Claudia Schmidt is one of America’s most renowned singer/songwriters. In her over-30 year career, Claudia has astounded audiences with her beautiful voice and continually evolving songwriting style. A musician who has always hated categories, she describes herself as a "creative noisemaker". This has irritated some critics but delighted audiences, who learn to expect anything at a Schmidt concert: hymn, poem, bawdy verse, torch song, satire, and the gamut of emotions. She has 14 albums. Most recently, in the fall of 2006, Claudia teamed up with Dean Magraw for a live jazz recording at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis.  Her performance background is not limited to the folk stage. She has collaborated in several theater productions, including Brecht’s Good Person of Szechuan at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Claudia is also well known for her many appearances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Take advantage of this long-overdue opportunity to experience Claudia Schmidt at ARC!

Greg Boerner is a straight-shootin', clean livin' guitarist/singer/songwriter who performs like some kind of a road-hardened guitar maniac on one song, a 1950's pop idol on another, a Southern troubadour on the next - and at last blows you out of the galaxy with an antique blues tune that might well give John Lee Hooker pause. You know this Augusta, Georgia transplant to the Midwest feels it. Greg expends more energy on one piece than most of us are born with. Discover the simple and straightforward pleasures of just a voice and guitar.

Kat Eggleston’s songs touch a wide range of life’s experience with unusual clarity and authority. She sports an intricate, percussive guitar style and a striking alto voice. Her passionate, sometimes humorous lyrics create images of great conflict with arresting realism. Kat touches her listeners with honesty, imagination and top-notch musicianship. A staple of Chicago’s folk community for nearly 20 years, Kat returned to the beloved waters her native state of Washington this past May. Happily, however, she again visits ARC to share the wonderful alto voice and musical gifts that captivate and charm our hearts. Of the songs on her latest CD, The Only Word, Kat says, “Whether the subject is fighting back, luck, or the pursuit of beauty, they are all songs about love—the only word.”

Mike Agranoff’s superb fingerstyle guitar skills range from ancient harp tunes to obscure Tin-Pan-Alley compositions. His concertina arrangements of music by anyone from Bach to Berryman's may be haunting, complex, exciting, but are, above all, musical. A performance might include a song of heart-stopping emotional impact, a Scott Joplin piano rag, an a capella Irish patter song sung to the melody of a mile-a-minute fiddle tune, a riveting recitation in the style of Robert Service, and some of the most horrible parodies in the English speaking world. He makes us laugh, cry and think, all the while entertaining us long into any evening of music.

James Lee Stanley has been hailed as one of the few all-time greats and undisputed geniuses among singer-songwriters. He is that rare, long lived, singer-songwriter who unites the unpredictable creative turns and the eclectic elements that make up his world. His remarkable ability as a vocalist and composer allow him to create great songs, each accompanied by his amazing guitar orchestrations. When you couple this with his outrageously hilarious repartee, you get one of the most entertaining performers ever. Fi Magazine listed his Freelance Human Being as one of the Top 200 Recordings of all time. He has performed up to three hundred dates a year with such diverse acts as Bonnie Raitt, Robin Williams, Nicolette Larson and even Bill Cosby.  Steven Wright chose James Lee as his opening act for three years in a row; a testament to his great talent. He has been performing and recording since age 14, and has 21releases as proof--one with Peter Tork from The Monkees. Don’t pass up this opportunity to see James Lee Stanley!

Joe Jencks was compared to Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs by Dirty Linen, when it named his latest release, The Candle And The Flame, one of the best recordings of 2007. Like a good craftsman, Joe applies the skills of his well-rounded conservatory training to a contemporary genre, and offers the listener the best of both worlds. From Lincoln Center in New York, to coffee houses, festivals, spiritual communities and schools, Joe has spent the last seven years touring full time. Drawing on his Irish heritage in the process, he uses his lush and lyrical voice to enchant, heal, and inspire to action. He has enthralled audiences of all ages with songs that touch the human spirit, lend courage and hope, and invite us to fully live inside of our passions and our beliefs.  

Deidre McCalla came of age in the fiery blaze of New York City's folk heyday - a time when Greenwich Village clubs were filled with the likes of Dylan, Baez, and Ochs; Motown ruled the top of the charts and the streets of America screamed with anger and civil unrest. As a singer, songwriter and modern day troubadour, Deidre carries this energy through to today. A preeminent performer in both folk and women's music circles, Deidre has shared stages with a long list of notables including Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, Odetta, Cris Williamson, and Sweet Honey In the Rock. With a voice, which delicately conveys both strength and vulnerability, Deidre presents an eclectic blend of folk, rock, country, and pop that has touched the hearts and minds of audiences from college coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall.

Claudia Russell is a gifted vocalist and musicians’ musician. Claudia plays a style all her own: eclectic folk music with traces of all her musical loves: blues, western swing, rock and country. Drawing from original compositions, obscure gems, folk and pop classics and contributions from her many talented friends, Claudia’s performances are truly heartfelt and entertaining. Using humor, personal stories and her “Who me?” attitude, she quickly bonds with audiences, winning them over with her powerful vocals and signature guitar voicings. Claudia, who claims to have only completed about 10 songs herself, ironically has been a finalist at the prestigious Kerrville Songwriting Contest twice. (Perhaps it is not irony but rather the sign of another great, yet largely untapped, talent.) Claudia’s new CD, Ready to Receive, was recorded around the country with sessions in Memphis, Los Angeles, her new hometown of Berkley, CA and her home away from home, Door County, WI. Sing Out Magazine said of Claudia and the release, “Not only does she have an impressive set of pipes, she interprets songs rather than merely conveying lyrics. She sounds involved with the songs.” Get involved with Claudia Russell!

John Gorka stormed onto the national folk scene in the 1980s and has not looked back. Armed with a soulfully rich baritone voice, he is honored to be a part of the folk tradition — energetic acoustic music that is not a trend, not a fad, but an expression of everyday life. John is known for applying his vocals to a wide range of song forms--intimate confessional songs about love and loss, humorous observations about daily life in his neighborhood, poignant commentary on political moods, and exuberant explosions of unmitigated joy. To date more than a score of artists have recorded and/or performed John’s songs, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black and Maura O’Connell. He also started sharing tours with many notable friends — Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter among them. All this has brought his music to an ever-widening audience. He continues tilling new musical ground with each new release. His CDs are the embodiment of his musicality — classic examples of where his wonderful voice and unique songcraft weave together in a way that can only be described as “Gorka.” Help ARC close its 14th season at this amazing concert!  

Justin Roth stood out from an early age stood out as a musician.  A very determined and independent child, in the 3rd grade the future singer/songwriter declined an invitation to sing with the St. Croix Valley Boys Choir because he did not want to miss Saturday morning cartoons.  Since then, he has put that dedication to cartoons behind him and applied it to music. We can all be glad for that. Blending intricate guitar work, smooth vocal melodies and a groove, Justin offers up a rousing potpourri of new acoustic folk. As a self-taught fingerstyle guitarist, Justin’s inventive technique leaves people asking themselves ‘how’d he do that?’ as he expresses a new voice of the guitar.