Two very talented young singer / songwriters share a bill tonight. Mark Erelli has built one of the most impressive and varied reputations in modern roots music and has just released a new CD, Delivered. Jeffrey Foucault, with the release of his latest CD, Ghost Repeater, has created “a brilliant collection of new songs.” Come hear songs from both these albums as well as other songs from these two young “masters.”

Now in his mid 30s, Mark Erelli has seven albums to his name, hundreds of concerts under his belt, multiple awards and growing notoriety as an accompanist. During a time when most young artists are still searching for their own voices, Mark wasted no time in producing an assured and varied catalog. Mark was “discovered” while still enrolled in graduate school, at an impromptu 3 am music conference showcase in a hotel room and a win of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk contest gave his career a huge boost. His second release, Compass & Companion (2001) spent nine weeks in the Top Ten of the Americana charts, garnered two Boston Music Award nominations, and prompted the Boston Herald to announce that “Mark Erelli has truly arrived.”

The Memorial Hall Recordings, a bold mix of originals, covers and new arrangements of traditional songs, was declared “timeless and seamless perfection . . . chock full of those moments that you’ve just got to hear — over and over again” (Folkwax). The making of the record was captured on film, and the ensuing documentary was broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. After several more highly acclaimed albums, Erelli’s seventh, Delivered, has just been released. The making of the record was funded by a novel “barn-raising” plan, where fans and supporters contributed to the studio budget in advance of the project’s release, in exchange for exclusive gifts and advance copies of the record. Delivered is a new high watermark for Erelli. The record’s 11 new originals explore modern times and matters of the heart with equal parts courage and compassion. Reviews are calling this Erelli’s “desert island disc,” and songs like “Volunteers,” “Hope Dies Last” and “Once” are already resonating deeply with audiences.

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Holed up in Iowa City for the coldest week of the year, Jeffrey Foucault teamed with legendary blues guitar player and producer Bo Ramsey (Greg Brown, Lucinda Williams) to create Ghost Repeater, a country and blues album at the crossroads of love and lament. Ghost repeaters are empty radio stations scattered around the country to re-broadcast demographically tailored playlists from thousands of miles away. Epidemic sameness, the monochrome sprawl, and a retail news cycle of ghost prisoners and God-on-our-side create the backdrop against which Ghost Repeater unfolds poems of love and uncertainty. There are no declarations or easy politics, but the details of living are parsed in language by turns elegantly plain or vividly abstract, and set against the wider story of the times in a series of travelogues and dreamscapes. Words like bloom and fade, truth and mercy, dream and memory recur through the album to create a grammar, a palette of colors that Foucault merges with dark washes of electric guitar and vocals hushed or plaintive, in a visionary portrait of modern Americana. The New York Times calls Foucault “a young man with an old soul . . . contemporary and timeless.” Foucault’s newest recording project is a collection of John Prine covers called Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes: A Collection of the Songs of John Prine. Watch for its release late this fall.

Photo by Sandy Dyas

Mark Erelli photo by Nancy Giroux

Politics — social and personal — are at the heart of this gifted New England songwriter’s fifth album. Erelli addresses tough issues (war, development, love, post-9/11) with the grit of John Hiatt and the melancholy beauty of Ron Sexsmith.” Joe Heim, Washington Post

Erelli proves folk music is about more than protesting the Vietnam War; it’s a genre that’s very much alive and relevant. On Hope & Other Casualties, he combines remarkable musicianship, contemporary production and compelling lyrics to accompany his wonderfully grainy and imperfect voice. The Columbus Dispatch, OH

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“One of the best albums of the year… Jeffrey Foucault incorporates the best of the Americana, alt-country and roots-rock genres into his third solo album. . . Those who recall Bruce Springsteen in the pre-“Born to Run” days will hear echoes of the Boss. . . as well as the best of the Texas troubadours, including Joe Ely and Butch Hancock. But there’s nothing derivative about Foucault’s haunting allusions. . . the fundamental truths that emerge are undeniable. . . Musically, Foucault has created a harmonious minimalist sound that’s driven by his acoustic strumming and the economical Mark Knopfler-style electric fretwork of veteran Iowa guitarist Bo Ramsey. . . there’s a tumbling tumbleweeds sensibility to Ghost Repeater reminiscent of the finest Dust Bowl anthems. THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES