Joseph Arthur Brings His Eclectic Music and Art to the me and thee

Press Release by Linda Werbner

On Friday, September 18, me & thee listeners are in for a cosmic and transporting experience when critically-acclaimed Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter-poet-painter-performance artist Joseph Arthur takes the stage. A performer of magical and astonishing range, Arthur has been celebrated by such titans of music as REM’s Michael Stipe and Peter Gabriel, who ‘discovered’ Arthur in the mid-1990s and put his on the roster of performers for his label Real World. As Allmusic observed, “Arthur is in a class of his own.” Unforgettable Boston-based by way of nowhere Alaska singer-songwriter Jenee Halstead opens the show. Doors open at 7:30 PM for this 8:00 PM show. The me & thee coffeehouse is located at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead at 28 Mugford Street.

Joseph Arthur plays guitar, bass, keyboards and harmonica and cut his teeth as a musician “playing blues in the back seats, from biker bars to limousines all over Northeast Ohio.” Nearly two decades and dozens of EPs later, the prolific, restless and constantly touring artist continues to make unique and challenging music, contributing to soundtracks for such disparate films as Shrek, The Bourne Identity, and HBO’s True Blood.

The critically-acclaimed and Grammy nominated artist has worked with T-Bone Burnett, Ben Harper, the Band’s legendary keyboardist Garth Hudson and the city of Prague Philharmonic. In addition to writing and performing music, Arthur is a talented painter whose abstract expressionist canvases have been exhibited in galleries from Manhattan to London and he has painted the cover art for his entire discography. Arthur has even been known to sing and paint for audiences; YouTube is full of magical and fascinating clips of him doing just that. Arthur plans to pack his paints and brushes for his appearance in Marblehead.

His 2013 masterpiece The Ballad of Boogie Christ, which was entirely funded through Pledge Music, is an 11-song odyssey, a “fictionalized character loosely based on my own journey,” as Arthur reflects, in the tradition of Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby and Berlin, which are rich with semi-autobiographical characters and experiences. Like his late friend Lou Reed, Arthur is a storyteller with a bittersweet edge and a rock ‘n’ roll heart. In 2014, the year after Reed’s death, Arthur released Lou, a 12-song collection of the songs of his friend and inspiration. The songs are not merely covers, however. In Arthur’s capable and insightful hands, Reed’s songs are rechristened, restructured and delivered in “such a way that it seems you’ve never heard them before,” as No Depression writes. Michael Stipe of REM said it best: “Joseph Arthur writes, builds, paints, draws, and creates because he has no choice. It is our luck that he does so.”

While Boston-based singer-songwriter Jenee Halstead draws frequent comparisons to Patty Griffin and Shawn Colvin, Halstead’s ethereal crystalline soprano takes listeners to a dreamier, more spectral place. Her songs are tender and raw, arrestingly honest and full of keen observations that are way beyond that of a young artist. Halstead’s range of styles is breathtaking and there is something for every listener from the fragile but resilient ballad and title track of her latest release, Raised by Wolves, to the dark, driving rocker “So Far So Fast” to the buoyant, uplifting “Damascus.” Halstead is the perfect complement to what promises to be an unforgettable evening of music, poetry and art.

Tickets for the performance by Joseph Arthur with Jenee Halstead opening are $20 in advance and $23 at the door. Student tickets are $10. Tickets are available online at www.meandthee.org and can be purchased in person at the Spirit of ’76 Bookstore or the Arnould Gallery in Marblehead. The Landing Restaurant at 81 Front Street, Marblehead offers a 10% discount on dinner if you show your ticket or receipt. Enjoy a meal before the show! 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 one of the oldest continually running acoustic coffeehouses in New England, and probably the country. It 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 atwww.meandthee.org.