Acoustic Guitars are the common thread that unites Buck Curran, Liam Grant, and E. Jason Gibbs. Expect a wide range of styles, from traditional folk-americana to experimental-improvisational music.

Buck Curran developed his intense, intimate, and mesmerizing approach to live concerts through two decades of playing and touring extensively throughout the US, UK, and Europe as one-half of the psych-folk duo Arborea. In his solo work, he draws inspiration from the deep well of Folk and Rock of the 1960s (Robbie Basho, Bert Jansch, Pentangle, Sandy Denny, Peter Green, Tim Buckley, etc.). In April of 2020 Curran released his third solo album 'No Love Is Sorrow'. In May 2020, Premier Guitar Magazine published a feature article and NPR published a Tiny Desk Concert recorded at Buck's apartment in Bergamo, Italy. Lars Gotrich described the music: "There's a burning darkness to these songs, as Curran's rough-hewn voice and droning psych-folk melodies curl like smoke, but there's also a desperate hope that cracks the surface." No Love is Sorrow was also listed among the 'Best Albums of 2020' by Folk Radio UK and Aquarium Drunkard.

Liam Grant plays in the American Primitive style - mixing the traditional country blues fingerstyle folk idiom with unexpected composition and improvisational methods. This style utilizes the guitar as a narrative vehicle to create short-form symphonies, modal epics, and driving up-tempo rags. Liam's music has been both informed and inspired by traditional American music; including country blues, bluegrass, and old-time music, and personal reflections and relationships with the New England landscape and sense of place.

While E. Jason Gibbs's work for guitar is completely improvised (drawing on minimalism, noise, free jazz, and fingerstyle), his compositions are built from field recordings, and explore the relationship between the built and natural worlds and how humans impose themselves on environments. Inspired by liminal spaces where cities and nature overlap, the latter composed works also include the sounds of people in urban spaces, filtered and captured through resonances on, or in, structures. Gibbs's live work often incorporates improvised solo acoustic guitar alongside pre-recorded constructed soundscapes, and increasingly his live performances combine field recording compositions with live electromagnetic manipulations. 

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Saturday, May 6 at 7:30 PM (doors 7:00 PM); 120-minutes with an intermission

Tickets are available for $15 in advance, $18 at the door, and $22 for preferred seating (pay-what-you-can available)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

No Love Is Sorrow (2020) is the latest album by guitarist-singer-songwriter Buck Curran. Buck has also produced several various artists compilations: We Are All One, In the Sun: a tribute to Robbie Basho (2010), Basket Full of Dragons - a Tribute to Robbie Basho Vol II (2016), Ten Years Gone: A Tribute to Jack Rose (Tompkins Square 2019), along with the archival live recording; Robbie Basho Live in Forlì, Italy 1982 (2018).  He performed key shows and festivals (Green Man Festival, Moseley Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, etc).  In 2016 Buck released his first solo album Immortal Light, followed in 2018 by Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas, listed among the 'Best Albums of 2018' according to Folk Radio UK and Aquarium Drunkard.

Liam Grant is an acoustic guitar player with a punk ethos, cut from the American Primitive cloth. He made his debut in 2021 with his album "Swung Heavy: Gitarr for Fanatics," released through the Sound-O-Mat, which was met with seemingly endless touring through 2022 both solo and with seasoned veterans such as Mike Gangloff (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers). A split 7-inch single with Gangloff was released in January, and his album "Amoskeag" is in the process of being released through Carbon Records.

Improvisor/composer E. Jason Gibbs (b. 1969) is based in Portland, Maine. He works with guitar and field recordings and has been active for the last 35 years. Gibbs has recorded solo guitar records for 577 Records and Open Systems and has appeared on numerous compilations. His duo work with the double-bass player Nat Baldwin has been released by 577 Records, Industrial Coast, and Confront. As part of his practice, Gibbs also runs the label Open Systems, releasing LPs, CDs, and digital-only titles for himself and others.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN POLICY

No one will be turned away for lack of funds; contact MSA at 207-879-4629 or info@mayostreetarts.org for information on our pay-what-you-can admission policy.

COVID-19 POLICY

Audience members, staff, and volunteers will be asked to mask while not actively eating, or drinking.

Mayo Street Arts is committed to the safety of everyone at our events and will adhere to all Federal & Maine CDC guidelines on the day of the event. As we anticipate mid-season changes to our COVID-19 policy, please click here to visit our website and view the most current information.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Mayo Street Arts has a no-refund policy for all reservations. In the event that MSA is forced to cancel an event due to weather, illness, etc., refunds will be offered via the Ticket Tailor platform.