Artist Spotlight Series
BETA RADIO
Tuesday, March 26, 8 p.m.
FREE! Please bring a canned food donation for Food Gatherers
New indie duo music from North Carolina
The theme of eternal search inspires Beta Radio’s third full-length and first for the Nettwerk label, “Ancient Transition.” The Wilmington, NC, duo—Benjamin “Ben” Mabry and Brent Holloman—transform a tumultuous two years of physical and spiritual wandering into ten songs cast in folk-style literary lyricism, Americana spirit, and orchestral experimentation. On the journey, they creatively cover new ground. “Throughout the whole process, there was an undercurrent of being displaced, because I moved four times,” says Ben. “While we were on the search, we let go of what we thought Beta Radio should sound like, experimented, and started simply pursuing what we like,” adds Brent. “For the first time, we utilized samples, an Una Corda, and old Juno 60 synthesizers from the eighties. We really expanded our sound.”
Artist Spotlight shows (formerly Take a Chance Tuesday) are FREE! Nonperishables (and cash) are accepted for Food Gatherers.
ENTER THE HAGGIS
Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $20
A gourmet musical meal
A haggis is a tasty Scottish dish consisting of sheep heart, liver, and lungs, mixed with oatmeal, onion, suet, and spices, and then boiled inside the sheep’s stomach. The Canadian-Scots band Enter the Haggis (bagpiper Craig Downie is from Scotland) has just about as much variety in their style, a high-speed collision of Celtic music, rock, bluegrass, funk, and world music. An Enter the Haggis live show is a musical feast—dynamic and emotionally uplifting. Alternating between upbeat rock numbers with sing-along choruses and slower, more introspective alt pop songs, the band plays progressive and lyrically driven music that’s strongly rooted in Celtic tradition—from the storytelling to the bagpipes. Enter the Haggis returns to The Ark with an as-yet-untitled new release!
DAVID WILCOX & BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN
Thursday, March 28, 2019, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Ark favorite songwriters in a powerhouse double bill
Beth Nielsen Chapman is an eclectic, critically acclaimed American singer-songwriter, a Songwriter’s Hall of Fame member with seven number-one hits, and songs sung by Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson, Olivia Newton-John, and Neil Diamond. With 13 albums of her own, numerous film and TV placements, hits like Faith Hill’s “This Kiss,” and multiple Grammy nominations, she’s kept busy despite adversity. Losing her first husband to cancer, then herself surviving breast cancer and a brain tumor, it is a deep well she taps into at her shows, workshops, and keynotes for healing, inspiration, and creative flow.
David Wilcox is an emotional pathfinder for today’s world. “An eager, unapologetic sincerity flows from the heart of David Wilcox’s acoustic music,” says Rolling Stone. David is a singer-songwriter whose music navigates a path through the confusion and pain, the emotional static of modern life. “I’m drawn to artists who disclose something about themselves and let you in their world,” David says, and to a large extent he’s one of them — yet contained within his warm voice and effortless guitar playing is a more general kind of hope, a life-affirming message that anyone can understand. David Wilcox believes that the right song at the right time changes people’s lives.
