Singer-songwriters Carolann Solebello (formerly of Red Molly) and Bob Westcott are the featured performers during the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s monthly Hard Luck Café series at the Cinema Arts Centre’s Sky Room on Thursday, February 16. The 8:30 p.m. concert will be preceded by an open mic at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 for Cinema Arts Centre and Folk Music Society of Huntington members; $10 for non-members. The Cinema Arts Centre is at 423 Park Avenue in Huntington. (631) 423-7611.

 

Most familiar to folk audiences as a founding member of the female trio Red Molly, Carolann Solebello returned to solo performance in August 2010 after six years with the band. She has three full-length Red Molly CDs to her credit, including James (2010), which peaked at #4 on the Americana chart, and Love and Other Tragedies (2008), which spent ten weeks in the Americana Top 15. Carolann’s song “Summertime” was #1 on the Folk DJ chart in July 2008. She has three solo CDs and is currently touring in support of her 2011 release, Threshold.

 

A New York City native, Carolann first fell in love with mountain music – and the bluegrass and country that grew out of that tradition – while working as an actor in East Tennessee and Kansas. Tunes and techniques she learned from musicians in both places fundamentally changed her approach to songwriting and guitar playing, coloring her subsequent work with Red Molly. Carolann continues to earn accolades performing her New York-inflected brand of original and traditional Americana as a solo artist.  (www.carolannsolebello.com) Carolann Solebello recently did an in-studio interview & performance for Up Close and Acoustic with Charlie Silvstri that may be heard online at upcloseandacoustic.com/podcasts.html.

 

Guitarist Bob Westcott is no stranger to audiences on Long Island, where his songwriting and guitar playing skills have made him a perennial favorite. His career began as a teenager playing guitar in the streets and basket houses of Greenwich Village, and, more auspiciously, as one of the very first members of the Wes Houston Band. Robbie Woliver, a former owner of Folk City and Greenwich Village scene author, has called Westcott “the real deal.” Bob has been perfecting his elegant finger-style guitar work for more than 40 years. From his Greenwich Village beginnings in the 60s, he moved to Manchester, England to explore the British folk scene, and then traveled throughout Canada and the US in the 70s, living in the Midwest, California and upstate New York before settling on eastern Long Island.

 

Westcott’s performances are peppered with stories about his personal experiences, his travels and travails. For many years, he hosted FMSH’s annual holiday revue. He has performed with The Defibrilators, Blacklisted and Banned, and The Daydreamers. But. On Feb. 16, he plays solo.

 

Established in 1973, the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington (www. cinemaartscentre.org) seeks to bring the best of cinematic artistry to Long Island and use the power of film to expand the awareness and consciousness of our community. LI’s only not-for-profit, viewer-supported, independent cinema presents a wide array of films that are often accompanied by discussions and guest speakers.

 

Now in its 43rd year, the Folk Music Society of Huntington (www.fmsh.org) presents two monthly concert series, a monthly folk jam and sing-along, and an annual folk festival in conjunction with the Huntington Arts Council. Antje Duvekot is the featured artist during the next First Saturdays Concert, March 3, at the Congregational Church of Huntington on Washington Drive (off Route 25A) in Centerport. The next Hard Luck Café series show at the Cinema Arts Centre is set for March 15 and will feature Long Island-based singer-songwriters Annie Mark and Katie Pearlman. Open mics precede each concert.

                                                                                                

Photo above right of Bob Wescott by Ruth Sovronsky

Photo above left of Carolann Solebello by Robert Berkowitz

 

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