Submitted by Amy Albert
(February 12, 2023) — The Buttonwood Tree at 605 Main Street in Middletown presents the following musical events in February. See www.Buttonwood.org for show details or call (860) 347-4957 Email: TheButtonwoodTree@gmail.com
Friday, February 24, 2023/Bluegrass Group Corner House. Show starts at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $15. Corner House gets its name from an old Victorian home at the corner of Murdock and Mapleton in Brighton, Massachusetts. Here, Ethan Setiawan (mandolin), Louise Bichan (fiddle), Ethan Hawkins (guitar), and Casey Murray (cello), found musical family in one another. Graduates of the Berklee College of Music, together they’ve created a singular sound that incorporates old time, Scottish, progressive bluegrass, and folk. Rooted in a close interpersonal bond, Corner House has garnered attention for their energetic and intricate compositions. The quartet’s unique strength is in their openness to musical possibility. On their debut full length album, How Beautiful It’s Been, the band reveals the sublime result of that mindset.
Saturday, February 25, 2023/Folk Artist Charissa Hoffman and Friends. Show starts at 7:00 p.m. Admission is $15. Charissa Hoffman’s story is as eclectic as her instrument. A 6th-generation musician raised in Nashville, Tennessee, her path to music seemed inevitable, but her choice of instrument- the ukulele – came out of nowhere. As a young recipient of the David Chow Humanitarian award and director of the Uke Can End It campaign to combat human trafficking, her heart has always been for the vulnerable, the underserved, and the underdog instruments.
Through the influences of genre-bending artists like Chet Atkins and Duke Ellington, she soon exceeded expectations for her instrument, establishing herself as a formidable chord-melody player and earning a spot as the first ukulele principal to be accepted to Berklee College of Music in 2017 and recipient of the 2020-21 Fletcher Bright Award. Her songwriting earned her a place as participant in the prestigious Acoustic Music Seminar, and on stages at clubs and festivals across the country.
