Downtown Sundown Concert Series: June 21st
Hear In Rhode Island and Roger Williams National Memorial will present several evenings of music featuring local singer-songwriters as part of the Downtown Sundown Series. Experience an “outdoor coffeehouse”. Performers on June 21st include Steve Allain, Emma Joy Galvin, Tracie Potochnik, Lisa Couto & Ray Cooke.
Bring a lawn chair, a blanket, and maybe even a picnic dinner and sit on the lawn at the beautiful Roger Williams National Memorial and enjoy FREE concerts by some of the best songwriters Rhode Island has to offer. There is limited parking at the park, but plenty of street parking and pay lots. All ages are welcome to the Downtown Sundown concerts!
About Steve Allian: Born about a half an hour west of Boston, Massachusetts, in the city of Marlborough, to French-Canadian parents, Steve Allain was raised on country music and Elvis Presley records. He always daydreamed about playing in a band. He eventually graduated from The Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, and later received a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in music. These years really helped to shape the musician/composer/songwriter that he has become.
Not limited to playing in rock bands and jazz quartets, Steve also composed for classical and experimental ensembles. Steve has returned to songwriting armed with years of experience and diversity creating a smart and unique blend of music that is widely varied, yet highly accessible to a broad audience.
About Emma Joy Galvin: A singer/songwriter of contemporary country music, 17-year-old Emma Joy Galvin is known for singing “I Am Home” for Adoption Rhode Island.
Galvin has also performed off-Broadway, in television and in film, but her real passion is writing and performing music. She’s already an active member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International and the Rhode Island Songwriters Association, and was the youngest member to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame based in New York when she was 13, where the next oldest member was at least 17.
About Tracie Potochnik: Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Providence-based Tracie Potochnik is a rising star on the Rhode Island singer-songwriter circuit. She was a double nominee in the 2013 Motif Music Awards (Americana Songwriter and Female Americana Vocalist), and is known for writing delicately crafted lyrical narratives in which she fully inhabits a range of complex and sometimes dark characters.
Her debut album, The Dream, was recorded on analog equipment at Dirt Floor Studio in Chester, Connecticut. Produced by Eric Lichter, The Dream is a collection of ordinary and extraordinary stories with a folk/Americana feel, with elements of classic country and 70s folk-rock. With instrumentation including banjo, organ, mandolin, and pedal steel, The Dream also features Brown Bird’s MorganEve Swain on fiddle.
About Lisa Couto: Early on, Lisa played in several New England dance bands going up and down the east coast and overseas. She later toured the states from Maine to Florida singing with her band “StarStruck”. It was at this time that she developed her soulful style, singing songs by Sade, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and Mary J. Blige. Lisa also at this time began recording her own tracks with partner Jim Wright and selling demos at gigs.
Lisa then shifted her focus almost solely to recording.More recently, Lisa had a track released on the “Soul Unsigned” label in the United Kingdom, has opened for the Indigo Girls at a concert in Newport and was presented with the Best Female Vocalist Award from Motif Magazine in 2013.
About Ray Cooke: I have been writing songs since I was in my teens. Ray Cooke has been writing songs since he was a teenage. He is content with the influence that music has had on his life. His biggest influences are The Doors, Ray Charles, Zepplin, Three Dog Night, Blood Sweat and Tears, Steppenwolf, and other bands of recent decades.
Featured image from: Mapquest
