The Woodshed Podcast Live from The Hearing Room

Aaron Tornberg

The Woodshed is an intimate discussion and live performance with local New England area singer/songwriters who have played at The Hearing Room in Lowell, Massachusetts. Hosted by Aaron Tornberg, of Mushroom Musicians, the conversation focuses on a wide range of life histories to bring new meaning to local music. Listen in on the third Monday of each month at 7:00PM for the LIVE podcast! The recorded version will be available immediately after the podcast. read less
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The Woodshed Podcast with Aaron Tornberg 82 featuring Kimayo
29-03-2021
The Woodshed Podcast with Aaron Tornberg 82 featuring Kimayo
Dear Friend,I'd like to share a story with you......about a girl. The youngest of six children, “the baby”, she spent summers barefoot and picking raspberries. During the winter she listened to the crackling fireplace while warming cold fingers after hours in the snow. She learned delight and appreciation.This girl was spritely and filled with joy. She was loving and always wanted to please those around her. She trusted quickly and forgave easily.Childhood was abundant. It also came with hardships. Life brought sickness, hurt, struggle, and great loss. She was fifteen when her dad lost his battle to cancer. She didn't know then, but these experiences taught her the gift of resilience, the value of hope, the beauty of love, and the friendship of music.Through the years this "Energizer Bunny" mastered the art of wearing masks to cover up her sorrow and fear. "Put a smile on your face, don't be a burden, and push through."Externally she was thriving. Internally she was numb, so she wrote. Songs, poems, and journaling were her haven for raw, unfiltered honesty.At the University of New Hampshire she began writing songs on her dad’s old guitar. It was a balm. Sophomore year brought a reckoning with her faith, a belief in a force of love and restoration. She had a sense of belonging just as she was.This also lead to self-reflection, opening wounds that had never really healed. Afraid, an eating disorder became her escape. There was sickness, hurt, struggle, and loss......and then there was resilience, hope, love, and music.Post undergrad, this now adult knew she wanted to help people, see them thrive. She also knew music filled her veins with an energy unmatched, meeting her wherever she was with exactly what she needed. Music was her confidant, dance partner, comforter, her mood lifter. Through the years, personal growth, therapy, amazing friends, and creating, all brought more clarity:She would cultivate Connection, Solidarity, and Hope through Love and Creative Expression.That little girl is now in her thirties. She is still spritely, loving, and filled with joy. She is also authentic and vulnerable. This woman has traveled. She has loved and lost. She cares for the environment and is passionate about ending injustice. She is an aunt to five incredible young humans and a mom to her feline Mowgli. She lives her vision. This woman is learning daily to trust her knowing and believe her worth.She is bold. She is courageous. She is flourishing.With the dawn she rises. I seek daily to cultivate connection, solidarity, and hope through love and creative expression. My hope is that as I share my music and heart with integrity and authenticity, you too feel empowered to live authentically.May you come to know and love yourself more and more, as you journey Around The Sun.BeBold, Kimayo
The Woodshed Podcast 77 featuring Pamela Steinfeld
09-11-2020
The Woodshed Podcast 77 featuring Pamela Steinfeld
Pam Steinfeldsinger/songwriter/guitarist/piano-player.A Massachusetts-based musician, Pam has over 20 songwriting awards to her credit (6 awarded by the Billboard Magazine Song Contest). She writes upbeat, rhythmic tunes as well as soulful ballads.Pam’s debut CD, "Open Hands," features eleven originals and a cover version of John Gorka's song "Love Is Our Cross To Bear." Co-produced by Pam and WAMA "Producer of the Year" Marco Delmar, "Open Hands" also features the talents of Jon Carroll,Robbie Magruder, J.T. Brown (current/former members of Mary Chapin Carpenter's band), Al Petteway, and many other talented musicians."Open Hands" was nominated as "Best Debut Recording" and "Best Contemporary Folk Recording" by the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA). Radio/TV: Ten songs from "Open Hands" have been played on radio stations across the country and abroad, including WXPN in Philadelphia, WMVY on Martha's Vineyard, WETA in Washington, DC, and WRUR in Rochester. Pam has been interviewed on stations in New Jersey and Maryland. She has also appeared on television in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia.Performance Highlights: The release of "Open Hands" launched Pam's performance schedule, highlights of which include shows at the Washington Folk Festival, National Race for the Cure, Wintertide Coffeehouse, Rehoboth Folk Festival, Watchung Arts Center, Jammin' Java, First Night Alexandria, Frederick Festival of the Arts, Herndon Festival, NERFA Official "Informal" Showcase, Vic's Music Corner/O'Brien's, and numerous houseconcerts.PressPam has been featured in numerous publications, including: Washington Post Magazine, The Journal Newspapers, The Gazette Newspapers, Music Monthly, Washington Jewish Week, The Watchung Journal, The Cape Gazette, The Old Town Crier, Indie-music.com, and collectedsounds.com. (See "Reviews" page for quotes.)Listen to Pam’s tunes on YouTube!https://tinyurl.com/PamOnYouTubeFor Bookings and Email List: PamelaJayne1@gmail.com
The Woodshed Podcast 74 featuring Tamara Hey
07-05-2020
The Woodshed Podcast 74 featuring Tamara Hey
“Tamara Hey’s soaring voice has charmed and captivated audiences throughout her native New York for over a decade. She writes meticulously detailed, magically crystallized three-minute pop songs which, just like her vocals, are disarmingly deep. She’s also one of the great wits in music: an edgy sense of humor spices Hey’s narratives and character studies, even in the gloomiest moments. And her punchlines have O. Henry irony and Amy Rigby bittersweetness. The title of Hey’s album Miserably Happy pretty much says it all.” – New York Music Daily�She also happens to be the rare music-schooled musician who doesn’t waste notes or let her chops get in the way of saying something as directly as possible, musically or lyrically. That sense of purpose and craftsmanship translates to her career as a music educator: she’s a popular guitar teacher and for the past ten years, Hey’s Alphabet City Music Workshops for music theory, transcription and arranging have built a following, especially among singer-songwriters.�Hey got her start in the Lower East Side’s edgy singer-songwriter scene in the early part of this century, in the days before the gritty, artistic neighborhood was taken over by real estate speculators. Inspired by the fearlessness and sardonic humor of classic punk, the catchiness and wit of 60s Brill Building pop and the quirky fun of new wave, Hey quickly gained a following in bars and listening rooms in New York including the Fast Folk Cafe, CB’s Gallery, the Bottom Line, Rockwood Music Hall and the Slipper Room. She’s shared the stage with artists including David Massengill, Jack Hardy, Ellis Paul, to name a few.�Her third album, Miserably Happy, has been called a high water mark of that scene. Tamara’s catalog of original songwriting includes three previous albums: Right This Minute, A Little Space Left, and a children’s album, Sharing the Same Stars. In addition, Tamara’s work appears on three Fast Folk Magazine compilations: Local Charm, New Voices NYC, and Rebirth, issued on Smithsonian Folkways Records.The EditorsNew York Music Daily/Lucid CultureReview of Tamara Hey at Rockwood Music Hallhttp://lucidculture.wordpress.com
The Woodshed Podcast 73 featuring Cantor Vera Broekhuysen
04-05-2020
The Woodshed Podcast 73 featuring Cantor Vera Broekhuysen
Cantor Vera Broekhuysen has served as cantor at Temple Emanu-El of Haverhill, Massachusetts, since June of 2016 and is delighted to begin serving the Temple as its spiritual leader in July of 2018.As an educator, Cantor Broekhuysen brings guitar and drum into the classroom to infuse Hebrew language learning with music. Cantor Broekhuysen is also passionate about the beauty and vocal connectivity of early music and folksong and brings her experiences with Village Harmony (Vermont, international tours in the Caucasus Republic of Georgia) and Studio Sixteen (Toronto) to her cantorial work.Cantor Broekhuysen deeply values opportunities to pursue both spiritual enrichment and social justice in interfaith environments. She is a member of the Greater Haverhill Clergy Association and a founding member of the Merrimack Valley Sanctuary Network, which came together in the spring of 2017. While in cantorial school, Cantor Broekhuysen led an interfaith, cross-campus singing group (through the Center for Inter-Religious & Communal Leadership Education at both Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological Seminary) and co-created a series of events and workshops exploring the female voice in relationship to text and spiritual authority within Judaism and Islam.Cantor Broekhuysen is a member of the New England Board of Cantors, where she currently serves as secretary. In March of 2018, she helped organize, and performed in, “From Out of the Storm: Cantors Respond to Devastation,” a successful benefit concert on behalf of the Jewish communities in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands who were impacted by Hurricanes Maria and Jose. This event was cosponsored by Temple Beth Zion of Brookline, MA.Cantor Broekhuysen completed her undergraduate studies in music history and theory at the University of Toronto and was ordained by Hebrew College in June of 2016, when she also earned her Masters Degree in Jewish Education. She lives in North Andover, Massachusetts, with her husband and two sons.
The Woodshed Podcast 65 featuring Colorado Bob Kramer
06-04-2020
The Woodshed Podcast 65 featuring Colorado Bob Kramer
Performing a unique blend of jazz, folk, rock and blues, Beverly-based, rootsy, rockin & blue, Bob Kramer delivers high-spirited and enthusiastic performances every time he performs. His lively sets are packed with songs for any age and range from the Blues of the Delta to the classic Jazz of the streets to his own tasty originals. Bob is a seasoned performer and multi-instrumentalist whose love for the Delta and Piedmont styles resonates through his energetic playing and his rootsy singing. He performs using a variety of instruments to produce their jazzy folk/blues original sound, including slide guitar, mandolin and other guitars. Bob Kramer regularly perform at a variety of venues in the area, including the Topsfield Fair, and hosts the open mic at the Indo Pub, Beverly, on Monday nights.. Bob has opened for national recording artists, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines at Beverly First Night and the Pete Best Band (original Beatles drummer) in Newburyport and the Terra Blues Club in Greenwich Village in New York CityBob has released solo CDs, produced a compilation CD of Boston’s North Shore singer/songwriters - North Shore Acoustic Project - which received a “ raving” review in Dirty Linen Magazine. He also received an Honorable Mention in Billboard Magazine’s Songwriting Contest, and served as Chair of the Music Committee for the Yankee Homecoming Festival in Newburyport. His songs have been on radio playlists all over the world. Bob’s CD Help Me Sing My Song is on the Oasis compilation CD Volume 5. You can purchase Bob Kramer's albums Help me Sing my Song and North Shore Music Project on iTunes as well as on CD Baby.