Music on Malphrus

Welcome Music on Malphrus - an affordable, intimate, family friendly and smoke-free listening room where people can enjoy
live performances featuring musicians who tour both nationally and internationally.
Performances are held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry at 110 Malphrus Road in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Tickets are $25 (unless otherwise noted) and available at the door. Seating is general admission.
Doors open at 6:15p.m. Performances begin at 7:00p.m.
Music on Malphrus is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry.

Friday, October 7th at 7:00p.m. Music on Malphrus returns!

Scott Ainslie Live

Scott Ainslie will perform at Music on Malphrus, 110 Malphrus Road, in Bluffton, SC, Friday, October 7, at 7:00 pm. General Admission is $25. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Scott Ainslie’s mother found him at the family piano picking out melodies from the records she listened to during the day when he was three years old. He’s been a musician all his life.

Coming of age during the Civil Rights era (and subsequently seeking out elder masters of the Appalachian Old-Time, Black Gospel and Blues traditions he has received), Ainslie plays this music with affection, authority, and passion.

Armed with three or four instruments – vintage guitars, a fretless gourd banjo, a one-string, homemade diddley bow (aka cigar box guitar) and carefully chosen historical personal anecdotes of his encounters with senior musicians across the South – Ainslie brings the history, roots music, and sounds of America alive.

On stage – in educational teaching concerts, workshops, and school residencies – Ainslie explores the African and European roots of American music and culture. His interactive way with audiences and cross-disciplinary approach to the music consistently garners rave reviews from presenters, audiences, students, and teachers, alike. He is a masterful and thoughtful historian, storyteller, and musician.

Ainslie ‘wrote the book’ on Mississippi Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson (Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads, Hal Leonard, 1992); has an instructional DVD on Johnson’s guitar techniques and songs; along with six CD recordings available through CattailMusic.com.

His most recent recording, “The Last Shot Got Him,” is a collection of songs played on a 1934 Gibson archtop that has received strong reviews from listeners and critics, and among other honors, was chosen as Best Album of the Year by the Times-Argus (Montpelier, VT).
http://cattailmusic.com/videos/

Coming Soon:

Greg Greenway Saturday, October 22, 2022
Joe Crookston Saturday, Nov 12, 2022
Kirsten Maxwell Saturday, January 7, 2023
Crys Matthews/Heather Saturday, January 21, 2023
Matt Nakoa Friday, February 10, 2023
Heather Pierson Duo Saturday, March 4, 2023
The Rough and Tumble Saturday, April 1, 2023
Joe Jencks Friday, April 21, 2023
Abby Posner Saturday, April 29, 2023
Scott Cook Friday, May 12, 2023
Rod MacDonald Saturday, June 10, 2023

The 2022-23 Lineup

Greg Greenway – Saturday 10/22/22
“Greg Greenway is one of those artists who are so rich a talent that it is difficult to categorize him. He traverses, combines and mixes up musical genres, and manages to open a window on global events that bring us together as citizens of the world. Like other great performers before him, Greenway’s message is that we can all play a part and make a difference in the course of both our private and public lives. But few musicians can do just this with such style, passion and sheer musicality.” --Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange www.greggreenway.com

Joe Crookston – Saturday, 11/12/22
Songwriter, guitarist, painter, fiddler, slide player, eco-village member and believer in all things possible. Named 2016 Folk Alliance International Artist-in- Residence and signed to Tamulevich Artist Management along with John Gorka and Peter Yarrow. His songs are being made into films.
He’ll surprise you and awaken the cynics. He’s plumbing for lyrical gold like a social archeologist. His songs are universal, his rhythm infectious and in concert, he is funny as hell one moment and transcendent the next. http://www.joecrookston.com

Kirsten Maxwell – Saturday 1/7/23
“I never thought I’d ever hear a voice as angelic and mesmerizing as I did when I first started listening to Joan Baez some 50 years ago, but then I heard the voice, the songs and melodies of Kirsten Maxwell,” says Jon Stein, host of Hootenanny Café on WTBQ.

Maxwell has been performing since she was very young—five-years-young, in fact—on the stage of the Amato Opera, formerly a destination for singers and opera lovers alike in the East Village of NYC. Since then, she has earned national recognition for being an award winning songwriter, and a compelling performer. In December, Kirsten opened for Melissa Etheridge in Connecticut. She has also recently shared the stage at City Winery NYC, opening for the acclaimed Canadian songwriter and poet Ferron. Maxwell regularly performs in the Northeast and she has been on four self made tours to the Midwest and down the East Coast.

This June, Maxwell released a self-titled EP that is beginning to receive reviews such as this one from DJ John Platt of WFUV: "When Kirsten Maxwell first emerged several years ago, the folk world was captivated by her gorgeous voice and songwriting ability - and inevitably curious to see how this exciting young talent would develop. Kirsten's new EP offers some clues, as she spreads her wings to embrace not only folk, but Americana, pop, and indie influences. The journey has just begun!” http://www.kirstenmaxwell.com/

Crys Matthews – Saturday 1/21/23
“A passionate and powerful blend of infectious Americana melodies and folky instrumentation, Matthews delivers her honest songwriting through a beautifully raw and unfiltered lens. Oozing soul, her voice bleeds with emotion and gratitude, while simple piano melodies and upbeat percussion fill you with appreciation and love for the people around us who fight for change.”
— Ear Milk

Heather Pierson Duo – 3/4/23
Heather Pierson is a pianist, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, songleader, and performer whose inspiring live performances and growing catalog of releases delve into Americana, blues, New Orleans jazz, vocal chants, instrumental piano, and folk. Best known for her ease at the piano and her bell-tone vocals, her songs and musicianship embody joy, honesty, playfulness, and a desire to share from the heart. In over twenty years on her own record label, Vessel Recordings, she has released fourteen albums and several singles of original music.

Matt Nakoa – 2/10/23
Matt Nakoa is an award-winning songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. A modern troubadour, he makes his home on the highways and concert stages of America, and appears regularly with folk music icon Tom Rush. The Boston Globe says of Nakoa, “Between his piano chops and heartfelt originals on guitar, he drops jaws.”

Born on a small goat farm in New York State, Nakoa trained to be a concert pianist before accepting a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music as a vocalist. He developed his dramatic songwriting style with his college alt-rock band, The Fens, and after the band dissolved, he landed in NYC. It was in Manhattanʼs all-night piano bars that Nakoa developed an uncanny ability to command the attention of any audience. His first solo albums, released in 2012 and 2014, garnered multiple songwriting awards, including a win at Kerrville Folk Festivalʼs New Folk Competition.

Nakoaʼs newest album, Casting Shadows, is a spellbinding blend of pop, soul, and classical influences that tells a story of childhood dreams crashing headlong into grownup reality. The Ark of Music magazine proclaims, “What we have here is a truly encouraging sign of what pop could once again become …”https://mattnakoa.com/

The Rough and Tumble – Saturday, 4/1/23
Formerly from Nashville, The Rough & Tumble now find themselves living full time on the road, in a 16ft camper with an 85 lb puppy named Puddle. If you ask Mallory Graham or Scott Tyler how their lives ended up this way they’ll likely respond, “with careful planning, spreadsheets and shoddy cell phone service.”

On their new album, We Made Ourselves a Home When We Didn’t Know (February 2018), the Americana duo retrace their mileage back to their footsteps and explore the struggle between going home and being home already when there's no other home and everywhere is home. The R&T know how the tread wears down on the tires when you play 140 shows in year cross-country. They’re willing to stop, should the music run out of them and the road end, but until then, they are likely cross referencing a spreadsheet to play your town. http://www.theroughandtumble.com/

Joe Jencks – Friday, 4/21/23
Joe Jencks is an international touring musician, award-winning songwriter and celebrated vocalist, known for his performances of musical beauty, social consciousness and spiritual exploration. Jencks’ most recent CD – Poets, Philosophers, Workers, & Wanderers was the #1 CD on the Folk DJ Chart, also garnering recognition for #1 Song and #1 Artist. Additionally the recording has been at the top of the XM Radio Americana Chart for six weeks and counting! Having penned several #1 Folksongs including the ever relevant, Lady of The Harbor, Jencks has become a fan favorite throughout North America. He is the co-founder of the harmony trio Brother Sun.
Jencks has been touring internationally for nearly two decades, is an award winning songwriter, and has released 15 CDs in that time. Merging conservatory training with his Irish roots and working-class upbringing, Joe delivers engaged musical narratives filled with heart, soul, groove and grit. Blending well-crafted instrumentals and vivid songwriting, Jencks serves it all up with a lyric baritone voice that has the edgy richness of a good sea-salt caramel. http://www.joejencks.com/

Abby Posner – Saturday, 4/29/23
Abby Posner has been a working musician in Los Angeles for the past 16 years. She is best known for her ability to play nearly any instrument that she can get her hands on, twisting genres, and pushing the boundaries of folk, roots, and pop music making her "Genre Fluid." If you have seen Abby perform live, you know she can play a mean lead-blues guitar solo, or throw down a complex Earl Scruggs banjo riff. You also may have spotted her playing drums, mandolin, or bass while using her looping pedal. In addition to her versatility, she puts passion and soul into everything she plays.

Scott Cook – Friday, 5/12/23
In 2007, Albertan songwriter Scott Cook quit his job teaching kindergarten in Taiwan and moved into a minivan. He’s made his living as a troubadour ever since, touring almost incessantly across Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, averaging 150 shows and a dozen summer festivals a year, and releasing seven albums of plainspoken, keenly observant verse along the way. His latest collection Tangle of Souls comes packaged in a cloth-bound, 240-page hardcover book of road stories and ruminations, equal parts introspection and insurrection. The album spent two weeks at #1 on Alberta's province-wide community radio network CKUA, and earned Scott his third Canadian Folk Music Award nomination, for English Songwriter of the Year. Its second single "Say Can You See" was the second most-played song of 2020 on Folk Alliance International's folk radio charts, and took top honours for the folk category in both the 2020 UK Songwriting Competition and the 2020 Great American Song Contest. In 2022 he's touring the album all over North America, believing more than ever that songs can change your life, and your life can change the world.

Rod MacDonald – Saturday, 6/10/23
Rod MacDonald rose to prominence in NYC’s Greenwich Village in the 1980s, where he headlined Village clubs and co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. A recording and touring artist since 1983, he has performed in The Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Florida, Kerrville, South Florida, Port Fairy (Australia), Trowbridge (UK), Friuli (Italy) Folk festivals. With 11 cds and 100 performances annually throughout North America and Europe, he continues to dazzle audiences with his passionate singing and thought-provoking writing. His songs have been recorded by Shawn Colvin, Jonathan Edwards, Dave Van Ronk, Happy Traum, David Rowe, Four Bitchin’ Babes, Garnet Rogers, Joe Jencks, and many other singers. His latest cd, Later That Night, reached #3 nationally on the Roots Music Folk charts in February 2015, with the song “Raven” at #1. http://www.rodmacdonald.net/

Tickets $25 at the door (unless otherwise noted) – General Admission
Doors open 6:15p.m.
Show at 7:00p.m.
At The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry
110 Malphrus Road, Bluffton, SC, 843-837-3330
www.uulowcountry.org;
info: MusicOnMalphrus@gmail.com
uucl.office@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Musiconmalphrus/?ref=bookmarks