Hungrytown for the Holidays

Photo: Hungrytown submitted by Marlborough Public Library

Submitted by the Friends of the Marlborough Public Library

“A Special Christmas Holiday Concert” will be presented by The Friends of the Marlborough Public Library’s Music Chair Leslie Havens on Wednesday, Dec, 10 at 7 p.m., featuring “Hungrytown for the Holidays.”

This is the third concert of The Friends 2014-15 Yacyshn Concert Series in this their “Joyous 45th Anniversary Celebration Season.” This internationally-touring folk and acoustic music duo will perform a selection of winter and holiday-themed songs, both original and traditional performed by the musical and married duo Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson.

Hungrytown have released two highly acclaimed CDs, Hungrytown (2008) and Any Forgotten Thing (2011), both of which continue to receive much airplay on folk and Americana stations worldwide. Rebecca and Ken tour full time; their adventures have taken them throughout the US, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. Their songs have been performed by many other artists, including Nashville songwriting legend David Olney and bluegrass veterans the Virginia Ramblers. Hungrytown’s music has also appeared on several television shows, including the Independent Film Channel’s hit series, Portlandia.
Before Hungrytown, Rebecca made two well-received CDs under her own name (with help from Ken behind the scenes), Rebecca Hall Sings! (2000) and Sunday Afternoon (2002). Rebecca learned to sing in church as a child, and had developed into a skilled interpreter of jazz and blues standards by the time she was in her 20s. Her discovery of roots music coincided with the reissue of the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music in 1997, and inspired her to write her own material. She soon developed a reputation for crafting classic, instantly memorable songs, weaving modern themes into traditional song structures.

“Rebecca Hall is a true rarity: a new folk classicist.” wrote Daniel Gewertz of the Boston Herald.

Ken is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist as well as a talented producer and arranger. He learned to play drums and keyboards as a child, and has since moved on to bass, guitar, mandolin, banjo and harmonica. He also has a remarkable gift for musical harmony, and is responsible for Hungrytown’s luxuriant vocal stylings. Having produced all of their recorded works, his artistry has been singled out for praise: “Anderson has a knack for crafting rich arrangements that don’t clutter things up,” writes Casey Rea of Seven Days (VT) magazine. When not touring with Rebecca, Ken is often hiding out in their home studio, Song Catcher Recording, working with other songwriters and instrumentalists. Visit www.Hungrytown.net for more information.

The concert will take place in the Bigelow Auditorium, Marlborough Public Library, 35 West Main Street, Marlborough. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public and is fully handicapped accessible.

This “Holiday Concert” marks the 45th Season for the “Yacyshyn Concert Series” funded and sponsored in part by The Ezra Cutting Trust-Bank of America Trustee, supported in part by a grant from the Marlborough Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; the “Friends Memorial Fund” established by an anonymous donor of $25,000 and a grant from the Brigham Family Trust. It is also another example of Friends Music Chair Leslie Havens’s efforts to bring music of a broad variety to The Friends forty-five years of the Concert Series.