Martha Redbone to Bring Roots Sound to Massry Center 10/12

The Massry Center for the Arts, located on the campus of The College of Saint Rose, presents Martha Redbone on Saturday, October 12.  Martha, considered one of the most vital voices in American Roots music today, is a celebrated songstress with a magnificent voice, known for her mix of folk, blues, and modern music.

Martha Redbone is one of today’s most vital voices in American Roots music. A multi award-winning musician, the charismatic songstress is celebrated for her tasty gumbo of roots music embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky mixed with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. With the power of her gospel singing African-American father’s voice and the determined spirit of her Cherokee/Shawnee/Choctaw mother, Redbone broadens all boundaries of Americana. Her latest CD, The Garden of Love- Songs of William Blake, produced by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder/Grammy Winner John McEuen, is an unexpected twist and was called “a brilliant collision of cultures” by The New Yorker. It features Martha’s magnificent voice, Blake’s immortal words and a masterful cornucopia of roots music combining folk, country, Piedmont blues, gospel, bluegrass, soul and traditional Southeastern Native American.

Redbone and her long-term collaborator, pianist Aaron Whitby, are called “the little engine that could” by their “band of NYC’s finest blues and jazz musicians” (Larry Blumenthal-Wall Street Journal). From grassroots beginnings with residencies at the original Living Room NYC, then Joe’s Pub and nationally at powwows across Indian Country, Redbone has built a passionate fan base with her mesmerizing presence and explosive live shows. Her album Skintalk is described as the soulful sound of “Earth, Wind and Fire on the Rez”(Native Peoples Magazine) and is recognized as an example of Contemporary Native American music in the Library Collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Tickets are on sale now in person, by phone 518-274-7804, or online at www.massrycenter.org or www.troymusichall.org, and cost $35 for general public and $10 for College of St. Rose students. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall box office, located at 30 Second St., Troy, Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Massry Center for the Arts is located at 1002 Madison Ave., Albany.  Free off street parking is available behind the Massry Center building.