Portsmouth Singer Songwriter Festival Starts Next Week

The excitement of the best national music festivals returns to Portsmouth for a fourth year with headlining acts, The Juliana Hatfield Three, Buffalo Tom and Citizen Cope with opener William Fitzsimmons, according to a press statement.

The festival kicks off Thursday, April 16, with the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC) Student and Teen Round Robin at the Loft featuring local and talented area students. Also at the Loft is Songwriters in the Round, guest curated by Portsmouth’s Guy Capecelatro III. “Don’t miss the chance to hear some of the best in local, regional and national talent in both The Music Hall’s Historic Theater and the Loft!” said PSSF Producer and The Music Hall’s Deputy Director of Programming, Thérèse LaGamma.

“Rolling Stone most recently included The Juliana Hatfield Three as ‘30 Artists You Need to See’ at this year’s widely renowned South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas...calling them out among thousands of other acts. Make your dinner reservations as part of Restaurant Week and join us for a weekend of great music!” Tickets for all of the shows are currently on sale.

Season Sponsors Carey & Giampa, Realtors; The River House Restaurant; The Residences at Portwalk Place

Contributing Partner: University of New Hampshire.

Festival Sponsors: The Lighting Center at Rockingham Electric; White Heron Tea and Coffee Community; Xfinity; the sound; and WXRV 92.5 The River

Portsmouth Music and Arts Center Student and Teen Round Robin

Thursday, April 16 • 6:30pm • Tickets $5 • Loft

Students from our Explore + Learn Partner of the Year, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC) will showcase their songwriting craft in Round Robin format. Hosted by PMAC’s Nick Phaneuf.

The Juliana Hatfield Three and Buffalo Tom

Friday, April 17 • 8pm • Tickets Start at $26 • Historic Theater

Buffalo Tom

Buffalo Tom, whose pummeling rock and aching ballads master depth and sensitivity with their sharp and poignant songwriting. They join us in this rockin’ double bill as part of the Portsmouth Singer Songwriter Festival.

The Juliana Hatfield Three

2015 may just be the year of the alt-rock reunion. Reunited and touring behind a new album,Whatever, My Love, The Juliana Hatfield Three follow up on their influential 1993 LP, Become What You Are.

Evening Sponsor: The 100 Club

Songwriters in the Round

Saturday, April 18 • 5pm • Tickets $10 • the Loft

Guest curated by Guy Capecelatro III, this special evening will showcase the talents of these four immensely talented songwriters. The line up includes Guy Capecelatro, Mary Lou Lord (pictured), Mark Schwaber, and Drew O’Doherty.

Citizen Cope with Opener William Fitzsimmons

Saturday, April 18 • 8pm • Tickets start at $38 • The Historic Theater

William Fitzsimmons

Fitzsimmons’ easy voice, which falls somewhere between the breathy earnestness of Sufjan Stevens and the steady, deep water thrum of Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam, has a knack for crafting incredibly measured, deeply personal, largely finger-picked folk confections that flirt with adult-oriented pop without losing any of their artisan luster. His newest album, Lions, produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, is meticulously crafted, high-quality daydream fuel.

Citizen Cope An Intimate Solo/Acoustic Evening

Citizen Cope’s sounds are southern rural, big sky lonely, concrete urban, and painfully romantic. From the get-go, he introduced his audiences to a world of musical worry with his breakout song “Sideways,” that was covered by Carlos Santana. His motivation has always been to make music in front of people, and it has won him a vast audience in America and abroad.

Evening Sponsors: The 100 Club; The Rosa; Secure Planning; and RKM Research

WHERE The Music Hall box office is located at 28 Chestnut Street in Portsmouth New Hampshire. For Tickets over the phone call 603-436-2400 and for online tickets go to themusichall.org.

WHEN The Portsmouth Singer Songwriter Festival takes place the weekend of April 16-18.

WHO The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Program, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named “best performing arts venue” by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence.

Web: www.TheMusicHall.org | Twitter: @MusicHall | Facebook: /musichall |

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