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Tom Paxton, Cheryl Wheeler and the Nields to debut folk at Berkshire Museum
by Seth Rogovoy

(PITTSFIELD, Mass., July 28, 2001 - Folksingers Tom Paxton, Cheryl Wheeler and the Nields sisters will be performing this fall and winter at the Berkshire Museum in a new concert series intended to liven up the year-round cultural scene in Central Berkshire.

Paxton, the venerable folk singer-songwriter whose topical protest songs and ballads have become staples of the American folk repertoire, will kick off the “Originals in Song” series in the museum’s 300-seat auditorium on Saturday, September 29. Among Paxton’s best-known songs are “Last Thing on My Mind,” “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” and “Ramblin’ Boy.”

Nerissa and Katryna Nields, the singing sisters at the core of the nationally-known folk-rock ensemble The Nields, will perform their duo act on Saturday, October 20. Comic singer-songwriter and storyteller Cheryl Wheeler will conclude the series on Saturday, January 11.

Ticket prices vary for each event. Advance ticket buyers will save $3 per ticket; museum members will also receive a discount. All shows are at 8. For ticket information or to purchase tickets by phone call 413-443-7171 ext. 10.

Among the valuable experiences Ann Mintz brought to her new job as director of the Berkshire Museum at 39 South St. was a history of producing over 500 concerts in Philadelphia.

“I love music and this seemed like an opportunity to serve the museum and the community and have some fun,” said Mintz, a co-founder of the Cherry Tree, a renowned coffeehouse in Philadelphia. “The Berkshires are an incredibly rich area for performance in the summer, but less so in the winter,” said Mintz. “And wonderful stuff happens in South and North County but less in Central Berkshire. “The Berkshire Museum has a lovely 300-seat auditorium and I looked at all those things and thought there was an obvious opportunity for us to do a performance series that would meet the needs of the county in general.”

Mintz said she hopes that “Originals in Song” will be just the first of seasonal, themed series occurring every fall, winter and spring. Upcoming series might include jazz or world music.

“It’s already clear to me that there are kinds of music that don’t need a great deal more nurturing in the Berkshires,” said Mintz. “Chamber music is already well taken care of, but world music doesn’t seem as well taken care of.”

Mintz is also convinced that there is an audience in the Berkshires to be served beyond the summertime.

“I think that Berkshire County has changed,” said Mintz. “Conventional wisdom has a tendency to be based on old information, and what was true ten or fifteen or even five years ago may not be true now. The patterns of year-round residence are different than they were five years ago, and people are interested in having things to do, and I think we can help meet the needs of people who are here on a year-round basis.”

Mintz said the performers in the “Originals in Song” series represent three different generations of songwriters. “They’re all funny, they’re all trenchant, they all have a lot to say, and none of them sound like anybody else,” she said. “But they’re all profound observers in one way or the other. They’re all genuinely interesting performers. And they all put on quite a show.”As for her long-term goals, Mintz said she hopes to build a series that performers and audiences alike will respect, that performers will look forward to coming to play for audiences in Pittsfield, and that audiences will grow to trust the programming at the museum enough so they will come to see a performer even if they haven’t heard of him. Mintz described the Cherry Tree in Philadelphia as “a place where performers loved to work because it was a listening house, and the audience really trusted that they knew that they were going to like what they heard, or at least they were going to know it was good even if it was a musical stretch.”

As for her long-term goals, Mintz said she hopes to build a series that performers and audiences alike will respect, that performers will look forward to coming to play for audiences in Pittsfield, and that audiences will grow to trust the programming at the museum enough so they will come to see a performer even if they haven’t heard of him. Mintz described the Cherry Tree in Philadelphia as “a place where performers loved to work because it was a listening house, and the audience really trusted that they knew that they were going to like what they heard, or at least they were going to know it was good even if it was a musical stretch.”

“I’d like that when people see the series they’ll say, ‘Oh, something’s
happening at the museum that’s interesting.”



[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on July 28, 2001.

Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]


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