joy kills sorrow
Emma
Emma Beaton is a young inventive folk cellist, vocalist, and banjo player from Qualicum Beach, Canada. She has performed across North America and Scotland with notable musicians such as Tristan & Tashina Clarridge, Jeremy Kittel, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Brittany Haas, Bruce Molsky, Simon Chrisman, Laurie Lewis, Back of the Moon, as a part of the Hanneke Cassel Band and as a soloist with the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers. Emma has appeared as part of a a feature act at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, as well as part of a duo with Gillian Frame on STV (Scottish Television). Emma likes fast jazz and dixieland jazz kazoo, but believes Cajun accordion is where her heart lies...
Joe
Mandolinist Joe Walsh plays with some of the best acoustic acts in New England, teaches a full roster of guitar and mandolin students near his home in Portland, Maine, dodges questions about the Eagles' guitar player, and is continually searching for the perfect burrito. Originally from Minnesota, he moved to the northeast to enroll at the Berklee college of Music in Boston, MA, as the school's first mandolin student (and graduate). Since his arrival out east he helped start the modern string band Joy Kills Sorrow and has joined two of the finest bluegrass-based acts around in Northern Lights and the New England Bluegrass Band. He's also had the pleasure of working and performing with a number of amazing musicians, including Darol Anger, Tony Trischka, Scott Nygaard, Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, and Gillian Welch. "Fabulous mandolinist. The Sam Bush of Boylston Street"--Matt Glaser, Chair of the String Department at the Berklee College of Music
Matt
Matthew Arcara was raised in Pennsylvania, educated in Oregon, and is now living in Jamaica Plain with his dog, Mayhem. He has been playing guitar his whole life and recently won the National Flatpicking Contest in Winfield, Kansas. Flatpicking Guitar Magazine called him a member of the "next generation" of flatpickers. He has performed with Darol Anger, and recently played a Flatpick Showdown with Bryan Sutton, David Grier and Tim Stafford. He has been featured in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Matt contributed to "Songs for Sophie A Collings Guitar Collective," a benefit CD featuring Tim O'Brien, Mark Cosgrove, Kenny Smith and others. He has also released a solo CD. Matt endorses Rockbridge guitars.
"I have played with and worked with Matt on a number of occasions and I find him to have a commitment to tone, rhythmic integrity, and a general attention to musical detail that is rare in acoustic musicians his age" -Darol Anger
"Matt is certainly one of the most promising and dedicated flatpick guitarist... a more musical flatpicker than the average wunderkind"-Mark Cosgrove
Wes
A native of Bainbridge Island, Washington, Wes Corbett began classical piano at the age of four but was converted to the banjo during high school, studying with Dave Keenan, Bill Evans, Dennis Caplinger, and Seattle-based guitarist John Miller. For the past four years Wes has been composing and arranging original music for banjo and hammered dulcimer with Simon Chrisman, also a native of Bainbridge. They recorded an album with guitarist Jordan Tice, which was released on Patuxent in 2007. In the past several years Wes has appeared with numerous musicians and bands, including the David Grisman Quintet, the Mike Marshall and Darol Anger duo, Matt Glaser, and Crooked Still. Since relocating to Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts in the fall of 2006, he has opened for Tony Rice with Lincoln Meyers and String Alliance, and toured Internationally with the Biscuit Burners. Wes is currently touring with Boston based string band Joy Kills Sorrow and New Old Stock, featuring Simon Chrisman and Tristan and Tashina Clarridge.
Bridget
Bridget Kearney grew up in Iowa City, IA and started playing bass in the 4th grade. She prides herself on succeeding inspite of silly named bands and songs. In 2003, her trio "Sax Attack" was awarded Best Small Group by the Downbeat Student Music Awards. In 2006 she was awarded a Grand Prize and Lennon Award in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for a song entitled, "Sometimes When I'm Drunk and You're Wearing My Favorite Shirt." She has performed extensively in the United States, Panama, and China. She currently resides in Boston, studies at the New England Conservatory and Tufts University, and sells foam fingers at Fenway Park.
"Totally relaxed, yet totally focused." -Django Bates
