Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Phillips Saylor Wisor - aka STRIPMALL BALLADS - is a Maryland-based rollicking musical rambler, rife with story-songs rich in emotion and hardihood.    His brand of folk music sings the heartbreaking ballads of old brick buildings, vacant lots, and rustbelt burgs. Of third shift papas, flood plains, and long drives through nowhere towns. He’s boots on the ground, guitar across the body, ever observing the ugly mundane mixed with the beautiful chaos of this place we trample upon on the daily.

As founding member of The Shiftless Rounders, Phillips dove deep into the Appalachian ocean of old time banjo and balladry.  And as a fervent practitioner of Shape Note music, he has spent countless hours singing in the “old way” and devouring the harmonic notions of American roots music.  

With a nod to Woody Guthrie, Phillips deploys all these influences in his music.  Stripmall Ballads is a testament to the enduring power of painting experience with emotion, forever a voice of the strange amongst strangers.

RAY MASON

Ray and his road-worn 1965 Silvertone guitar have been tirelessly touring since 1982. Starting his first band in 1966 and averaging over 100 shows a year, he’s like a teenager with forty-plus years of experience! Between 1983-1990 Ray released five critically acclaimed (cassette only) albums. He followed them with a single on his own Captivating Music label and has appeared on numerous compilations from such labels as Signature Sounds, East Side Digital, Shimmy Disc, Sound Asleep (Sweden), Dren Records and Paisley Pop.

1994 saw the initial release of his first “official” CD (Between Blue & Okay), followed by Missyouville, Old Souls Day, Castanets, When the Clown’s Work is Over, Square Crazy, Three Dollar Man, Idiot Wisdom, Old School, A Man and His Silvertone, Don’t Mess With Our Routine, Like Bugs Chewing on Paper, The Shy Requester, Is There Wiggle Room?, and the brand-new 2024 10-song release You Never Lose That Grip.  Ray has also recorded nine albums as a founding member of the Lonesome Brothers (with whom he appeared on “A Prairie Home Companion” and at the 2007 Newport Folk Festival). He has also recorded with Cheri Knight, the Ware River Club, Lloyd Cole, Cliff Eberhardt, J Mascis, Opal Canyon, Matt Hebert, Steve Westfield, Mark Mulcahy, Wolf Krakowski, Dennis Crommett, and many others. Ray has had a tribute CD released by Tarhut Records (Boston/Chicago), with artists Eric Ambel, Charlie Chesterman, Ass Ponys, the Incredible Casuals, Cheri Knight, and many others covering his songs.

Throughout the years he has opened shows for NRBQ, The Band, Fountains of Wayne, the Flatlanders, Laura Cantrell, Amy Rigby, Marshall Crenshaw, Bill Morrissey, Graham Parker, Robbie Fulks, Yo La Tengo, They Might Be Giants, Steve Forbert, Chris Whitley, Nils Lofgren, Warren Zevon, Joan Osborne, Freedy Johnston, Alejandro Escovedo, Geoff Muldaur, Joan Jett, Blue Mountain, the Bottle Rockets, Junior Brown, Marah, Ass Ponys, and James McMurtry—and that’s the short list!

Sam is a lifelong singer, songwriter, everything else writer, comedian, and actor in New Jersey/New York. She released her debut album in January of 2017, and is currently working on her next release. She regularly sings with Joe McGinty’s Losers Lounge, Scotch Bonnet, and plays solo acoustic shows. Her love of old country, soul, and comes through in her songwriting and set lists.

She is an alumnus of Atlantic Acting School in NYC, and a recent graduate of Smith College with a dual degree in English and Psychology and Poetry Concentration.

Kyle Field is a visual artist and the songwriter behind the 25-years-running group Little Wings. Over the course of more than a dozen albums, he has written a classic cannon of songs that continues to gain listenership to this day. Working without the help of powerful record companies, the songs have earned their place viscerally, person by person, creating a cherished and loyal following around the world. Little Wings continues to release records at an incredible clip and shows no signs of slowing, the songs keep growing. His latest and greatest High on the Glade was recorded with legendary producer Kramer. It’s due out June 7th on Perpetual Doom. 

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Jude Roberts writes and performs evocative folk songs with authenticity and grace.  His music is a melodically rich tapestry of woven language.  Jude's song, "Suzanne", written for Holocaust Survivor Tommy Wald, was featured in the 2022 PBS documentary "We Remember: Songs of Survivors"; as was an earlier composition entitled "I Don't Need To Tell You".

A 2018 Falcon Ridge Folk festival Emerging Artist, Jude writes songs influenced by English, Irish and Appalachian folk music, with touches of baroque and Romantic-era classical pieces and European folk/pop.  A unique amalgam of style and talent, Roberts draws the listener inward and invites them to dive deep.

Jude is working on a new full-length record, entitled "Sun Signs", set for release in fall 2024. To learn more about this project, visit:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sun-signs-the-new-record-by-jude-roberts#/

Having traveled extensively throughout Europe for performance and pleasure, Jude launched a project leading music-focused retreats to Greece in October 2019. These tours will resume in 2025.

“He fingerpicks with the delicacy, assurance and color of Nick Drake; sings with the bell-like clarity and gentle high end of a lost Finn brother; and writes Anglo- and pop-inflected folksongs with the offhand grace and deceptive sophistication of early James Taylor, Richard Thompson or Sir Paul himself.” -John Burdick, HV1 Art and Music,

A song and story man, a compulsive adventurer, a rural Pennsylvania

yokel with a restless curiosity and a passion for street performance,

Leo DiSanto has hauled his wanderlust wagon and his guitar case

everywhere from gypsy camps in Transylvania to monasteries in the

high Himalaya to the boulevards of New Orleans to the wild interior of

Alaska. He sees this more or less as his existential mission: to inspire

and be inspired. Known for his imaginative songwriting, powerful

singing voice, exciting live performances, and captivating storytelling,

Leo is the founding front man of the award-winning, original

Amerikindasorta string band, Vinegar Creek Constituency, and is

currently (and indefinitely) on tour as a solo performer .

HOWARD FISHMAN has been a mainstay of the Brooklyn music scene for nearly three decades. He's released eleven albums to date, has toured internationally, and has appeared on stages from Lincoln Center to dank Romanian basements. His music is an amalgam of New Orleans jazz, indie rock, Americana, and avant garde, and his live show is known for its ecstatic unpredictability. Come hear for yourself.

After years of blurring the lines of what it means to be a solo artist, indie-rock troubadour John Brodeur decided to become a band, adopting Bird Streets as his nom de guerre with the release of a self-titled 2018 LP.

     That album, produced by indie-pop hero Jason Falkner, was a refreshing blast of classic-yet-modern melodic rock that received accolades from PopMatters (“a rock solid power-pop gem”) and NPR Music, which named Bird Streets a Slingshot Artist alongside then-emerging talents like Phoebe Bridgers and The Beths.

     For Lagoon, his second album under the Bird Streets name, Brodeur expanded on the project’s collaborative foundation, enlisting production by Pat Sansone (Wilco) and Michael Lockwood (Fiona Apple), plus guest appearances from Ed Harcourt, Aimee Mann, John Davis (Superdrag), Patrick Warren (Michael Penn), and Big Star drummer Jody Stephens.

     Recorded in Tennessee, New York, and California, these 12 songs are both epic and intimate, often simultaneously – as honest and vulnerable as they are lush and melodic.

     With mixing by Grammy winner Michael Brauer, and mastering by Grammy nominee Pete Lyman, Lagoon has been called "sublime" (Coachella Valley Weekly), "luxurious and literate" (Rock & Roll Truth), and "an emotional tour de force" (Glide).

     A native of upstate New York, John Brodeur began his recording career with 2000’s Tiger Pop, and prior to Bird Streets he released two more solo albums, in addition to EPs with The Suggestions and Maggie Mayday.

     He has toured with Juliana Hatfield, They Might Be Giants, Alana Davis, Pernice Brothers, and Fountains of Wayne; and performed at the 30A Songwriters Festival, SXSW, and CMJ Music Marathon.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Born and bred in the hills of Berkshire County, Asher Isak has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada and the EU with the theatrical project Bella’s Bartok. Asher will be bringing their solo work to the Dream Away Lodge on August 29th showcasing a collection songs ranging from Americana to Folk Punk to Doom Folk. 

Galvanizer brings a blend of late 60's psychedelic rock, 70’s funk, and soul & 21st-century cosmic grease for your feet and mind to enjoy! 

Kate Prascher is a singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for her evocative songwriting. She was thrilled to be named an IBMA Songwriting Showcase finalist in 2021. Inspired by her Tennessee roots and influenced by master song crafters like Hazel Dickens and Gillian Welch, singles The Fox and the River and City of Ghosts showcase Kate's versatility as both writer and performer. Her songs are outspoken and sometimes tender, by turns playful and heart-piercing.

Ink 19 described Kate’s "delicate and expressive singing" and “intangible vintage feel". Christine King writes,

“Kate Prascher is a jewel waiting to be discovered".

Kate's past work includes her 2019 solo EP Bright Like This, 2016's Almanac recorded with The Tumble and a self-titled EP released by The Wildwood Sisters. She has performed with numerous artists as a singer, mandolinist and duet partner.

Kate Prascher’s new album, 'Shake the Dust' is a recognition of our everyday darkness. It wades through the undercurrents of memory drawing half-portraits of characters both real and imagined while shining a light on the complex web of our relationships. 

Shake the Dust is expected in summer 2024 and features Bobby Hawk (Taylor Swift), Bennett Sullivan (Bright Star), Nate Sabat (Mile Twelve) and Jason Borisoff (Cricket Tell the Weather). Expect new songs from a voice that has been described as having an “intangible vintage feel.”  

Into the Fog combines timeless songwriting with progressive instrumentation and tight harmonies, with various musical backgrounds that range from bluegrass to funk, which helps create Into The Fog’s genre-jumping sound.

- Festival plays: Telluride Bluegrass Festival, FloydFest, Rooter Walk, Merlefest, Grey Fox Bluegrass, Subaru Winterfest, Charleston Bluegrass, Earl Scruggs, The Big What? and more

- Shared the stage with the likes of Sam Bush, Keller & The Keels, Town Mountain, Daniel Donato, Arkansauce, Shadowgrass, Big Richard, and The Grass Is Dead

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Pioneer Valley musician, Nate Martel of the bands, Beast Mode, Outer Stylie, and Llama Lasagna, performs solo at the Dream Away Lodge. His sets are soulful, gritty, and fun and he has a remarkable voice you will not want to miss.   His solo project is soulful and socially conscious; deep, sometimes dark, but often uplifting.  

Synthesist Eric Hnatow and vocalist Haley Morgan make music as Home Body, harnessing light, sound, and movement to present a throbbing synth spectacle oozing with raw energy and emotional grit. Hailing from western Massachusetts, the duo plays with form and improvisation, enchanting audiences with their infectious spirit and danceable, moody electro-pop. Live, they punctuate their sound with manual light manipulation, reaching beyond their performance to create a high-vibration spectacle that is physically and emotionally moving. 

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Paper Anniversary is led by husband and wife songwriting duo Katherine Slingluff and Andy Stuckey. Their songs are a blend of Country, Bluegrass and Americana that spotlight the highs and lows of being in a relationship.  For this special performance at the Dream Away their band will be made up of their family. Their kids Maggie and Mo will be joining them on stage as well as dobro player Cole Rotante. Paper Anniversary's latest Single “I Blame You” was released in 2024 and you can listen to it anywhere you stream music. 

A Nashville-based singer-songwriter with an honest, plainspoken vocal, an eclectic-roots sound and a knack for bringing crystalline characters to life, Jack McKeon harbors a deep love for the written word. First inspired by literary musical icons from Hank Williams and Guy Clark to Tom T. Hall and John Hartford, McKeon arrived in Nashville in 2021 and has since established a reputation for his own message-driven lyricism - a value which shows up in its full sonic serenity on his 2024 album debut, Talking to Strangers.

In 2024, Talking to Strangers was featured in Saving Country Music, the Nashville Scene, and was named one of the best albums of the year by the Bluegrass Situation. McKeon placed 2nd at the Songwriter Serenade contest in Schulenburg, Texas and was a finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival's prestigious New Folk contest.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Ever since the Berkshire Folk Society started meeting at the Lodge on Wednesdays in the 1950s for hootenanny night, Wednesday has been the night for a community music share on the mountain! We are seeking a rotating, diverse cadre of music room hosts to welcome and invite musicians and keep the circle flowing. Wednesdays, of course, starting around 8.  Please contact hello@thedreamawaylodge.com if you are interested in hosting.

Charming Disaster is a goth-folk musical duo based in Brooklyn, NY, formed in 2012 by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the macabre humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write playfully dark songs about death, crime, myth, magic, science, and the occult. 

Charming Disaster’s music has been featured on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, they have toured the United States and Europe, and have opened for Rasputina, Voltaire, The Dresden Dolls. Recent appearances include Dragon Con, the Rochester Fringe Festival, Philadelphia’s Science History Institute, Cleveland's Wizbang Circus Theatre, and the Coney Island Sideshow stage. Their new album, THE DOUBLE, comes out on May 16.

1977. The year that punk was born.With only hours left to spare it also produced a baby boy in the suburbs of Cork, Ireland, born with his ears piqued to the murmurs and clatter around him.As he grew the soundtrack changed. Nirvana on the Walkman. Leonard Cohen on his sister’s stereo. The surge of bands and songwriters emerging from the 1990’s Cork music scene. Later it became snippets of eavesdropped New York conversation. Tales of woe on the radio. The sights and sounds of tours across Europe.All of it gets woven into a tapestry of words. Then melody. Harmonies added in the studio. Electricity, sincerity, and humor on the stage. At the core of every Niall Connolly song is the story, one that unfolds a layer with each listen.

White Woods is all original Americana/roots music. Over the last decade and a half they have released three albums and shared the stage with The Head and The Heart, Darlingside, Jackie Greene, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Walk The Moon.

Jude Roberts writes and performs evocative folk songs with authenticity and grace.  His music is a melodically rich tapestry of woven language.  Jude's song, "Suzanne", written for Holocaust Survivor Tommy Wald, was featured in the 2022 PBS documentary "We Remember: Songs of Survivors"; as was an earlier composition entitled "I Don't Need To Tell You".

A 2018 Falcon Ridge Folk festival Emerging Artist, Jude writes songs influenced by English, Irish and Appalachian folk music, with touches of baroque and Romantic-era classical pieces and European folk/pop.  A unique amalgam of style and talent, Roberts draws the listener inward and invites them to dive deep.

Jude is working on a new full-length record, entitled "Sun Signs", set for release in fall 2024. To learn more about this project, visit:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sun-signs-the-new-record-by-jude-roberts#/

Having traveled extensively throughout Europe for performance and pleasure, Jude launched a project leading music-focused retreats to Greece in October 2019. These tours will resume in 2025.

“He fingerpicks with the delicacy, assurance and color of Nick Drake; sings with the bell-like clarity and gentle high end of a lost Finn brother; and writes Anglo- and pop-inflected folksongs with the offhand grace and deceptive sophistication of early James Taylor, Richard Thompson or Sir Paul himself.” -John Burdick, HV1 Art and Music,

Roots music - Fierce folk

The Lucky 5 is a hard-swinging jazz band that blends 30’s and 40’s style swing with gypsy and Parisian flavors to create a unique blend of music that stands by itself. Combining originals and creative reworks of old standards, The Lucky 5 continues to be a favorite among music lovers young and old alike.

The band is comprised of highly seasoned touring musicians, having been part of The Hunger Mountain Boys, Lauren Ambrose & The Leisure Class, and traveled, performed and recorded with artists such as Neko Case, Iris Dement, Bobby Previte, Del McCoury, Jim Lauderdale, just to name a few.

The Lucky 5 brings verve, high energy, and an unpredictable impulse to the tradition of jazz from the 20's, 30's and 40's, grooving deeply, and keeping feet moving on the dance floor.

Lane, a 30-year-old picker currently based in Western Massachusetts, plays an extremely loose, primal, noisy type of improvised and extra-heavy dirt-blues.

Lucas Neil and Olivia Charlotte are Undercover Cameo. The duo has appeared as opening acts for Josh Rouse, The Carleans, Kat Wright, Ryan Montbleau, Will Evans, Nick Bosse, and The Wolff Sisters and has gained entry into The Rhode Island Folk Festival, Hartbeat Music Festival, Next-Up Music Festival, Mystic Folkways Festival, and more.

A songwriter’s songwriter, known for his lyric craft, distinctive voice and soulful songs steeped in classic rhythm & blues, pop, jazz, folk and country, Milton first gained notoriety in his hometown New York City when his song “In The City” became a hit on New York’s WFUV radio. His live performances, which include material from every one of his albums, are praised for their wit, humor, and captivating charm.

Milton has toured extensively throughout the states since 2005, as a headliner and appearing as support for his hero and mentor Chris Smither, in addition to shows and tours with Joan Osborne, Steave Earle, Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore,  Sonny Landreth, Colin Hay, Kat Edmonson, Josh Ritter and many more.

In late 2019, Milton premiered his 5th and finest album Studio City with a sold out show at City Vineyard NYC.  The album, a veritable tour de force of songwriting and studio craft, features 12 ultra-catchy, concise tunes ranging in style from Sinatra-esque full orchestra swing, to Sgt. Pepper-like whimsical comedy to vintage country and New Orleans rhythm and blues.  In concert, Milton and his ultra-sharp band of NYC veteran session players deliver the songs seamlessly with Milton’s own graceful live arrangements.

Singer-songwriter Bobby Sweet is an engaging storyteller and dynamic performer. The Berkshire native and sixth generation musician has received praise for his Country-Americana style and story songs about real life. Stylistically, Bobby’s music resides somewhere between John Prine, Jackson Browne, and a countryfied Bruce Springsteen, with a hint of Texas Swing. Between 2008 and 2016, Bobby toured the US and Canada as lead guitarist with Arlo Guthrie. His travels with Guthrie included performances at Carnegie Hall, the New Orleans Jazz Fest, and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, among many other landmark venues. Bobby’s songs have aired on many hit television series, such as Nashville, Touched By An Angel, Walker Texas Ranger, CSI, and Judging Amy. He has released seven solo albums to date. He will be performing with his trio featuring pedal steel guitarist Pete Adams and vocalist Lara Tupper.

Wes Buckley, Brian Kantor, Miles Lally, known as Vaguely Pagan, keep an audience moving with their brand of toe tappers, hippy spinners, you name it, but at the end of the night, they kind of just play soul music. You can see, hear and feel them enjoying themselves. The original songs veer into psych, folk, jam and rock territory and the cover songs are the ones you forgot how much you loved to hear. Hop on the train and boogie down to your new favorite jams.