Tue 5/2 @ 7PM
Charlie Mosbrook has been a mainstay of the local Cleveland folk/singer-songwriter scene for 25 years. Not only is he a performer with a packed catalogue of recordings and frequent tours under his belt, but he has been a mentor to other performers as one of the area’s most prominent open mic hosts (currently at the Coventry Phoenix on Mondays). He’s the current board president of the nonprofit Folknet which promotes the acoustic music scene and the Folk Alliance Rregion Midwest workshop coordinator. To say he’s a linchpin of the northeast Ohio acoustic music scene is an understatement.
So it’s always good to when he chalks up another entry into that catalogue. And he’ll be doing so when he marks the released of his new CD Hear Me Callin’: A Collection of American Folk Songs, with a show at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights this week.
While Mosbrook is an accomplished songwriter — there’s even a CD available called Coverage of other local performers recording his tunes — this album pays homage to his influences. It features traditional tunes as well as songs by such writers as Robert Johnson, Elizabeth Cotton, Bob Dylan, Lead Belly, Wood Guthrie and the Grateful Dead.
“On the morning following the recent presidential election, I needed to focus on something other than the result,” he writes. “My reaction was to record a few of Woody’s songs including ‘Pastures of Plenty.’ I had tinkered with the idea of recording more traditional music before, but on this day I felt compelled to do so. In addition to the Guthrie songs, I started to record other old folk tunes that I enjoy. I reflected on an old spiritual that I had learned as a kid from my dad’s Louis Armstrong records and a Robert Johnson song that I first heard on a Rolling Stones record.” [Mosbrook’s father is local jazz historian Joe Mosbrook].
For his CD release show, he’ll be joined by Kate Kooser, David Krauss (Tiny Alice) and Honeybucket’s Brendan O’Malley to perform material from the new album as well his own tunes from his previous albums. Tickets are $10.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44106