AUGUST 2026
SET LIST
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
The Burren, Somerville
“Translucent Carriages” (Pearls Before Swine), Damon & Naomi
“Before the Wars,” Damon & Naomi
“Working Girl Blues” (Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard), The Hazel Project
“Old Jim Crow” (Alice Gerrard), The Hazel Project
“His Name” (w. Joshua Shank), Emily Marvosh
“Mothers of the Disappeared” (U2), Emily Marvosh
“Alfie” (Burt Bacharach/Hal David), Eric Martin
“On the Blue,” Eric Martin
“Clampdown” (The Clash), The Croaks
“Poppy,” The Croaks
“Toy Soldiers,” Dom the Composer with Prophet Parker-McWhorter
“What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye), Dom the Composer with Prophet Parker-McWhorter
Poster Design: Joanne Kaliontzis
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
DAMON & NAOMI were two-thirds of the beloved Boston band Galaxie 500. Since that band ran its course, they have performed as a duo exploring folk music and psychedelia. Damon Krukowski is also the author of several books (“Ways of Hearing,” “Why Sound Maytters”) and a tireless advocate for musicians’ rights. Naomi Yang is working on the follow-up to her debut feature-length documentary, NEVER BE A PUNCHING BAG FOR NOBODY. Their latest release, “What’s Past Is Prologue: Damon & Naomi at Cafe Oto,” is a Bandcamp exclusive.
Betsy Green (fiddle) and Gretchen Bowder (banjo) are one-half of the four-member HAZEL PROJECT, alongside Winnie Roy and Lindsay Talmage. Their band is an homage to the bluegrass pioneers Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, who wrote timeless songs about social justice and the plight of working people.
Contralto EMILY MARVOSH has performed with the Handel and Haydn Society, the Henry Purcell Society of Boston, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and many other orchestras around the country. She was awarded the prestigious Adams Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival and in 2022-’23 served as the inaugural Resident Artist with the Lexington Symphony.
ERIC MARTIN was frontman for the Neats, the Boston band that ran from the late 1970s until the beginning of the ‘90s. After debuting with local label Ace of Hearts, the band released two albums with Twin/Tone. They reunited briefly in 2009 to mark the release of a compilation disc of their Ace or Hearts years. Eric plays on the first Sunday of every month at the Midway Cafe with Steve Morell (original Del Fuegos drummer) and David Fredette (Titanics, Upper Crust).
THE CROAKS meld traditional folk music with old-school punk and adventurous metal. It’s a unique sound that guitarist Anna Reidister and violinist Haley Wood have dubbed “ragged post-hot wench rock.” Their 2025 EP, “Menagerie,” was produced by Dave Minehan at his Woolly Mammoth Studio.
DOM THE COMPOSER is a Haitian-American singer-songwriter. He was a member of Ashmont’s All Saints Choir of Men and Boys before studying music at UMass-Lowell. Born in LA and raised in Boston, PROPHET PARKER-MCWHORTER is lead vocalist of PK and the Mighty Seven. In 2020, he was named the City of Boston’s Educator/Mentor of the Year.
Special thanks to this month’s honorary Paid Protester
Elizabeth Steen