Our next show will be at the Museum of Commerce located in Historic Pensacola on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. and the show starts promptly at 6:00 p.m. Our featured artists are Brooks Williams, Ed Gerhard, Mean Mary, and the Heather Pierson Trio.
Tickets are $10 per person and may be purchased online in advance until 2:00 p.m. on the day of the show. You will receive an email confirmation of your purchase and you simply check-in at the door under your name. Tickets may also be purchased at the door if seats are available. Seating is first-come first-served.
Brooks Williams hails from Statesboro, Georgia, the town made famous by country-blues legend Blind Willie McTell. Ranked in the Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists, he’s a mean finger-picker and a stunning slide guitarist. Plus, “he has a beautiful voice,” says AmericanaUK, “that you just melt into.”
Williams got his start in the clubs and bars around Boston, the same music scene that years earlier sparked the careers of Bonnie Raitt and Chris Smither. With 28 albums to his name, including his latest, "Lucky Star", plus “Brooks’ Blues” (2017), “My Turn Now” (2016) and “Shreveport Sessions” (2014), and a vigorous touring schedule, Williams is one of acoustic roots music’s guiding lights.
Performing on 6-string, 12-string, slide guitar or Acoustic Hawaiian Lap Slide, Ed Gerhard captivates his audiences with virtuosity, generosity and sly humor. Known for his gorgeous tone and compositional depth, Gerhard can move a listener with a single note. Scott Alalrik of the Boston Globe said it best when he wrote ‘Gerhard does not write instrumentals. He writes songs only a guitar can sing.
Along with players like Ben Harper and David Lindley, Gerhard’s unique approach to the Weissenborn (an acoustic Hawaiian lap slide guitar) is playing a significant role in reinvigorating interest in this somewhat esoteric but beautiful instrument. Ed tours throughout the year in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, China and Korea.
Mean Mary (Mary James), is the youngest of six children. She was born in Geneva, Alabama, though her family lived in Florida, a couple miles below the Alabama line. Her mom (author, Jean James) and dad (WWII veteran, William James) lived a nomadic lifestyle. On one occasion they packed up the family and moved from Florida to Northern Minnesota, near the Canadian border, to rough it in the frigid wilds.
Today, she produces music and music videos, tours extensively across the US and overseas, and is co-writing a novel trilogy about the music world. She is also an endorsing artist for Deering Banjos, naming her their official Goodtime Ambassador. Mary plays 11 instruments and has recorded 16 albums, her newest being Cold. There is not room here to tell the whole life story of Mean Mary, but if you would like to hear more of it, listen to her music, it is all there.
Heather Pierson Trio is a pianist, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and performer. Her inspiring live performances and growing catalog of releases delve into Americana, blues, New Orleans jazz, vocal chants, instrumental piano, and poignant folk.
Best known for her virtuosity at the piano and her bell-tone vocals, her songs and musicianship embody joy, honesty, and a desire to share from the heart. In twenty years on her own record label, Vessel Recordings, she has released twelve CDs of original music including her latest, Lines and Spaces, her most ambitious and most personal release to date.