For Immediate Release:Contact: David Kuehn, Executive DirectorCotuit Center for the ArtsPhone: (508) 428-0669Email: David@cotuitcenterforthearts.orgWebsite: ArtsOnTheCape.org

Second Annual Hootenanny at Cotuit Center for the Arts

Cotuit Center for the Arts presents its Second Annual Hootenanny on Saturday, September 6, from 5:30 to 10 PM. The old-fashioned blues, brews, and barbecue throwdown will feature four New England American roots music groups: Mark Kilianski & Lucia Thomas, Sarah Swain and the Oh Boys, Mark Erelli, and headliner Jim Kweskin.

The event begins at 5:30 PM with a barbecue picnic that continues until 7 PM. Traditional barbecue fare and vegetarian options will be available for purchase, and there will be a cash bar.

Mark Kilianski and Lucia Thomas perform outdoors on the patio from 6 to 6:45 PM. Boston-based Kilianski is a versatile guitar player and composer. With a background in heavy metal, rock, and jazz, he earned a degree in jazz composition from Berklee College of Music, while, at the same time, immersing himself in Boston’s traditional/folk music scene, learning all about bluegrass, Celtic, Cajun, Quebecois, and other fiddle-based musical styles at jams and tuneswaps across the city.

He has since performed bluegrass with the Whiskey Boys and several other folk and bluegrass groups, as well as on his own, and has released several CDs. He will be joined by fiddler Lucia Thomas, who is a master of styles ranging from old-time Appalachian to Arabic violin to swing.

The Hootenanny moves indoors at 7 PM, when Sarah Swain and the Oh Boys! take the stage. Originally from Boston, singer/songwriter/guitarist Sarah Swain now lives on Cape Cod. She and The Oh Boys! draw on many influences, including rockabilly classics, country, and roots music, combining folksy melodies with a gritty rock sound.

The Oh Boys! features slide guitar virtuoso Jerry Smith, “Rocket” Ron Siegel on upright bass, and Liam Hogg on drums. Swain has released two CDs.

Singer/songwriter Mark Erelli, with multi-instrumentalist Charlie Rose, will perform from 7:45 to 8:30 PM, playing songs from his new album, “Milltowns,” a tribute to his musical hero Bill Morrissey.Erelli acknowledges many musical influences from Jackson Browne and John Hiatt to David Lindley and Ry Cooder. He has sung everything from Western swing and protest songs to lullabies and murder ballads, from church basement coffeehouses to the Newport Folk Festival.

One reviewer declared that he “embodies many of the best qualities of the folk-populist lineage that began with Woody Guthrie, and is carried today by Bruce Springsteen and others. “ His songs explore American themes, such as family, redemption, war, love, and more.

Jim Kweskin takes the stage at 8:45 and will perform until 9:45. He will be joined by Dan Kellar on fiddle and Matthew Berlin on bass. Kweskin is widely known for his 1960s-era Jug Band, which plays classic blues to hillbilly country, ragtime, jazz, and rock 'n' roll, and influenced such bands as the Grateful Dead and the Lovin’ Spoonful. He created one of the important guitar styles of the folk revival, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Blind Boy Fuller to the more complex chords of pop and jazz. Kweskin continues to explore traditional folk and blues, as well as jazz.

Tickets are $28, $25 for seniors, and $22 for members. Premium tables with wine are available. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit artsonthecape.org, or call 508-428-0669. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit.

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What: Second Annual Hootenanny

Where: Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit

When: Saturday, September 2, 5:30 to 10 PM

Admission:$28, $25 for seniors, $20 for members