Women's Voices 6
Concert & Performance Showcase
Sunday, October 8
All profits to benefit the Institute for the Musical Arts I.M.A. Rock and Roll Camp for Girls
Sponsored by ImagineMystic.com Rockshrink Musical Talent
Co-Sponsored by Gramma’s Attic & Sound Waves
Show: 2-7p | Doors: 1p
Tickets: $15 donation (tax deductible)
($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)
The Performing Artist Lineup:
HEADLINING : Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez
Lee-Ann Lovelace
Gracie Day
The Midnight Anthem
Christine Ohlman
This queen of blue-eyed rock n’ soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She’s the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band (SNL40’s anniversary post-show concert also featured her star turn onstage with Jimmy Fallon, Elvis Costello and the B-52s), whose latest CD, The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others. Ohlman topped the Alternate Root.com’s Readers’ Poll as top Americana vocalist, joining other winners Paul Thorn, The Mavericks and Rodney Crowell.
Ohlman’s legendary voice and stage presence (she's known as "The Beehive Queen" for her towering blonde hairdo) have most recently been featured at the 2018 AMA Conference in Nashville; The Royal Academy at Ghent, Belgium; The PBS series "Music City Roots" with Bonnie Bramlett, Sarah Potenza and the McCrary Sisters; 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Tribute To David Bowie; on numerous guest vocal shots on the HBO series "Vinyl" that feature a duet with Elvis Costello; on SNL's 40th Anniversary telecast (pulled onstage by Jimmy Fallon at the after-party concert at the Plaza Hotel, she tore the roof off with the B52s as her backup vocalists), "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" (guest shot with Black 47); the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Concert in Cleveland (filmed by HBO); the Carnegie Hall tribute to the Rolling Stones; the ongoing series of Little Kids Rock galas in NYC (taking the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Steve Miller, Graham Nash, Bill Medley, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo, Tom Morello and others); and the WC Handy Festival in Muscle Shoals, Alabama (she was the special guest of the Blind Boys Of Alabama and soul queen Candi Staton, and helmed a sold-out tribute to legendary producer Jerry Wexler; in 2015 she was the festival's Grand Marshall and co-billed with iconic guitarist Travis Wammack), as well as on both SNL's 25th and the aforementioned 40th Anniversary telecasts; Bob DyDylan's 30th Anniversary bash at The Garden (with George Harrison, Chrissie Hynde, and others); the 2013 Obama Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C.; The Lincoln Center "American Songbook" series with Sting, Lou Reed and Van Dyke Parks; and the Central Park Summerstage Tribute To Janis Joplin (where she fronted both Big Brother & The Holding Company and the Kozmic Blues Band).
In 2017, she was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame of American Heritage International. She appears on Grammy nominee's A Tribute To Howlin' Wolf (with Taj Mahal and Lucinda Williams) and Charlie Musselwhite's One Night In America (with Marty Stuart); sings the theme song for NBC's 30 Rock; worked on a musical with the late Cy Coleman (who compared her sense of timing to Peggy Lee's); duets live with friends like the aforementioned Miss Spector, Mac Rebennack (two private evening of duets she calls "absolute highlights"), Americana stalwart Paul Thorn, Bonnie Bramlett (who has become a longtime friend), Muscle Shoals legends Donnie Fritts and John Paul White of the Civil Wars, and New Orleans mainstays The Subdudes (she joins The 'Dudes, BB King, Irma Thomas, Richard Thompson and others on Get You A Healin' to benefit the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic and has guest-hosted five editions of "Down On The Bayou" during successive Jazz & Heritage Fests with Widespread Panic's JoJo Hermann, again to benefit The Clinic); worked often with the late blues giants Hubert Sumlin and Eddie Kirkland; collaborated on critically-acclaimed tracks with Marshall Crenshaw (Labour Of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe), Big Al Anderson (Pawn Shop Guitars), and Ian Hunter (When I'm President and Shrunken Heads); edited legendary Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham's autobiography 2Stoned and appears also on Oldham's historic 2013 release "Andrew Loog Oldham and Friends Sing The Rolling Stones Songbook Vol. 2"). A musicologist of note, Ohlman is a cover-story-writing contributor to Elmore Magazine, and worked with Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder & others on the Rhythm & Blues Foundation Awards.
Ohlman tours relentlessly with her band Rebel Montez, torching clubs up and down the Eastern Seaboard in support of her recordings: Strip, The Hard Way, Radio Queen, Wicked Time, 2008 career retrospective Re-Hive, the aforementioned The Deep End, 2011 concert DVD Live Hive, and 2019's The Grown-Up Thing.
“I’ve come here tonight to set your souls on fire,” she’ll tell an audience. And she will.
Lee-Ann Lovelace
Lee-Ann Lovelace is a singer/songwriter from Waterbury, Connecticut who has performed on hundreds of stages throughout Connecticut, New York and beyond since 2004. She can charm you with hints of Jazz, then dig into Folk and Americana stylings, and then she will leave you floored with powerful Soul, Rock, Pop and Blues vocals all in one performance.
Her career began in a variety of bands who all won listeners choice awards for the The Hartford Advocate's Grand Band Slam and various other local competitions. Recently she won the pilot episode of Vocal Match for best singer, and she is now recording her original songs under her own name. Her first single and video is scheduled to drop by September 2021.
Lee-Ann has collaborated with the late, legendary producer Paul Leka, and she has opened for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Orleans, Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Spector, and most recently, Christine Ohlman "The Beehive Queen." Some notable performances have been at The Towne Crier in Beacon, NY, The Bijou Theater in Bridgeport, CT, The Landis Theater in Vineland, NJ, Levitt Pavilion in Westport, CT, the Bushnell Park Stage in Hartford, CT.
Back to The Garden 1969, the premier Woodstock tribute band out of Yonkers, NY, added her to their full-time line-up in 2020. Also, for the last 8 years, she and guitarist George Lesiw have held a residency on Monday evenings at Crave in Ansonia, CT.
Gracie Day
Gracie Day is a resident of Southbridge and a Worcester County based singer and songwriter. Day became a full time musician at the age of 26 when she discovered that people enjoyed listening to her music. In 2017, Day opened the show for John Lodge of the Moody Blues and won "Best New Act" at the New England Music Awards. She then released a song called "Tennessee" which has received thousands of plays on Spotify. Additionally, Day landed a license deal and now her songs can be heard on Boston and New England FM stations.
"I'm passionate about the arts in general and the importance it has in peoples' lives and the fact that they can express and interpret their own feelings through it." Day said. Day just released her first full-length album, “Read the Room.”
The Midnight Anthem
The Midnight Anthem (TMA) is a musical trio from New England, made up of Catherine, Sophia & Grace...cousins by birth, but sisters at heart. The group has an uncanny knack for creating music that is both fun to listen to and touches the soul. On stage they are joined by Ian (BassBro) & Dominick (DrumDad). They play an eclectic blend of covers & originals, and their music can be described as country, Americana, rock & everything in between!
They have performed for audiences throughout New England & beyond, traveling from Maine to Washington DC to Tennessee.
Some of the hightlights in TMA's short history include:
Featured on Tim McGraw's 2022 tour at the VIP portion of the pre-show festivities in Syracuse, NY.
On the bill with Travis Denning, June 2023.
Debuted at the world-famous Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee.
Headlining CountryFest 23 in Putnam, Connecticut
Performed at the 2023 National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.
Shared the bill with 80's rockers, Tony Harnell of TNT and Anthony Corder of Tora Tora.
Participated in the 2021 women's voices celebration in Westerly, RI, along with the "Beehive Queen", Christine Ohlman of SNL fame.
Performed on the Country 92.5 Main Stage for 3 consecutive years at the Goshen Stampede.
2022 residency at the Connecticut Convention Center for the "Glow Hartford" Christmas Light Festival .
With over 150 bookings in two years, TMA has performed at a diverse collection of venues & events including bars, breweries, camps, celebrations, churches, coffee houses, convention centers, fairs, farms, fundraisers, grand openings, museums, music festivals, parades, podcasts, private parties, radio stations, restaurants, summer concert series, town greens, TV, wedding and more.
The Midnight Anthem has been compared to a wide range of performers from yesteryear such as America, The Cranberries, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Simon & Garfunkle. They have also been influenced by Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Carol King, Dolly Parton & James Taylor, as well as twenty-first century artists including Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum, Halsey, Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Paramore, Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift.
Currently, The Midnight Anthem is in the studio with Grammy Nominated Producer, Alex Salzman. Their highly anticipated first release, Momma Needs a Margarita, came out on Mother's Day 2o23, with the full EP expected to drop this summer. It is available on all streaming platforms @themidnightanthem.