Roots Cafe Singer-Songwriters Series: Karen Collins & Geoffrey Himes

PRE-ELECTION SPECIAL: SONGS OF CONSCIENCE

Join Roots Café at An die Musik Live for an evening of political songs from frequent guest Karen Collins and host Geoffrey Himes to mark the fraught Election season.

“We construe the word “political” in the broadest possible terms. It’s more than just elections; it’s any social struggle over democracy, gender, race, class, health, education, war and so on. We will be presenting songs that are more than just a cheerleader’s chant for one side or the other. Like the best love songs or road songs, the best political songs allow us to empathize with the people involved.”

Karen Collins grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia in a coal mining community where she spent a lot of time listening to country music on the radio and singing in the local Baptist Church. The echoes of those early country sounds stand out in her singing and her song writing. Her songs are written and delivered in that classic country style on topics ranging from love and heartbreak to being stuck in traffic. Karen is lead singer with the honky-tonk country band, The Backroads Band and the Cajun/Zydeco band, Squeeze Bayou. She also sings in an acoustic country quartet and plays as a duo with her guitar player, Ira Gitlin. She has won multiple Wammies (Washington Area Music Awards) for “Country Vocalist”, “Country Duo/Group” (for the Backroads Band) and “Country Recording”. Karen and the Backroads Band have recorded three CDs of her original music, the most recent release (2023), “Daddy Can I Use The Car.”
https://karenbackroadsband.com

Though he is best known as a music critic for the Washington Post, American Songwriter, Jazz Times, No Depression, Paste and many more, Geoffrey Himes is also a longtime singer-songwriter who has co-written songs with Si Kahn, Fred Koller, Walter Egan, Sonia Rutstein, Billy Kemp, Stephen Wade, Jim Patton, Tony Denikos, Alan MacEwan, James Von Lenz, Ed Pettersen, Andrew Grimm, Bob Kannenberg and others. As the founder of the Roots Café, he has served since 2008 as the host of Maryland’s best singer-songwriter series.

In-person seats: $15 / $10 students
Attendees receive a link to the recording to view for one week.

Streaming passes: $12
The link will remain active through Oct 27

Donations Welcome!