Athol Daily News – Sounds Local: Women take center stage: Four female singer-songwriters to perform at Off the Common event in Greenfield on July 26

Despite the oppressive heat, July has been a good month for music fans, and things are only going to get better in the coming weeks. As the month draws to a close, it’s almost time for the second event in the Off the Common summer music series. The Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield hosts Off the Common on the last Friday of the month all summer long. This event is free and runs from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and features music, art, vendors, games, and food trucks. It also coincides with the city’s monthly art walk.

The series kicked off on June 28 with a show featuring headliner Sen Morimoto, a former Wendell resident who plays a jazzy, experimental style of music. The event was a huge success. People enjoyed the activities on the community grounds and then headed into the venue to listen to music by local artists Frost Heaves and Hales and Big Destiny. When Morimoto performed, the room was packed with fans soaking up his creative sounds. The evening ended with a wild set of electronic music by Eric Hnatow.

The second show in the series will take place on Friday, July 26. While the first show focused on music that could be described as alternative, the upcoming show will feature four female singer-songwriters, each bringing a unique style and sound to the show.

As with all shows in the series, the lineup features a mix of local artists and nationally known touring artists. The upcoming show will feature Kimaya Diggs of Easthampton, Daisy Skelton, a former Western Massachusetts resident who now lives in New York, and Kendra McKinley of Upstate New York. The headliner will be R&B soul singer Madison McFerrin of Los Angeles.

If McFerrin’s name sounds familiar, it may be because she is the daughter of Bobby McFerrin, a ten-time Grammy Award-winning singer and conductor. Among his many accomplishments, McFerrin is best known to most people for his hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

But Madison McFerrin hasn’t rested on her father’s name; she’s worked hard to build her career. A 2019 graduate of the Berklee School of Music, her career began with a series of a cappella EPs, leading Questlove to dub her music “soul-cappella.” Her style continued to evolve and she began to embrace a more produced sound, evident in her debut album, I Hope You Can Forgive Me, released in spring 2023. The album features her genre-bending sound, which includes traces of R&B, funk, soul, and jazz, and showcases her beautiful, airy vocals in a collection of songs about personal growth.

The album received positive reviews, especially for the song “Run,” which was written when she learned that her great-great-great grandmother escaped slavery. Her father even sings some of the songs. Rolling Stone magazine named the song one of the best of 2023.

Another standout track is “(Please Don’t) Leave Me Now,” a song inspired by a near-fatal car accident she survived that gave her a deeper understanding of the fragility of life.

Perhaps her best-known song is “Guilty,” a track she wrote in 2021 following the conviction of former Minnesota police officer Derek Chain for the murder of George Floyd. “Guilty,” which features McFerrin singing the word “guilty” over house beats, resurfaced online when Trump was convicted of a crime.

McFerrin is on tour this summer. She just wrapped up some dates in Europe and is about to embark on a US tour. Take the chance to see her perform at an intimate venue like Hawks & Reed while you can.

Also in this lineup is Kimaya Diggs, who recently released a new single titled “Everything is Not Lost.” This song is her first new release since her 2023 album “Quincy.”

“This song was written when I was losing my sense of purpose after the release of my last LP. There’s that feeling of ‘what now?’ when a project finally comes out and I forget why I make music,” Diggs said.

Just as she did with the material on “Quincy,” Diggs pours her emotions into the song, delivering lines like, “All is not lost/ It just takes time to be found.”

“Everything is Not Lost” was recorded live. Diggs was joined by Jacob Rosazza on bass, Caleb Rosazza on guitar, Reed Sutherland on keys, Jake Edwards on drums, Naomi Nye, Lexi Weege and Emma Pauline on vocals. Sen Morimoto provided excellent saxophone work, as did Melanie Charles on flute. The Rosazza brothers co-produced the song.

Diggs said she eventually found her way back and regained her purpose in life. As the song says, it just took time.

You can listen to “Everything is Not Lost” on most streaming services.

Kendra McKinley’s latest album about growth and transformation is called “Where Does a Body Begin?”. McKinley had said that when recording the album, she wanted to make a record that sounded like a mix of Joni Mitchell’s “Court and Spark” and D’Angelo’s “Black Messiah.” She has also said that she has so many influences that she simply sums up her music as “music for smoking weed without a bra.” Based on that description, I think we can expect something new and different when McKinley takes the stage. McKinley is not only a musician, but also an artist and paints clothing.

Rounding out the lineup is Daisy Skelton. This former Montague resident returns home to play her funk and R&B based music. Skelton is also part of the group Project Orange, which performs at all kinds of special events.

Summer Concert Series in South Deerfield

The Deerfield Recreation Summer Concerts begin July 19 and run every Friday through August 16. These free concerts are held at Memorial Field in South Deerfield and run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This first show will feature Off the Record, a five-piece band playing your favorite songs from the 1960s to the 1990s, with a few originals in between.

On July 26, Chick ‘n’ Wire will play country, rock and blues. At the August 2 show, TJ & the Peepers will play a set ranging from classic rock to jazz. The series will conclude on August 16 with country band Cobblestone Road.

In some news on other summer music series, tonight at 6pm at the Coop Concerts at Greenfield Energy Park, John Stacey and his friends Russ Thomas and Pat & Tex LaMountain will be joining them. The show is free.

The Lava Center in Greenfield hosts a summer series of art, music and theater every Saturday at noon. This week’s performance features popular local musician Michael Nix, who plays classical guitar, banjar, banjo and mandolin. The show is free and sponsored by the Crossroads Cultural District and the Mass Cultural Council.

This weekend, Magpie will be at 1794 Meetinghouse in New Salem on Saturday, July 20th at 7:30 p.m. The duo will play folk music with an emphasis on current music and social activism.

On Sunday, July 21, the Meetinghouse will present gentle folk rock with singer-songwriter Leah Kunkel. Kunkel has an impressive resume: not only does she write and sing her own songs, but she has also sung background vocals for artists such as Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel and Graham Nash. She is also a lawyer.

Tickets and more information are available at 1794meetinghouse.org.

Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer living in Easthampton. Her work has been published in various regional and national publications. You can reach her at [email protected].