Three-time GRAMMY winner and folk icon Tom Chapin performs with his daughters Abigail and Lily Chapin “The Chapin Sisters” at 8th Step at Proctors on Friday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.
The concert introduces Chapin’s new album Hold Our Ground, released in January, featuring songs of story, ballad, comedy and politics alongside family music and old-time folk classics.
Hold Our Ground brings meaningful messages for a trying time, addressing events of the day with hope on songs including “Hold Our Ground Forever” and “Broadside.” Personal songs include odes to his newborn grandchildren (“Oliver Bean” and “Arthur Moon”) and musings on his own mortality (“They Killed My Street” and “The Last Music Company”).
Two songs take listeners back to his Greenwich Village days when he and his brothers Harry and Steve were first known as the first folk ensemble to show up at gigs with a full drum kit, when legendary jazz drummer Jim Chapin, their father, sat in on their sets.
Respected as a multi-instrumentalist with impeccable chops, Chapin draws inspiration from various folk fingerstyles, most notably from iconic ragtime street performer Reverend Gary Davis, who Chapin met in high school when he sat in on a lesson Davis taught Chapin’s classmate Stefan Grossman. His clawhammer banjo playing is informed by lifelong mentor and friend Pete Seeger. Like Seeger, Chapin gives his musical time, talent and energy to environmental and other movements.
Musicians on the album include daughters Lily and Abigail, co-writers Si Kahn, John Forster, John McCutcheon and Scott Ainslie, longtime bandmates Michael Mark and Jon Cobert, with musical support from Eric Weisberg, Robin Batteau, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Jonathan Edwards and Larry Campbell.
The Chapin Sisters, Abigail and Lily, have garnered critical praise since 2005 for forging a distinctive musical imprint. The sisters carry on a proud family musical legacy: father Tom is a GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter, legendary artist and activist uncle Harry Chapin was known for his No. 1 hit “Cat’s in the Cradle,” and grandfather Jim Chapin literally wrote the book on how to play the drumkit.
Tickets are $33 advance, $35 day of show and $55 Gold Circle, available at Proctors Box Office at 518-346-6204 or proctors.org. Gold Circle tickets feature priority seating in the front center section, rows 1-3, plus a 6:30 p.m. meet and greet onstage with the Chapin family. Doors open at 7 p.m., with free parking available in Metroplex Garage at 220 Broadway.
For more information, call The Eighth Step at 518-434-1703 or visit 8thstep.org.
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