Phil Lee writes intelligent songs full of wit, humor and grace that blend sizzling Dylan-esque rock and roll, country and western, mid-sixties British Invasion and medicine show sounds that end up being utterly unique and sung in a voice that can shoot straight through to your heart. His new album is called So Long, It’s Been Good To Know You. His guitar player/producer/accomplice/crony Richard Bennett dubbed him “the Don Rickles of Rock”. When you make records as good as Phil Lee does, winning friends and influencing people is a cinch. (Rick Allen) We say, straight from Nashville, a stand-out debut concert of our fall season – come on over and try on something new!

www.phillee1.com -  Listen to sound clips

These guys are all masters of their craft, and when they play together, magical things happen. The name indicates the collaborative nature of their music, and their respect for one another. Comprised of Alan Gaumer on trumpet, Neil Wetzel on sax, Craig Kastelnik on Hammond B3, Tom Kozic on guitar, and Gary Rismiller on drums, Co-Op Bop is sure to transport you to a better place with their masterful blend of styles including standards, soulful ballads, rhythmic sambas, and other great originals. Don’t miss it.

www.co-opbop.net -  Listen to sound clips

The spawning ground for new artists! Open Mike features a grab bag of regional talent. During each 3-song/15-minute set, you may hear anything from guitar pickers and budding singer-songwriters to pianists, fiddlers, comedians, poets, and storytellers. Many a notable act started here. Watch history in the making! Sign-up is just before 7:00 p.m.

Old-Time music is the real thing: music the way it is supposed to be, played for the sheer joy of swapping songs and having a good time. Come to our own back porch session and bring your guitar or banjo, fiddle or mando, bones, what have you. Just for the fun of it!

Cary Cooper is turning heads and opening hearts everywhere she goes. She has spent the last ten years rediscovering her passion, perfecting her craft and learning to tell the truth. The fruit of her labor is shamelessly clear on her new 2009 release, Dirty Little Secret. On DLS, Cary eloquently says the things we All think, but rarely have the courage to say; and she does so within the framework of hauntingly beautiful melodies and hip grooves. "Cary Cooper's new CD has captured me." (Mary Gauthier)

Tom Prasada-Rao is a singer-songwriter of breathtaking vision. His voice belies his musicianship and his extraordinary songs. From Rishi’s Garden with it’s homage to Ravi Shankar to the groove of Sleeping Beauty, Tom’s music is melodic, ambitious, and reverent. From headlining major festivals 15 years ago, to the relative obscurity of his recording studio - Tom has continued to mature as an artist. That work has blossomed into an impressive resume of producing credits as well as his own songs being covered by other artists. A rare return to our stage, don’t miss them!

http://www.carycooper.com -  Listen to sound clips - Click on Listen

www.tomprasadarao.com -  Listen to sound clips - Click on Songs

Performing over 250 dates a year, Peter Karp and The Roadshow inject folk flavored funk and blues with rocket-fueled groove to Peter's unique and lyrical tunes. His original songs can be touching, humorous, or hard-driving, and they are always evocative, providing glimpses into the lives and hearts of everyday people, or just giving the audience a gut-wrenching laugh or two … or three. The band is a hand-picked group of road tested veterans who've backed the likes of Bo Diddley, Debbie Harry, Sheryl Crow, Magic Slim, Jackson Browne, Little Feat and Roomful Of Blues. This group of all-star musicians brings Peter's songs to life night after night.

“…An underground genius…like Jackson Browne and John Prine, with a healthy dose of blues too… Karp’s a soulful storyteller, the man can write…”
- Blues Revue Magazine

Join Peter and his band, Niles Terrat on bass, Dennis Gruenling on harmonica, and Buck Dilly on pedal steel and piano, for a rocking return to our stage.

www.peterkarp.com -  Listen to sound clips

Sue Foley is considered to be one of the finest blues/roots artists working today. At 16, she embarked on her professional career as a bandleader, lead guitar player and vocalist.

For the past 20 years she has made her mark as a notable Canadian songwriter, producer and prolific recording artist. She has recorded with, shared the stage with and opened up for B.B. King, Buddy Guy, George Thorogood, Tom Petty, Joe Cocker, Rufus Thomas, Bill Doggett, Pinetop Perkins, Joe Ely, Chuck Rainey and Lucinda Williams – to name a few.

In 2000, her home country honoured her with her first Juno Award (Canadian equivalent to the Grammy): Best Blues Album for her CD "Love Comin’ Down." Since 1999 she has received a record-setting 18 Maple Blues Awards, and three Trophée de blues in France . Sue also received a nomination for the prestigious W.C. Handy Award for best contemporary female artist in 2002.

www.suefoley.com -  Listen to sound clips

Lucky are we to add Bluegrass music to our monthly community jams! Join Fred Gilmartin and friends for a fine music circle in the tradition - bring your instruments and voice, or come just to listen and tap your feet.

Godfrey’s is pleased to present storytelling. Join us and the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild for this special night. Bring a story to tell.

www.geocities.com/lvstorytellers

Drenched in the blues tradition, with acoustic chops that have electric players drooling, David Jacobs-Strain is an exciting new voice on the blues scene. Having released his first album at age 15, David Jacobs-Strain is now a veteran recording artist, seasoned performer, and creative musician. Musically inspired by a Taj Mahal concert at the age of nine, David Jacobs-Strain grew up in Oregon, and developed a style that is uniquely his own, with whiffs of the late, great Michael Hedges, Keb’ Mo’, Kelly Joe Phelps, Martin Simpson and any number of classic acoustic blues performers. A welcome return to Godfrey’s stage!

www.davidjacobs-strain.com -  Listen to sound clips

Tony found his way to Irish traditional music via a different path than the one trod by musicians raised in Irish immigrant households. As he puts it: “I never grew up with the competitive Comhaltas scene—I came through the hippie scene, the folkie scene.” He tells the story of how he took up the fiddle and discovered Irish music in his own contribution to these notes, but it is worth repeating here that his first exposure to Irish traditional music was through a Folkways recording of the County Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman. Tony had many other musical influences before this, and would have many more afterward, but for him the appeal of the Sligo fiddle style would never fade. Tony is joined this evening by Mike Consodine on bouzouki and guitar. Pick up your copy of Tony’s latest recording, The Sligo Indians, on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

www.tonydemarcomusic.net -  Listen to sound clips

The spawning ground for new artists! Open Mike features a grab bag of regional talent. During each 3-song/15-minute set, you may hear anything from guitar pickers and budding singer-songwriters to pianists, fiddlers, comedians, poets, and storytellers. Many a notable act started here. Watch history in the making! Sign-up is just before 7:00 p.m.

Swing is back - big! This is the night: Western swing, big band Dixieland, and more. Bring sheet music. All instruments welcome.

A low-volume get-together for swapping songs and riffs with other blues players. Hosted by Tavern Tan featuring Doug Ashby, Tom Axcel, Andrew Brubaker, and Dave Joachim.

Over the course of twenty years of writing, recording and touring, Kevin has built an impressively consistent catalog of songs, a critically acclaimed stack of albums, and a reputation for dynamic live performances that make first-time listeners life-long fans. The title track from his Down to the Well CD, a duet with Lucinda Williams, was featured on two prominent compilations: the Oxford American Southern Music Sampler, and No Depression: What It Sounds like, Volume 1. Kevin tours regularly throughout the U.S., and is a regular performer at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Louisiana Folklife Festival. Also a published poet, Gordon holds an MFA degree from the renowned University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. A most powerful combination of writing and music. Join us in welcoming Kevin and his trio in his Godfrey Daniels debut.

www.kevingordon.net

www.billtoms.com -  Listen to sound clips

Best known across the Lehigh Valley as the acoustic/roots duo of Lori Donovan and Jeff Roberts - the pair bring their full band to the Godfrey's stage to play a collection of songs from their recent CD "Are You Alone" as well as a host of other jazz, blues and roots favorites. The band includes some of the area's best known musicians - including Pat Wilson (Poppycock Babble, The Colour Sound) on drums, Brian Bortz (Fusion Jazz Trio) on bass and Deb Leahey on keys.

www.DonovanRobertsDuo.com -  Listen to sound clips

Join a friendly group of Songwriters in the Round, be inspired and turn your works in progress into polished gems. If you're an experienced writer or have just always wanted to write a song, come share the craft of songwriting. Hosted by Steve Walker.

What can be better than scary stories at Halloween! Probably all the parades and all the trick-or-treating will take place on days that aren’t Halloween, but this is the real deal. Members of the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild will pull out their most eerie stories for the whole family’s enjoyment. There will be no avoiding ghosts and ghouls and long-legged beasts and things that go bump in the night! This night of scary stories is the Guild’s longest running annual event since our creation in 1998 and a favorite. Come join us if you dare.

www.lvstorytellers.org

A girl. A cello with a strap. Fresh, emotional, dynamic music that moves. Lindsay Mac plays the cello and sings. For fans of: Feist, Damien Rice, Joni Mitchell, Ray LaMontagne, Regina Spektor, Ani DiFranco, Liz Phair, Beck (Sea Change). Lindsay was classically trained starting at the age of six in church choir; formal training in piano and cello came shortly thereafter. Lindsay enrolled in Dartmouth College to study what else but medicine. She took advantage of the College's foreign study opportunities and moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music and then briefly left Dartmouth to study at The San Francisco Conservatory. She returned to Dartmouth, graduated, and then she enrolled in Berklee College of Music and shortly thereafter began touring full-time. The rest is yet to come.

www.lindsaymac.com -  Listen to sound clips

www.sethglier.com -  Listen to sound clips

A recent hit at Musikfest’s Liederplatz, Chandler Travis Philharmonic could loosely be tagged as Alt-pop-Dixieland with Attitude. Brass, strings, vocals, bells, whistles, and percussion on anything handy, this eight-piece band makes rowdy, rousing, fun music. Bill O’Neill of the Cape Cod Times said “if Monty Python had grown up sneaking into bars in New Orleans they would have formed a band a lot like Chandler Travis”, and D Shaun Bosler of the Village Voice calls them “a hodgepodge of over-the-top wacky fun”. Plus, they usually perform in their pajamas and funny hats. Do you like The Asylum Street Spankers? Zen for Primates? Geologic Orchestra? You will LOVE Chandler Travis.

www.chandlertravis.com -  Listen to sound clips