When: The Merry Muse folk club is held on the second Sunday of the month from 4-7pm.The blackboard begins at 4pm and the main act is at 6:15pm.

Location: The Merry Muse is at Canberra Irish Club 6 Parkinson St Weston.

Admission: $5 general admission, $3 MFS Members & Concession.

Blackboard: The blackboard is prebooked. Please email Eileen on ua.gro.kloforanom@esumyrrem if you are interested in performing, otherwise just get along and listen to some great music.

Next Merry Muse: Sunday 8 September with Peter Campbell

With musical roots deep in the socially conscious 60s and 70s, 50 years on the stage, four albums to his name, and a songsmith’s take on wrangling a challenging future, Peter Campbell brings a healthy dose of honesty, activism, human emotion, humour and personal politics to his infectious style of Indie Folk.

His substantial folk career and music has taken him round the world a couple of times. Peter, Paul & Mary covered his song Wild Places on their Such Is Love album and after touring with them was invited to record his second album at Peter’s studio in Maine USA.

More recently, his song Waited Too Long became the anthem for the United Nations International Summit on Domestic/Family Violence in the COVID-19 Era in 2020 – a three-day online conference out of New York attended by delegates from 47 countries and opened by the Pope.

He played the inaugural Bundanoon Folk Festival last year, Hornsby Kuringai FC a few weeks ago, St Albans Folk Festival in a few weeks, Braidwood Folk Club in May with Nerida Cuddy, The Loaded Dog in June, the Binalong Arts Group in July, and several other festivals, house concerts, clubs and events on through the year.

Click here to find out more about Peter in a snazzy PDF. Better still, catch him at the Muse on Sunday 8 September. You can also follow him on socials, or check out his website.

October Merry Muse: Sunday 13 October with Springtide

Jackie Luke (hammered dulcimer), Greg Wilson (Celtic harp) and the innovative cellist, Rita Woolhouse make up Australia’s most distinctive trio Springtide. Performing Celtic influenced vocal and instrumental music and touching on classical and world music genres, they boast a unique blend of more than 100 strings. Taking on many forms, you may have heard them play J.S Bach in a cave, English trad at Smith’s Alternative, or a beautiful Scottish song from their CD – Spindrift. These are just some of the rich traditions that Springtide explores. Springtide make regular appearances at festivals and acoustic events around Australia. They toured England and Ireland in 2015, and New Zealand in 2016. Springtide are on Facebook and the WWW.

November Merry Muse: Sunday 10 November with George Mann

George Mann (US) is a songwriter’s singer who would just as soon share stories and songs from the long history of folk music, as sing his own songs! George has produced albums featuring folk music legends as Utah Phillips, Pete Seeger, and Tom Paxton, and produced national tours of the US and Australia in honour of The Almanac Singers (2013) and Joe Hill (2015). George released his CD “This Chain” in October 2023 and toured folk clubs and festivals in Australia. He has just released a CD of Si Kahn’s songs, “Labor Day,” to honour Si on his 80th birthday. Join him for the launch of his new album featuring 21 of Si Kahn’s songs and some legendary folk artists. Check out the story of his albumn in this snazzy PDF.

BIO

A former union organizer and activist based in Ithaca, New York, George Mann sings songs from the last century of the labor and social justice movements, and his own songs are powerful and funny takes on the state of the nation. His concerts are part sing-along, part history lesson, and he can make you shout for joy, send chills down your spine or bring tears to your eyes in the same set. He also specializes in historical and educational workshops/theme concerts and presentations on folk music, labor and social history, and some of our most beloved folksingers.

George created and produced the “Hail to the Thief!” anti-Bush CD series of protest songs, featuring such folk legends as Tom Paxton, Utah Phillips, and Billy Bragg, and his work with veterans, unions and anti-war groups has kept him on the front lines for more than 25 years. He recorded and toured for ten years with Julius Margolin, who was 93 when he died in 2009, and in 2008 George directed and produced “A Union Man: The Life and Work of Julius Margolin,” a documentary film about Julius, a lifelong New Yorker, union member, and anti-war activist and singer.

He has a keen interest in labor and social history, and in 2013, George produced “The Almanac Trail” with Rik Palieri; the CD celebrates the music of The Almanac Singers and featured Pete Seeger narrating. He toured Australia, California and the Northwest twice in 2015, produced 31 concerts on the Joe Hill 100 Roadshow tours, and released “For the Road and The Sky” in October 2016.

While maintaining a touring and performance schedule of more than 200 gigs each year, including dozens of nursing and veterans’ homes, George has recently turned his eyes toward the nation’s veterans and the effects of two long wars on soldiers and their families. In 2016, he produced “Until You Come Home: Songs to Heal the Wounds of War,” a CD focusing on post-traumatic stress

disorder and the human cost of war. It features songs by such artists as Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco, Magpie, Roy Zimmerman, Joe Crookston, Joe Jencks, and John Gorka. “The Coronavirus Sessions” was released in October 2020 and one year later, George released “A World Like This,” both albums featuring a wonderful band of Ithaca-based musicians. Plans for 2023 included tours of the west coast in July, Australia in October, and his new CD “This Chain” was released in October!

www.georgemannmusic.com

www.untilyoucomehome.com

*Please be advised tickets for this concert will be $15 MFS Members and concessions, $20 full price

Past Performers

Alternate Route, Ami Williamson, Bluegrass Mountain Band, Bond Traps, Bronnie Ware, Cassidy’s Ceili, Canberra Union Voices Choir, Craig and Simone, Crooked Fiddle, David Griggs, Del Rey, Donal Baylor, Drummond and Lynne, Ecopella, Franklyn B Paverty, Frencham and Smith, Freyja Rain, Liz Frencham and Robbie Long, The Fuelers, Fred Pilcher, FedFull Circle, Greg Carlin, Hazy Gates, Humbug, Juke Baritone, and the Swamp Dogs, Julia Johnson, Julia Johnson, Karen Lynne, The Lenders, The Little Stevies, Lotsi, Mackenzie Jones, Mal Webb, Maureen O’Brien, Mihirangi, Mike Compton, Mr Fibby, New York Public Library, P J Wolf, Queen Juanita, The Rooftop Revellers, Sam Burke, Sam Buckingham, Selalu, Sanji, The Shiny Bum Singers, Simone, Sophie and Chanel, Spicy Fruit Chutney, Dr Stovepipe, Triplika, Truckstop Honeymoon, Ukeleles Canberra, What She’s Having, Women in Docs and many more.