Red House recording artist Cliff Eberhardt knew by age seven that he was going to be a singer and songwriter. As a child Cliff taught himself to play guitar, piano, bass and drums. In his teens Eberhardt was fortunate enough to live close to the Main Point (one of the best folk clubs on the East Coast), and he cut his teeth listening to the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, and Mississippi John Hurt ‘ receiving an early and impressive tutorial in acoustic music. At the same time, he was also listening to great pop songwriters like Cole Porter, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hart, which explain his penchant for great melodies and clever lyrical twists.
A driving force of the Greenwich Village New Folk movement and well known among his peers, Cliff’s songs have been covered by the likes of Richie Havens, Buffy St. Marie, Erasure, Lucy Kaplansky and the folk superstar band ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’ (Dar Williams, Richard Shindell, and Lucy Kaplansky).
Louise Mosrie grew up in a small town just outside of Nashville, Tennessee on a farm with British parents and several siblings ‘ riding horses, writing poetry and singing with the radio. After college in Knoxville, she ‘borrowed’ her brother’s Sears guitar, bought a simple chord book and started writing songs. Mosrie’s songs create a world of lush detail and wide-open emotion drawing on the sensual imagery of the Deep South. She combines Americana, bluegrass and folk melodies and stories in ways that are fresh and charming with a warm vocal delivery and tasteful musical arrangements. Louise’s songs are filled with deep feeling and uncommon descriptions.
Advance tickets: $15. Suggested contribution at door: $18, senior: $12, junior: $5, family: $36.
Performances take place in the handicap-accessible Fellowship Hall of the First Congregational Church of Rockport. Concerts begin at 7:30 pm and end about 10:00 pm. Tickets may be purchased online, at Toad Hall Bookstore in Rockport, and at The Bookstore in Gloucester. Tickets purchased online are will-call, and seating is general admission.