Bethlehem, PA - LIVE MUSIC NOVEMBER 16TH Two Venues - One Great Show

Bethlehem, PA - LIVE MUSIC
NOVEMBER 16TH Two Venues - One Great Show

Ten dollars gets you into either or both shows. Godfrey Daniel's, the vintage listening room at 7 E. 4th Street in So. Bethlehem has teamed up with the Wildflower Cafe & Gallery at 316 So. New Street. On Thursday November 16th, Godfrey's and the Wildflower will present the same performers…at different times.

Jonathan Byrd, 2003 Kerrville New Folk winner, widely hailed as the "next Greg Brown" will join forces with rising folk star, Danny Schmidt, for an evening of wordcraft and guitar play, with a twist. But the twist is in the
packaging.

Rather than compete for audience on a Thursday night, Godfrey's and the
Wildflower have decided to forge a collaboration, consistent with their
differing audience demographic and share the wealth - in this case a wealth
of instrumental and lyrical talent. Godfrey Daniels will present Byrd and
Schmidt, between 8PM and 9:30PM, with each man taking about a forty minute
set. After a brief interval, the boys will walk down the hill to grace the Wildflower contingent with another pair of sets, between 10PM and 11:30PM. Tickets will be on sale at both venues and are good for either or both shows. Godfrey Daniels 610-867-2390 (www.godfreydaniels.org) or Wildflower Cafe 610-758-8303. (www.myspace.com/wildflowercafe)

Danny Schmidt's last recording, Parables & Primes (2005) wowed them at
Sing Out magazine. Rich Warren's review called it "the pinnacle of contemporary
songwriting." Stylistically and musically, Danny's songs range from deeply-rooted Appalachian mountain gospel, to haunted English balladry, from syncopated Peidmont country blues, to vagabond 60's protest folk stumpery. If you like Bob Dylan, Townes VanZant, and Leonard Cohen, odds are, you'll like Danny Schmidt. Not that he sounds like them, but they're musical cousins, so to speak. Danny's choice of subjects and sense of wording begs the comparison. Bob Thiel, in the Nashville Producer, called Danny Schmidt, "hands down, one of the best living musician/poets that I am aware of."

Folk legend Tom Paxton discovered Jonathan Byrd's music and sent him a quick email, saying, "What a treat to hear someone so deeply rooted in tradition, yet growing in his own beautiful way." He had just released "Wildflowers," in late 2001, simple tales of love and death that seemed to be a hundred years old or more. In 2003 Byrd released his second album, "The Waitress" and won the prestigious New Folk competition in Kerrville, TX. That year, he set CD sales records at the festival.

One of those first songs was "Velma," a murder ballad based on the true story of Velma Barfield, the last woman to be executed in North Carolina (in 1984) and the murderer of Jonathan's own grandfather. This was the track that prompted Tom Paxton to respond so eloquently to Byrd's music. Other astute listeners have been similarly impressed.
I thought I was listening to a young Doc Watson."
- Jay Moulon, Southeast Performer Magazine