Elizabeth Bond
Chick Singer Night of Boston is gearing up for another of their showcase concerts to highlight the area’s finest female vocal talents. On November 19th, Chick Singer Night will fill the soon to close Somerville, Massachusetts venue Johnny D’s with four distinct female voices from four completely different musical perspectives.
CSN co-directors Marcia Macres and Jennifer Truesdale always participate in the show, adding their own mini performances amongst the scheduled features with backing from the Chick Singer Night house band. The line up of featured singers to perform with the Chick Singer Night house band will be Cape Cod’s Kami Lyle, former CSN director Vykki Vox, The Wicked Pickers featuring Sarah Friedman, and the youthful new singer-songwriter Elizabeth Bond.
Elizabeth Bond became involved with Chick Singer Night through the Real School of Music. Jennifer Truesdale contacted her to ask if she wanted to submit any music to be considered for CSN show.
Bond made the cut and will be performing three of her original songs.
“One will be played with the band and the other two will be me with my acoustic guitar,” Bond said.
The music Bond usually writes tends to fall under the category of pop.
“I have a few originals in the works that are slightly out of that genre, but they are still works in progress. I cover songs from many genres,” she said. “It spans from pop and country to punk rock and grunge. I like having a wide variety of songs to play.”
Most of Bond’s music training has been from the Real School of Music, where she’s been taking lessons since she was nine years old.
“I was in my school’s chorus, select chorus throughout elementary school and middle school but decided on taking music theory in high school,” she said.
Bond has yet to set the Boston music scene on fire, but she’s a known quantity in the rural area of Massachusetts where she plays out.
“I do many little performances at Whole Foods, Orange Leaf in Andover, Burlington’s seasonal farmer’s market, and at events like old town days,” she said.
Performing at the Chick Singer Night event this month could be the big break Bond needs to make her mark on a much larger audience.
“I’m looking forward to performing at CSN on November 19th because the opportunity is amazing. It’s a great experience at a great venue, and it’ll be lots of fun.”
Bond will also be taking part in history, as this Chick Singer Night is among the final music events to be held at the legendary Johnny D’s before it closes for good in January. The youthful Bond has made it just on time to get onto a local history music stage, beginning her music scene career where a landmark venue ends its existence.
“I’m very honored and excited to be one of the final series of acts to play at Johnny D’s,” Bond exclaimed. “So many amazing acts have played there, and I’m glad that I get to play at such a great place that has been around so long with an awesome history of music.”
Vykki Vox
Aside from Bond, the Chick Singer Night event will feature CSN’ former director Vykki Vox.
“Jen and Marcia graciously invited me to join them because it is the last Johnny D’s CSN show, and I established the relationship with (Owner) Carla (DeLellis) and JD’s when I was the director of CSN,” Vox said.
For this show, Vox will be singing a couple of songs with the house band. She will be singing a duet with Marcia Macres, then another song with Marcia Macres and Jen Truesdale as well as some harmonies and percussion on a couple of their songs, and at least one song written by her Real School Of Music student, Elizabeth Bond.
Although Vox mainly combines rock, soulful, and bluesy styles, she enjoys exploring other genres as well. “Although hard to categorize, I like having no limitations,” Vox said.
Vox isn’t exactly new to the music stage. She’s been singing and studying music since age three, and she has been honing her performance and songwriting through the live band experience since her late teens. Much of Vox’s music education is from her father and brother, the numerous pros she’s worked with, and self-study and practical application.
“I have had more formal training with the late, great Dante Pavone and have recently completed an extensive vocal pedagogy workshop at Boston Conservatory,” she said. “I’m also gaining more extensive piano training from Eric Goldberg at Real School, as well as continuously sharing knowledge with many of our fine voice instructors. Even though I’ve been teaching voice for over 15 years, and have helped grow our voice dept to over 20 voice instructors across three locations, there is always more to learn. Gaining knowledge is perpetual and one of my favorite parts of life.”
Vox has toured all over the country in many venues over the years, but since her Vykki Vox Band drummer moved to Canada, her band has not been performing. The last show they played together was CSN’s 10th anniversary show at The Regent Theater a couple years back.
More recent Vox gigs have included performing at The Regent Theatre in Arlington as well as at The Bull Run in Shirley with Rev Tor and an ensemble of local musicians who recreate The Last Waltz concert experience. Vox has been hosting open mics at Real School with Erik Ringstad for the last five years but recently handed the reins over to Leighann Hodgkins.
“I’ll do special guest shows periodically now, but I’m more focused on my responsibilities at Real School and further developing my own musicianship more than playing out,” Vox said.
Vox is especially looking forward to performing at CSN on November 19th.
“Singing is always one of my favorite things to do, especially with all the talented musicians on this bill. It will also always be important to me to support CSN and it’s mission,” she said.
Vox feels particularly honored about being one of the series of final acts to play the legendary Johnny D’s before it closes in January.
“It has been a great honor and privilege to work with (current owner) Carla (DeLellis) and all the fine folks at Johnny D’s, even before my first CD Release Party there,” she said. “I’ve met many amazing musicians and fans through my time spent at JD’s. (Previous owner)Tina (Chiarolanza-Delellis) was always very good to me as well. It was humbling to learn more about the family history than I had known before. This will be a good way to wish Carla and everyone at JDs the best in their next chapter.”
Sarah Friedman with Wicked Pickers
CSN will also offer a side order of progressive bluegrass at their upcoming show. The Wicked Pickers, featuring Sarah Friedman, found out about the CSN show from their band’s booking agent. Friedman and her band mates have put together a solid 20 minutes of their favorite Wicked Pickers tunes.
“I am influenced by artists like Jill Scott, Dianne Reeves, Susan Tedeschi and Bonnie Raitt among many others,” Friedman said. “The instrumentation of the WP is traditional bluegrass, but we have more of a blues-jazz fusion going on.”
Aside from performing in school and private lessons, Friedman has been working in the Boston area music business for over 15 years with a variety of combos, from duos to 10 piece funk bands. Her current bluegrass tendencies have gotten her into a slew of name venues.
“Within the last year I have performed at Top of the Hub, The Burren, The Kennedy Library, to name a few,” Friedman said. Yet, performing with the CSN band and vocalists at Johnny D’s on November 19th at Johnny D’s in Somerville will be particularly historic, memorable.
“We are all really excited about playing at Johnny D’s,” Friedman said. “It’s an honor to be a part of it, but bittersweet to know this great venue will soon be no more.”
Cape Cod singer-trumpet player Kami Lyle will round out the featured singers for the November 19th Chick Singer Night show. Due to illness in the family, Lyle was not available for comment at press time, but CSN co-director Jennifer Truesdale was on hand to share her enthusiasm for Lyle’s participation.
Kami Lyle
“Not only is Kami a wonderfully talented songwriter, musician and performer, she is also very supportive of other performers with her Kami Lyle Sit-A-While performance series in Plymouth,” Truesdale said.
Chick Singer Night will take place on Thursday, November 19th at Johnny D’s in Somerville, Massachusetts from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.00
Proceeds will benefit Somerville Homeless Coalition.
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