Saturday July  11

roll in at 7 - rock out at 8

suggested door $10

Forest Sun hosts an evening with Libby Kirkpatrick, Noelle Hampton, Matt the Electrician, and Elam Blackman with proceeds going to fund the fight against cancer.

It's a mini-festival, Wyldwood style: five great artists, one good cause, on one humble stage. You already know Matt and Noelle from previous shows at the Wyldwood and three more top notch artists will fill your night with song and lyric guaranteed to send you home happy.

Forest Sun is a singer/songwriter, music producer, poet, painter, and "access facilitator" living in Mill Valley, California. His music runs the gamut from speakeasy blues and southern soul to reggae and folk. He performs with the guitar and piano, both solo and with a revolving band including members of Animal Liberation Orchestra.

Noelle Hampton taught herself to play guitar at 20 and by 23 she was playing Lilith Fair and by 28 she was opening for Bob Dylan. She writes real, emotive, beautiful songs that tell stories taken from her own life and all of the experiences within that life. Performing with Noelle will be Andre Moran. Andre is a hella tight guitar player; a sound engineer at Congress House Studios; he teaches recording at ACC; and lucky him, he's married to Noelle.

Libby Kirkpatrick began playing classical piano at age 3. At age 14, deeply moved by the musical era of singer-songwriters in the 1970's, she switched to acoustic guitar. Drawn by her adventure-seeking desires as a nomadic youth, Libby left home to live as a minimalist overseas in India and Thailand, and then busking in Ireland where she began writing her first original songs. She then returned to the States where she began performing professionally, and thank goodness, she took root in Austin.

 Elam Blackman is a gifted singer-songwriter firmly planted in the folk tradition, whose songs delight and touch the listener. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes melancholy, often longing, he invites his listeners to journey with him. His easy going manner and warm stage presence draw people in and establishes an easy rapport. Elam writes of loves lost and found, desolate towns and newfound joys. Traces of old-timey music are evident from his college years in the Appalachians. Elam's musical talents include guitar, banjo and mandolin. Rumor has it that while in Bolivia he learned to play the charango, a South American instrument resembling a bastard child of the mandolin and uekelele.

Matt the Electrician was born on a frosty San Fransisco morn. Some time later, he moved to Austin. After years of a steadily-built, devoted fan base, some would say that Matt's unassuming baby-faced slacker image and "nice guy" blue-collar charm belie a very complex and intoxicating energy that is equal parts gritty neo-folk, frenetic boyish pulse, and tangled life experience - all held cohesive by his deft guitar skills and liquid vocals reminiscent of a young Paul Simon wrapped around a Tom Waits heart. Some wouldn't be able to say that. Some would rather type it. Others might yodel.