me&thee and legendary Caffe Lena to co-present a virtual show

The legendary Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY is collaborating with the me&thee to present a Mark Erelliconcert on Thursday, January 14. Caffe Lena is considered an essential business in the state of New York and they are allowed to present shows in their state-of-the-art broadcasting facility in the venue. “Their board reached out to the me&thee to offer a show from their stage to ours and this generous offer means that we will receive some of the proceeds from the show with one of our favorite local musicians, Mark Erelli” says me&thee booking manager, Kathy Sands-Boehmer. “This is a unique opportunity to join forces with Caffe Lena, one of the most cherished venues in our close-knit folk community. We appreciate their gesture of friendship and solidarity as we aim to keep the music alive during these difficult times.” The show will be shown on this YouTube link.

Mark Erelli has forged a colorful career by making the art of “being everywhere all the time” seem effortless. It’s hard to think of another artist who seems equally at home serving as a sideman for GRAMMY-winning artists like Paula Cole, Marc Cohn, and Josh Ritter, or producing albums for Lori McKenna, as he does producing his own material like the stunning “By Degrees” in which he was joined by a host of voices including Roseanne Cash and Sheryl Crow. That song was nominated for “Song of the Year” at the 2019 Americana Music Awards and served to reintroduce Erelli to a wider audience. His latest album, Blindsided, combines the exuberance of Erelli’s signature sound with the wisdom that comes with over 20 years of songwriting, capturing an artist at a point in his career where he is clearly digging deep and swinging for the fences.

Mark Erelli has been a staple in the Boston-Cambridge music scene for many years. Blindsided came about at this point in his career as he gravitated toward writing songs that wrestle with the questions we encounter in the “middle,” the certain point in life when you reflect on your hopes and dreams and what you thought were certainties. “One glance at the headlines and anyone can see that we are questioning the stories we’ve told ourselves and, in many cases, they aren’t proving as durable as they once seemed,” he explains. “Do the things I took for granted as truth when I was younger still hold up? What can I still lean on? Am I strong enough for the ones I love to lean on me? The answers, if there even are answers, can be both unsettling and reaffirming.”

Caffe Lena is widely recognized as the longest continuously operating folk music venue in the United States. The Library of Congress calls Caffe Lena “An American treasure,” and they have been recognized by The GRAMMY Foundation for their important contributions to the development of American music. They are proud to stay true to their founding vision of simplicity, kindness to strangers, and art above profit. Opened in 1960, the club has helped to launch many of America’s best-loved songwriters, ranging from Bob Dylan in 1961 to Sawyer Fredericks in 2014, with an amazing “who’s who” list in between.

The Mark Erelli virtual show presented by Caffe Lena and the me&thee takes place on Thursday, January 14 at 7:00 pm. Tips are gladly accepted for this show at https://www.caffelena.org/tips/. Please note that your donation is for the Mark Erelli show.

The me & thee is one of the oldest continually running all-volunteer acoustic listening rooms in the country. It has been and will always be a volunteer, non-profit organization sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead. For information and directions, call 781-631-8987 or check the website at www.meandthee.org.