BRATTLEBORO — Last Night Brattleboro has announced the 16th 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 (Keith, Becky, Aidan), and Amidon family: Peter and Mary Alice, Sam, Stefan and Zara Bode.
The concert is Monday, Dec. 31, at Centre Congregational Church, 193 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.
Becky Tracy plays with the popular contra dance band Wild Asparagus; Keith Murphy has been a headliner in the Cambridge Revels, and he sang and acted the part of Dudley Laufman in Larry Siegel's musical theater show “The Dancing Master.”
Keith plays a central role in the Childsplay annual concerts both as a musician and an arranger. Becky and Keith are both founding members of the Nightingale trio.
They are founders and teachers of the Traditional Music Educational Program at the Brattleboro Music Center. Their music was featured in the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts.
Keith and Becky are joined by their son, 17-year-old Aidan Murphy, on ukelele, fiddle, and vocals.
The dynamic duo of Zara Bode and Stefan Amidon (a.k.a., “The Little Green Apples”) are fresh off their Sweetback Sisters Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular tour. Stefan and Zara are founding members of the a cappella group the Starry Mountain Singers.
Stefan tours with the Americana band “The Devil Makes Three.” According to a news release, Zara is a vocalist of “rare beauty and power,” while Stefan is a “master percussionist and a strong, deep, and expressive bass singer.”
Sam Amidon (singer, fiddle, guitar, banjo) has been garnering rave reviews and devoted fans around the world with his performances and albums of re-imagined traditional American folk songs, ballads, and hymns.
Amidon has collaborated with legendary guitarist Bill Frisell, the Kronos Quartet, composer Nico Muhly, the Sydney (Australia) Chamber Orchestra, and others.
Devoted to traditional music and dance, Peter and Mary Alice are freelance musicians, dance educators, choral arrangers/leaders, and publishers of music and dance materials.
Mary Alice is a member of, and Peter is co-Music Director of, the Guilford Community Church Choir and Hallowell, southeastern Vermont's hospice singing group. Their choral arrangements and compositions have been sung by hundreds of church and community choirs in the U.S. and the U.K.