Alastair Moock’s Pastures of Plenty
- Folk
- Singer/Songwriter
- The Folk Collective
When Alastair Moock began his Pastures of Plenty series in Boston in 2000, the idea was to bridge some of the gaps he saw in the local music scene — between the folk and roots rock crowds, between the contemporary and traditional scenes, and between younger and older players. But what it really came down to was just bringing together some of the region’s best songwriters and musicians to swap tunes on a stage. More than twenty years later, the series is still “the hippest hootenanny in town” (The Boston Globe).
The list of guests over the years reads like a who’s who of New England (and national) folk and Americana musicians: Bill Morrissey, Lori McKenna, Barrence Whitfield, Ronnie Earl, Lisa Loeb, and The Silver Leaf Gospel Singers, to name just a few.
Past shows have taken place at premier venues throughout the northeast, including the Newport and Boston Folk Festivals. But the home base for the series has always been historic Club Passim in Cambridge, MA where Moock still presents the show annually every November.
Alastair Moock
- Folk
- Singer/Songwriter
Alastair Moock is an award-winning singer-songwriter; a Grammy-nominated family musician; a social justice and songwriting educator for all ages; and co-founder of The Opening Doors Project, an anti-racist music organization. He has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, performing at renowned events like the Newport Folk Festival and Scotland’s Celtic Connections. The Boston Globe called him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post declared “every song a gem.”
Stephanie McKay
Stephanie Mckay is a recording artist, arts educator and advocate whose work lies at the intersection of music, education and community.
Stephanie has toured over 35 countries playing her original music at major festivals, appearing on TV and major radio stations in five continents. Her music fuses soul, folk and is inspired by legends such as Tracy Chapman, Odetta, and Mavis Staples.
She is a member of the Inaugural Folk Collective at the Legendary Club Passim and founder of We Start With Art an arts education and community building organization, whose mission it is to impact children’s lives by nurturing their self expression through the arts.
Stephanie brings her years of performing experience as an international touring musician into her community work as an artist in Boston. Whether in the classroom or on the stage, Stephanie aspires to deeply connect to people through her art and find meaning across cultural divides. As an artist, “I come to every situation with curiosity and wonder.”, ‘I love the way music unites people and connects while simultaneously breaking down invisible walls of difference.”
She is currently facilitating a monthly workshop for children at the Boston Public library on the art and activism of artists from the Harlem Renaissance. Stephanie also teaches master classes in integrated arts at K-12 schools across Massachusetts, community centers, as well as performing her original songs within the Folk Collective tours.
In 2022 she was awarded a Live Arts Grant from the Boston Foundation and has been featured on WGBH Boston’s Jim and Maury show. A Creative Entrepreneur Fellow with the Arts and Business Council of Boston. Stephanie has a Masters in Education from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA and an undergraduate degree from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pa. Her new music will be released April 19th and is a collaboration with her son.
Peter Mulvey
- Acoustic
- Folk
- Guitar
- Singer/Songwriter
Peter Mulvey is a veteran singer and songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He began his career on the streets of Dublin, Ireland, as a busker, and from there moved on to performing in the subways and streets of Boston, Massachusetts. This led to his first record deal and a leap to full-time national and international touring, beginning in the early Nineties.
Mulvey is an iconoclast within the singer/songwriter world. Restless and inventive, he has made seventeen records, spanning rock and roll, folk, Jazz, spoken word, and Americana. A long-standing gig at the National Youth Science Camp led to a spoken word piece, “Vlad the Astrophysicist”, which became a TEDx talk, and then an illustrated book. In 2007 he began an annual late summer tour by bicycle instead of by car and airplane- the 10th annual bicycle tour will happen this September. He has taught songwriting and guitar workshops at the Swannanoa Gathering and at various folk festivals across the U.S.
Mulvey continues to tour, playing over a hundred shows a year as he has for the past twenty five years. This is the core of what he does: music, in a room, performed for a live audience.
Maxfield Anderson
- Bluegrass
- Roots
Maxfield Anderson is an American roots multi-instrumentalist, teacher, writer and music director, currently living in Somerville, MA. As an artist, Maxfield aims to bring new light to honored traditions and to share the joy of making music with others.
Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Maxfield’s home was filled with an array of musical styles. After years of playing violin, his attention was taken hold by bluegrass and western swing fiddle, quickly leading him to discover the mandolin. He moved to Boston to study mandolin and American roots music at Berklee College of Music. Additionally, Max is a proficient guitar player, and after a year of isolation, finally broke down and added clawhammer banjo to the repertoire.
Teaching music has always been a big part of Max’s artistry. He believes that traditional music is an excellent vessel for understanding an instrument and finding your own voice as a musician. Teaching at Club Passim since 2020, Max has taught group courses in Beginner & Intermediate Mandolin, Bluegrass Ensemble (co-taught with Trevin Nelson), and Intro to Tune Writing. He also offers private instruction on mandolin, fiddle, guitar, music theory, and tune writing out of his home studio.
In addition to performing and teaching, Maxfield recently wrote and music directed the ‘Homegrown Stringband’ roots trio at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH. The trio performed authentic bluegrass, folk, and old time string band music throughout the summer season of 2022.
Maxfield graduated from Berklee College of Music with a BFA in Music Performance. He is an active gigging musician in the Boston music scene, and has toured throughout the Northeast playing listening rooms, ball rooms, bar rooms, back rooms, front porches and festival stages.
