Cold Comfort Farm House Concerts

07/02/2025

Ishna finishing up a four day recording session here right now!
What a wonderful group of people in this band❣️

08/09/2023

ALERT: We apologize to our friends but we are CANCELING THE CANTRIP CONCERT scheduled for tonight.
We are so sorry and hope to reschedule when Covid dies down again!

07/11/2023

FINALLY! We are back and excited to invite our friends to a house concert at Cold Comfort Farm. The fantastic Scottish band, CANTRIP, will be joining us on AUGUST 9, 2023, to entertain and delight us with their mix of traditional and non-traditional tunes and songs. We will ask for a donation of $20.00 at the door. Seating is limited, so please reserve your bench or floor seat soon.

FROM THE BAND:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hYTCM5tHFc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sZe6eppnmU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FntH1jZcGoA

The name Cantrip is an Old Scots word meaning a charm, magic spell or piece of mischief and it aptly describes the unexpected twists and turns in their musical arrangements, likewise the compelling potency of their musicianship. Swirling border pipes, raging fiddle, thunderous guitar and three rich voices blend to create a sound energetic enough to tear the roof off. After 20 years of touring, Cantrip has found a character like no other. Echoes can be heard of trad music from the 1960s and 70s, but the years have slowly infested their music with the sounds of funk, metal, bluegrass, swing, and even klezmer. Dan Houghton, Jon Bews, Alasdair White, and Eric McDonald stir the elements in a witches’ cauldron, slowly coalescing into chaotic order.

They are the closest of friends, and it is this friendship that has cemented the band’s musicality through the years and across ponds. Dan began his career with the whistle at age seven and started playing bagpipes in the early nineties, proceeding to win the Scottish Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society Open Borderpipes and New Composition events (multiple times), as well as the Maitre de Cornemuse at St. Chartier. He is also an accomplished player on flute, bouzouki and DADGAD guitar. Jon is a veteran fiddler, having started at age four. A prizewinning graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 1994, he has performed and recorded with a diverse roster of artists. Eric studied mandolin and guitar at Berklee College of Music. He cut his teeth playing for contra dances in New England, where he can still often be seen from the dance floor, in addition to his work with Cantrip. Alasdair White of the Battlefield Band rounds out the group. A native of the Isle of Lewis, he has been one of Scotland's premier exports of the fiddle since he was 18.

09/21/2021

It is with extreme regret that we announce that we will not be hosting Mr. Sun this week . We feel that the risks of Covid are just too high at the moment. We hope that they will be here in the future as the virus dies down and we send thanks to all the fans who reached out!

07/21/2021

Okay, Y’all. Here we GO!
DAROL ANGER and his new band, MR. SUN are coming to Cold Comfort Farm on Sept. 23, 2021!!
Details on tickets and show time to come.

MR SUN
Acoustic Music supergroup Mr Sun, featuring renowned fiddler Darol Anger, guitarist Grant Gordy, Scottish bassist Aidan O’Donnell, and mandolinist Joe Walsh, will be celebrating their upcoming CD release, Extrovert, on Compass Records. Their appearances in the last 4 years at Wintergrass, Rockygrass, Grey Fox and Freshgrass and at IBMA conventions have established a powerful presence throughout the Acoustic Americana music scene.

If you haven’t heard of the cheerfully named supergroup Mr. Sun, you’ve certainly heard its proponents, four of the finest musicians on the American roots scene: Renowned fiddler Darol Anger, Professor Emeritus at Berklee College of Music, who has released many solo albums in addition to his work with David Grisman and Mike Marshall, and founded the Turtle Island Quartet, Psychograss, and Republic of Strings; Joe K. Walsh, mandolin virtuoso and vocalist who spent four years with the award-winning bluegrass act the Gibson Brothers before becoming a solo artist and songwriter and Strings Department Professor at Berklee; all-around guitar genius Grant Gordy, a former member of Dawg Music guru David Grisman’s band; and the phenomenal Scots bassist Aidan O’Donnell, who has backed harpist Maeve Gilchrist and countless modern Jazz heroes in his adopted New York City home.

12/16/2019

10/31/2019

10/30/2019

Save the date: 12/15/19 Amazing blues with Sugar Ray Norcia and Duke Robillard. More info to come.....

09/14/2019

REMINDER: Please let us know if you are coming to hear Darol Anger and Mike Marshall this Tuesday night.
Doors open at 7:45-NO EARLIER. $20.00 per ticket at the door.
We are also taking reservations by phone and e-mail, so the posted number on Facebook of available space is not necessarily accurate.