Interference Series Presents: Manos Percussion + Davis/Wallace Duo
2025-01-13 19:30 (America/Phoenix) | Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, AZ, 86001, United States
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Arizona Philharmonic principal timpanist, Maria Flurry along with award-winning Bensen Kwan on steel pan (a participant in the Panorama Semi-Finals Competition in Trinidad/Tobago) and Joshua Ferrell on percussion (a Master’s Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas in Denton) comprise Manos, a percussion ensemble dedicated to performing a variety of different genres. Flurry notes that, “we are all classically trained musicians, unleashing our creative sides to explore this rich collaboration.”
Percussionists Owen Davis and Rob Wallace have performed together as a duo since 2016. Their aesthetic draws on eclectic musical traditions, infused with the spirit of free improvisation and the exploration of sound and timbre. Davis and Wallace co-curate the Interference Series, and have performed and recorded with a wide variety of artists from around the globe.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount
Thank you to Americana Motor Hotel, our lodging partner for visiting artists and performers.

Greenhouse Productions Presents: Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
2025-01-14 19:30
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“The hardest thing to do,” says internationally beloved soul-blues rocker Tommy Castro, “is be yourself, take some chances and bring your fans along with you.” Throughout his long, constantly evolving career, guitarist, singer and songwriter Tommy Castro has always remained true to himself while exploring, growing and creating new music, and he has taken his thousands of devoted fans right along with him. Since his solo debut in 1994, he’s made 16 albums—the last seven for Alligator—each its own unique chapter in the book of Tommy Castro. Ranging from horn-fueled R&B to piping hot blues to fiery, stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll, each release is solidly built upon Castro’s unshakable musical foundation—a dynamic mix of 1960s-influenced guitar-fueled blues, testifying Memphis-soaked blue-eyed soul and Latin-tinged East San Jose funk, all driven by Castro’s grab-you-by-the-collar vocals and passionate guitar work. Blues Revue declared, “Tommy Castro can do no wrong.”
For Castro’s new album, a roots music odyssey entitled Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town, he tells a timeless story. This special project was composed by Castro along with Grammy Award-winning producer Tom Hambridge. Through its 13 songs, A Bluesman Came To Town tells the tale of a young man working on his family farm who gets bitten by the blues bug. He masters the guitar and heads out on the road seeking fame and fortune, only to find what he’s left behind is the treasure he’s been looking for. Each memorable song—from the blistering title track to the pleading Child Don’t Go to the hopeful I Caught A Break to the emotional Blues Prisoner—stands on its own, as well as contributing to the larger story.
“I like to keep things fresh and interesting,” says Castro, “Tom and I have talked about making a record together for a long time. Collaborating with him was even better than I imagined. I had an outline for the story and then Tom and I talked it out and the songs just started to organically grow out of each other.” Castro continues, “A Bluesman Came To Town isn’t a story about me. It’s pulled from some of my friends’ and my experiences though. I’ve seen first-hand for a lot of years what it’s like out there on the road.”
The road has always been Castro’s home away from home. He’ll instantly ignite a crowd, turn them into loyal fans and then keep those fans coming back for more. He has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles and performed thousands of gigs, leading his bands at clubs, concert halls, and festivals all over the world. Famed guitarist Joe Bonamassa says, “Tommy has always been top of the heap among blues guitar players. He always puts on a great show.”
Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Tommy Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He fell under the spell of Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Mike Bloomfield and other blues artists of the day. Almost every major rock and soul act, from Ike and Tina Turner to Janis Joplin to the J. Geils Band to Tower Of Power, toured through the area, and Castro was at every show. He saw John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the same local blues bar, JJ’s, where he often jammed, dreaming of one day busting out. Mixing the blues and rock and roll he loved and the soul music he heard blasting from lowriders in his neighborhood Tommy started to create his own personal sound and style. He honed his guitar skills and intense, gritty vocals, learning how to capture an audience as he performed on San Francisco’s highly competitive club scene. As his reputation spread, Tommy played in a variety of Bay Area bands, soon making a name for himself as a hotter-than-hot live artist bursting at the seams with talent. In 1985, he was recruited to become lead singer and guitarist for the regionally popular blues band NiteCry, gigging regularly throughout Northern California. Castro joined Warner Brothers’ artists The Dynatones in the late 1980s, performing all over the country. He formed the first Tommy Castro Band in 1992 and has not stopped touring since. In 1995, soon after releasing his first album on Blind Pig Records, The Tommy Castro Band was selected as the house band for three seasons on NBC Television’s Comedy Showcase (airing right after Saturday Night Live). The show brought him in front of millions of viewers every week and cemented his reputation as a not-to-be-missed, nationally touring live performer.
After a series of successful releases on the Blind Pig, Telarc and 33rd Street labels, Tommy Castro joined Alligator Records in 2009. His label debut, Hard Believer, was released to massive popular and critical acclaim. With the album, Castro won four of his six career Blues Music Awards, including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year Award (the very highest award a blues performer can receive). In 2012, Castro stripped his music down to its raw essence, creating a high-energy, larger-than-life sound with the formation of The Painkillers. Tommy Castro & The Painkillers’ initial release, The Devil You Know, was embraced by his legion of fans and discovered by hordes of new ones. With the current version of The Painkillers (bassist Randy McDonald, drummer Bowen Brown and keyboardist Michael Emerson), Castro released Method To My Madness in 2015, Stompin’ Ground in 2017, and the irresistible Killin’ It–Live in 2019, with critics shouting praise and admirers cheering the group’s every move. The band has coalesced into one of the telepathically tightest units Castro has ever assembled, making them one of the most in-demand live roots music acts performing today, delivering soul-shaking, muscular music.
Castro’s relentless road-dog approach—gig after gig, night after night—has won him loyal, lifelong fans everywhere he plays. The Washington Post says Castro is “phenomenal and funky” with “soulful vocals and inspired blues guitar.” The San Francisco Chronicle describes Castro’s music as, “funky Southern soul, big city blues and classic rock…silvery guitar licks that simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.” No Depression says “Castro plays gritty, string-bending blues like a runaway train…a glorious blend that rocks the soul and lifts the spirits.”
Upon release of A Bluesman Came To Town, Castro will hit the road with The Painkillers, performing fan favorites as well as songs from the new album. “I’ve made seven albums for Alligator,” Castro says, “and I’ve never made the same record twice. I will always try to be my most authentic self. I give it all I’ve got every time we hit the stage!”
Save 10% with membership! Members use TC25 as their promo code prefix (followed by unique member number). Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount
Thank you to Americana Motor Hotel, our lodging partner for visiting artists and performers.

Greenhouse Productions Presents: John McEuen & The Circle Band
2025-01-28 19:30
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Often referred to as ‘the String Wizard’, he weaves stories of his travels and family life (he has raised 7 kids), taking us through where his musical path has taken him.
A founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1966, John McEuen instigated the 1972 classic Will the Circle Be Unbroken album, (inducted in to the Library of Congress as ‘one of America’s most important recordings). He has earned Emmy nominations, Grammy Awards, CMA acclaim, The Western Heritage Award, and many other accolades can be found on his website: www.johnmceuen.com.
Proud to be an integral part of the first American band to go to Russia (in 1977!), John’s love of performing is evident when during his shows he takes us ‘behind the curtain’ of the music world that so many of us know of only as listeners, and shows us how we have all been a part of it, more than we may know.
McEuen’s XM radio show, Acoustic Traveller, is in its 6th year, and you can find his new Americana Music Show on Syndicatednews.net (of which he is CEO)
As winner of the 2010 Best of the West Performer award from the Folk Alliance organization, John’s show is sure to be one enjoyed by all. He also won Best Bluegrass Album Grammy that year for his production of The Crow – Steve Martin). John in June of 2013 was honored with the Charlie Poole Lifetime Achievement Award in North Carolina.
With music from 1860’s to now, original songs laced with known hits, and a special tribute to the ‘Circle’ album music (and the stories behind it), it all comes to life in an evening of acoustic music in overdrive.
Save 10% with membership! Members use JM25 as their promo code prefix (followed by unique member number). Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount
Thank you to Americana Motor Hotel, our lodging partner for visiting artists and performers.

Interference Series Presents: Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica
2025-01-29 19:30
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The Interference Series is beyond excited to present Boston-based Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica. Join us for an electric evening featuring instruments and music from around the world.
In the same way a chef de cuisine runs a kitchen, percussionist Brian O’Neill leads a team of five musical creators who deftly collaborate on instruments foreign and domestic to form modernist delicacies for hungry, curious listeners. From the high arts of jazz and chamber music to adaptations of mid-century exotica and pop art, the quintet version of Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica renders O’Neill’s original compositions and curious arrangements of Bach, Gershwin, Shostakovich and John Adams into cinematic, layered music for armchair travelers ready to journey off road.
While the quintet eschews most of the musical forms, rhythms, and styles of the 1950s exotica sound that inspired O’Neill, it fully embraces the unique genre’s love of escapism, whether through deliberate, out-of-context use of global sounds or through jazz improvisation that doesn’t swing and deliberately imitates the rhythm of a skipping record. On the listener’s plate might be equal parts scratch and sniff, bongos with a fugue, and a cat fight at a piano recital. On the stage, the ensemble skillfully negotiates detailed compositions and arrangements of classical works while relying on listening and instinct to drive passionate improvisation. The quintet has delighted ears across the US and internationally and was awarded a $15,000 touring grant from SouthArts’ JazzRoad Tours program in 2024.
“If John Zorn is an exotica Picasso, O’Neill is his Georges-Braque counterpart in cubism’s transposition to music.”—AllAboutJazz
“No other band on the planet sounds anything remotely like Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica.”—Lucid Culture
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount
Thank you to Americana Motor Hotel, our lodging partner for visiting artists and performers.

Luca Ciarla Mediterramìa
2025-01-31 19:30
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Italian violinist Luca Ciarla draws a new musical route in the Mediterranean with a loop pedal, his voice and a few toy instruments.
In this performance, Luca Ciarla plays all of his band’s music solo, using the violin like a guitar, a cello or a percussion instrument. In this imaginative musical landscape Luca sings, whistles, plays other instruments or adds new improvisations; music is continuously evolving into a dazzling solOrkestra. The program Mediterramìa features unusual arrangements of traditional Italian folk tunes, music from the Mediterranean area and original compositions. “…a magical acoustic seduction where everybody can find familiar influences…from genuine folk to sophisticated jazz.” – Il Fatto Quotidiano (Italy)
A creative and surprising violinist, Luca Ciarla easily transcends the boundaries among genres to trace an innovative musical path, a magical acoustic seduction in perfect balance between written compositions and improvisation, traditional and contemporary sounds. He has successfully performed in jazz, classical and world music festivals and concert series in more than 70 countries around the world; from Montreal Jazz Festival to the Hong Kong Performing Arts Centre, from Celtic Connections in Scotland to the Villa-Lobos Festival in Rio de Janeiro, from Melbourne Jazz Festival to the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Italy. “…one of the most interesting violinists nowadays on the international scene, capable of browsing around different sounds and genres without ever losing his unmistakable style.” – la Repubblica (Italy)
A native of Termoli, Italy, Luca began playing violin and piano at the age of eight. By twelve he was studying at the conservatory and few years later began exploring jazz and improvisation. He received his violin degree in 1993 and then studied at the Fiesole School of Music and the Scuola di Alto perfezionamento of Saluzzo. In 1996 Luca moved to the United States to pursue a master’s at the Indiana University and to study jazz with David Baker. Subsequently he also completed a doctorate in musical arts at the University of Arizona where he taught violin for few years. Winner of several competitions in Italy and abroad, in 1999 he was awarded by the prestigious New York-based Chamber Music America. Over the years Luca Ciarla has worked with artists such as Greg Cohen, Chris Jarrett, Daniele Sepe, Joshua Bell, Edgar Mayer, Daniele Scannapieco, Danilo Rea, Sylvain Gagnon, Anthony Fernandes, Luciano Berio, Andrea Piccioni, Meklit Hadero, Simone Zanchini, Marina Rei, Blaine Whittaker, Mimmo Locasciulli, Luciano Biondini, Fabrizio Bosso, Sergio Cammariere, Rodolfo Maltese, Paola Turci, Luigi Tessarollo, Ferruccio Spinetti, Mark Rush, Peppe Voltarelli, Javier Girotto, Antonio Forcione. After recording with several prestigious labels, Luca Ciarla founds Violipiano, a production company that takes care of his artistic activity at 360 degrees. He regularly collaborates with visual artist Keziat with whom he has envisioned the performance Music for your Eyes, presented also in Johannesburg under the invitation of South African artist William Kentridge. Numerous national and international media have talked about him, including la Repubblica, New York Times, Rai 1, Il Fatto Quotidiano, The Sydney Morning Herald, RadioRai 2, TGcom Mediaset, Il Giornale della Musica, RTHK Hong Kong, Neue Musikzeitung and many others. At the invitation of the Fiesole School of Music, Luca has recently performed in Florence for the Strings City Festival, in the same spaces dedicated to the retrospective on Marina Abramović at Palazzo Strozzi.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount
Thank you to Americana Motor Hotel, our lodging partner for visiting artists and performers.

Nolan McKelvey and Mark Zubia
2025-02-01 19:30
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Over the course of his twenty-five-year career, Nolan McKelvey has covered nearly every corner of the country and traversed all roads of Americana. From the pavement of alt-country, to the dusty trails of bluegrass, to the gravel roads of classic-country, to the interstate highway of rock-n-roll. Nolan has received critical acclaim along the way from magazines like No Depression, Country Standard Time, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, and Performer Magazine among many others.

Nolan has opened for luminaries of Americana like Greg Brown, Peter Rowan, Odetta, Fred Eaglesmith, Los Lobos, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, and Leon Russell. He has also opened for contemporary artists like Leftover Salmon, Railroad Earth, Cowboy Junkies, Gregory Alan Isakov, Jack Johnson, Infamous Stringdusters, Jeffrey Foucault, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Son Volt, Josh Ritter, David Grisman and the list goes on and on…
Nolan performed in several bands in Boston, including The Benders, The Resophonics, with Kris Delmhorst, Ry Cavanaugh, The Vinyl Avenue String Band, Jabe, Bow Thayer, and his own 33. He was dubbed “Central to the (Boston) roots-rock revival” by WBUR radio. His bands won two Boston Music Awards (BMA) and were nominated for BMA’s 7 times in his 5 years in the city. Since returning to Arizona, Nolan was named “Best Musician” by the readers of the Arizona Daily Sun and has been dubbed “One of the best songwriters in the southwest,” and “Flagstaff’s Poet Laureate.” (FlagLive)
Nolan’s studio credits include recording with grammy-winner Levon Helm (The Band), Dana Colley and Billy Conway (Morphine), Paul Q. Koldrie (Pixies, PJ Harvey, Radiohead and more), Jennifer Kimball (The Story, Wayfaring Strangers) among many others. Nolan’s songs have appeared on 21 cds to date, he released five solo albums, five albums with The Benders, six with Muskellunge, four with former band Onus B. Johnson and a duo disc with Dave Desmelik. Nolan’s work as a bass player and harmony singer pushes the release list over 75 recordings.
Nolan has performed at the Newport Folk Festival (RI), Cambridge Folk Festival (MA), Boston Folk Festival (MA), Telluride Bluegrass Festival (CO), Sedona Bluegrass Festival (AZ), Tweed River Music Festival (VT), Roots on the River (VT), Tilted Earth Music Festival (AZ), Musical Instrument Museum Music Festival (AZ) and Pickin’ in the Pines Acoustic Music Festival (AZ) among many more. His music has aired on nationally syndicated radio shows like World Café, Nashville Bluegrass Breakdown, and Car Talk.
Nolan currently performs his own songs solo, with Nolan McKelvey Trio, with Muskellunge, and he is the bass player in Tramps and Thieves. He performs regularly in the Southwest, and occasionally on the east coast.

Born and raised in the overheated environs of Phoenix, Arizona, Mark Zubia has become a veritable institution in the state, helping lead a series of popular and successful combos.
Notable among these groups were the Chimeras, a powerhouse Zubia formed along with his brother Lawrence, longtime friend Doug Hopkins – co-founder of Gin Blossoms – Scott Andrews and Mark Riggs.
The Chimeras eventually morphed into the Pistoleros and with the name change also came a major label recording and EMI publishing contract. The group’s Hollywood Records debut “Hang On To Nothing” found the Zubias collaborating with a number of notable names, including Gary Louris & Marc Perlman (Jayhawks), Radney Foster (Foster & Lloyd) and Pat DiNizio (Smithereens).
In July 2019, Mark was inducted into The Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
MZ continues to write, record and perform solo, with his band Los Guys and various acoustic projects.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Greenhouse Productions Presents: Tinsley Ellis
2025-02-20 19:30
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“A legend of American blues music…An American music treasure…Ellis delivers a sermon on the power and glory of the blues.” –Premier Guitar
“Powerful, spine-tingling guitar and gritty, soulful vocals.” –Relix
According to Atlanta-based blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Tinsley Ellis, his new, first-ever solo acoustic album, Naked Truth, is both “a departure and an arrival.” Ellis has been recording and travelling the world for over four decades, delivering his feral, guitar-fueled, original electric blues-rock to ever-growing audiences at concert halls, festivals, and clubs. Naked Truth is steeped in the folk blues traditions of Muddy Waters, Skip James, Son House, Robert Johnson and even Leo Kottke. To the casual fan, this might seem to be a new direction, but for Ellis, it’s an extension of his music, as he taps into the raw essence of the blues. “This is a record I’ve always wanted to make, and one that my longtime fans have been asking for,” he says, noting he’s included an acoustic mini-set in his concert performances for years. In the last 12 months, Ellis has already performed over 100 solo shows, many as co-bills with his Alligator label-mate Marcia Ball. “I’m having so much fun playing these shows,” he says.On Naked Truth (his 21st album), Ellis swaps his blistering, guitar-fueled full band workouts for equally passionate, soul-searching acoustic folk blues. His famed guitar chops and musical creativity are on full display throughout the album’s 12 songs, including nine newly written originals. Naked Truth was produced by Ellis, with the foot-stomping cover of Son House’s Death Letter Blues produced by Atlanta roots musician Eddie 9V. The album was recorded live in the studio using Ellis’ beloved 1969 Martin D-35 (a gift from his father) and his 1937 National Steel O Series guitars. Whether intricately fingerpicking the Martin or playing hair-raising slide on the National Steel, Ellis delivers each song with unvarnished intimacy.
The opener, Ellis’ original Devil In The Room, comes from an expression Ellis’ close friend, the late Col. Bruce Hampton, would tell his musicians just before a show was about to begin (“We’re here to put the devil in the room,” he’d say). From the original, Skip James-inspired Windowpane to the Delta-styled Tallahassee Blues, to the humorous Grown Ass Man, Ellis goes deep, singing and playing the blues’ honest truths. The inclusion of four introspective instrumentals (including a transcendent cover of Leo Kottke’s A Soldier’s Grave On The Prairie, a song he’s been playing live for almost 50 years) adds even more depth and substance to an album overflowing with riches. Each song carries the weight, experience and hard-earned wisdom Ellis learned over four decades on the road, infusing Naked Truth with an emotional authenticity that is palpable from start to finish.
Tinsley Ellis has been immersed in music his whole life. Born in Atlanta 1957 and raised in southern Florida, he acquired his first guitar at age seven, inspired by seeing The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. He took to guitar instantly, developing and sharpening his skills as he grew up. Like many kids his age, Ellis discovered the blues through the back door of British Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream and The Rolling Stones as well as Southern rockers like The Allman Brothers. One afternoon after high school in 1972, he and a friend were listening to Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield’s Super Session record when his friend’s older brother told them that, if they liked Super Session, they should go see B.B. King, who was in town that week. Tinsley saw that show from the very front row. As fate would have it, King broke a guitar string while playing, and after changing it without missing a beat, he handed the broken string to young Tinsley. And yes, Tinsley still has that string.
Less than three years later, Ellis, already an accomplished teenaged musician, left Florida and moved to Atlanta. He soon joined a hard-driving local blues band, the Alley Cats. In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta’s top-drawing blues band. After cutting four Heartfixers albums (three for the Landslide label), Ellis was ready to step out on his own.
Georgia Blue, Tinsley’s first Alligator release, hit the unprepared public by surprise in 1988, as press and radio brought his music to more people than ever before. His next four releases—1989’s Fanning The Flames, 1992’s Trouble Time, 1994’s Storm Warning, and 1997’s Fire It Up—further grew his reputation as well as his audience. (His song A Quitter Never Wins, a highlight of Storm Warning, was recorded by Jonny Lang, selling almost two million copies.) Features and reviews ran in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and in many other national and regional publications. And he backed it all up performing hundreds of nights per year. Rolling Stone declared, “Feral blues guitar…non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge…his eloquence dazzles…he achieves pyrotechnics that rival Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”
In the early 2000s, Ellis released albums on Capricorn Records and on Telarc, returning to Alligator in 2005 with Live–Highwayman, which captured the fifth-gear energy of his roof-raising live show. He followed it with two more incendiary studio albums, 2007’s Moment Of Truth and 2009’s Speak No Evil. He self-released four successful albums on his own Heartfixer label before coming back home to Alligator in 2018. That year, he released the fan favorite Winning Hand, followed by 2020’s Ice Cream In Hell just before the pandemic sidelined all touring. With 2022’s Devil May Care, Ellis embarked on another relentless, coast-to-coast tour, further cementing his reputation as one of the most prolific and exciting blues rockers on the scene.
Tinsley Ellis has brought his music to fans live in person to all 50 United States, as well as in Canada, across Europe, Australia and South America. He’s earned the love and respect of many of his fellow musicians, having shared stages with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, The Allman Brothers, Warren Haynes, Oliver Wood, Buddy Guy, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gov’t Mule, Widespread Panic, and more. Over the years, legends including Otis Rush, James Cotton, Gregg Allman, Jimmy Buffett, Son Seals, Koko Taylor and Albert Collins invited Ellis to join them on stage. Mega-star guitarist Joe Bonamassa calls Ellis “a national treasure.”
Now, with Naked Truth, Ellis will bring his music directly to his fans. “Two guitars and a car,” he says of the simplicity of his North American touring situation. “When folks come to see me, I’ll have the guitars I used on the record with me, so what fans hear on the album is what they’ll get live. It’s not easy. Now I’m the whole band and there’s nowhere to hide. It’s scary every single time I go up on stage alone. But nothing could be more honest.”
Naked Truth is a revelation. Stripped of the electric fervor that defined his previous works, Ellis’ acoustic music carries a rawness that speaks directly from his soul. The songs unveil another side of Tinsley Ellis, but one that is totally recognizable to his fans. His gruff, full-throated vocals intertwine seamlessly with the bare, acoustic arrangements, creating an album that is both timeless and immediate. No Depression says, “Ellis shines. When the tempo slows, the intensity doesn’t waver.” Blues Music Magazine states, “Tinsley Ellis is a powerful and commanding presence. His music is impossible not to enjoy.”

Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

POSTPONED - David Huckfelt and Dirt Rhodes
2025-03-02 18:30
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Due to unforseen circumstances this performance has been postponed. New dates will be announced just as soon as we are able to reschedule. Sorry for any inconvenience.

David Huckfelt is a singer/ lyricist /activist and founding frontman of Minneapolis indie-folk cult favorites The Pines. An Iowa native and former theology student, Huckfelt attended the Iowa Writers Workshop before turning his attention to songwriting and performing. With improvisational mastery, Huckfelt’s shows and songs of no-spiritual-surrender have earned him a devoted following from small-town opera houses & theaters to national festival stages like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Edmonton and Calgary Folk Fests, and the legendary First Avenue mainroom, sharing stages with Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris, Bon Iver, Calexico, Trampled By Turtles & more. An early encounter and collaboration with radical Native American poet John Trudell introduced Huckfelt as friend & partner to an array of Indigenous artists & activists including Winona LaDuke, Louise Erdrich, & Keith Secola, working for climate justice and tribal sovereignty under the banner of music + resistance. With roots in the same fertile Midwestern soil that produced legendary folk singers like John Prine and Greg Brown, David’s new solo work preserves a rugged optimism that blasts through layers of dark in real time with songs that speak volumes, soft & clear.

Dirt Rhodes is a Diné musician from Fort Defiance, Arizona, located on the Navajo Nation. His first release “Navajo Country Music” was released in September of 2020. Since, he’s graced stages of the southwest with Rez Country sounds. With influences from Texas, Nashville, and The Navajo Nation, Dirt Rhodes aims to highlight Indigenous peoples’ long history with Country and Western music.

Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Wild World Irish Fiddle: Immigrant Solidarity Concert for St. Patrick’s Day
2025-03-15 17:00 - 19:30
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Pay-What-You-Will – $20 suggested donation. All proceeds to benefit Northern Arizona Immigration Legal Services.

Interactive activity: 5:00pm – 5:30pm
Music & Dance: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Panel discussion and talkback to follow performance: 7:00pm – 7:30pm
Irish Tunes with Latin Beats. 19th-century Ireland saw massive emigration to the U.S. by people fleeing starvation, poverty, and oppression. They took great risks to gain better lives for their children. Many of us are their descendants. How can we honor what they endured? By extending empathy to those struggling today at our borders!
Join us for a musical expression of connection. When we travel deeply into the roots of specific cultures, we reach a deep place where all our human roots intertwine. Drawing from Kate’s heritage and years of learning fiddle and dance in the traditional way in County Clare, Ireland, and Armand Ramirez’s masterful and wide-ranging guitar experience in jazz, classical, flamenco, and Latin rhythms, this new, innovative sound will be sure to move you in body and soul!
Kate Rose learned a rooted, earthy, living tradition of fiddle-playing from farmers on the west coast of Ireland, gathering tunes and stories from the older generation in the 1990s. Her shows engage the audience, teaching dance steps, telling stories, and bringing the community together. Believing that all our roots connect when we go deeply, she journeys into vibrant, complex, and universal experiences through melody, mostly on fiddle but also some mandolin and Irish whistle, song, lilting, and dance.
Armand Ramirez’s masterful and wide-ranging guitar experience in jazz, classical, flamenco, and Latin rhythms, this new, innovative sound will be sure to move you in body and soul!
Panelists:
Luis Fernandez, PhD, Chair of Criminology and Criminal Justice at NAU
Eva Putzova, Leader of Catch Fire Movement of Flagstaff
Grace Vaughan, Legal Services Program Director at NAILS

Interference Series Presents: Mother Told Us To Dance
2025-03-28 22:00 - 23:59
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Album Release “Warehouse” Party for Betsy Vee
Join us this Friday for a late-night dance party in the empty gallery space! Get ready to move with electrifying EDM sets from Betsy Vee, Quick Kay, and Kalt.
16+. Everyone will be carded at the door.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Earth
2025-04-17 19:30 - 21:30
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Over the course of their thirty trips around the sun, Earth has remained diligent in their commitment to monolithic minimalism. The sonic vocabulary may have changed—from their early years churning out seismic drone metal on albums like Earth 2 (1993) to the dusty Morricone-tinged comeback album Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method (2005) to the meditative rock approach of Primitive and Deadly (2014)—but the underlying principle of austerity and restraint remains a constant. With their latest album Full Upon Her Burning Lips, Earth purges the layers of auxiliary instrumentation that embellished some of their previous records and deconstructed their dynamic to the core duo of Dylan Carlson on guitar and bass and Adrienne Davies on drums and percussion. In the process, they tapped into the Platonic ideal of Earth—an incarnation of the long running band bolstered by the authority of purpose, where every note and every strike on the drum kit carries the weight of the world.
Full Upon Her Burning Lips opens with “Datura’s Crimson Veils”, a twelve-minute opus that adheres to Earth’s 21st century approach with Carlson’s sepia-toned Bakersfield Sound guitars lurching across a barren landscape while Davies punctuates the melodies with death knell drums. It’s a sound that harkens back to the riff-constructed vistas of their Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light albums, but stripped of their ornateness. “It was definitely a very organically developed record,” Carlson says of the process. “I limited the number of effects I used. I always like the limiting of materials to force oneself to employ them more creatively. Previous Earth records were quite lush sounding, and I wanted a more upfront and drier sound, using very few studio effects.” In less capable hands, these kinds of limitations might diminish the aural scope of the compositions, but Carlson and Davies have always thrived on reductive methods.
The stripped down approach had another advantage. “I really wanted the drums to be present,” Carlson says. “I felt with previous Earth records that other instrumentation took up so much of the sonic space that the drums were kind of pushed to the side.” This tactic helps highlight Davies’ ability to elevate the drum kit beyond its mere metronomic functions and allows it to serve as an expressive, nuanced, and tonally rich component to Earth’s arsenal of sound.
In addition to scaling back on their ranks, Earth altered their previous trajectory by entering into Full Upon Her Burning Lips without a conceptual arc to guide the process, relying instead on their collective subconscious to hone in on the overarching muse as the songs developed. “In the past I’ve usually had a strong framework for an album,” Carlson says. “This one developed over the course of writing and recording. It just felt like ‘Earth’—like just the two players doing their best work at playing, serving the music.” The absence of a pre-existing narrative guiding the compositions meant that the songs were more open and intuitive, often resulting in more terse musical vignettes like the richly harmonic “Exaltation of Larks” or the dreamily itinerant “Maidens Catafalque”. Yet subconscious impulses gradually created their own subtext for the album. “I wanted this to be a ‘sexy’ record, a record acknowledging the ‘witchy’ and ‘sensual’ aspects in the music… sort of a ‘witch’s garden’ kind of theme, with references to mind altering plants and animals that people have always held superstitious beliefs towards. A conjuror or root doctor’s herbarium of songs, as it were.”
The ten tracks on Full Upon Her Burning Lips came together in bits and pieces. Songs like “Cats on the Briar” and “Mandrake’s Hymn” stemmed from a handful of musical phrases and repeating patterns concocted in moments of downtime during their 2017 tour schedule. “Descending Belladonna” came from a live soundtrack project. Other songs came from rehearsals in the months leading up to recording or in moments of divine inspiration in the studio. The record was engineered, mixed, and mastered by longtime associate Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli. Knowing their process and their sound, Dettmer helped harness, shape, and document the songs in a manner that highlights the depth of Earth’s sparse components, capturing hidden dimensions much like the veiled images residing in the Magic Eye prints from the ‘90s. For the patient listener, the cyclical nature of the songs “She Rides an Air of Malevolence” or “An Unnatural Carousel” reveal new forms with repeated listens, with the subtle variations between passes creating a kaleidoscope of auditory activity.
“I feel like this is the fullest expression and purest distillation of what Earth does since I re-started the band,” Carlson says in reflection of Full Upon Her Burning Lips. And indeed, anyone that’s followed Earth on their journey will bask in the unadulterated hums, throbs, and reverberations conjured by Carlson and Davies. Sargent House is proud to offer up the album to the world on May 24th, 2019 on 2xLP / CD / digital formats.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Etran de L'Aïr with special guests maya ongaku
2025-04-20 19:30 - 21:30
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Playing for over 25 years, Etran de L’Aïr has emerged as stars of the local wedding circuit. Beloved for their dynamic repertoire of hypnotic solos and sun schlazed melodies, Etran stakes out a place for Agadez guitar music. Playing a sound that invokes the desert metropolis, “Agadez” celebrates the sounds of all the dynamism of a hometown wedding.
Etran is a family band composed of brothers and cousins, all born and raised in the small neighborhood of Abalane, just in the shadow of the grand mosque. Sons of nomadic families that settled here in the 1970s fleeing the droughts, they all grew up in Agadez. The band was formed in 1995 when current band leader Moussa “Abindi” Ibra was only 9 years old. “We only had one acoustic guitar,” he explains, “and for percussion, we hit a calabash with a sandal.” Over the decades, the band painstakingly pieced together gear to form their band and built an audience by playing everywhere, for everyone. “It was difficult. We would walk to gigs by foot, lugging all our equipment, carrying a small PA and guitars on our backs, 25 kilometers into the bush, to play for free…there’s nowhere in Agadez we haven’t played.”
From the days of the Trans-Saharan caravan in the 14th century to a modern-day stopover for Europe-bound migrants, Agadez is a city that stands at the crossroads, where people and ideas come together. Understandably, it’s here where one of the most ambitious Tuareg guitar has taken hold. Agadez’s style is the fastest, with frenetic electric guitar solos, staccato crash of full drum kits, and flamboyant dancing guitarists. Agadez is the place where artists come to cut their teeth in a lucrative and competitive winner-take-all scene. Guitar bands are an integral part of the social fabric, playing in weddings, baptisms, and political rallies, as well as the occasional concert.
Whereas other Tuareg guitarists look to Western rock, Etran de L’Aïr play in a pan-African style that is emblematic of their hometown, citing a myriad of cultural influences, from Northern Malian blues, Hausa bar bands, to Congolese Soukous. It’s perhaps this quality that makes them so beloved in Agadez. “We play for the Tuareg, the Toubou, the Zarma, the Hausa,” Abindi explains. “When you invite us, we come and play.” Their music is rooted in celebration, and invokes the exuberance of an Agadez wedding, with an overwhelming abundance of guitars, as simultaneous solos playfully pass over one another with a restrained precision, forceful yet never overindulgent.
Recorded at home in Agadez with a mobile studio, their eponymous album stays close to the band’s roots. Over a handful of takes, in a rapid-fire recording session, “Agadez” retains all the energy of a party. Their message too is always close to home. Tchingolene (“Tradition”) recalls the nomad camps, with a modern take on traditional takamba rhythms transposed to guitars. The dreamy ballad Toubouk Ine Chihoussay (“The Flower of Beauty”) dives into call and response lyrics, and solos that dance effortlessly over the frets. On other tracks like Imouwizla (“Migrants”), Etran addresses immigration with the driving march parallels the nomads’ plight with travelers crossing the desert for Europe. Yet even at its most serious, Etran’s music is engaged and dynamic, reminding us that music can transmit a message while lighting up a celebration. This is music for dancing, after all.

Hailing from the seaside communities surrounding Enoshima, a small island located 50 km southwest of Tokyo, maya ongaku is a ragtag collective of local musicians whose brand of earthy psychedelia transcends widely beyond the roots of their inner souls. The name derives not from any kind of ancient civilization, but rather a neologism defined as the imagined view outside one’s field of vision. The band—currently a trio of Tsutomu Sonoda, Ryota Takano, and Shoei Ikeda—finds sanctuary at the Ace General Store, a beachy vintage shop and salon-like space just hidden from sight from the bustling, touristy riverside Subana Street. Between discussions on music and art, curating the vinyl section and manning the register, and chatting up with locals young and old, the members find time to jam and record their spontaneous ideas in the studio tucked away in the back. It’s in this unlikely setting where maya ongaku finds its origins, the culmination of what Sonoda describes as 自然発生 (shizen hassei), meaning spontaneous generation, or the supposed production of living organisms from nonliving matter.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Interference Series presents Catherine Sikora & Eric Mingus (NYC)
2025-04-27 19:30
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Catherine Sikora and Eric Mingus create music that lives in the bones and breath—where improvisation becomes language, and sound becomes a vessel for history, place, and presence.
Catherine Sikora is a tenor and soprano saxophonist, composer, and improviser whose playing carries the deep imprint of natural landscapes and sonic exploration. From the moment she first heard the wind singing through a metal gate as a child, she has been captivated by the magic of resonant air. Her devotion to the saxophone is both spiritual and fiercely disciplined, informed by years of study, practice, and international performance. With sixteen albums as leader or co-leader, Sikora’s work spans collaborations with artists such as Susan Alcorn, Brian Chase, and Ursel Schlicht. She is a member of the soprano saxophone quartet Chaos Theory (led by Sam Newsome) and the improvising trio Eris 136199. Her music has been featured on BBC’s Freeness, Free Jazz Blog, and festivals including Jazz em Agosto (Lisbon), Vision Festival (NYC), Documenta 15 (Germany), and the Adelaide Festival of the Arts.
Eric Mingus is a vocalist, composer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist whose career defies categorization. With a voice that can move from thunder to lullaby, and a creative lineage rooted in the legacy of Black American music, Mingus works at the intersection of jazz, blues, punk, poetry, and performance art. He has collaborated with artists including Howard Johnson, Elliott Sharp, Hubert Sumlin and Levon Helm, while developing his own multidisciplinary works such as The Mill—an ongoing project that explores ancestral memory, survival, and storytelling in the Great Smoky Mountains. He leads the Sacred Routes Vocal Ensemble, using words and melody to trace the roots of our human connection. In addition to private coaching of musicians, Eric teaches at The New School, is a judge and educator at the annual Charles Mingus High School competition, has lectured at Berklee, Harvard, UC Irvine, the Banlieues Blues Jazz festival (Paris, France) and the In Situ Arts Society (Bonn, Germany). He taught vocal improvisation classes and a Charles Mingus workshop at London’s Community Music House.
As a duo, Sikora and Mingus build landscapes in real time—improvised dialogues where breath, voice, and instrument move together through terrain that is sometimes ecstatic, sometimes aching, always alive. Their work reflects their distinct cultural lineages—Ireland and the Black American South—and honors both the intimacy of collaboration and the expansiveness of improvisation.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Interference Series presents Paul Livingstone & Partho Sarothy
2025-04-30 19:30
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Leading sarod player of India, Partho Sarothy and American sitarist Paul Livingstone are disciples of the legendary Pandit Ravi Shankar and have been performing together for over 20 years giving concerts in India, Mexico and the United States. Their sensitive approach to the dynamics of raga alaap emphasizes an exploration of emotional depth. Their interactive approach then transitions into the excitement of rhythmic intensity through improvisations typical of the Maihar gharana tradition and the jugalbandi style made famous by their guru and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Their international work together demonstrates their sonic unity and compatibility that artists from different cultures can bring forth within the rigorous form of classical raga music. As soloists they have played with most of the leading tabla players of India, Pakistan and Nepal including Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Pandit Hom Nath Upadhyaya, Ustad Bashir Khan among many others.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Greenhouse Productions Presents: Never Come Down
2025-05-20 19:30 - 21:30
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Formed in 2017, Never Come Down was born from the vibrant if not occasionally overlooked music scene of Portland, Oregon. Much like the city that inspired them, they’re a smart, charming, off-beat amalgam of varied backgrounds and tastes. In today’s paradoxical world where honoring tradition is often pitted against exploration and innovation, the band confidently walks the line between the modern and the tried-and-true. They’ve gained a loyal following and continue to win over audiences everywhere from Reykjavik’s Iceland Airwaves to San Francisco’s acclaimed Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. They’ve gained the attention of industry veterans, and toured in support of notable acts such as Yonder Mountain String Band and The Travelin’ McCourys, among others. Never Come Down’s live performance never disappoints- with showmanship, originality, songwriting and musical prowess far beyond their years.
FREE VOCAL HARMONY WORKSHOP FOR TICKET HOLDERS! 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Whose Note is it Anyway?: Three-part Vocal Harmony
(Crystal Lariza, Kaden Hurst & Joe Suskind of Never Come Down)
The nuts and bolts of three part harmony! Learn how to find notes, blend with others, and not go crazy trying.
Appropriate for all levels.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: coconinoarts.org/member-discount

S.E. Willis
2025-05-24 19:30
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S.E. Willis moved to Flagstaff, Az in 1967 and began his career as a musician shortly afterwards. He’s been a significant presence in Northern Arizona ever since, returning regularly during his 35 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Willis is a multi-instrumentralist, starting with organ and harmonica and later adding piano and accordion. He was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 1994, and has since received a Bay Area Music Award (Bammy) and a Blues Foundation Award for Band of the Year (Elvin Bishop Band). He has released 10 albums of his own music and appeared on a number of other recordings with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the great New Orleans drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, Bishop and many others. His latest release is the recording “S.E.Willis and the Willing Live in Oakland, CA” from a show on May 5, 2024. He has been a featured soloist on many of the Legendary Blues Cruises and toured in Europe, North America and Japan. He has also appeared on stage with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Jimmy Rogers, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Albert King, George Thorogood, John Nemeth and many more.
S.E. (Steve) Willis has dedicated his working life to preserving and advancing traditional American music, perhaps most clearly with his 2007 release “Taproot: Songs of Robert Johnson and Hank Williams” and 2014’s “Turtle Dove Bounce,” a tribute to the piano players who defined 100 years of Blues piano style, in particular Pinetop Smith, Little Brother Montgomery, Big Maceo Meriweather and Leroy Carr. His original compositions respect and advance that tradition.
Willis is known for tight, high energy shows and masterful vocals and instrumentalism.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

The Living Room
2025-05-25 16:00 - 18:00
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Presented by Kappé Rousseau and Armand Ramirez, The Living Room is a performance series designed to offer space for artists who may be underrepresented in the Flagstaff area. Expect a house concert–style event, centered around a warm, intimate setting—much like gathering in a spacious living room. One might even think of it as a modern-day salon.
More than just a performance, The Living Room invites the audience into a shared experience—a space where connection, curiosity, and deep listening come alive. It’s about breaking down the divide between performer and audience, creating moments of spontaneity, intimacy, and collective expression.
The evening will highlight original works, creative expression, and a diverse lineup of songwriters and musicians, featuring different musical modalities and instruments—some familiar, some unexpected—with an emphasis on storytelling, artistry, and connection. The goal is to create an experience that feels personal, alive, and truly reflective of the richness of our artistic community.

2025 Flagstaff Folk Festival - SATURDAY ONLY
2025-06-14 09:30 - 18:00
SATURDAY ONLY TICKETS
The 2025 Flagstaff Folk Festival will be returning to the Coconino Center for the Arts and the Pioneer Museum on June 14th and 15th.The Festival includes 5 stages and 2 workshop areas. There will be a wide diversity of folk and acoustic music with something for everyone! This year we are bringing back our Jam Area where you are welcome to play, sing along, or just hang out and listen. The Festival is volunteer-run and a long-standing Flagstaff community event that is not to be missed. Mark your calendars now for 2 days of great live music. We look forward to seeing you this year! See our website for more information https://flagfolkfest.org/ The festival is produced by The Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music in partnership with The Coconino Center for the Arts and the Pioneer Museum.

Save 10% with membership! Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. Discount codes will be emailed to members by June 1st, 2025. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

2025 Flagstaff Folk Festival - FULL WEEKEND PASS
2025-06-14 09:30 - 2025-06-15 16:00
FULL WEEKEND PASS
The 2025 Flagstaff Folk Festival will be returning to the Coconino Center for the Arts and the Pioneer Museum on June 14th and 15th.The Festival includes 5 stages and 2 workshop areas. There will be a wide diversity of folk and acoustic music with something for everyone! This year we are bringing back our Jam Area where you are welcome to play, sing along, or just hang out and listen. The Festival is volunteer-run and a long-standing Flagstaff community event that is not to be missed. Mark your calendars now for 2 days of great live music. We look forward to seeing you this year! See our website for more information https://flagfolkfest.org/ The festival is produced by The Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music in partnership with The Coconino Center for the Arts and the Pioneer Museum.

Save 10% with membership! Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. Discount codes will be emailed to members by June 1st, 2025. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

2025 Flagstaff Folk Festival - SUNDAY ONLY
2025-06-15 09:30 - 16:00
SUNDAY ONLY TICKETS
The 2025 Flagstaff Folk Festival will be returning to the Coconino Center for the Arts and the Pioneer Museum on June 14th and 15th.The Festival includes 5 stages and 2 workshop areas. There will be a wide diversity of folk and acoustic music with something for everyone! This year we are bringing back our Jam Area where you are welcome to play, sing along, or just hang out and listen. The Festival is volunteer-run and a long-standing Flagstaff community event that is not to be missed. Mark your calendars now for 2 days of great live music. We look forward to seeing you this year! See our website for more information https://flagfolkfest.org/ The festival is produced by The Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music in partnership with The Coconino Center for the Arts and the Pioneer Museum.

Save 10% with membership! Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. Discount codes will be emailed to members by June 1st, 2025. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Interference Series Presents: Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence
2025-08-17 22:42, 2025-09-18 19:00, 2025-09-19 19:00, 2025-09-20 19:00
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Spanning three days and nights of concerts and presentations, this is a one-of-a-kind experience for musicians and audiences alike. Along with co-director Thollem McDonas, Interference Series has invited a wide variety of collaborative musicians from around the region to create unique sonic experiences that express the dynamics of the Southwest ecologically, socially, politically, as well as in response to CCA’s two exhibits, Shades of Route 66 and Route 66: Alternative Perspectives. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring together all of these exceptional artists who have spent their lives honing their craft through collaboration with others. Most of all, we are excited to share it with the community!
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Abby Fisher, Betsy Hamill, Chad Kim, Chelsey Trejo, Chris Woodward, Edie Tsong, Eric Matchett, Gabby Isaac, Jeremy Schroeder, Kai Natseway, Lauren Sarah Hayes, Lillie Gordon, Michael Begay, Owen Davis, Sage Bond, Robert Clark (Igloo Martian), Rob Wallace, Somei Kundu, Spencer Huttenmeyer, Teo Morris, Thollem McDonas, and Vicki Brown.

SCHEDULE

Thursday, Sept 18th

Large Ensemble Concert (Theater)
7:00 – 8:30 PM
(Doors at 6:00PM)

Friday, Sept 19th
Large Ensemble Concert (Theater)
7:00 – 8:30 PM
(Doors at 6:00PM)Saturday, Sept 20th
Artist Discussions (Theater)
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Sonic events (Gallery and Outdoors)

2:00 – 4:00PM
Large Ensemble Concert (Theater)
7:00 – 8:30 PM
(Doors at 6:00PM)

SWCMC HISTORY
The Convergence is an extension of a concert held Feb., 2023 in Tucson that Thollem curated as part of the Peaceful Sky Benefit (www.peacefulsky.us). PSB was organized in order to raise awareness of the increasingly dangerous exercises the U.S. military is conducting in the southern desert. Based on the enthusiasm of the participants and the audiences, it became clear that the Convergence needed to happen again. The artists for this year’s Convergence include musicians who participated in both 2023 and 2024 plus local musicians from Flagstaff and the Navajo Nation. Next year we are planning to open it up to more musicians from the region. See/hear you out there!
TICKETS
3-Day Passes will be available on-line sold in advance.
Individual $20 tickets for each performance will be available at the door the day-of.
(3-Day Passes are transferable if you cannot attend all three shows. In order to transfer passes an email must be sent to boxoffice@coconinoarts.org indicating both the name of the original ticket purchaser and the name of person to whom the pass is being transferred.)
*No one turned away for lack of funds
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Summit Dub Squad - Celebrating 20 Years
2025-08-29 19:30
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Summit Dub Squad is celebrating 20 years of high elevation sound flavor!! The Squad has just released their brand new, self-produced, 6th album titled “HIGHER GROUND” – a musically diverse homage to their hometown at 7000-feet elevation – and will perform several tunes from this new 13-song body of work. This event will be a seated, more-intimate theater listening session, focused on the positive, uplifting lyrics of lead singers B Dub the Artist and Hunter E RedDay, both of Dine’ (Navajo) heritage. Special guests will join the band and choice selections from every album will be performed. All ages irie fun for the entire family.
Summit Dub Squad is a roots reggae / positive hiphop band from Flagstaff, IrieZona. The musically and cultrally diverse group pulls fans and new listeners in with undeniable grooves and thoughtful lyrics. With 6 self-produced albums of original music and a myriad of classic cover songs, the band takes pride in never playing the same set twice, ensuring a fun, upful, and exciting experience every time they perform.Their energy is infectious and the message inviting, with peace, love, unity and respect at the core of their DIY mantra. The Summit crew is livicated to fostering a world were social and environmental justice are at the forefront of the conversation on the road to One Love Humanity.
For more information about Summit Dub Squad and to listen to the new album visit their website at: www.summitdubsquad.com
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Interference Series Presents: Thollem McDonas - Solo Piano
2025-09-14 19:00
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“Listening to Thollem play the piano is an astonishing experience. He has an innate ability to compose transcendent music using the piano as his expressive voice and to explore the depth and range of the instrument like no one else.” (Joan Jeanrenaud, Kronos Quartet)
Thollem’s music is genre-bending, code-switching, omni-idiomatic, and intersectional. Quality Revolutionary Entertainment! His music expresses the culmination of his life’s experiences in dialogue with the universe and fellow human beings. As a result of growing up in the culturally diverse SF Bay Area, his classical piano training, and his itinerant lifestyle since, Thollem’s interests, influences and inspirations range widely. He has spent most of his life performing and collaborating with hundreds of artists and communities throughout N. America and Europe and has released well over 100 albums on 27 different vanguard labels. Multitudes have inspired and influenced him as a pianist from Scriabin to Monk, Scarlatti to Nina Simone, Glenn Gould, John Cage, Art Tatum, as well as his contemporaries. Thollem’s parents were both pianists, and his earliest memories were of climbing up to play the inside of the piano.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Thollem began playing the piano, composing and improvising as a child, absorbing the sounds of his culturally diverse upbringing. As an adult he has continued to incorporate the breadth of musics he has experienced on his extensive travels. Since 2005, he has played over 1,500 concerts throughout N. America and Europe as a soloist and in collaboration with other musicians, dancers and filmmakers. In that time span, as lead facilitator or co-leader, Thollem has released close to 100 albums on 23 different vanguard labels. A very brief cross section of his many collaborators include William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Stefano Scodanibbio, Nels Cline, Rob Mazurek, Ravish Momin, Michael Wimberly, Mike Watt and Carmina Escobar. He is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange, the long-term temporary Guida of the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra and is a published author about art, politics and his travels in NewMusic Box, The Anthology of Essays On Deep Listening, Full Moon Magazine (Prague) and First American Art Magazine.
“Thollem is a modern griot who has absorbed sounds from every place he has visited.”– William Parker, from Conversations II (Rogue Art)“Thollem displays a chameleonic ability to adapt to suit whatever musical context presents itself…there is more than one way to access the infinite.”- Daniel Spicer, The Wire“Blue collar virtuoso.”- Detroit Metro Times
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Gareth Pearson
2025-09-26 19:30
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Gareth Pearson is referred to as “The Welsh Tornado” which is particularly appropriate, seeing as this special talent combines fingerstyle pyrotechnics, with explosive lead runs making Pearson one of the most exciting acoustic musicians gigging today.
Gareth has a distinctive style that can be heard through his creative and innovative arrangements which cover a wide spectrum of genres, including country/folk/classical/pop/rock/jazz/swing and bluegrass music, along with his own beautiful and often intricate original compositions. Drawing his playing style initially from influences such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Jerry Reed and Tommy Emmanuel, he has developed a style that is both inspiring and entertaining.
Within a year of taking up the guitar, Gareth was opening for Tommy Emmanuel on his 2005 UK tour. It was in Cardiff where Tommy invited Gareth to play at the CAAS convention (Chet Atkins Appreciation Society) in Nashville Tennessee. Later that year, Gareth was performing and touring alongside Ray Davies (The Kinks), John Renbourne, and Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes. During the Southside Johnny tour, Gareth was invited by Southside to be flown over to the USA to open for his annual New Years Eve concert at the Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey. The following year Gareth was invited by Tommy Emmanuel to be the support act for his UK tour, following extensive UK supports to Jan Akkerman, Andy McKee and appearing at numerous Folk Festivals and Guitar workshops including the Montreal Jazz Festival.
With appearances throughout Europe and a growing reputation, Gareth was invited to perform at the 2008 Canadian Guitar Festival where he came to the attention of Candyrat Records. This lay the seed for Gareth to be the first UK guitarist to be signed by the label. On its release, Gareth’s debut album “Urban Echoes Vol 1” was selected by Acoustic Guitar editors and frequent contributors as one of the “Essential Acoustic Albums of 2010”. With Appearances at the 2009 Montreal Guitar Festival, USA and Worldwide tours and Guitar workshops, Gareth’s reputation as a performer and teacher is constantly growing.

“Gareth is fast becoming one of the worlds most renowned instrumental guitarists”
​Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales)
“I really respect Gareth’s abilities. He’s a great young man and a great ambassador for the acoustic guitar”
.ommy Emmanuel
“I’m Gareth’s number one fan! What a guitarist! His original compositions hit the ears like cool spring water on a hot summer’s day. His stage show has everyone up on their feet. Fingerstyle guitar is in good hands for the next generation”
Stefan Grossman
“Not only is Gareth one of the most amazing guitarists around, he is a really nice guy and funny as hell!”
Andy McKee
“My friend Gareth Pearson is a huge talent and in his genre, one of the best young players around. I mean there’s many roads that lead to Rome, but this one is definitely a great one. I can see a great future for him”
Jan Akkerman

Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

The Living Room
2025-10-30 18:30
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Presented by Liberation Earth, Kappé Rousseau and Armand Ramirez, The Living Room is a performance series designed to offer space for artists who may be underrepresented in the Flagstaff area. Expect a house concert–style event, centered around a warm, intimate setting—much like gathering in a spacious living room. One might even think of it as a modern-day salon.
More than just a performance, The Living Room invites the audience into a shared experience—a space where connection, curiosity, and deep listening come alive. It’s about breaking down the divide between performer and audience, creating moments of spontaneity, intimacy, and collective expression.
The evening will highlight original works, creative expression, and a diverse lineup of songwriters and musicians, featuring different musical modalities and instruments—some familiar, some unexpected—with an emphasis on storytelling, artistry, and connection. The goal is to create an experience that feels personal, alive, and truly reflective of the richness of our artistic community.
Proceeds benefit Liberation Earth.
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Driftwood Quintet - El Tango Nuevo: Angeles y Diablos
2025-11-01 19:30
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This suite of 8 tangos by Astor Piazzolla depicts an angel’s journey to save a small town in Buenos Aires and a demon’s brash attempt to stop it. Piazzolla perfectly blends elements of classical, jazz and Argentinian music to showcase the tango’s flirtatious rhythms and delicate nuances that will take your breath away.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, the Driftwood Quintet is a chamber group dedicated to crossing genres and bending boundaries in classical music. Through the work of Driftwood’s arrangers, a performance can feature anything from orchestral masterworks or piano works to the imaginative soundtracks from the greatest video games and films. Driftwood also seeks to create memorable experiences through collaborations with artists from a variety of disciplines, ranging from jazz musicians and singer/songwriters to dancers and visual artists.
Driftwood also exemplifies its dedication to chamber music through educational outreach, engaging youth through interactive performances that integrate music with a variety of disciplines such as language arts, science, and history. Members of the Driftwood Quintet are active music educators in the Phoenix metropolitan area, working in underprivileged communities to improve the quality of public music education and foster lifelong musical literacy.
Originally from Mesa, Arizona, Gabe Hall-Rodrigues is a Seattle-based, Brazilian-American musician with a deep love for the accordion, piano, vocals, and composition. His musical ventures have led him to perform with diverse groups like Jared and the Mill, the Salt River Brass Band, the Seattle Philharmonic, the Ben Thomas Tango Project, and Brazilian forró band Foleada. He most recently dazzled audiences at the 2024 Ystad Jazz Festival as part of Bobby Medina’s Latin American Jazz Experience. Additionally, Gabe also co-creates beautiful music as part of the accordion duo Creosote with his wife Jamie Maschler, offering unique interpretations of Brazilian music and original compositions.
Gabe’s talent on the accordion has been recognized globally, with accolades such as winning the American Accordionists Association’s Solo Virtuoso Competition in 2010 and clinching 2nd place in the International Open category at the prestigious Trophee Mondial in Loule, Portugal in 2019.
A passionate educator, Gabe draws on nearly two decades of experience to inspire students both in-person in Seattle and virtually across the U.S. He also dedicates his time to nurturing the accordion community as the former conductor of the Rose City Accordion Club Camp (2017-2024), co-director of Emerald City Accordion, and as the current president of the North American Accordion Collaborative.
Gabe Hall-Rodrigues genuine love for music is palpable, and he uses his talents to connect with others and spread joy through his art. Gabe is a Harmonik and petosa artist
Save 10% with membership! Use unique member number at checkout. Household members receive two tickets at a discount and individual members receive one. To learn more about membership and how to find your discount code, visit: https://www.coconinoarts.org/member-discount

Film Screening & Live Music from Tha ‘Yoties
2025-11-05 18:00
In Defense of our National Monument: Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah kukveni – Ancestrial Footprints of the Grand Canyon
