By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
Rachael Sage
Rachael Sage is like a modern-day Renaissance woman — singer-songwriter, ballerina, pianist, poet, record label owner, actress, organist, writer and record producer. Currently, she is focused on being a performer.
She seems to be endlessly touring world-wide and all across America. Fortunately, her schedule has included three local shows in the first half of 2023 – and no-one is complaining.
Earlier this year, City Winery hosted a concert by Sage – a show that was part of a two-week, seven-show tour with Annalyse & Ryan. At the end of April, Sage did a show — “Songwriters in the Raw with Rachael Sage, Katie Dahl, and Jessica Smucker” — at Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse in Lancaster.
Now, Sage is coming to Delaware County to make her club debut at Jamey’s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985, www.jameyshouseofmusic.com) on July 15. She will share the bill with Meghan Cary, one of the top singer/songwriters in the Delaware Valley.
Sage is coming to Jamey’s to celebrate and perform songs from her new album, “The Other Side.” She will be joined by Kelly Halloran on violin.
“I just got back from the U.K.,” said Sage, during a phone interview from New York on Tuesday afternoon. “I was there for a month doing a pre-release tour. I did a show at the Liverpool Philharmonic. It was great. The whole tour was a lot of fun.
“I’ll be touring the record through the end of the year. I’ll be going back to the U.K. in August.’
“‘The Other Side’ will be out in about a week so the countdown has begun. I’ll be releasing it on my label MPress Records on July 21.
“Some of my shows are with my band. At Jamey’s, it’s myself and my violin player Kelly Halloran – the same as in the U.K. She’s a multi-talented musician who has played with me for a long time. She is so much more than a violinist. She plays with an extra string so it’s like a viola.”
“Whistle Blow,” the first single from “The Other Side,” was released in April.
Sage has released 15 studio albums – starting with “Morbid Romantic” in 1996. She released her sixth album, “Ballads & Burlesque” in 2006 and then has faithfully released a new album every two years (on even years) since then – until COVID hit. Her two most recent LPs are Myopia” in 2018 and “Character” in 2020.
“I started making ‘The Other Side’ about a year ago,” said Sage. “Some songs were written during the lockdown. I also released ‘Poetica’ during the lockdown. ‘Poetica’ is a collaborative album I made with Dave Eggar.”
Cinematic and stylistically expansive, “Poetica” is a creatively ambitious musical spoken word project distilling a poetic spirit through text, voice and music in the spirit of Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith and Laurie Anderson. What began as a remote duo collaboration between poet/vocalist/producer Sage and three-time Grammy nominated cellist Dave Eggar eventually evolved into a full-blown spoken word concept album, with musicians contributing from around the globe.
Produced and engineered by Sage herself, “Poetica” aims to create connection and shared experience via the unifying power of words. Adventurous yet familiar in its intimacy, Sage’s voice is perfectly at home in the absence of typical song structure, while her musical arrangements fuse elements of jazz, classical and Appalachian folk with surprising agility.
“Dave Eggar and I took my poetry, and we collaborated on the music,” said Sage.
“The Other Side” returns to the singer/songwriter structure.
“I recorded most of it in a home studio in Beacon, New York called The Creek because it overlooks Fishkill Creek,” said Sage. “I also did a lot of it at The Carriage House in Stamford, Connecticut.
“I recorded the initial sessions with the band. Then, I’d tour and come back to the studio. This went on for a period of six months.
“When I wrote the title track, I knew it should be an album. The song, ‘The Other Side,’ encapsulated the album’s songs – being in a challenging restrictive place and being able to transcend it.”
According to Sage, ““This record is more stark than my previous work, and less afraid to look fear in the eye or give fate the finger. When I wrote the song ‘The Other Side,’ I was separating from someone I still loved very much, with whom I hoped to maintain a friendship – but they did not. I had to somehow make peace with that, which of course was painful. It was a watershed moment when I could concede that releasing what wasn’t working – at the height of a pandemic – wasn’t failure but rather, positive self-clarity. A family member had just been diagnosed with a serious illness, requiring me to be fully present to help them through it…The world seemed to be burning but the grace of friends, loved ones and a beautiful creative community I found in upstate NY carried me through. The song is essentially a gospel plea for a more forgiving future and for peaceful liberation, beyond a time of crisis.”
The album strays from the norm in one way.
“I don’t record covers much, but this album has 12 originals and 15 covers,” said Sage. “The covers were ‘Breathe,’ ‘Only You’ and ‘Forgive Me This.’ Maria McKee’s ‘Breathe’ has always been one of my favorites. I used to play it in coffee houses when I went to Stanford.”
Sage has developed a loyal international following for her dynamic piano playing, delicate guitar work, and improvisational audience interaction. A six-time Independent Music Award winner, Sage has toured with an eclectic list of artists including Howard Jones, Beth Hart, Ani DiFranco, and Grammy® winners Shawn Colvin and Judy Collins – with whom she also recorded a critically-acclaimed duet of Neil Young’s “Helpless.”
Since founding her own label MPress Records two decades ago, Sage has steadily released a slew of vibrant, dynamic albums with poetic lyrics spanning subjects as wide as her inspirations.
Some of Sage’s tour dates a while back were cancelled because she was diagnosed with cancer.
“I’ve been in remission for five years,” said Sage. “I had endometrial cancer. I eat healthy and exercise and I stay in remission. I think that doing what you love is the best medicine.”
In early 2020, Sage released an intimate video for “Bravery’s On Fire,” which was the first single off “Character.” Directed by longtime collaborator and award-winning filmmaker Tom Moore, the video is an emotional, cinema verité window into her own recovery from cancer. 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the single were targeted to benefit women’s cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the two institutions where Sage received her treatment.
Now on the other side of treatment and in complete remission, Sage hopes to raise awareness of this disease, which is the most common type of women’s cancer with more than 60,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States alone and 530,000 women worldwide.
“Character,” which was co-produced by Sage and Grammy® winner Andy Zulla, contains the 12 songs she recorded while recovering from her treatment. Recorded at both Carriage House Studios and her home studio in NYC, “Character” features diverse material that reflects on such concepts as gratitude, identity, compassion, authenticity, optimism, and mindfulness.
For this weekend’s show at Jamey’s, Sage will share the bill with Meghan Cary. The two artists share something else. They frequently have their first names misspelled because of an extra letter – Rach(a)el and Meg(h)an.
“Meghan is an old friend of mine from the early days in New York,” said Sage.
Cary posted this message on her website — “You know I love playing outside – in the fields of fest, on the porch of the noisy house, at the edge of the vineyard – BUT just about now, as the world heats up to record temperatures, I’m looking forward to ducking into the cool dark air of an indoor venue. This Saturday, July 15th, we’ll be playing our one and only indoor show of the season, at the yummy-sounding, great-tasting, cool-vibey, always welcoming, Jamey’s House of Music. And just to make it extra creamy whipped topping on this fabulous summer, we’re sharing the evening with internationally touring artist, and powerhouse songwriter, Rachael Sage!! If you are in the Philly area (or can get here within a doable drive) this is the show not to miss!!! Advance tickets are highly recommended.”
Meghan Cary
Meghan Cary’s music has been hailed as healing, inspiring and infectiously joyful. Named Billboard’s “Critic’s Choice” for her debut EP, the stage actress turned folk rocker engages listeners with masterful storytelling and anthemic songs. Cary found solace in words and music after her fiancé unexpectedly passed away — and turned that passion into a platform empowering others to speak their truth by bravely sharing her own.
A frequent performer at such venerable festivals as Philadelphia Folk Festival, Spring Gulch, Huntington, DelMarVa Folk Festival, and music venues around the country, Cary’s message of unity and the power of raising our voices together infuses every show, and her song, “Sing Louder”, has become an anthem for the music-loving community.
Many people have favorite mantras. Cary’s favorite – and very own – mantra is “Sing Louder” – and for good reason.
“Sing Louder” is one of her most popular songs. It was the title track an EP – “Sing Louder – the Festival EP” in 2015. It is also the title of her latest album.
“The ‘Sing Louder’ album came out in November 2017, but I think of it as a 2018 album,” said Cary. “My book – ‘Sing Louder — Stories Behind the Songs’ – is all about the songs that inspired the ‘Sing Louder’ album – 10 first-person stories.”
Cary explained the inspiration for the book.
“I share a lot of my stories on stage,” said the veteran singer-songwriter. “I do a lot of storytelling in my shows – but it’s also a concert. My band would go crazy if I talked too much between songs.
“After shows, people ask me to tell them more about the songs. I’m a firm believer in sharing my stories – not only for the stories but also to help other people. People come up to me after shows all the time and say things like – I just lost my mom and didn’t realize that it was still affecting me.
“When I was making the record, I said I was going to write a book and let people pre-buy it. That way, I wouldn’t let other things get in the way. I knew I had to write the book and get it finished.
“There I one story for each song on ‘Sing Louder.’ It’s pretty straightforward. I think it’s a good read. The book I’m working on now is a companion to my first album ‘New Shoes’ from 1998. It’s about how I began my music career.”
Cary and her band Analog Gypsies produce a sound that is a blend of folk, rock, gypsy jazz and jam band. At the core of the band are Cary and Farrell. The keyboard and guitar duo produces a big musical footprint with cool grooves and tight vocal harmonies.
“The song ‘Sing Louder’ is a fan favorite – and very uplifting,” said Cary. “The key line is – ‘if you don’t know the words, sing louder…sing stronger…sing louder, sing stronger for all of the world to hear.
“We recorded the album at Morning Star Studio with producer Glenn Barratt. Glenn’s input on production is amazing. We even brought 48 people – fans and friends – into the studio to sing on the title track.”
Cary is also a veteran actress who performed in the musical “Pump Boys and Dinettes” and, more recently, performed a one-woman play she wrote called “On the Way to the Waterfall!”
This autobiographical play with music was originally created as a short piece for E.A.T.’s One-Woman Standing play festival in NYC in 2013 and was developed into a full-length play this past summer by Hypothetical Theatre Company. Two years ago, Cary performed it in the Boulder International Fringe Festival and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both the audience and the critics.
“When I lived in New York, I used to help this playwright Tina Howe,” said Cary. “She heard me playing my music and told me — you have to write a play. I didn’t know how to do it.”
The play she was about to write was based on a personal tragedy.
While performing in the musical “Pump Boys and Dinettes” years ago, Cary met and fell in love with Matthew Black, one of the show’s musicians. Cary performed with Black as his backup singer with occasional solos. The pair became engaged, and things were going great. But Black died suddenly in 1995 and Cary’s life path took another unexpected twist.
“Music carried me through that time period,” said Cary. “Matthew and I made music together. When he died, I lost everything I had for the future. Music was something that I could keep. I wanted to keep making music. But I was writing songs with no intention of ever playing them for anyone.
“When I thought about the play, I knew had already written the story in songs. I had written music as a way to heal through this traumatic experience. The play is about going through the same thing — getting knocked off-course and ending up somewhere else.”
When Cary graduated from Hershey High a few years back, she headed off to Duke University to major in biomedical engineering. But, the path of life goes through many twists and turns and that’s why Cary now wears a guitar instead of a lab coat. She switched majors at Duke and finished with a bachelor’s degree in drama.
“I thought I wanted to be a biomedical engineer,” said Cary. “I looked at Cornell, but it was freezing up there, so I chose Duke instead. I was on a pre-med track and then got interested in theater. I finished Duke with a degree in drama with a minor in chemistry. Then, I got my MFA (master’s in fine arts) in acting from Florida State University.
“I realized back then that I wanted to perform. When I started, I wanted to do regional theater. I also did Off-Broadway shows and I’m a charter member of New York’s Actor’s Shakespeare Company. I love Shakespeare’s work. I love the way he used words.”
Now, Cary has established herself as a singer, actress, songwriter, and playwright. She is also the mother of two musical kids who have already participated in making music with their family.
“Being a mom of two kids in school means I inhabit two entirely different worlds in a given week…or day,” said Cary. “And I was thinking how important it is for me to have both.
“It’s no surprise that sometimes trying to figure out the business of music can be pretty anxiety provoking — you know, how to afford to make records, if and how to sell records, and (most important for me) how to get the music out there so people fall in love and want to connect to and be a part of the music.
“And, for me, even the creative part of music-making can be less than peaceful at times. I sometimes suffer from writer’s block, lack of inspiration, over self-editing or just plain self-doubt.
“But I’ve been blessed – and challenged — with this other side of life that balances it all out. When I’m with the kids and just being and doing whatever it is we’re doing together, the drama that can be a part of the DYI musician’s world seems really inconsequential.
“So, the fact that both of our kids are musical and inspired to make music is really a gift. It means I don’t have to keep the two parts of my life so compartmentalized. Both of them sang on the album.”
Video link for Meghan Cary — https://youtu.be/7p56MwK_j3k.
Video link for Rachael Sage – https://youtu.be/85Trb0Pip9s.
The show, which is scheduled for July 15 at Jamey’s House of Music, will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $25.
The show at Jamey’s on July 14 will feature Toby Walker, who is billed as “One of the finest finger-picking country blues raconteurs in the USA.”
If Fate is a music fan, Fate was right on the mark arranging the meeting of GRAMMY award-winning bassist Ben Williams and Broadway star Syndee Winters.
The two talented musicians hit it off immediately and have been performing together ever since as the R&B duo Butterfly Black.
On July 15, Butterfly Black will be making their Philadelphia debut with a show at City Winery (990 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, www.citywinery.com).
“We met through a mutual friend in New York,” said Winters, during a phone interview Wednesday from a tour stop in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.
“She invited me to come with her to see one of Ben’s shows at the McKittrick Hotel in New York.
“I thought he was incredible. I knew I wanted to make music with him. We worked together during COVID. We blended really well. We did a lot of virtual concerts and then our first post-COVID show was at the Rockwood in June 2022.”
Williams began playing bass at age 10, was raised in the District of Columbia, and graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Michigan State University and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School.
In 2009, he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition. The honor included a recording contract with Concord Records through which he released his debut album, “State of Art.”
His discography as a leader includes “State of the Art” with Marcus Strickland (saxophone), Matthew Stevens (guitar), Gerald Clayton (piano), Etienne Charles (percussion), and Jamire Williams (drums) in 2011, “Coming of Age” with Marcus Strickland (tenor and soprano saxophones), Matthew Stevens (electric guitar), Christian Sands (piano), and John Davis (drums) in 2015, and “I Am a Man” with Kris Bowers (piano, keyboards), David Rosenthal (guitar), Jamire Williams (drums), Justin Brown (drums), Bendji Allonce (percussion), and special guests.
In August 2020, Williams contributed to the live streamed recording of the singer Bilal’s EP VOYAGE-19, created remotely during the COVID-19 lockdowns. It was released the following month with proceeds from its sales going to participating musicians in financial hardship from the pandemic.
Williams was a member of guitarist Pat Metheny’s Unity Band, which won Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in the 2013 Grammys. He was introduced as one of the “25 for the Future” by DownBeat magazine in 2016.
“Syndee and I met creatively to write in the fall of 2020 – sitting at home, trying to be productive,” said Williams. “I was doing a lot of writing. We were both in New York at the time, so we were able to get together. We just wanted to write some music. I love her voice.”
Williams and Winters bring different musical backgrounds to the collaboration.
Winters is a veteran Broadway stage singer, dancer and actor, who has performed in productions as “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Hamilton,” “The Lion King.” “Pippin,” “Motown The Musical” and “The Lion King.”
Motown can be found in Butterfly Black’s musical DNA along with strains of other R&B music from that era – especially male-female duos.
The question asked was, “Whatever happened to those old-fashioned male/female vocal groups?” The answer was supplied by Butterfly Black. They offer a modern-day take on the stylings of acts such as Ashford & Simpson, Ike & Tina Turner, and Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.
“Initially, I was going to come on as a producer for Syndee,” said Williams. “We found a way to put our voices together. The synergy just happened.
“We’ve released four singles so far and we have a six-song EP coming out on August 25.”
Just prior to that date, Winters will be making a return to the cast of the National Tour of “The Lion King” – a tour that will run from August 16-September 10 at the Academy of Music on the Kimmel Cultural Campus.
“My new run with ‘The Lion King’ starts in Philly on August 15,” said Winters, who grew up in Long Island and Miami. “I was with the show on Broadway most recently in 2019. I also toured with the North American company from 2010-2013.
“I love the show so much. It’s such a great show. And I always play the role of Nala.”
Before working on Broadway, Winters was a dancer for the New York Knicks basketball team and a hip-hop and soul singer, who worked with Grandmaster Flash on his 2009 album, “The Bridge.”
Fans of Butterfly Black have been able to enjoy Williams and Winters playing together in recent performances on “Good Day New York,” NPR “Tiny Desk” and “Good Morning America.” Now, they have a chance to catch the electrifying duo in a livestage performance at City Winery.
Video link for Butterfly Black — https://youtu.be/28-F7B1GRRo.
The show at City Winery on July 15 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $18.
