We welcome back The Nields, long-time folkies based in Western Massachusetts. Katryna and Nerissa Nields have been singing and writing for as long as they can remember. “I knew I wanted to be a singer and songwriter from the time I was 7,” explains Nerissa. “I remember I wrote my first song that I was really proud of when I was 13, and right away I had a harmony for it, so I dragged Katryna out of her room and taught her the harmony. It was instinct — I knew that my sister should be there.” Their latest release, Sister Holler brings them back to their folk roots while at the same time showcasing their growth as musicians and songwriters. Opening the show is Seth Glier, a 21-year-old singer/ songwriter/pianist also from western Massachusetts who is swiftly making a name for himself on the national scene. His debut album for MPress, The Trouble with People, is both timeless and modern and has drawn comparisons to Billy Joel, Marc Cohn, Gavin DeGraw, Elton John and Paul McCartney.

Nerissa and Katryna Nields have been the darlings of the coffeehouse/festival scene since 1991, with tunes ranging from off-the-hook idiosyncratic to kicking to heartbreaking. “Our parents were total folkies,” says Nerissa. “Their first date was a Pete Seeger concert and their second was a Harry Bellefonte concert. We used to go to a family camp in the Adirondacks every summer where people sat around a fire. That’s where I learned how to finger pick. The music teacher at our school, Jack Langstaff, was more of the English tradition of folk music than the American, and his legacy was really strong. We grew up on simple folk songs.” “The thing about that camp,” Katryna recalls, “was that it was just part of the community. One of my top five musical memories in my entire life was one night at camp when it was cold and the fire was blazing and everybody sang ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.’ just a couple guitars or maybe a banjo and people swapping songs with everybody singing along. Woody Guthrie and Weavers songs, Odetta. ‘Charlie on the MTA,’ ‘The Frozen Logger,’ ‘Goodnight Irene,’ ‘This Land is Your Land,’ ‘Wabash Cannonball.’ Maybe a little Bob Dylan. Bill Staines would have been considered really edgy. I know people think those old songs are quaint, but when everybody is singing them, it becomes such powerful music. Music you eventually can’t even remember where you learned it, but it becomes part of your vocabulary — I love that.”

Sister Holler demonstrates that it is possible to return to tradition while growing musically into new sounds. The rhythm section from the Nields’ former eponymous five-piece band remains the same, with Dave Chalfant on bass and Dave Hower on drums. Though now the hot electric guitar leads and the folk-rock attitude are replaced with banjos and accordions and mandolins and a more refined sensibility. The other significant difference between now and then is that both Nerissa and Katryna have become mothers, the presence of children in the house bringing with it a desire for greater musical directness. “Having children has brought us back to our roots in a powerful way. I’m much more drawn to the honesty of folk music, the simplicity of it. Writing songs for this record was like falling off a log. They were all so easy to write; like coming home,” says Nerissa. With Katryna adding, “My kids love singing songs from Sister Holler. And I love how, when we sing these ‘Nerissa’ songs in concerts, everybody sings along, even though it’s the first time they’ve heard them. They’re songs that really invite the listener into the music making process.” And when the listener is thus invited and engaged, something happens, and for a moment, the coffeehouse, the church basement, the folk festival — or just the space between the ears of a listener wearing headphones with Sister Holler on his CD player or iPod — is turned into an Adirondack summer camp campfire sing, and we are all reminded of who we’ve always been.

Nields photo by Jeff Wasilko

Seth Glier will grab you . . . if not with his powerful falsetto or his melodic prowess, then with what Performer Magazine calls his “intoxicating groove.” Glier was raised on the music of Joni Mitchell, Martin Sexton and Jeff Buckley, but considers his brother to be his greatest influence. “My brother is autistic and non-verbal. I learned to communicate with words better once I realized how to communicate to someone without them.”

Beginning as an act of solitary creation, The Trouble with People was recorded in Glier’s basement over the course of three months. In the comfort of his own home and without the constraint of being on the clock, Glier patiently treated each song like a scene in a movie. “I felt as though I was collecting footage for a film rather than recording an album,” he recalls. After carefully assembling a palette of sounds including a string quartet and vinyl scratching, Glier and co-producer Ryan Hommel recruited Alan Evans (Soulive) to play drums on several tracks. The result is an expansive set of songs with lush arrangements that elegantly support Glier’s unabashedly honest lyrics.

Glier released several DIY albums before catching the attention of MPress Records founder Rachael Sage last fall. Sage observes, “Seth’s songwriting is classic, and hearkens back to great piano-based songwriters who broke in the ’70’s like Billy Joel and Elton John . . . but he has an impressive range that grabs new audiences immediately, and his sense of melody is incredibly strong.” Upon signing Glier, Sage brought in Grammy^® Winner Kevin Killen (U2, Tori Amos, Elvis Costello), to re-mix Glier’s original tracks.

Seth Glier photo by Tom Moore

Sister Holler offers a musical version of recycling and it’s completely refreshing.

Here, two of Western Massachusetts’ brightest voices just let it fly on this very folk-flavored disc of original material with plenty of nods and winks to the past. Yes those are traces of “Scarborough Fair” in “Abington Sea Fair.” Yes, that’s a lot of Pete Seeger influence heard in “This Train,” And yes, that’s a modern-day response to “The Water is Wide,” in “We’ll Plant an Oak.”

Banjos and mandolins dominate much of the musical backing and the sisters’ familial harmonies are typically delightful, especially on the ballads “Give Me a Clean Heart” and “Moonlighter.” Kevin O’Hare. Sunday Republican

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Glier is pressing his own fingerprint into the psyche of Americana listeners everywhere . . . shows a breathtaking maturity. The Troy Record

An appealingly eager soulfulness . . . songs of escape, romantic idealism and life on the road." The Herald (Edinburgh)

the vocal prowess of a performer with a lifetime of singing experience Philly Edge

When it comes down to Seth’s music, either you love it or you’ve never heard it before.” CD Baby