ANN ARBOR, MICH. – In its second year, the “an Acoustic Café evening” tour features the diverse talent of three critically acclaimed female singer-songwriters: Northampton lit/pop darling and multi-instrumentalist Erin McKeown, award-winning Nashville Americana-folk artist Mary Gauthier (Feb 13-17 only) and Austin-based multi-instrumentalist Carrie Rodriguez.
“We’re thrilled to have Carrie and Erin returning to the Acoustic Cafe Evening Tour,” said Rob Reinhart, producer and host of the syndicated radio program Acoustic Café. “And Mary Gauthier has been a guest on the show many times over the years, so we’re honored to have her lending her talents to the tour in 2011. These artists represent precisely what Acoustic Cafe is all about!”
Erin McKeown spent 2010 touring in support of her latest release Hundreds of Lions, her first album of original songs since 2005’s We Will Become Like Birds. The year also marked a decade since the release of her critically acclaimed debut Distillation on Signature Sounds. In September, Erin embarked on the “Distillation 10th Anniversary Tour.” A constant on the road, she regularly holds down a rigorous tour schedule of 200 shows a year.
Acclaim has followed Mary Gauthier on every step of her remarkable journey. Her breakthrough album, Mercy Now (2005) was continuously “discovered” and lauded for the two years following its release, earning mentions on a score of year end “best of” lists. Since its 2010 release, Gauthier’s sixth album, The Foundling has garnered widespread critical acclaim and has been called “electrifying” by The Los Angeles Times, “a stunning new concept album” by The Boston Globe.
Following her appearance on the “Acoustic Café Evening” tour in 2010, Carrie released the “beautifully conceived, passionately performed” (- All Music Guide) Love & Circumstance and spent the year touring – primarily as a headliner and opening dates on the “Acoustic Brotherhood Tour” with Los Lonely Boys and Alejandro Escovedo as well as John Prine. On February 1st, she will release We Still Love Our Country, an album of duets with Ben Kyle of Romantica featuring covers of classic Americana songwriters alongside a few originals.
ABOUT ACOUSTIC CAFÉ:
Acoustic Café is a two hour weekly radio show, and an independent media production of RDR Radio, LLC. The program is produced and hosted by Rob Reinhart who started the show in 1995. Each week, listeners around the globe tune in to Acoustic Café to hear the latest from today’s great songwriting talents. 2010 marked some changes for Acoustic Cafe with the addition of the “an Acoustic Cafe Evening” tour” (returning in 2011), “Acoustic Cafe Live @ Top Of The Park,” a summer series with The Ann Arbor Summer Festival and promotion of the 34th Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival, a fundraiser for The Ark. More information about Acoustic Cafe can be found at Acafe.com or on Facebook.
“An Acoustic Café Evening” tour will come to the following cities:
*February 13 CHICAGO, IL Old Town School of Folk Music
*February 14 ST LOUIS, MO Old Rock House
*February 15 KANSAS CITY, MO Knuckleheads Saloon
*February 16 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK The Blue Door
*February 17 MEMPHIS, TN Memphis Downtown Marriott & Conv. Ctr.
Folk Alliance Conference
February 18 NEW ORLEANS, LA Ogden Museum
February 19 JACKSON, MS St. James Church
February 20 HOUSTON, TX McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
February 22 AUSTIN, TX Cactus Café
February 23 DALLAS, TX Lakewood Theater
* denotes date with Mary Gauthier
