadorship and they traveled to Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Georgia to teach, perform, and collaborate with local musicians.

Tickets for the performance by David Mallett with Kyle Morgan opening are $20 in advance and $23 at the door. Student tickets are only $10. Tickets are available online at www.meandthee.org and can be purchased in person in Marblehead at either the Spirit of 76 Bookstore or the Arnould Gallery. As at all me & thee coffeehouse events, refreshments are available, including homemade pastries, coffee, and teas. The me & thee has a handicapped-accessible entrance and an accessible bathroom, is a smoke-free environment, and is easily reached by MBTA bus. The me & thee is the oldest continually running acoustic coffeehouse in New England, and probably the country. The me & thee has been and will always be a volunteer, non-profit organization sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead. For information and directions, call 781-631-8987 or check the website www.meandthee.org.

Next show: April 8 features popular singer-songwriter, Stephen Kellogg with up and coming, Anthony D’Amato