Doors at 2:30
Show at 3:00
Tickets at www.artinlee.org
$20 for ACMA members/$25 General Public.
The ACMA Alliance Concert series for March proudly presents Kray Van Kirk a fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Kray Van Kirk has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska, but he set science aside to write songs, tell stories and summon heroes.
“We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart,” he says, “and the stories are all true. There is a dark cave inside each of us, and monsters of all kinds lurk there, all the more lethal for being hidden. The quest is to journey inside, render the monsters powerless, find whatever it is that burns at the core of your soul and bring it back into the light. In a world divided it is critical to write songs and tell stories that show absolutely everyone they get to be the hero. Nobody is left behind.”
Thus his songs: Thunderbird resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner in the American Southwest (yes, the Phoenix drives a Thunderbird), The Queen of Elfland plucks Thomas the Rhymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him and the Queen into a subway car, The Library Song has Superman moonlighting among the stacks, Rosa and Hector ride through Sherwood Forest on canes and a wheelchair, and The Midnight Commander celebrates an insane old man leading the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.
Of this charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic performer, the Borderline Folk Club in New York wrote “it is what every singer-songwriter should aspire to.
Frank Corso has been performing early Country blues and Ragtime finger style guitar, focusing on the styles of people like Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, Reverend Gary Davis,Tampa Red and others. The originals that he writes draw their roots from this style also. On banjo, he has focused on the early Southern Clawhammer styles, particularly West Virginia and Round peak style Banjo.
His live performances will take the listener on a tour through the early styles of rural Southern Blues music and flawlessly intertwines it with his own contemporary songwriting. His songwriting stays in the tradition of complex finger style guitar arrangements and range from insightful heartfelt lyrics to hokum ragtime feeling originals. His trademark driving finger style guitar focus on an emphasis on the complexities of the feel of the old Ragtime style piano playing. The listener will take delight in the moving and driving beat of the music. Performances also always include some searing slide guitar performed on one of his National Steel guitars. Depending on the show, one is also likely to hear the old Appalachian style of clawhammer banjo tunes also performed on the 5 string banjo. He has performed and shared the stage with many of the legends of this music over the years such as Brownie McGhee and Sony Terry, Dave Van Ronk, J. Geil’s Band, John Mooney, Richard Smith, Taj Mahal, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, John Hammond, Richard Smith and many others. He currently has released 6 CD’s under his own name and has been a guest artist on many other notable Artists records. His last two CDs were recorded at Richard Smiths studio in Nashville with some notable musicians joining in. He has been a Three time winner of the New Hampshire Guitar competition in years past, winning a recording session at FishTracks recording Studio in Portsmouth NH, which was used to record his 1st CD. He more often than not performs with beautiful flattop guitars that he has designed and constructed himself. He has artist relationships with both National Resophonic guitars in San Luis Obispo and Fishman Transducers in Boston Ma.
He is also well known in the visual Art World for his dynamic realistic landscape paintings that hang in prestigious Corporate and Private collections around the world. He is represented by Galleries and dealers nationwide.