BRATTLEBORO — Last Night Brattleboro presents the 15th annual concert of New England, Appalachian, Irish, and French-Canadian dance music, fiddling from around the world, a feast of singing including singing for all, and a smattering of poems, featuring Brattleboro's Murphy/Tracy family, Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, and special guests Emily Miller and Jesse Milnes. The concert is Saturday, Dec. 31, at the First Baptist Church, 190 Main St., starting at 7 p.m.
Keith Murphy (guitar, mandolin, piano, foot percussion) and Becky Tracy (fiddle) will heat up the hall with fiercely intelligent and driving arrangements of dance tunes and traditional songs, according to a news release. Tracy plays with the popular contra dance band Wild Asparagus; Murphy is a headliner this year in the Cambridge Revels and a musician and arranger in the Childsplay concerts. Becky and Keith are both founding members of the Nightingale trio. They are central forces in leading traditional music education at the Brattleboro Music Center, and their music was featured in the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts. They are joined by their son, 14-year-old Aidan Murphy, on ukelele, fiddle, and vocals.
The Amidons have been freelance musicians and educators for twenty years, traveling across the country to bring their uplifting songs to children, music teachers, and choral singers. They are devoted to traditional song, dance, and storytelling, giving performances and workshops for children and adults, and they recently published two collections of their choral arrangements and compositions.
This year's special guests Jesse Milnes and Emily Miller perform country and old-time music, singing close harmony with Milnes' unique finger-picked guitar style and a healthy dose of old-time fiddling. Miller was raised playing and singing old-time and country music and is well known locally for her singing with The Sweetback Sisters, a six-piece country band Miller fronts with Zara Bode.
This Last Night event is sponsored by the Last Night Committee, the Marina, and Sunrise Rotary.