Heath Fair Music 2025

Jenny Burtis was raised in Vermont, and started out playing classical piano but was bitten by the songwriting bug after college while living in Boston.  She picked up the guitar, joined a songwriting group and attended open mics. Since then, she has played bars, festivals and listening rooms on the east and west coasts.  Her acoustic guitar is at the center of her performance, and her songs offer an honest look at life and loss, always with an eye toward humor and redemption.  She weaves classical music influences into her songwriting, favoring the Romantic tradition, and has been influenced by a variety of artists including Jane Siberry, Shawn Colvin, and English singer songwriters like Nick Drake and Olivia Chaney.  Her band traverses a variety of emotional landscapes, from the tenderness of a revelation to the downbeat drive of rock n roll.  Her album, which hit #22 on the Folk Radio charts, includes the band as well as other local musicians including singer songwriter Lui Collins, saxophonist Rick Page, dobro player Charlie Conant, and multi-instrumentalist Dom Lewis. 

Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, songwriter, traditional musician, and producer of studio recordings. He is best known for his collaborations with Anais Mitchell (Child Ballads, recipient of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), Session Americana, and other solo artists including Kristin Andreassen, Reed Foehl, and Laura Cortese. His original songs are featured on his self-released albums and singles, including the full-length Alameda. Perhaps his most enduring collaboration is The Murphy Beds, a harmony-rich folk duo with Irish musician and songwriter Eamon O’Leary, featuring a self-titled LP and the follow-up Easy Way Down. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

Born in a small country town in New England and raised in a musical family, Grammy-nominated songwriter Reed Foehl crafts stories of the human condition with poignant lyrics and a voice that both pushes boundaries and honors tradition. His music, a blend of genuine Folk and Americana, is marked by a dusty, patient quality that resonates deeply. Playing with Reed at this year’s Heath Fair are Jefferson Hamer and Putnam Murdock.

Touring artist Putnam Murdock got his start as a professional musician with the Colorado rock and roll band Chief Broom. With Murdock as front man, the group achieved a slot on the 1997 H.O.R.D.E tour, appeared in festivals at Red Rocks Amphitheater and sold out venues throughout the western US.  After graduating with a songwriting degree from Berklee School in Music in 2002, Murdock launched a solo career and has since traveled across the country performing with artists such as Martin Sexton, Taj Mahal, Ben Taylor, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Kaki King. 

Jeff Berlin, Drummer.

Karen Brooks of Heath, Melissa Ortquist (and Laurie Siegel) of the Hudson Valley are the
Trouble Sisters. Mostly playing in the Beacon, NY area, they will be here in Heath and joined by
several wonderful musicians, including Paul Kaplan, Annie Hassett, Molly Scott, Sarah Pirtle,
Eileen Almeida (of Zydeco Connection), and Ben Tousley, all with ties to Pete, to bring beautiful
harmonies and stirring songs and singalongs.

The Cheese Priests consist of three incredibly cheese motivated individuals who love to put on a spectacle for the ages filled with gouda music, cheese augmented jokes and yellow jumpsuits. Formed in the ancient time known as 2022 this trifecta has since gone on to play at The Water Street Barn, Pothole Pictures, Heath Brook Studio, and opened for the Bruce Matson Band. Their wacky, original, sound stems from years of listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Green Day and James Brown. 

We are a band of five high school girls who attend the Academy at Charlemont and instantly bonded over our love for music. We started a band on our own and have been playing together for about two years. We have played at the Water Street Barn, Pothole Pictures, Shelburne Springs, Mass Moca, the Heath Fair, the Draw Around in Shelburne and more. We play a lot of covers and some of our own original songs. Our favorite music to play is folk. We play music by the Chicks, Chris Stapleton, The Highwomen, and other Americana artists. We are so excited to play at the Heath Fair again!  

The Lonesome Brothers formed in 1985, and have been alt-country/Americana favorites since before the terms Alt-country and Americana were coined.  The Lonesome Brothers are fronted by Ray Mason on bass and Jim Armenti on guitar and backed by former Blood Oranges drummer Keith Levreault.

Ray and Jim share songwriting and vocal duties and have perfected a warm, comfortable and often humorous style that weaves personal insights, experiences and homespun characters and stories into the fabric of their music.  These accomplished musicians share a love of a wide array of music and have played with an incredibly varied roster of players who run the gamut from punk rock and avant-jazz to traditional Yiddish and Klezmer music.

The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow is a much-beloved Massachusetts singer-songwriter collaborative band made up of Tory Hanna, Chris Merenda, Greg Daniel Smith, and David Tanklefsky. For more than a decade, the band has thrilled regional and national audiences with its electric, dynamic and high energy live shows, earning them slots at acclaimed festivals including Green River Festival, Fresh Grass, The Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival, The Rock Boat, Strange Creek, Back Porch Festival and more. The band's debut studio album "Band Together" features Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) on drums and Pat Sansone (Wilco) on bass. The band has been nominated for two New England Music Awards, winning the 2022 NEMA for Best Americana Act of the Year.

Escape Pod is a genre-blending trio from Western Massachusetts crafting vibrant, groove-driven music that draws from a wide palette of world influences and American roots traditions. Led by composer, guitarist, and homesteader Wendell Rheinheimer, the band merges elements of Latin, Bluegrass, High Life, Reggae, Calypso, and Folk into a sound that is both soul-stirring and danceable—music built for movement, reflection, and escape.Wendell’s musical vision is grounded in melody and storytelling, shaped by years of immersion in both acoustic and electric traditions. He is joined by master bassist Michael Suter, whose deep experience in Classical, Klezmer, Latin, Jazz, and improvisational music brings both finesse and rhythmic depth to the group. Guitarist and songwriter Jeremiah Wallack adds a textured, exploratory voice to the band. With a background that spans from street performances across the world to hidden desert festivals, Jeremiah brings a free-spirited energy and emotional resonance to the project.

The Shelburne Falls Military Band has been operating continually since 1835 and is one of the longest continually operating bands in the United States. Under the direction of Karen Atherton, the Shelburne Falls Military Band is currently performing its 189th season.

Harmony, rhythm, indelible songs – these are the hallmarks of Americana quartet Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, a band that’s been together for 25 years and counting. From the Newport Folk Festival to Solid Sound and beyond, this band has traveled the country offering up wit, camaraderie, and pure musicality to renew the human spirit. Their sound is “tight, with stylish, unexpected choices” (Acoustic Guitar), a mix of New Orleans grooves, old-time gospel harmonies, bluesy swing fiddle, fiery electric and acoustic guitar, and junk percussion. Their lockstep harmonies can shake the rafters or hush the room, and their incisive originals, unexpected covers and traditional tunes plumb the human condition with an infectious joie de vivre. “Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem dig deep into their collective souls, finding joy in the moment, peace in the harmonies, and rapture in the rhythmic drive” (The Hartford Courant).

Our own Heath musician, well-known for calling the Heath Fair square dances, Doug has been entertaining kids with his music for 50 years.