Singer/Songwriter Lori McKenna Comes to Upper Milford

Yes, the Academy Awards will be announced this weekend in Hollywood, and for the entertainment industry the Oscars are a pretty big deal.

But for a star-quality musical performance with genuine talent and none of the hype, locals need look no further than Zionsville on Saturday night. Listen Live Music, Inc. will present singer/songwriter Lori McKenna with Mark Erelli at the Upper Milford Township Municipal Center.

Those who care about big names will like to know that Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban have all recorded Lori’s songs. But many who love a sweet, sad song claim that nobody sings Lori’s tunes like Lori. She’s a wife and mother from a small town in Massachusetts who also happens to write critically acclaimed songs that pull emotion from everyday domestic life.

McKenna’s sincerity is unmistakable. “I’m sorry if [the background is] noisy. I’m in a mini-van in Florida with all five kids,” McKenna apologized. “[My family] just walked out of Wal-Mart. We were looking for a board game we could all play together.”

Saturday night’s set list will include many tracks from her newest album Lorraine, which was released at the end of January.  McKenna’s given name is Lorraine, after her mother who died when Lori was seven. “The title song “Lorraine” was the anchor for the record,” McKenna said. “That’s my mom. All the other songs revolve around that. They are life stories, domestic stories, about loss and resolution.”

‘Still Down Here’, another track on the album, talks about loss as well. McKenna explained, “It’s actually about my sister-in-law Nancy [Giroux] who died about a year and a half ago of cancer.” A gifted photographer, Giroux took the photos for McKenna’s album. “This record is emotionally heavy,” McKenna observed, “but everything has a brim of hope.”

She will also play a handful of songs from her previous album Unglamorous, as well as some unrecorded tracks.

Listen Live Music is a building that knows a little about hope and rebirth as well. The Upper Milford Township building is the former Kings Highway Elementary School.  It was remodeled to house the township offices in one half. The other half has a stage and is available for community functions. “It’s a nice, warm, open space,” according to Amy Lanning, co-founder of the non-profit Listen Live Music, which holds concerts and open mics there twice monthly. When the school was being renovated, Val Minett saw the potential in the space, and found the township receptive to her ideas about bringing in local and nationally-recognized acoustic performers.

Minett founded Listen Live Music in 2009 and began drawing respected talent and audiences from not just the Lehigh Valley, but also Berks County, New Jersey and beyond. The organization is run entirely by volunteers. “We can’t emphasize enough what a great core of volunteers we have,” Lanning said.

Set up with folding chairs, the performance space comfortably seats about 180. About performing in this space McKenna said, “I’m looking forward to it. I like smaller venues. We’ve played in church basements and we’ve played for 20,000. For what I do, it lends itself to an intimate environment. Venues have a heart and soul,” she continued. “I like to be part of the audience.”

Mark Erelli is the opening act for Saturday, and will also accompany McKenna. “Mark plays everything—anything with strings,” McKenna said. “He’s a great person and one of the best singer-songwriters around.”

Lori McKenna with Mark Erelli, Saturday, Feb. 26, 8 pm, Upper Milford Twp. Municipal Center, 5671 Chestnut St., Zionsville, PA. Tickets $20. www.listenlivemusic.org. 610 966-6419