In the Hudson Valley, Home is Where the Concert Is

The Hudson Valley is not only home to a multitude of world-class musicians but a legion of some of the country’s finest concert venues. From marquee clubs like Colony Woodstock, The Local and The Falcon to concert halls like The Bardavon, UPAC and The Egg, the Hudson Valley provides dozens of places to hear the very best of both emerging and established talent in every musical genre. But, increasingly, local musicians are, as Bob Dylan said, Bringing It All Back Home. From classical and jazz to rock and experimental, Hudson Valley musicians are turning their living quarters into sites where small groups of friends can hear great music in an intimate setting. Woodstock’s most notable entry into the home concert arena was established when The Band’s Levon Helm began hosting his famous Midnight Rambles in his barn home in the ’90s. Recently, spurred on in part by the COVID-19 shutdown, more area musicians are following Helm’s lead to showcase not only their talent but that of other locals and touring acts before exclusive audiences in their homes. Below is a look at seven of our area’s finest home concert offerings.

Barnstock | @barnstockny

If jazz is your thing, then Barnstock is the place for you. When drummer Matt Garrity moved up to Woodstock from New York City in 2017, he immediately started renovating his barn with the intention of turning it into an intimate performance space. “The upstairs of the barn always screamed mini-concert hall to me, with its wood and high ceilings, which are great for acoustics,” says Garrity. “Being a drummer who’s been on the jazz scene for a while, I’ve played with many great musicians. So, having this series has been a way for me to put together incredible groups that are fun to play with. We’ve had Grammy Award-winning saxophonists Joe Lovano and Steve Slagle, downtown icon Peter Bernstein and guitarist Ed Cherry, to name a few. We generally do one show per month and have done about 50 since we started.” Garrity continues, “The first concert was in 2018, but when COVID arrived, we moved the concerts outside. There was nowhere else to go at the time and people were starved for both live music and human interaction. Out in the yard, our audience swelled from about twenty in the barn to nearly 100 people during COVID. Since the pandemic subsided, we’ve moved the events back inside for the most part, but will still do the occasional outdoor event, weather permitting. For information on upcoming events + tickets click> HERE.

Chromatic Studios | @chromatic_studios_kingston

Andrew Waegel and his artist wife, Jocelyn Bergen, are the new overseers of one of the longest-running home concert venues in the area, Chromatic Studios in midtown Kingston. East Coast-born and -bred, Waegel and Bergen had spent 40 years living in the Bay Area before deciding to head to Kingston when they became empty nesters in 2021. “We found this wonderful, huge house, a corner storefront that had been a longtime local venue, AIR Studio Gallery. So, we thought we’d take a shot at carrying on the tradition,” says Waegel. The couple is bringing new life into a much-loved institution that began 30 years back by Jimbo Marzano.

“My wife and I bought 71 O’Neil Street in 1991 for the studio space and the five bedrooms for our growing family,” says Marzano. “I got together with my friends, Bobby Kennedy and Bill Pfleging, and started our 2nd Saturday Open Mic and Concert Series. We’ve had hundreds of musicians come and play over the three decades we lived there. Our Beatles’ Birthday Bashes were legendary, and we did lots of jazz events, including Betty MacDonald’s Tribute to Billy Holiday and a show with the great jazz guitarist Joe Beck. We’ve also had the honor of showcasing several young guys in their teens who are now top-flight professionals, including Connor Kennedy, Myles Mancuso and Dylan Doyle. We were very happy when Andy and Jocelyn bought the home and announced their intention to keep the concerts going.”

“Our first show was in May 2022,” adds Waegel. “Since then, we’ve had over two dozen featuring solo artists and full bands, including Peter Holsapple of the dBs, the electronica feminist pop of Roxiny, Son Volt’s Mark Spencer and local songwriters like Lisa Markley and Callie Mackenzie. For the last six months, we’ve been hosting the Kingston Jazz Jam, where players of all levels are welcomed to run through standards and hone their chops. We are averaging about one show per month. They are all free with all donations going to the performers.” Chromatic Studios is not just about music. Andy’s wife Jocelyn is a longtime paper and book artist who runs a twice-monthly, free collage workshop at Chromatic Studios called Hodgepodge Collage. For information on upcoming events + tickets click> HERE.

Gold Hope House Concerts

The Hudson Valley’s popular rockabilly couple, singer Lara Hope and bassist Matt Goldpaugh have been livening up Kingston with their Gold Hope House Concert Series. “The series was born out of necessity in summer 2020, during the early days of the Covid pandemic,” says Lara Hope. “As a person who loves both performing and attending live music events, I felt a real hole in my life. We were also new homeowners with an accessible backyard and plenty of time on our hands since all our touring and local concerts had been canceled. So, we turned our home into a venue.”

To make sure things were safe, the couple arranged seating in sets of two, with at least 6 feet between each set of chairs. To ensure there weren’t too many people to compromise safety, the couple made sure everyone attending provided an RSVP in advance. Gold and Hope kicked off their series with a performance by Austin-based troubadour Duane Mark, who has since passed away. Hope adds, “I will always cherish the memory of having him perform in our backyard and helping to open the door to what has turned into a beautiful series of concerts and community-building events.”

Since its debut, Gold and Hope have hosted ten concerts, some with multiple bands on the bill, with acts of all genres from all over the US. The lineup has included visiting bands like The Funkrust Brass Band from Brooklyn, The Resonant Rogues from North Carolina, Joe’s Truck Stop from Kentucky and Sweet Megg from Nashville. There have also been a number of local acts, including Average Joey, Blood & Stomach Pills, Soulia & The Sultans, Ella Ray Kondrat, Ratboy and John Burdick. Surprisingly, the duo has never performed at any of their own house shows. The current events are BYOB and all monies raised through donations are given to the artists. “As someone who has toured extensively, I am fortunate to know a lot of really great independent touring bands,” adds Hope. “We want to do our part to make at least one stop on their tour a little bit easier, more fun and hopefully profitable.”

“There’s something I’ve always loved about playing a house concert above a traditional venue,” concludes Hope. “It’s much more intimate and gives an artist and audience the chance to connect on a deeper level. It also makes it easier for members of the audience to connect with each other and make new friends. It seems that non-traditional venues are more popular now than ever before. And it’s been so fun and interesting to see the creative ways musicians like us have found to keep music alive outside of the mainstream concert business.”
For information on upcoming events + tickets click> HERE.

Green Kill

For many musicians, especially those who tread the more experimental end of the spectrum, Kingston’s Green Kill has been a true godsend. David Schell took over the two-story building at 229 Green Kill Avenue in Kingston in March 2016. It would serve as his residence above and a multiuse, community-focused art and performance space below. In addition to monthly exhibits by local, national and international artists, Green Kill features poetry readings, film screenings, theater, performance art and, most of all, a steady stream of musical performances in the street-level space that once housed a popular delicatessen.

Schell is a multiplatform artist who grew up in New Jersey. Eventually, he found his way to New York City, where he became immersed in the downtown art and punk scenes and their DIY sensibility. The concerts at Green Kill are not only seen locally by a live audience but globally via high-quality livestreams, which are broadcast live and later archived on YouTube at Green Kill Sessions. Schell’s livestreams are not static performers filmed on a bare stage affair. They are often augmented by wild projections and video overlays created and controlled by Schell himself to complement the sounds being made – a sophisticated upgrade to the kind of light shows feature at old-school concert venues like The Fillmore East. The sound is also first-rate with top-flight mics, amps and PA and the services of experienced engineers like Bearsville Studio’s veteran Scott Kent and David Strahl, formerly of NYC’s studio, Candy Ear. All in all, The Green Kill Sessions streams have a quality that matches that of NPR’s popular Tiny Desk Concerts. Schell’s Green Kill presents some of the most adventurous electronic artists in the Hudson Valley, including Bob Lukomski, Duo Denum, Federico Balducci and the ambient guitar duo Guitars A Go Go. The venue also features regular performances by jazz notables like Gus Mancini and his Sonic Soul Band and noted local singer-songwriters, including Dave Kearney, Eric Squindo, Ely Wininger and Marc Delgado.

Green Kill’s music live streams began in earnest in April 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic. During this crucial time, there was no live audience, but Schell and the musicians braved the dangers of creating music that people could enjoy while living in the safety of their homes. “We were very much alone in the early days of the pandemic, presenting music events that people could enjoy in livestreams and via the archive at Green Kill Sessions,” says owner and curator David Schell. Schell continues: “Green Kill has a unique, artist-driven, peer-to-peer approach to growth. Peer-to-peer is the voluntary willingness of artists to refer and recommend other artists to participate in and patronize our events. The reward for the Green Kill and our community of artists is that we are presenting passionate creators who don’t have to compromise their vision for commercial ends. I think this has played a major role in making Green Kill an IRL (in real life) and global online destination for music and art that truly pushes the boundaries.”
Videos of livestreams can be found > HERE.  For information on upcoming events + tickets click> HERE.

Flower Hill House Concerts | @sarahmpowermusic

For Sarah Power (the artist formerly known as Sarah Perrotta), the foray into staging house concerts was predicated by the “ridiculous amount of space” in her home in Uptown Kingston.
“We moved into this house five years back,” begins Powers. “It is a vast mid-20th Century mansion, a sort of Frank Lloyd Wright-styled home built by a wealthy meat baron who sold to stars like Cary Grant and America’s finest restaurants. The house came with a great room. It had a sunken space with a spotlight for a grand piano and an elevated portion that made an ideal stage. My partner, Jay Perrotta, made modifications to help ensure it was a perfect space for music. We could comfortably fit 50 in the living room. And when we opened the patio doors, the capacity doubled.”

Power’s foray into house concerts began almost by accident in October 2021, with a party for friends to celebrate the release of her album, Blue to Gold. Produced at Woodstock’s legendary Dreamland Studios, it featured the talents of homegrown superstars like drummer/producer Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel) and Tony Levin (King Crimson). The success of the album promo event inspired Power to continue the effort. She produced eight events throughout August 2023. Power opened each show solo or with her band before turning it over to headliners, including Hush Woods, John Burdick of the Sweet Clementines and Swiss musician Benoît Perriard. “The environment was simply fantastic,” continues Power. “It felt so intimate, better than playing in a club. Here, people were more likely to interact with each other and also do some serious listening. Our friends from Dreamland Studios also brought a first-rate PA for the events.”

The most memorable of Power’s house concerts took place in April 2023. It included an impromptu performance by a man who hadn’t taken to a stage in years – The Band’s legendary keyboardist Garth Hudson.”This was already an amazing night as we had an all-star band featuring guitarist Happy Traum, dobro master Cindy Cashdollar, Jerry Marotta, Bonnie Raitt’s bassist Freebo and a wonderful young singer Alice Howe. As for Garth, I had known him for years. He had generously played on one of my albums, and I had been frequently visiting him in the nursing home where he lived, especially after his wife passed away. Garth actually hadn’t left the nursing home in years, but I told him that his close friend Happy was playing and that he might enjoy seeing him,” continues Power. “Miraculously, Garth came out. He rolled in in his wheelchair and blew everyone away with his mere presence.” Power continues: “After I played my set and before Happy and the others were to play, Garth asked me if he could play a few songs. He played for 20 minutes, including a heartbreaking version of Duke Ellington’s ‘Sophisticated Lady.’ It was overwhelming, a truly special moment. And there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Thanks to cellphones, the moment was captured, uploaded to YouTube and went viral. The resurfacing of this master musician of Woodstock, the last living member of The Band, was reported widely in national music press outlets, including Consequence of Sound. Unfortunately for local music lovers, Power’s house concerts are presently on hiatus. “The house is on the market at the moment,” adds Power. “But this experience has truly given me the bug and I hope to continue to bring people together to enjoy music, up close and personal, in my next home.”

Watch a short clip of Garth Hudson’s performance HERE.

Katya’s Enchanted Piano Temple | @katya.grineva

While there is plenty of jazz, pop, experimental, folk, rock and roots music served up at the above, renowned classical pianist Katya Grineva may host one of the best sites to enjoy the works of romantic-era composers at her “piano temple” in forested Shady, N.Y. The Russian-born virtuoso specializes in the works of composers like Chopin, Liszt, Schubert and Debussy. For more than twenty years, she has played annual concerts at Carnegie Hall and toured the world. Katya moved to the Hudson Valley in 2017. In 2022, she built a separate studio for her century-old Steinway B piano and all-hours practice regime. When the Covid restrictions began to lift in Spring 2022, she began hosting small concerts for friends and friends of friends every Sunday afternoon, first opening the doors of her window-filled studio so listeners could enjoy the soothing sounds in the safety of the tree-lined yard. In the winter months, Katya will host up to two dozen music lovers inside her studio. In the summer months, she moves the concerts to Saturday afternoons so classical music devotees can take in the famous Sunday afternoon events at nearby Maverick. Katya’s repertoire at her weekend salons is very much inspired by her love of nature and the forest surrounding her studio, with pieces like Liszt’s “St. Francis Talking to the Birds” and “Sounds of the Forest.”
For more info on her invite-only events, visit her website HERE.

Mothership | @macpaulmc

Mothership is an intimate, low-profile, high-quality music venue right off the center of Woodstock. It is located in the home of singer-songwriter Paul McMahon. The Mothership is much more than a home concert venue. Called an “Everything Center” by its creator, it also features an art gallery, artist residencies and even a summer school every August where people can learn arts like cartooning or how to play an instrument from local masters like Michael Esposito and Jimmy Eppard, respectively. The Mothership offers live music on the porch at 2 pm on Sundays from May to September, in genres spanning from free jazz to rock and noise to acoustic singer-songwriters. There are also concerts in the home’s spacious gallery area. A partial list of those who have performed at Mothership includes Sylvia Bullett, Clear Light Ensemble, Ray Spiegel, Michael Hurley, Frank Hurricane, Ben Vida, Joey Eppard, Peter Walker, Wes Buckley and many more. There is not a regular open mic, but there are occasional opportunities, like song circles, where after the featured artists have played their sets, others are welcome to perform. “Basically, it’s whatever I feel like doing and presenting,” says McMahon, who can often be heard performing his songs to set the mood for before concert headliners. “This is really a one-person venue so I welcome anyone who wants to help out or present their music and art here.
For information on upcoming events + tickets click> HERE.

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Saugerties NY.

Top Featured photo by Daniel Albanese | @dustyrebel courtesy of Sara Power

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