Northampton’s venerable Academy of Music Theater has always featured a range of different events, and recent weeks have been no exception. Following performances in November by Valley Light Opera and, just last night, the Valley Story Slam, Pioneer Valley Ballet takes the stage this weekend for its annual performance of “The Nutcracker.”
And music, with a theme that matches the holiday spirit of giving, returns over the next 12 days.
On Dec. 17, Suzanne Vega, who burst out of New York’s folk scene in the mid-1980s with noted songs such as “Marlene on the Wall” and later “Luka,” comes to the Academy at 8 p.m. for a show that’s part of One Roof Concerts for the Homeless, a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to ending homelessness.
Vega played the Valley pretty regularly earlier in her career and, after an absence, returned in September 2021 to headline the Arcadia Folk Festival in Easthampton. The singer-songwriter, who’s long won praise for her lyrics and understated vocal style, also released a live album, recorded at Café Carlyle in New York, a few years ago that prompted American Songwriter to say “Few artists are so capable of making music that allows intimacy to emote so expressively.”
And that’s not all: Vega’s also written a play and an album based on the life of the Southern Gothic writer Carson McCullers, and she’s appeared in an Off-Broadway production of the musical “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.”
Cloudbelly, the stage name of Valley singer-songwriter Corey Laitman, opens the show.
And at 7 p.m. on Dec. 21, Valley favorites The Sweetback Sisters return to the Academy for their annual Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular, their tribute to the holidays in which they showcase a wide variety of Xmas tunes, all of them given the band’s distinctive country swing and honky-tonk touch.
Led by singers Zara Bode and Emily Miller, the band typically offers “a mix of songs that people know, or that are easy enough to learn and sing along with, as well as some less well-known songs,” as Miller told the Gazette a few years ago. Audience participation is encouraged through trivia questions, prizes, and lyric sheets for attendees.
Among the band’s well-known numbers is “Christmas Island,” a song first recorded by The Andrews Sisters in the 1940s, on which drummer Stefan Amidon’s drawling vocals cover the joys of, among other things, hanging a stocking “on a great big coconut tree.”
With the band now into its 14th season of Christmas shows, you can likely expect to hear some new holiday tunes as well.
Also getting into the holiday spirit is the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, the Americana band out of New York’s Hudson River Valley, which comes to the Drake in Amherst on Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. For the show, the band is offering what it calls “a very Slambovian Christmas,” a mix of traditional Christmas songs played with a unique twist, as well as some original holiday tunes.
Lead singer and guitarist Joziah Longo, who usually appears in a top hat, fronts a six-member group whose sound has been described as “rootsy psychedelica” and “hillbilly Pink Floyd.” Their music offers hints of Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, Incredible String Band, The Waterboys, even Davie Bowie and The Beatles.
Along with bass, guitar, drums and keyboards, the Slambovian Circus draws on member Tink Lloyd for some of its eclectic sound; she comes from a family of Irish musicians and plays accordion, cello, mandolin and flute.
The Circus, which released its most recent album, “A Very Unusual Head,” earlier this year, also played the Iron Horse Music Hall in December 2019, just a few months before the pandemic hit, and you can check out some of the show via YouTube.
Another Valley favorite, singer-songwriter Chris Smither, comes to The Parlor Room in Northampton for two nights, Dec. 16 and 17, both at 7 p.m. One of the distinguished elder statesmen of the folk/blues music scene, he’s been playing professionally since arriving in the Boston area from New Orleans in the mid-1960s.
Smither, who moved to Amherst about 13 years ago, has been called “one of the absolute best singer-songwriters in the world” (the Associated Press) and long ago developed his distinctive, rhythmic fingerpicking style on guitar. It’s a jaunty, fluid, and warm sound that feels as comfortable as an old flannel shirt.
And Smither has always brought plenty of droll humor to his work. In the depths of the pandemic in the of spring 2020, Signature Sounds started an online music series to help musicians shut out from live performance, and Smither did a show from a modest room in his home that he uses for working on his songs. Looking into a video camera, he quipped, “This is the throbbing nerve center of the music empire that is Chris Smither.”
Singer-songwriter Dar Williams, who once called the Valley home, will play the Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence on Dec. 9 (tonight) at 7 p.m. (She’ll also lead a songwriting workshop at The Parlor Room on Dec. 10 from noon to 3 p.m.) Singer-songwriter Hayley Reardon opens the Bombyx show.
Grammy-winning jazz vocalist and pianist Karrin Allyson, who lives part time in North Hadley, will play the Drake on Dec. 9 at 8 p.m., where she’ll be backed by some musicians with Valley ties, including pianist Miro Sprague and bassist Marty Jaffe.
TapRoots and The Gaslight Tinkers play Race Street Live in Holyoke Dec. 10 beginning at 7:30 p.m. The evening also includes DJ music, a holiday craft and art fair, and live painting by artist Nayana Lafond; doors open at 6 p.m.
The Miró Quartet will play selections by Dvorak, Haydn, and Kevin Puts at Sweeney Concert Hall at Smith College on Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. The performance is part of the Valley Classical Concerts series.
Young indie rocker Kristen Ford, who describes herself as a “singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and third-generation trouble maker,” puts on a one-person show of looped vocals, guitar, and beatboxing. She comes to Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield Dec. 11 at 3 p.m.
Another veteran fingerstyle guitar picker, Jorma Kaukonen, the legendary Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna stalwart, brings his blues- and roots-inflected music to the Bombyx Center on Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.
The Marty Ehrlich Trio Expanse, a jazz ensemble led by former Hampshire College music prof Marty Ehrlich on saxophone, clarinet and flute, will play The Blue Room in Easthampton’s Old Town Hall on Dec. 16 at 7 :30 p.m. It’s part of the Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares program.
On Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m., the Young@Heart Chorus will screen a virtual version of their Nov. 20 40th anniversary concert at the Academy of Music. You can register to watch at youngatheartchorus.com.