One of the real pleasures of the season is to listen to live music outdoors on a balmy summer evening. Winters Friends of the Library is excited to announce the lineup for the 2021 Summer Concerts at the Gazebo. The free outdoor concerts will be held on Thursday evenings in July, 7:00–8:30 p.m. at Rotary Park, Main Street at Railroad Avenue in downtown Winters.
The series will kick off on July 1 with Zapato Viejo playing traditional and contemporary songs and rhythms from Latin America. The Davis-based band features seasoned performers with roots in rock, jazz, and rhythm and blues as well as Latin music. Their smoking hot percussion section, passionate guitars, and smooth vocals make the most of the complex Latin rhythms. You can get a preview of their music at reverbnation.com/zapatoviejo.
July 8 will feature Meredith Axelrod and Craig Ventresco playing old-time music, vintage jazz, ragtime, and blues. Axelrod is a superb multi-instrumentalist with a rich, distinctive voice and quirky sense of humor. Ventresco is “one of the country’s foremost ragtime guitarists” (S.F. Chronicle) with a legendary command of early American jazz and blues. During the pandemic, they have performed online every night from their San Francisco kitchen. Their videos are available at facebook.com/meredithaxelrod.
On July 15, Geoffrey Miller takes the stage with country, western swing, honky-tonk, and rockabilly. His latest album, featuring “rockin’ cheating songs, tear-welling love-lamenting ballads, rockabilly country bops, and reflections on lonesome isolation,” was recorded with masked musicians during the COVID pandemic. Learn more at geoffreymillermusic.com.
The music continues on July 22 with Los Tres de Winters, playing Norteño-style music, with accordion, bajo sexto, and bass. This lively music is a hybrid of Mexican and Spanish vocal traditions with waltzes and polkas brought to Mexico by Czech and German immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century. It evolved in the north of Mexico and is now a favorite style throughout Mexico and the U.S. Check them out on YouTube.
The series concludes on July 29 with The Easy Winners, playing early twentieth-century music, including classic rags, waltzes, cakewalks, tangos, marches, and songs of North America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The Bay Area-based quartet—including Winters’ own Robert Armstrong—performs on vintage acoustic instruments and evokes the feeling of front-porch serenades in a simpler era. You can sample some tunes at easywinners.band.
Invite your friends and neighbors, bring a blanket or lawn chairs or sit on the grass, sip a cool drink, and enjoy some fine live music on a summer evening. The concerts are free, but donations will be gratefully accepted. Winters Friends of the Library will have delicious refreshments for sale, and all proceeds will support the Winters Community Library. For more information, contact Keith Cary at (530) 795-3173 or kcary@dcn.org, or visit wfol.org. This year’s concert series is sponsored by Waste Management and Oates Country Store.
