2023 Lake George Concert Series
Lake George Arts Project hosts a phenomenal line-up of musical acts for their free summer concert series in Shepard Park.
Photo courtesy Lake George Arts Project
Lake George Arts Project’s Summer Concert Series in Shepard Park in July and August is one of the ADK’s special events. Each summer, the LGAP brings high-caliber local and national musicians to our area for a series of FREE concerts at Shepard Park in Lake George Village. Most shows take place Wednesdays at 7 pm when the sun is getting ready to set. All you need to bring is a chair or blanket and a healthy appetite for great music and fun.
This season’s lineup promises amazing nights of great music.
Annie and the Hedonists – Wednesday, July 5, 2023, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm
Annie and the Hedonists
The season kicks off with Annie and the Hedonists, an acoustic blues, vintage jazz, and roots Americana band.
They interpret the songs of the great female blues artists of the ‘20s, 30s & 40s: Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace, Memphis Minnie, Billie Holiday, Rosetta Tharpe, Blue Lu Barker, Ella Fitzgerald and others.
Other styles include Western swing, bluesy country, and roots Americana.
They were named the Capital Region Thomas Edison Award for 2020 Blues Artist of the Year.
Kyshona – Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 7 to 8:30 pm
Kyshona is an artist ignited by untold stories and the capacity of those stories to thread connection in every community. She blends roots, rock, R&B and folk with lyrical prowess to uplift her audiences.
With the background of a licensed music therapist, the curiosity of a writer, the patience of a friend, the vision of a social entrepreneur, the resolve of an activist, and the voice of a singer, Kyshona is unrelenting in her pursuit of the healing power of song. She lends her voice and music to those that feel they have been silenced or forgotten.
In 2021, she founded the charitable organization, Your Song, fiscally sponsored through the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville, that provides therapeutic songwriting sessions for at-risk and marginalized youth, for older people to aid in memory care, for incarcerated populations and those re-entering society, for people experiencing addiction and those in recovery, for women’s health and healing, for strengthening bonds between new parents and their children, and more.
This promises to be a fantastic performance.
Guy Davis – Wednesday, July 19, 7 to 8:30 pm
Guy Davis is a two-time, back-to-back Grammy nominee for Best Traditional Blues, a musician, actor, author, and songwriter. Talk about a potential future EGOT – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony.
Mr. Davis uses a blend of Roots, Blues, Folk, Rock, Rap, Spoken Word, and World Music to comment on and address the frustrations of social injustice, touching on historical events and everyday life struggles.
His background in theater is evident in the lyrical storytelling of songs “God’s Gonna Make Things Over” about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, “Welcome to My World,” and “Got Your Letter In My Pocket.”
His storytelling is sometimes painful, deep, and honest, an earthy contrast to modern-day commercial music, meant to create thought, underlined by gentle tones from his guitar or banjo fingerpicking.
The Clements Brothers – Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 7 to 8:30 pm
The Clements Brothers
The Clements Brothers are George and Charles Clements, identical twins from New England. They’ve been playing and writing music together for as long as they can remember.
They also performed together and toured internationally with the grassroots band, The Lonely Heartstring Band, with whom they released two albums on Rounder Records.
With roots, rock, bluegrass, jazz, and classical influences, George (on guitar) and Charles (on bass) aim to capture their singer-songwriter sensibilities in a unique blended voice, at once enthralling and intimate, groovy and serene.
Drummer Mike Harmon, who joined the band after an impromptu late-night set at the Ossipee Music Festival, will also appear with them in Lake George. He adds his unique roots-conscious musicality to the group’s evolving sound.
The trio is a fusion of each member’s musical journey, and the result is music all its own, filled with vocal harmonies, instrumental virtuosity, and a genuine love of song.
Three Quarter North – Wednesday, Aug 2, 2023, 7 pm to 8:30 pm
Three Quarter North
Eddies Music Award nominees Three Quarter North have performed at over 50 venues in and around the Capital District (aka, Albany-Schenectady-Troy-Saratoga) over the last 15 years.
This accomplished group plays everything from traditional fiddle tunes to complex original pop, weaving acoustic and electric influences into an enticing array of sounds. They bring together many genres to create one unique sound: Americana, with an emphasis on bluegrass, original tunes, folk, country, blues, acoustic rock and pop standards.
This is a band that thrives on performing live. And they embrace being a “local” band. They’ve performed at dozens (if not hundreds) of venues, all within 90 minutes of Albany. “We’re rootsy enough for bars and classy enough for the Troy Bank Music Hall.” Homegrown and raised on tradition, Three Quarter North exemplifies the best in American roots music.
ARKAI – Wednesday, Aug 9, 2023, 7:30 pm. A collab with the Lake George Music Festival
ARKAI performing live.
ARKAI is another excellent example of the caliber of musicianship the Lake George music scene attracts.
They are an award-winning electroacoustic duo that has inspired audiences worldwide through their genre-defying string music. Graduates of The Juilliard School, their past engagements have included performances at The MET, Joe’s Pub, City Winery, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall.
The Lake George Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Roger Kalia, will join ARKAI as part of the Opening Night festivities for the 2023 Lake George Music Festival, which runs August 6 thru 17.
ARKAI recently opened for Oscar and Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste at NYC’s Javits Center. And, The Museum of Chinese in America commissioned ARKAI to compose a work for the exhibition “Responses: Asian Americans Resisting the Tides of Racism.” ARKAI is also a winner of the 2021 Astral Artists National Competition.
In addition to performing, ARKAI creates artistic programs that connect and uplift communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their initiative, SupportNYC, helped raise over $80,000 in monetary support for small businesses and organizations like the MET Orchestra Musicians, Harmony Project, D’Addario Foundation, and Shakespeare Dallas through fundraising performances, spreading hope and healing to communities across the country through the power of the arts.
ARKAI was recently honored with the 2021 Robert Sherman Music Education and Community Outreach Award presented by WQXR, The Juilliard School, and The Harold W. McGraw Family Foundation in recognition of their work through SupportNYC.
Zikina – Wednesday, Aug 16, 2023, 7 pm
Zikina peforming live.
The quality of this year's Summer Concert Series Shepard Park continues with an appearance by Zikina, an eclectic band of very accomplished musicians.
Zikina’s members come from across continents to make music designed to unite people in celebration. Uganda native Gideon Ampeire draws the audience in with a variety of traditional East African instruments that are rare to US audiences, including enanga (zither), adungu (harp), and kalimba (thumb piano) – all of which he builds himself.
Mike Cardozo (guitar, percussion) improvises intricate melodic conversations with Gideon and dances through the beat with punchy rhythmic lines. Roston Kirk (bass) and Kade Parkin (drums) weave a sonic landscape that flows seamlessly from intense grooves to joyous dance beats to dreamy textures. Gideon’s vocals cut powerfully through the fabric or float lightly above.
It all adds up to something unique yet immediately accessible.
THE ILL FUNK ENSEMBLE – Wednesday, Aug 23, 2023 7 pm
Get ready to shake your rump roast when the ILL FUNK ENSEMBLE takes the stage in Shephard Park.
A slick mash-up of hip-hop, neo-soul, R&B and rock that’s been compared to The Roots, THE ILL FUNK ENSEMBLE has been described as “soul for the masses” (Technorati.com), “airtight on all levels” (JamSphere Magazine), “brilliant” (The Signal Magazine) and “about to change the face of hip-hop music” (Indie Band Guru).
A fixture of the Albany, NY music scene for more than 17 years, ILL FUNK has racked up an impressive resume, winning awards for their original albums, collaborating with legendary producer Quincy Jones, and sharing stages with multiple Grammy winners like Naughty by Nature and members of the Wu-Tang Clan.
THE ILL FUNK ENSEMBLE is repeatedly mentioned as one of the best bands in Upstate New York and will continue to offer a high-quality hip-hop, soul, pop and R&B experience.
The Stony Creek Band 50TH Anniversary Party with The Switch – Thursday, August 24th, 2023 starting at 6:30 pm.
For over 50 years, The Stony Creek Band has been one of the region's most enduringly popular musical groups. Stony Creek has thrilled generations of fans with its high-energy blend of rock, folk, country and bluegrass. This sound consistently defies description but is “a product of the landscape as authentically upstate as any Hudson River School painting.
The legendary Stony Creek Band performing at Shepard Park in Lake George, NY
The Stony Creek Band began in 1973 and toured as a folk trio playing coffee houses in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. After moving to the Adirondack mountain hamlet of Stony Creek, NY, the band quickly developed into a seven-piece musical powerhouse featuring drums, a rock guitarist, pedal steel guitar and banjo that, for a time, was the little town’s largest year-round employer. In the 1980s, the band evolved into its current 5-piece configuration.
Over the past 50 years, the Stony Creek Band evolved from an acoustic trio with roots in traditional folk and country music to a purveyor of American idioms and back again. The band’s music is the sound of mature, seasoned artists who have outlasted the years and their baser instincts to mentor and encourage younger artists, enrich their communities and preserve and transmit a living memory.
Opening for Stony Creek at 6:30 pm is Lake George's hometown favorite, The Switch, a rock n’ roll band that also calls on blues and funk influences. Known for their powerful and full sound, they’ll perform everything from Led Zeppelin to the Allman Brothers to the Meters to BB King to some original tunes.
SIRSY – Wednesday, Aug 30, 2023, at 7 pm
SIRSY in performance. Photo by Jim Buscemi (is he related to Steve?)
The 2023 Concert Series ends on a high note with SIRSY, a rock, pop, and soul duo from (where else?) Upstate NY.
They write and perform honest songs, full of sing-along melodies, with lots of heart and just the right amount of sass. “It’s edgy-feel-good music that’s fun to watch.” (The Houston Music Blog).
The Boston Globe calls SIRSY “the little band with the big sound.” SXSW Music Blog says, “SIRSY is NOT simply a two-piece; the sound they make is a head-scratching, WOW!”
SIRSY is fronted by charismatic vocalist/ drummer Melanie Krahmer who has “one of the most powerful and flexible voices you’ll ever hear.” (Albany Times Union) At live shows, Mel plays bass on a keyboard with her drumstick and throws in a few mean flute solos.
Guitarist, and Mel’s husband, Rich Libutti, plays a road-worn and well-loved Rickenbacker guitar through a pedal board full of vintage effects. Live, Rich also plays bass on a pedalboard with his feet.
The Lake George Arts Project’s Summer Concert Series would not be possible without the support of The Town of Lake George, The Village of Lake George, The New York State Council on the Arts, Anonymous, and our generous members and supporters!
