Composer and singer-songwriter Kaley Lane Eaton’s new chamber folk song cycle Maverick Granddaughter imagines the lives of her maternal line: six generations of only daughters born and raised in the Boulder Valley of present-day Montana, challenged and shaped by the land they encountered over a span of 165 years. Like the folk songs, family stories, and local wisdom that inspire it, Maverick Granddaughter rewrites the romance of the Wild West and presents us with realism: a humbling equality where the land wins, and the people on the side of it prevail.

This piece honors the many first peoples of the Plains and Rockies, who were there for thousands of years before Eaton’s ancestors, and whose knowledge helped so many to survive this harsh, magnificent and complex land in a deeply violent time.

In her poem, “Petrified”, Eaton imagines her third great-grandmother, Susan, as she first saw the Rockies from her covered wagon, age five:

When I first saw the Tetons
I saw freedom beyond
I saw hope
I saw petrified man

Opening up the night will be a world premiere of a new piece by Tom Baker, Prairie Stillness. Prairie Stillness is the first of three extended songs by Tom Baker forming a kind of mini-opera-folk-song-cycle “Prairie/Desert/Mountain.” The songs are ruminations on the pioneering migration across the American West in the 1800s. They are about hardship and perseverance on a very personal, intimate level. All three songs are preceded by short preludes called “Walking Music.” The lyrics for Prairie Stillness were written by poet Lara Candland in 1995 for an opera collaboration with Baker that never materialized. But this small, “pocket-opera” of songs has finally begun to take shape, 30 years later. Prairie Stillness marks the journey of a family of five crossing the midwest prairie on their journey to the west, to a new life.

Kaley Lane Eaton, vocals, banjo, piano, harmonium
Tom Baker, dobro and fretless guitar
Heather Bentley, viola
Jon Butler, upright bass and vocals
Chris Icasiano, drums
Mariah Larsen, cello
Simon Linn-Gerstein, cello
Kayce Guthmiller, viola/fiddle and vocals
Lily Press, harp
Rian Souleles, guitar and bouzouki
With guest contributions from Johnaye Kendrick, vocalist and violinist.

Pour le concert d’ouverture, les Rencontres Musicales Homay invitent l’artiste Kaley Lane Eaton, compositrice et multi instrumentiste basée à Seattle. Formée comme soprano et pianiste classique, et également responsable du département de musique au Cornish College of the Arts à Seattle, Kaley Lane développe une musique qui oscille entre les univers de Björk, Kate Bush et Laurie Anderson. Accompagnée de la pianiste suisse d’origine iranienne Layla Ramezan, et du joueur de bouzouki grec Rian Souleles basé aux USA, Kaley Lane présentera des compositions originales et des chansons folkloriques de l’Amérique rurale, aux côtés d’œuvres de grands compositeurs de musique classique afro-américaine encore peu diffusée en Europe. Des sonorités itinérantes et lointaines, échos d’une Amérique ouverte sur le monde, se mêlent aux réflexions poétiques de Kaley Lane Eaton enracinées dans les paysages majestueux et la profonde diversité culturelle de l’Ouest des États-Unis.

Un verre de l’amitié et un moment de rencontres avec les artistes est offert après le concert.

Hildegard 25 is the first mini-music-fest of its kind. This evening brings together artists of the Pacific Northwest creating in the realms of experimental and early music for an evening of sublime musical journeys.

Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, poet, herbalist and musician. Her works reverberate across the centuries, transcending time and space. She continues to inspire us.

Hiledard 25 features four performing artists who will present both key musical pieces of Hildegard's as well as their new compositions created specifically for this event and inspired by medieval women writ large.

Limited edition festival merch is available at the event including a poster and t-shirt designed by Andrea Marcos and printed at Ink Knife Press.

Music begins at 7:30 PM. Doors at 7 PM.

Joined by Dylan Running Crane’s band Cry Baby, Kaley will play a stripped down set with a subset of the Ineffables in her native Montana!

More details here

A full day of FREE, all-ages events including great musicians, arts and artisans, kids’ programming including South Seattle’s own Double Dutch Divas, food, beer, and local business open houses.

Kaley and the Ineffable String Band play at 2:30 on the neighborhood stage!

Join Kaley Lane Eaton and the Ineffable String Band at the 51st Annual Northwest Folklife Festival! We will be performing raucous string band originals alongside a few traditional tunes from both American and Greek traditions, and everything in between.

@ Seattle Center Artists At Play Stage

KOTM performs Tom Baker’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier”, alongside Neil Welch’s “no, house on fire, no”

Heather Bentley, viola

Abbey Blackwell, bass

Kaley Lane Eaton, voice

Leanna Keith, flutes

Michael Nicolella, guitar

Neil Welch, saxophone

Kin of the Moon returns from their Denver collaboration with Nebula Ensemble with two new works in hand. All works will be performed by Kin of the Moon.

Kin of the Moon (Heather Bentley, viola; Kaley Lane Eaton, voice; and Leanna Keith, flutes) is “an experimental chamber troupe with an ear for the eclectic. A power trio with classical roots and sprawling musical tastes, their intimate performances blend classical music with sonic ritual, dissolving genre and erasing boundaries between performer and audience.” – Maggie Molloy, Second Inversion. Just back from a residency in Denver at the Metropolitan State University, KOTM will share new works by Sarah Perske of Nebula Ensemble (“The Lack of Anchors”) and Leanna Keith (“Built to Last”). Perske’s piece deals with the emotional states of Panic, Anxiety, and being unmoored, while finding solace in a twelve tone waltz. Keith’s trio is an unhinged ode to Late Capitalism in three movements.

Kin of the Moon will be joined by guitarist Tom Baker in a final all-acoustic improvisation.