GUILFORD-Guilford-based singer-songwriter Luke Concannon is Irish, but he grew up in England, where he was influenced by Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, and Aretha Franklin, as well as by hip-hop “that did what singer-songwriters did in the ’60s, in terms of speaking truth to power and finding liberating ways of creating.”
Inevitably, too, he was infused with his native Celtic roots music.
“Music was a family affair,” says Concannon, who grew up with “sort of hippie-type parents.”
“My dad’s a piper and a tin whistle player,” he says. “My uncle sang ballads and played the guitar. And my aunties all dance and sing, and my mum dances. And so we just grew up with music and dance being part of the scene, and it was just so liberatory for us and gave us so much life, and it is the reason I do it now.”
Among more recent influences and inspirations, he adds, is fatherhood. Of his new son, he says “he’s just so rich in his spirit and in the gifts he brings. He wakes me up. He gives me energy.”
After a busy fall, Concannon is back from another tour, primed to get his new album out there and, with wife and music partner, Stephanie Hollenberg, is preparing to host another community music event at the Guilford Country Store.
Of the new album, Midnight Bloom, created in collaboration with New York City–based producer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and educator Darius Christian, Concannon explains its title.
“In a way, it’s a dark time in our culture and civilization,” he says. And, in fact, it was a little dark in his own sphere.
Three years ago, Concannon continues, “I did nine weeks where I was cycling between gigs and sleeping on sofas and running workshops and coaching artists and promoting the gigs. And I came back and my body sort of fell apart.”
Dealing with illness, while “building a yurt in the Vermont woods and living in a two-man tent, the Midnight Bloom theme emerged. In a way, it’s been a bit of a dark night of the soul. And yet, a lot of this music came out of it and a lot of good things” and good people.
To wit, his baby son, Oren.
“So it’s this paradox where, in dark times, there’s a lot of joy and creativity as well,” which is, he acknowledges, life.
“Isn’t it weird, right?” he says. “Sometimes it has to get bad before it gets good, right?”
A busy fall on both sides of the Atlantic
Concannon did a U.K. tour in October before the November album release and then a New England tour. (“We called it the Old England, New England tour,” he says.)
“The amazing Sadie Gustafson-Zook opened for me in England, and then I opened for her in New England,” he says. “And it was just really beautiful to share these songs. So much life has gone into the songs and then I just feel really joyful to actually get to share them with people.”
Some were shared quite broadly when Concannon and John Parker — as their original chart-topping duo Nizlopi — opened for popular singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran on a European tour in December.
The backstory, Concannon explains, is that “Ed did work experience with us when he was 14. He was a really big fan of my duo Nizlopi. And we’ve kept in touch since.”
When Sheeran heard Nizlopi was re-releasing an earlier album on vinyl, his interest piqued. Concannon suggested that “we could bring the music to you and open some shows.” Sheeran responded, “Really? Would you do that?”
And they did.
On Sheeran’s latest tour for his album Play, Nizlopi had a 45-minute opening slot in concerts, playing to thousands in Paris, Munich, Coventry, Manchester, and Dublin. That was just a few weeks ago.
“Yeah, in Munich there were 23,000 people, more people than we’ve ever played to in one show,” Concannon says. “Manchester was about the same size. So we just were just practicing what’s it like to play for this many people, right? It’s a different energy. But it was great.”
In addition to older Nizlopi tunes, Concannon and others played songs off Midnight Bloom and Hollenberg sang on one the album’s more potent tunes, “A Woman Is Sacred.”
All this happened with Oren, “who got to do his first European tour,” Concannon quips.
Back home again in Guilford
After all that, Concannon and Hollenberg are home where they feel increasingly vested in the Guilford community.
“We really want to be making music in community. And my dream, because we’re up on Sweet Pond, was to have a gig I could cycle to. And Guilford Country Store is such a beautiful place. [Owner] Ali [West] and the team put so much love into it.”
Thus, starting at 3:30 p.m. the second Sunday of each month, Hollenberg and Concannon hope to offer live music and folk sessions at the store at 475 Coolidge Highway (Route 5) in Guilford.
A folk music session, Concannon explains, according to his Irish family tradition, “is where all are welcome to respectfully share. If you’re a complete beginner, you are welcome obviously to share in a way that respects the overall event. But there are some really skilled players in the community.
“People here,” he adds, “might think of it more as a jam where tunes are shared” among whoever shows up.
Following the jam at each event, special guest artists are featured. For the next event — this Sunday, Jan. 11 — that will be Brendan Taaffe and Stefan Amidon.
“The Amidons are great, southern Vermont folk royalty,” Concannon says. And Taaffe and Amidon “just put out a record together, which is beautiful, called The Bucolics Project, with musicians from all over [including Appalachia]. Great people and poetry from a legendary Appalachian poet: very reverent, beautiful, soulful, grounded music.”
The Country Store offers a menu for the event with light meals and snacks and selected beer and wine. “And there’s always those pastries Ali makes,” Concannon adds, praising the expert pastry chef’s work.
“Everyone is welcome. And if folks want to see this happening in the community, then, please, your presence is the best present, because this will carry on, in so much as people show that they want and need it.”
Concannon urges folks to “please come on down” to enjoy community, live music, fine food and drink, and good “craic” — Irish for fun and entertainment — and just a good time.
He said there’s no cover for the kid-friendly event, but “we will pass a hat for the guest artists just to keep feeding our area creatives so they can keep making music to share with us.”
“We’re doing it because we want more music, more life, more community, more fun,” Concannon says. “You know, we want to be shining our light in a dark time.”
For more information about Luke Concannon’s Second Sunday concerts at the Guilford Country Store, visit lukeconcannon.com and guilfordcountrystore.com.
This Arts item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.