FREE ADMISSION (donations to charity gratefully accepted)

"Protest" music is largely perceived as an unsubtle art form, a topical brand of songwriting that preaches to the converted. But popular music of all types has long given listeners food for thought. Before the United States entered World War I, some of the most popular sheet music in the country featured anti-war tunes. The labor movement of the early 20th century was fueled by its communal "songbook." The Civil Rights movement was soundtracked not just by the gorgeous melodies of "Strange Fruit" and "A Change Is Gonna Come," but hundreds of other gospel-tinged ballads and blues. Author James Sullivan will discuss how protest songs have given voice to the needs and challenges of a nation and asked its citizens to take a stand — asking the question, "Which side are you on?”

James Sullivan is a longtime arts and culture reporter for the Boston Globe and the author of five books.. He was an editor for Rolling Stone and a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He teaches journalism at Emerson College, serves as program director for the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival, and is co-curator of the concert series "Which Side? A Protest Music Teachout."

https://www.whichside.boston

This free event is co-sponsored by the First Church in Belmont UU Social Action Committee, Adult Programs Committee and Second Friday Concerts.

BUY TICKETS HERE

$25 admission

Join us for a night featuring two of the most compelling new songwriters on the acoustic music scene.

JENNA NICHOLLS

Jenna Nicholls is a New York-based singer-songwriter whose music bridges the golden era of the American Songbook with the raw storytelling of country legends like Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. With a voice both haunting and honeyed, Jenna breathes new life into classic Americana. Her latest album, produced by Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell, captures her signature blend of vintage charm and heartfelt authenticity—offering listeners a lush, nostalgic ride through the American musical landscape.

https://www.jennanicholls.com/

SAM ROBBINS

Sam Robbins is often described as an "old soul singer songwriter." A New England based, nationally touring musician whose music evokes classic singer songwriters like James Taylor and Jackson Browne, Sam adds a modern, upbeat edge to the storyteller troubadour persona. He has gained recognition from extensive national touring, from opening for artists like Jason Mraz and Liz Longley, and as a main stage performer at national festivals like the Kerrville, Falcon Ridge and Wheatland Festivals. Touring with a new acclaimed album, So Much I Still Don’t See, named one of Atwood Magazine’s 2025 “Artists to Watch,” leading songwriting workshops and exciting performances across the country, Sam Robbins has gained a reputation as one of the brightest rising stars in the national folk music community.

https://www.samrobbinsmusic.com/

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$35 ADMISSION

Carrie Newcomer is a songwriter, recording artist, performer and educator. She has been described as a "prairie mystic" by the Boston Globe and one who "asks all the right questions" by Rolling Stone Magazine. Carrie has 19 nationally released albums on Available Light & Concord/Rounder Records including Until Now, The Point of Arrival and The Beautiful Not Yet. Newcomer has released three books of poetry & essays, A Permeable Life: Poems and Essays, The Beautiful Not Yet: Poems and Essays & Lyrics, and Until Now: Poetry by Carrie Newcomer. Her song "I Should've Known Better" appeared on Nickel Creeks' Grammy-winning gold album This Side, and she earned an Emmy for her PBS special An Evening with Carrie Newcomer.

Recent appearances include PBS Religion and Ethics and Krista Tippett's On Being. In 2009 and 2011 Newcomer was invited by the American Embassy of India to be a cultural ambassador, resulting in her interfaith benefit album Everything is Everywhere with master of the Indian Sarod, Amjad Ali Khan. In 2013 Carrie traveled to Kenya and the Middle East, performing in schools, spiritual communities and hospitals assisting AIDS patients. In 2015 Carrie's first musical, Betty's Diner: The Musical was produced by Purdue University. In 2016 Carrie was awarded an honorary degree in Music for Social Change from Goshen College. In 2019 she received The Shalem Institutes's Contemplative Voices Award.

In recent years Carrie joined with the author Parker J. Palmer on several projects, including The Growing Edge collaboration which explores growing edges, personally, vocationally and politically. Together they create live events, personal growth retreats, and the highly rated The Growing Edge Podcast that features authors, activists, poets and musicians, and online conversation starters for book and other conversation groups. Spirituality and Health Magazine named Parker & Carrie in the top ten spiritual leaders for the next 20 years.

https://www.carrienewcomer.com/

Our friend and neighbor, The Bethany House of Prayer, will be hosting a workshop with Carrie Newcomer on Saturday, March 14, 2026. Space is extremely limited. Sign up today!

About the workshop:

Join Bethany House of Prayer for a workshop with singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer. The first section of the workshop is filled with thoughtful exploration, reflective writing and conversation on The Beautiful Not Yet: Sustainable Hope.

In the second half of the workshop, Carrie helps the group to integrate and embody what was discussed and experienced in the first half of the retreat by creating a song together. This second half is a bit faster paced, meaningful but fun as we create language and music.

At the end of the mini retreat the group has a song that they can sing together as a community. It is designed to be a whole mind/body/spirit experience.

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$30 admission

“Despite his success and sense of history, Mr. Paul remains an artist with his eye on the future and an interest in discovering the transformative potential in his music.” - The New York Times

Some artists document their lives through their music. Others chronicle their times. It’s a rare artist who can do both, telling their own story through songs that also encapsulate the essence of people and places who have helped define their era overall. Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen all come to mind. Yet few songwriters can relate their own life to the life experienced by others who find that common bond — the exhilaration of the open road, the celebration of heroes, the coming of age, the hope for redemption, the sharing of love, intimate, passionate and enduring — the way that Ellis Paul does.

Smart. Literate. Poetic. Singular. Storyteller. Folksinger. Yes, but Ellis Paul is far more. How much more? An incredible 30-year career. 15 Boston Music Awards. 20 albums. Newport Folk Festival. Carnegie Hall. Hundreds of venues from Alaska to Miami, Paris, and London. Dozens of compilations, commercials, documentaries, TV shows, and blockbuster movie soundtracks. He is one of the finest singer/songwriters of his generation — for many, the face of contemporary folk music — and probably no artist on the acoustic music scene is better loved by fans, or more respected by his contemporaries than Ellis Paul.

https://www.ellispaul.com

$35 admission

Over the course of her twenty-five year career, Susan Werner has earned a reputation as “one of the most innovative songwriters working today” (Chicago Tribune). With formidable chops on guitar (she began playing at age 5) and piano (she was a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz), along with a graduate degree in voice performance, her shows are a one-woman master class in musicianship. Although best known as an acoustic songwriter that came up through coffeehouses and folk festivals, the Chicago-based artist has written songs in the style of Gershwin and Cole Porter (I Can’t Be New, 2004), gospel music (The Gospel Truth, 2007), traditional Cuban “son” (An American In Havana, 2016), and New Orleans junk piano (NOLA, 2019). In 2014 she composed the music and lyrics to the musical theater score Bull Durham, The Musical (MGM). Her songs have been recorded by Tom Jones, Michael Feinstein, and Shemekia Copeland, and her latest recording of originals, The Birds of Florida, took flight in 2022.

https://www.susanwerner.com/

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$30 admission

“Canada’s finest songwriter.” - Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone Magazine

Throughout a career that now spans almost four decades, Juno and Canadian Folk Music Award winning songwriter James Keeleghan — has created a repertoire of incalculable importance — a unique body of work, either inspired by or drawn from the folk tradition. Keelaghan forges his songs with brilliantly defined craftsmanship and a monogrammed artistic vision, making him one of the most distinctive and readily identifiable voices of not only the Canadian scene, but as a member of the international singer-songwriter community.

His songbook — ten solo albums deep — has enlightened, enthralled, and been embraced by audiences around the world. Keelaghan’s life as an artist is a perpetual journey on so many levels. It’s a journey that has invited fans of literate and layered songwriting to be a part of his artistic expeditions, some that weave their way through marvelously etched stories of a historical nature with underlying universal themes, and others that mine the depths of the soul and the emotional trails of human relations.

https://www.keelaghan.com/