Who: Laurelyn Dossett, Bet Williams
What: Songwriting Studio and live concert
Where: Jalopy Theatre, 315 Columbia St. between Woodhull & Rapelye Sts.
When: Saturday, May 9, $60, 2:00; Saturday, May 9, $25, 8:30
Why: “There are secrets / Secrets I swore I’d never tell / But the ones that I loved are all good gone dead / So listen, children, listen well,” Laurelyn Dossett sings on “Run to the River” on her debut solo album, How Many Moons (August 28, Sycamore Road). The North Carolina native has written songs that have been recorded by Levon Helm and the Carolina Chocolate Drops and for the theater (Brother Wolf, Radiunt Abundunt) and has toured with Rhiannon Giddens, Alice Gerrard, and others, but she now takes center stage, joined by her longtime friend and Penn State college roommate, Bet Williams, who is currently recording a new LP, Magic Beauty Pain, the follow-up to such discs as Rose Tattoo, Elephants and Angels, and The 11th Hour. Williams and Giddens appear on How Many Moons, along with Sophia Catanoso, Kari Sickenberger, Charly Lowry, M. C. Taylor, and the Glory Glory Chorus, made up of friends and relatives singing on a family porch.
Produced by Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger), How Many Moons is an intoxicating mix of Americana, folk, country, jazz, and blues, built around Dossett’s lovely voice. “Laurelyn Dossett is a songwriter and human that I find immensely inspiring. A survivor and a wonder-er. I know she has played a huge part in the lives of so many creative people, and I’m honored to have played a part in her new album,” Taylor said in a statement.
Dossett and Williams come to the Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn on May 9, first for a two-hour Songwriting Studio workshop at 2:00 in which they will share their musical knowledge, giving advice on tunes that participants can bring with them. At 8:30 they take the stage for a reunion concert; despite knowing each other for four decades, they have never performed together before this tour. Expect a rollicking, poetic evening of gorgeous and camaraderie, as evidenced in the below brand-new video.
“It’s all about the music, yes,” Dossett explained about the record. “But I have pulled together some stuff, and some experiences, that come from me, my friends and family, and this beautiful place I call home. It’s all of a piece of me — the music, the people I love, the land, the river, the flora and fauna. And you, the listener.”
So listen, everyone, listen well.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]