Keith Murphy, Becky Tracy and Mark Roberts kick off Twilight on the Tavern Lawn June 1

Twilight Music begins its tenth annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Friday, June 1 with Keith Murphy, Becky Tracy and Mark Roberts.  The seven concert series continues every other Friday through August 24.  All concerts begin at 6:30 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain.  The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Putney Food Co-Op, Putney Paper Company, The Putney Inn, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations.  The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.  For information, visit http://www.twilightmusic.org or call 802-387-5772.
Keith Murphy and Becky Tracy have been pillars of the local Celtic music community for many years, running the Celtic music program at the Brattleboro Music Center and organizing the Northern Roots Festival. Becky balances power with beauty in her distinctive fiddle sound that has been shaped by her years of playing both traditional Irish and French Canadian music, while Keith draws on his rich Newfoundland heritage in his singing style and his commanding guitar technique. Together, their music has a drive and strength that reflects their work as dance musicians around the country and abroad. Their travels have extended the range of their music, too, pulling in the music of France and Scotland often in the form of compositions inspired by their travels. Long time members of the trio Nightingale, Becky and Keith continue to make music with a soulfulness and sophistication on fiddle, mandolin, guitar, piano and French Canadian foot percussion with singing in English and French.

Becky and Keith are joined by their long time musical friend and partner Mark Roberts on flute, banjo, percussion and French bombarde. Mark brings great color and drive to the band with a wealth of sounds shaped by his playing with the Red Clay Ramblers, the Irish band, Touchstone and as a band mate of Keith's in the Boston-based Childsplay. The trio presents a great range of music from driving Irish reels to stirring ballads with depth and energy.

The 2012 Twilight on the Tavern Lawn concert series schedule is:

Friday, June 1 KEITH MURPHY, BECKY TRACY & MARK ROBERTS - Celtic Tour de Force with fiddle, flute, banjo, foot percussion, guitar and French bombarde

Friday, June 15 DARLINGSIDE and JAMIE KENT & THE OPTIONS - String rock quintet with an exhilarating sound at the intersection of rock, classical and folk music, plus folk/pop singer/songwriter Kent’s trio

Friday, June 29 ELECTRIC FENCE – Southern Vermont acoustic/electric quartet that takes down the barriers between musical
styles

Friday, July 13 SLIPPERY SNEAKERS – High energy, traditional and contemporary Cajun/zydeco roots music

Friday, July 27 SAMIRAH EVANS AND HER HANDSOME DEVILS – Swampy, sultry, soulful jazz and blues sprinkled with a little New Orleans spice

Friday, August 10 SIMBA - Eight member funk and world beat band featuring blazing horns and scorching percussion

Friday, August 24 HOUSETOP - Lively, quirky, swingy, bluesy, old time American music with Vermont’s four-part harmony singin’, swingin’ string band