Ramona Concert Association Presents:
Folk Night in Ramona

The Wood’s Tea Company

By Marlene Robershaw

Coming to the Ramona Concert Association stage Nov. 5 is the unique folk group, Wood’s Tea Company. This Vermont-based musical quartet performs Celtic tunes, bluegrass, sea chanties, and folk songs, all tempered with a parched New England wit.

The group has performed for 20 years and uses as many as a dozen different instruments, from banjos, bezoukis and bodhrans to guitar and tin whistles. Vocal and instrumental selections include Irish and Scottish folk songs of early American immigrants, hearty work songs of the coal miners and seafarers, and gospel, patriotic and love songs.

When the house lights go down at the Charles Nunn Performing Arts Center and the stage lights go up at 7:30 p.m., the audience will see wooden stools, a stockpile of gleaming instruments, and multitalented, humorous musicians wearing blue jeans, suspenders, beards, vests, a battered watchcap, and a ’50s fedora and shades.

The band started out by playing to college audiences, coffeehouses and Irish pubs. Now, band members tour on the national concert and festival circuit. Noted performances include New York’s Lincoln Center, the Chautauqua Institute, the Mayflower II at Plymouth Harbor, the Tall Ship Extravaganza in Boston, Silver Dollar City at Branson, Mo., and the International Celtic Festival in New York.

Because of its versatility, the Wood’s Tea Company is sought-after for performances at folk, Irish, Scottish, maritime and bluegrass festivals. The band also performed on National Public Radio, which labeled them “Vermont’s hardest-working folk group.”

Wood’s Tea Company now has eight CDs to its credit and has been honored by the Irish Heritage Foundation in New York with an Outstanding Innovation Award for contributions to Irish music.

This is the second concert in the Ramona Concert Association’s 2005-06 season. Concertgoers may still join for the remainder of the season, which includes four concerts. Cost is $24 for adults and $48 for families. Single-concert tickets also will be available at the door at $15 for adults and $5 for children and students.

To become a season ticket- holder, send your remittance to Ramona Concerts, P.O. Box 1273, Ramona, CA 92065, or pay at the door.

Doors will open for seating and ticket sales at 7 p.m. All concerts are at the Charles Nunn Performing Arts Center at Olive Peirce Middle School, 1520 Hanson Lane in Ramona. For more information, call (760) 789-7474.