Press Release: Lori McKenna in Concert at Cotuit Center for the Arts

Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Lori McKenna in Concert, with special guest Mark Erelli, on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30pm.

Lori McKenna

Home, and the people who make it, have captivated Lori McKenna for years. Over the last three decades, as she became a wife and mother of five, she has also emerged as one of the most respected, prolific singer-songwriters in popular music. Her 2016 release The Bird and the Rifle netted three Grammy nominations, along with Americana Music Association nods––all firsts for McKenna as an artist. Then, she made history: In 2016, she became the first woman ever to win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year two years in a row thanks to co-writing Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” and penning Tim McGraw’s no. 1 “Humble and Kind” solo. Both songs also clinched back-to-back Grammy wins for Best Country Song. In 2017, she became the Academy of Country Music’s first female Songwriter of the Year. McKenna’s much-anticipated eleventh studio album, produced by Dave Cobb, takes one of McKenna’s signature themes––family––and builds a tapestry of experiences she has lived and overheard, been told and dreamed up, to create a stunning ode to life’s defining relationships.

“Her voice can cut like a knife’s edge, swoop like a fiddle, or shrink to a plaintive whisper,” wrote the Boston Globe. “Her songs will break your heart, compel you to hug your children, or remind you that time passes, and fast.”

Her music is a mix of sad and happy songs, of darkness and light. “I am drawn to sad songs,” she writes. “I want to make you feel something. I don’t necessarily want you to see it coming.”

Mark Erelli

Singer/songwriter Mark Erelli, who has won several prestigious songwriting awards, maintains a rigorous touring schedule, appearing at venues ranging from coffee houses to major folk festivals and even Fenway Park, where he once sang the national anthem before a Red Sox game.

In recent years, he has become a multi-instrumental sideman and producer, accompanying Grammy-winning artists such as McKenna, Paula Cole, and Josh Ritter everywhere from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry to London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Erelli’s CD releases include collections of western swing, lullabies, bluegrass with his band Barnstar, and songs of social conscience, as well as several collaborations. His tenth album, “For a Song” (2016), was likened by No Depression to “the best of Paul Simon or Jackson Browne’s work…stories that are immediately relatable and reflective of the small moments of our lives.” In January, Erelli will release “Mixtape,” an album of covers drawn from 13 years of his sold-out "Under the Covers" shows at the legendary Club Passim.

Tickets for Lori McKenna in Concert are $60, $50 for balcony seating. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.artsonthecape.org or call 508-428-0669.

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What:

Lori McKenna in Concert, with special guest Mark Erelli

Where:

Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit

When:

Thursday, April 25 at 7:30pm

Admission:

$60, $50 $50 for balcony seating

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