The SpYder Stompers

Andy Cohen + Eleanor Ellis + Bill Ellis

Thursday, August 13  7:30 PM   $20

 

The SpYder Stompers have been cooking up a tasty spread of foot stomping acoustic country blues, ragtime and string band classics for over 35 years.  In recent years they have also been including original songs written by members of the band.  The band got their start holding a monthly gig at Cleveland's legendary Barking Spider Tavern and its name was 'borrowed' from this iconic music venue.

 

The original trio of Kevin, Jack, and Ray still comprise the core of the band, however, over the years the band has included other area musicians and the band often ranges in size from a trio to a quintet.  For this gig, the Stompers will be Kevin T. Richards, Jack DiAlesandro, and Kari Ann Rutushin.

 

The Treelawn is honored to welcome acclaimed folk/blues artists Andy Cohen, Eleanor Ellis and William Lee Ellis to Cleveland as one stop of their summer tour promoting their new album, Whistlin' Past the Graveyard.  

 

Memphis based Andy Cohen is a virtuoso finger-style guitarist who has been described as a walking, talking folk-blues-roots music encyclopedia. Cohen has devoted his life to studying, performing, and promoting traditional blues and folk music of the pre-WWII era. Andy holds a master's in anthropology and has more than a dozen recordings to his credit, including Oh Glory, How Happy I Am: The Sacred Songs of Rev. Gary Davis.   Living Blues magazine praises Eleanor Ellis as a celebrated master of the country and Piedmont blues, and one of the most significant women in the acoustic genre. She is a founding member of the DC Blues Society and the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation and is producer/editor of the noted documentary Blues Houseparty. William Lee (Bill) Ellis is a roots music fingerpicking guitarist and songwriter who has been hailed as a wizard on steel strings and one of our finest contemporary songwriters. He has released five albums, notably 2023's Ghost Hymns- a Blues Music Awards nominee for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year. Bill holds a PhD in ethnomusicology and is currently a Professor of Music at Saint Michael's College in Vermont.