An Acoustic Café Evening: Three amazing artists…one intimate night of song…an incredible opportunity. The 2012 line-up features Iowa’s own poet-songwriter Pieta Brown, Austin-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Carrie Rodriguez, and “The Phantom Monk of Folk-Blues” Kelly Joe Phelps.

The evening is hosted by Rodriguez. Each act performs a solo set that may or may not include some musical or vocal help from the other acts. With spontaneity a hallmark, what can be counted on is that the artists enjoy themselves and each other, that they all play together for an encore, and that audiences enjoy an intimate live experience featuring great solo artists collaborating onstage.

Acoustic Café is a weekly national radio program syndicated to more than 75 commercial and noncommercial radio stations, and featuring an eclectic array of music.

The line-up:
Pieta Brown is a striking poet-songwriter with a haunting voice and unmistakable style. Her beautiful new record on Red House, entitled Mercury, is currently number one on the folk radio chart. Her unique blend of alt-country, folk, blues and indie-rock speaks to music fans around the world and has garnered rave reviews from the likes of the BBC and The Boston Globe, as well as a variety of hip music blogs and indie radio stations. Her own musical hero, Iris DeMent, is a fan, calling her “the best poet I’ve heard in a long damn time.”

Kelly Joe Phelps has been described as “The Phantom Monk of Folk- Blues,” and rightly so. Over the past 17 years of recording and touring, Phelps has been talked about as much for his passionate, spirit-driven, lone-wolf musical ways as for the inventiveness of his playing and singing. Using the blues as a pallet and his songs as a canvas, each performance is an original improvisation. According to Popmatters, “Phelps speaks directly to your soul. If that isn’t the stuff of legends, I don’t know what is.”

Carrie Rodriguez’ most recent releases, Love & Circumstance (2010) and We Still Love Our Country, with Ben Kyle (2011), are primarily covers collections that highlight her vocal and interpretive skills. But Rodriguez made her name as a burgeoning singer-songwriter behind the strength of her first two solo releases, She Ain’t Me (2008) and Seven Angels on A Bicycle (2007). She’s also a world-class instrumentalist who went from a teenage violin student to touring the world with the likes of Chip Taylor (famed songwriter of “Wild Thing”), Lucinda Williams and Alejandro Escovedo in matter of years.

• BUY TICKETS
• $17 advance | $21 door