PHIPPSBURG

Acclaimed electroacoustic fiddle “troubadour” Joyce Andersen will play in concert at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Phippsburg Congregational Church.

With a wide and varied musical career that has taken her to Carnegie Hall and the Conan O’Brien show, Andersen’s live shows and recordings showcase her versatility as a vocalist and violinist who thrives on writing and interpreting songs across many genres from old-time, rock and Americana, to folk and swing. Her vocals mesh and harmonize with extraordinary playing on both the electric and acoustic violin as well as the guitar and viola.

When legendary guitarist Richard Thompson was recently performing in New England, he invited Andersen to be his special guest for a series of incendiary vocal and instrumental duets. She followed that with a solo show at Portland’s Acoustic Artisans.

Her two decades of performing have seen her play side-gal gigs in country, folk and bluegrass bands, a celtic band, a rock band, Irish fiddle sessions and a gypsy jazz band, through countless collaborations and studio sessions to center stage as a powerful singer, creator and instrumentalist. After four solo singer-songwriter albums and four acoustic folk collaborations with her husband folk virtuoso, Harvey Reid, she has reinvented herself as an “electro acoustic fiddle troubadour” and has created a new body of new music for solo violin and voice.

Her music has drawn national critical attention. Sing Out! magazine says her music “…places her right up there with any of the songwriters out there performing their songs today.” The Boston Globe says “That neotraditional current is starting to be felt among the ranks of New England songwriters… among the hottest…fiddler-singer Joyce Andersen.” Minnesota Public Radio says “Youth and strength flow through her voice. She’s got power and conviction… She’s writing new songs and retelling old stories, and there’s still something mysterious in her music that sounds like comes from an ancient and pure source.” Wire NH said her new solo album will “forever alter your perception of the violin.” The Portsmouth Herald called her a “folk/roots inspired songstress on one side, psychedelic shape-shifter on the other.”

Whatever you call it, Andersen is definitely finding her own musical path, literally dancing with all four limbs as she takes the audience on a ride through genres and musical landscapes that emanate from her acoustic and electroacoustic violin and vocal creations. Her latest album “Swerve!” marks the invention of her innovative new “violin troubadour” sound which reflects her strengths in improvisation, and her new-found interest in using technology to harness new sonic landscapes.

Andersen’s music has brought her from the coffeehouses and taverns of her native New England, national & international touring as a solo artist based out of Boston, Nashville, and NYC and now back to her native New England where she lives with her husband and their two boys, in York, Maine.

The Phippsburg Congregational Church is located at 10 Church Lane in Phippsburg. Admission at the door is $12 for adults, $6 for students and children, with children under eight admitted free. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call 389-1770.

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