Oregon Music News

Each year, Sisters of the Road Café hosts Winterfolk. This annual folk music concert, now in its 24^th year, not only raises money for the Café, but also brings together some of the best in local and national folk music talent. Winterfolk 24 will be on Saturday, February 4th, at the Aladdin Theater.

Sisters of the Road Café is an innovative, nonprofit organization in Portland’s Old Town that provides low-cost and no-cost meals to the community.

This year, the much-loved Tracy Grammer from Northampton, Massachusetts, will headline Winterfolk 24.

Tracy, along with her musical partner Dave Carter, blazed new trails in acoustic music and put Portland on the map in the folk music world. Tracy and Dave met in 1996 right after she moved to Portland and within a year they were touring the country together as a couple and a musical duo. Dave and Tracy recorded many albums together and found national and international success. But in 2002, Dave Carter died suddenly of a heart attack while the couple was on tour.

OMN was able to talk with Tracy by phone from her home in Massachusetts about her upcoming performance at Winterfolk 24.

What is new in your life? What have you been up to recently?

I just returned from a quick tour of California. I also started teaching some choral groups at a small private school out here (in Massachusetts) a year and a half ago. I have to be back here almost every Tuesday. Most of my tours right now are very quick. I really love teaching. It is so much fun! I was hired on to fill in for a teacher who was out on sick leave but they have asked me to stay on.

Wow! What grades are you teaching? What is that like?

I teach grades seven to twelve. It is hilarious and fun and it has been great for my own singing. Music is a huge part of the school. They have classes in Bluegrass, Klezmer, and Celtic music. I teach choir and a small a capella group.

Watch Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer perform “When I Go” at St. John’s Pub in Portland in 2001, with Benjy Wertheimer:

What do you like about living on the East Coast? Do you miss Portland?

I moved to the East Coast six years ago. I love it. It is really great for the kind of music that I play. Folk music gets a lot of radio play out here and the radio support is really strong in New England. It is also easy for me to tour and make a living here. Everything is within a three-hour radius. Most nights I can sleep in my own bed.

The West Coast can be hard for touring. Everything is spread far apart.

Yes, I had a harder time on this tour of California that I just did. The radio support is not there. I love the fans. But the audiences are smaller out there.

You have a new record coming out in February. Are you excited about Little Blue Egg?

Our official release date is February 14, but I will have the album with me at the Winterfolk concert.

Red House is a new record label for you.

Yes, I have been with Signature Sounds since I was performing with Dave. But the release timing for Little Blue Egg got complicated and they were not sure when they could put it out. It has worked out nicely with Red House. They are very excited about the album. And I am excited to have the new energy behind this record. I have always loved the artists on Red House and I am honored to be on the same label with them. These are songs that Dave and I recorded together. For one reason or another never made it onto an album before now.

What are you looking forward to at Winterfolk 24?

Tom May booked the show and I was so happy he asked me to perform. Winterfolk is always such a great show. They always sell out and they have that great guitar raffle. I am looking forward to seeing all my Portland friends. I am also looking forward to seeing Kate Power and Steve Einhorn perform. I love seeing them play. Portland will always feel like home to me. Winterfolk is like a big homecoming. It is where Dave and I got our start.

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Winterfolk 24 will also feature the music of Donna Lynn and Terry Davis, Lauren Sheehan, twenty-one-year-old guitar phenomenon Brooks Robertson, Kate Power and Steve Einhorn, and an all-star Celtic trio featuring international troubadour Peter Yeates, Mikey Beglen on accordion, and Bob Soper on fiddle. Tom May will play with Fuzzy Purcell and Donny Wright.

Sisters of the Road will be raffling off a Woodland Pro Folk Sunburst Guitar (valued at $1000), as well as ten hours of recording time at Billy Oskay’s Big Red Studio (valued at $750) at the Winterfolk 24 concert.

Pick up your raffle tickets at Artichoke Music, Portland Fret Works (3027 NE Alberta) or the Sisters of the Road offices. The winner will be chosen at Winterfolk 24, but you can still win even if you don’t make it to the concert.

Winterfolk 24 is an all-ages show (parental accompaniment required for minors) beginning at 7pm, doors at 6pm. Tickets are $28 in advance from the Aladdin Theater Box Office, Music Millennium, and Ticketmaster, and $30 at the door.