They don’t call her Christmas Carol for nothing.
In fact, singer and music venue owner Carol Noonan calls herself that too.
if you go
STONE MOUNTAIN LIVE CHRISTMAS SHOW
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
WHERE: Stone Mountain Arts Center, 695 Dug Way Road, Brownfield
HOW MUCH: $60
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“I just love Christmas, the music, the decorations – that’s why we’ve always done a Christmas show,” said Noonan, who started Stone Mountain Arts Center in rural Brownfield, near Fryeburg, seven years ago.
The Stone Mountain LIVE Christmas Show is a tradition that Noonan started as soon as she opened her music venue. And that tradition continues this year, with shows Friday and Saturday. Besides Noonan and her house backing band made up of nationally known session players, the Gibson Brothers will be the featured guests.
Based in New York state and longtime friends of Noonan, the Gibson Brothers were named the 2012 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year.
The shows Friday and Saturday will feature Noonan and her band doing a mix of classic holiday tunes, as well as original music from her various Christmas albums. She says she enjoys the challenge of singing “O Holy Night” and speculates that some people show up each year just to see if she can hit the right note on that one.
“I love that tune. But I’m getting older, so who knows?” said Noonan.
Noonan grew up in Peabody, Mass., and came to Maine’s western mountains to work as a “singing chambermaid” at an inn. In the late 1980s and early 1990s she was lead singer and songwriter for the folk band Knots and Crosses, well-known in Boston and around New England.
After the band broke up in the mid-1990s, Noonan started self-producing her albums and building a solo career. She opened Stone Mountain in a barn-like structure, with lots of exposed beams, around 2006 on the same property as her home. She immediately began using her music business contacts to book well-known acts, and it didn’t take long for other acts to hear about what a charming, intimate, out-of-the-way space Stone Mountain is and to want to play there themselves. The places gets a wide range of performers, in genres ranging from folk and bluegrass to rock and jazz.
Over the years Stone Mountain has hosted Mary Chapin Carpenter, Richie Havens, the Indigo Girls, Ralph Stanley, Shawn Colvin, Leon Redbone, Lucinda Williams and Madeleine Peyroux.
Noonan herself plays Stone Mountain often, with a band that includes Boston-based session stars Duke Levine and Kevin Barry on guitars. Levine has been a member of Chapin Carpenter’s band, and plays frequently with both Peter Wolf and J. Geils. Barry has also been in Chapin Carpenter’s band, as well as the band of Paula Cole.
People who go to the Stone Mountain LIVE Christmas show can expect to see Noonan and her band on stage the whole time, with the Gibson Brothers joining the group on stage periodically. Noonan handles most of the lead vocals, with her sister and a couple other singers sharing the duties.
The music will be a mix of Noonan’s original Christmas songs, including some brand new ones, along with classics made famous by Bing Crosby, like “White Christmas.”
Plus, she has recorded and does live a touching version of “There’s Always Tomorrow” from the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special.
Like a little kid too nervous to sleep, Noonan said she looks forward all year to her Christmas shows.
“I’ve been busy, but I did manage to write some new Christmas songs for the show,” said Noonan. “And I decorated the place the day after Thanksgiving, I was so excited.”
Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:
rrouthier@pressherald.com
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