Rubin Museum of Art Theater Reopens With Naked Soul Concert Series

The Rubin Museum of Art today announced the Fall 2011 Naked Soul Concert series. This premiere all acoustic and unplugged performance series is held in the Rubin Museum of Art's intimate 137-seat theater - a flagship arts and performance space in the heart of Chelsea. Naked Soul offers an opportunity for performers to be unplugged but totally connected.

Also on Friday nights, the Café @ RMA becomes the K2 Lounge, offering a special Pan-Asian tapas menu along with a martini and wine bar to accompany the evening's DJ, thematic tours and gallery activities.

September 9, 7 p.m.
Patty Larkin
$30/$35 day of

Patty Larkin has been redefining the boundaries of folk-urban pop music for 25 years with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics. Acoustic Guitar hails her "soundscape experiments" while Rolling Stone praises her "evocative and subtle sonic shading." She has been described as "riveting" (Chicago Tribune), "hypnotic" (Entertainment Weekly) and a "drop-dead brilliant" performer (Performing Songwriter). She returns to the Rubin Museum of Art by popular demand.

September 23, 7 p.m.
Mike Errico
$20 in advance / $25 day of

"Wander Away is...a perfect showcase for this supremely gifted performing songwriter" - Performing Songwriter
"Achingly bittersweet" - USA Today

Making his Rubin Museum of Art debut, Mike Errico brings a full band, string trio, and special guests to his Naked Soul evening.

Wander Away, the sixth release from New York City's Mike Errico, is lush pop-rock that draws comparison to Elbow and Iron and Wine. From the urgent "Ready or Not" to the otherworldly "Everybody Knows," Errico expands his signature songwriting style with new instrumentation - including dobro, string sections, harmonium, and pedal steel - a varied group of cowriters, and a vocal vulnerability only hinted at previously.

In welcoming cowriters for the first time, Errico says, "I think of it as social networking within the artistic process. I've toured with (Soulive's) Eric Krasno and Ari Hest, met Raul Midon and (Goldfrapp/Peter Gabriel keyboardist) Angie Pollock through friends, and worked with (Grammy-winning producer) Ben Mink before. Together, we went places I wouldn't have thought of on my own. And," he adds, "it was a lot of fun." Errico also showcases his skill as a guitarist in an intricate arrangement of the Tom Waits classic, "Johnsburg, Illinois." "The song has such an aching quality to it, and I just needed to arrange it, so I'd always have it with me," Errico says.

October 14, 7 p.m.
Slaid Cleaves
$30/$35 day of

Slaid Cleaves is back at the Rubin after a sell-out concert in 2009. The Maine-born, Texas-based troubadour Slaid Cleaves is known as a "songwriter's songwriter." With his great command of the songwriting craft, he phrases like a grifter trying to croon his low-down past away, and writes like he knows he never will. Cleaves sees through sentiment. "I've been chasing grace but grace ain't so easily found," he sings on One Good Year, just one of many subtle, momentary stays against the dark side of his heart.

OCTOBER 28, 7 p.m.
Susan Werner
$30/$35

Susan Werner composes skillful songs that effortlessly slide between folk, jazz, and pop, all delivered with sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. Throughout her expansive career, boundless versatility has emerged as a hallmark of Werner's talent, and has proven to be a quintessential ingredient of her engrossing musical persona. Susan returns to the Rubin after several previous sold-out concerts.

November 11, 7 p.m.
Tim O'Brien
$40/$45 day of

Tim O'Brien is back after a sell-out concert in 2009. Though he first won renown as a member of one of bluegrass's premiere bands, Hot Rize, O'Brien has been doing solo performances for a long time, and pressed for antecedents, he offers up figures like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. "The folksinger with a guitar is a sort of an unassailable icon," he says with a laugh. "Dylan, Woody Guthrie--what can you say?. And I remember that when I heard the first Doc Watson album, I thought, what does he need a band for? This guy has got it all. But what happens is that when you go into the studio, you can play with a band and get the juices flowing and maybe do things that you might not be able to do on the road. So there's a temptation to go that way. But this time, I thought, let's just bring it inside."

Tickets
Tickets can be purchased by calling (212) 620-5000, ext. 344 or online at www.rmanyc.org.

 

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