A pair of Sundilla favorites will take the stage together when Cliff Eberhardt and his special guest Louise Mosrie come to town on Friday, March 4. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30; admission at the door will be $18, but advance tickets are just $15 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Blooming Colors, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. Free coffee, tea and water will be available, and attendees are invited to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer.
Eberhardt has run the musical gamut from being a founding member of the Fast Folk Music Cooperative of New York City in the 1980s to writing and performing Shakespeare. His contemporary compositions are deep, honest and sung with rich emotional vocals and appeal to a wide audience. His music is a rich mélange of pop, rock and folk styles.
As a child, Eberhardt taught himself to play guitar, piano, bass and drums. In his teens, he was fortunate enough to live close to the Main Point, one of the best folk clubs on the East Coast. He cut his teeth listening to the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt and Mississippi John Hurt — receiving an early and impressive tutorial in acoustic music.
At the same time, he was also listening to great pop songwriters like Cole Porter, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hart, which explains his penchant for melodies and lyrical twists.
Eberhardt has been hailed as a driving force of the Greenwich Village New Folk movement. His songs have been covered by Richie Havens, Buffy St. Marie, Erasure, and the folk superstar band Cry, Cry, Cry (Dar Williams, Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky).
Eberhardt’s soulful voice is among the reasons he was named one of the top 100 Folk Artists of the past 20 years.
Louise Mosrie grew up in the small town just outside of Nashville, TN on a farm with British parents and several siblings – riding horses, writing poetry and singing with the radio. After college in Knoxville, she “borrowed” her brother’s Sears guitar, bought a simple chord book and started writing songs. The early material was mostly acoustic pop as she tried to channel her English roots while listening to Everything But the Girl and The Sundays.
Fast forward a few years, a move back to Nashville and some deep soul searching, Louise began writing songs about the South – what she knew and where she grew up. In 2008, she began working on a new album eventually to be called “Home” because she’d come full circle in her “voice” as a writer. The album was a mix of bluegrass, country and folk and as she weaved in lush stories and songs about southern life, she was even introduced once as “…William Faulkner with a guitar”. With those songs, she entered some song contests connected to festivals and ended up winning top awards at Kerrville Folk Festival, Wildflower! Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. “Home” debuted at #1 on the Folk DJ charts in January 2010 and went on to be one of the most played albums that year for that chart.
Buoyed by a couple thousand earnest fans, she began touring all over the Eastern seaboard, the South and Texas. Audience members would tell her that they enjoyed the stories between the songs as much as the songs and her strong expressive voice was described as “…like listening to Patty Griffin and Susan Tedeschi at the same time.” She’s played at The Bluebird Café in Nashville, Club Passim in Boston, Caffé Lena in NY and The Birchmere in Washington DC.
But… how did a folk stalwart like Cliff Eberhardt and a fast-rising star like Louise Mosrie find themselves performing together? It started when Louise was writing and recording her latest CD, “Lay It Down.” Eberhardt produced the CD, and it was recorded in his home studio. He played several instruments– acoustic guitar, dobro, steel guitar, high string guitar, classical guitar, bass, piano, organ, drums, midi string, and percussion—and co-wrote one of the songs. They realized that they worked well together, took that collaboration on the road, realized that continuing to do something that works well was a good idea, and the rest is history.
Cliff and Louise could easily stand on stage at the AUUF and put on a great show; both already have. Consider this the Reese’s Cup of concerts: two great sounds that sound great together. Come hear what we mean, when Cliff Eberhardt and his special guest Louise Mosrie come to town on Friday, March 4. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30; admission at the door will be $18, but advance tickets are just $15 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Blooming Colors, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. Free coffee, tea and water will be available, and attendees are invited to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer. For more information, go to www.sundillamusic.com or email sundilla@mindspring.com.