Laura Cortese, Jim Roll, Neil Cleary July 13, 2006

Tonight's triple bill covers all the bases! Burlington, Vermont-born singer-songwriter Neil Cleary has had quite the varied career, with stints in a gospel choir, a dance band, and a Hank Williams tribute show. The Globe and Mail in Toronto says that his original songs have "the mellow tone of a James Taylor and the psychological acidity of a young Elvis Costello." What do you call Jim Roll's music? Roots music with a psycho-twist? Dave Marsh says that he "sings like the high-strung, smart-mouthed bastard son of Neil Young, Captain Beefheart, Beck, Bob Dylan, Elvis P. and/or C., Lou Reed and a few other immensely talented musical lunatics. He's also that rare writer/performer who moves you one instant and in the next is funny as hell, usually while he's poking you right in the center of a raw nerve." And if you've been looking for a triple threat in new Celtic music, look no further than Boston's Laura Cortese. Her energetic performances blend fiddling, song, and stepdancing, as well as Scottish and Irish traditional music, jazz, and pop

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