live performances
True North Project presents a variety of live performances, from folk music to dance to the spoken word. We believe performances stem from the unique experiences of the artists that create them – and we believe they are worth sharing with our community. We also believe in making events accessible - all tickets are pay-what-you-will with a suggested ticket price of $20. Find what you like, try something new, and join us as we celebrate the power of live performance and reflect on and participate in the inner dialogue that comes from them.
Have a suggestion for a category, style, or specific artist to present? Let us know!
Past Performances:
Greg Greenway
December 16th @ 2pm, Doors open at 1pm
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Greg Greenway has been described as “one of the strongest, and finest voices in folk music.” The Boston Globe wrote, “Confessional one moment, rambunctiously disarming the next, few modern folk singers can own a coffeehouse stage as completely as Greenway.” Another reviewer perhaps described it best, “A profoundly rich poet and musician. Folk Music is too narrow a description.”
Musically, his guitar, piano, ukulele, and melodica reflect inspiration from all over the map–gospel, rock, blues, Jazz, and world music. But his center is in the singer/songwriter tradition that traces its roots all the way back to the social awareness of Woody Guthrie. His central appeal is that it all comes through the singular lens of Greenway’s own humanity and affinity for the audience. He has legendary energy, the wellspring of a presentation of high spirited give and take of such good humor that audiences unfailingly walk away uplifted.
SONiA disappear fear
November 18 @ 7pm, Doors open at 6pm
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
"Her songs are a vivid celebration of the human spirit in all its infinite manifestations", writes Don Kening- Chicago Daily Herald, "her music has a singular sound that makes labeling and categorizing a waste of time."
SONiA disappear fear is a world class composer and artist. SONiA's talent of writing in a variety of genres and languages has garnered her a vast following worldwide. SONiA’s double CD LiVE at MAXiMAL was in the first round running Grammy for Folk Album of the Year. Looking at her touring schedule past and future one can trace decades of dedication to various humanitarian and animal rights' causes. Her 2019 CD By My Silence is in response to the rise of hate and anti-Semitism around the world, while her 2020 compilation Love Out Loud encourages people to embrace their identity while highlighting the ongoing push for LGBT equality. Next up is ALBUM 23 to be released the 23rd of September 2023.
Dar Williams, with special guest Heather maloney
October 5th, 7pm:
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Dar Williams was always in the right place at the right time for the success she’s had over a 25+-year career. She rose out of the vibrant mid-90’s Boston scene, inspired by the eclectic influences of alt-rockers, Berklee jazz musicians, slam poets, and folk artists like Patty Griffith, Melissa Ferrick, the Throwing Muses, Vance Gilbert, and Jonatha Brooke. With a reporter’s keen eye and a fiction writer’s feel for nuance, Dar takes an honest, objective look at life – her own and that of those around her.
Once a neo-folkie influenced by Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Judy Collins, she is now a seasoned artist with an uncanny ability to understand the characters in her songs and treat them with unbiased compassion. She also examines her own life with piercing honesty and humor. Through it all, her songs reflect her unwavering faith in the ability of people to make a better world.
Heather Maloney is a Massachusetts-based “writer song-singer” whose works have received rave reviews from many sources, including Graham Nash, The New York Times, Spin Magazine, and the Boston Globe. She has toured with acts including Lake Street Dive, Shakey Graves, Gary Clark Jr., Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and many more.
Her sound is influenced by storytellers like Joni Mitchell, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ken Burns, and the anonymous authors of Zen parables. A former yogi who spent three years at a meditation center, the core of her songwriting is centered around curiosity about our inner world and the desire to articulate it through storytelling.
Friction farm
August 19th, 1pm
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Modern-folk duo Friction Farm is a husband-and-wife team of internationally traveling troubadours. Aidan Quinn and Christine Stay combine storytelling, social commentary, and humor to create songs of everyday life, local heroes, and quirky observations. From ballads to anthems, each song is filled with harmony and hope.
Tracy Grammer
July 15th, 1pm:
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Called "a musician and singer of dazzling versatility" (No Depression), Tracy Grammer is among contemporary folk music's most beloved artists. Renowned for her pure voice, deft guitar and violin work, and incantatory storytelling, Grammer has recorded and performed with Joan Baez and Mary Chapin Carpenter, headlined several of the nation's top folk festivals, including Philadelphia Folk Festival and Falcon Ridge, and enjoyed 12 consecutive years as one of folk radio's 50 top-played artists, both solo and with the late Dave Carter.
The Unlawful Assembly of Walter Parks and Steven Williams
June 3rd, 1pm:
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Walter Parks is an extraordinary singer whose songs are lyrical, political, personal, transcendent, as well as down to earth. Walter is a musical treasure – an artist of the highest caliber. I adore him.” ~ Judy Collins
Walter tours with his solo show Swamp By Chandelier, with his own trio Swamp Cabbage, and with an Americana spirituals project called The Unlawful Assembly. For 10 years Parks, a Florida native, served as the sideman guitarist to Woodstock Festival legend Richie Havens. Walter was a member of The Nudes, a popular folk duo, with cellist Stephanie Winters.
Drummer Steven Williams has toured, performed, and recorded with major artists around the world, including Sade, David Byrne, Ivan Neville, Keith Richards, Rich Robinson, Digable Planets, PM Dawn, Da La Soul, Vanilla Ice, Chocolate Genius, Will Downing, Mica Paris, Peabo Bryson, and many others.
May 5th:
Dan Navarro’s “NomadDan” Tour
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Dan Navarro’s “NomadDan” tour carries into 2023 and stops at The State Theater in Havre de Grace, MD, on May 5th. Dan’s long and eclectic resume includes “songwriter,” “recording artist,” “singer”, “voice actor”, “road warrior” and “arts advocate” – see what he brings to Maryland!
Learn more about Dan and his tour here.
True North Project Inaugural Concerts
March 25:
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - Essex, MD
Doors Open at 6pm; Concert at 7pm
March 26:
The State Theater - Havre de Grace, MD
Doors Open at 5pm; Concert at 6pm
Join Stephanie Corby, Tom Prasada-Rao, David Roth, Sloan Wainwright, and the Board of Directors and Advisory Council as we celebrate the launch of the True North Project – a new organization seeking to help individuals find their own ‘true north’. Performances are at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Essex, MD, on March 25th (family-friendly) and The State Theater in Havre de Grace, MD, on March 26th.