SAXTONS RIVER — After a successful first year, the Vermont Ukulele Harvest is back for another event filled with ukulele fun - including two concerts, a full day of workshops, jam sessions, and an open mic.
The second Vermont Ukulele Harvest is scheduled for Oct. 12 and 13, and will again be held at Main Street Arts.
Performers include Sarah Maisel and Craig Chee, Ben Carr, Bernadette McMahon, The Dirty Hillers, and Veronica Stevens.
Headliners Maisel and Chee, who hail from the West Coast, are two of the top ukulele performers and educators in the world. They discovered a similar passion and work ethic and married in 2015.
Carr is one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Vermont Ukulele Harvest, and can be found performing throughout southern Vermont as a solo act, with his band The Ben Carr Music Project, and as a sideman in the Sunny Lowdown Band.
He is a graduate of the James Hill Ukulele Initiative and enjoys teaching and sharing the joys found within the music language.
As described in a news release for the event, Carr “approaches the ukulele in an unique way - using intricate strum patterns, fingerpicking, percussive tones, looped beats/riffs, and harmonic textures.” He is working on his sixth studio project, Uke Drums=Love, which is coming out in October.
A native of the Berkshires and a “recovering Elementary school music teacher,” McMahon brings her “ukulele pickin' skills” to an eclectic repertoire from standard jazz to rockabilly, from rock 'n' roll and folk classics to her original material.
The Dirty Hillers are a Philadelphia-based duo, consisting of Melissa Nannen on ukulele and Erin Ryan Barns on cello. “They say they were born out of a need to express observations of the world we are currently living in and as a serious dodge of housework,” the event organizers write.
Stevens, a Leland & Gray student, is a musician, singer, actor, and dancer. “She brings her own style to everything she does - whether leading the L&G Samba band, drumming for her high school's jazz band or starring in the Rock River Player's production of The Fantasticks, the style, the smile, and the energy is always pure Veronica,” according to her bio for the event.