FARMINGTON, ME (July 10, 2018)—The UMF Emery Community Arts Center is holding a summer Concert on the Lawn featuring GoldenOak with Natural High Jumble, at 6 p.m., Friday, July 27. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and music lovers are invited to bring their favorite lawn chair or beach blanket and enjoy an evening of live music.
GoldenOak is an emerging sound in New England folk music. A Portland, Maine based, Indie-Soul-Folk, sibling duo, Zak and Lena Kendall were born and raised in the Sandy River Valley of Western Maine. The two started making music together as kids and the bond of brother and sister is evident in their carefully crafted songs, poetic lyrics, and flowing harmonies. Influenced early by legends like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Band, and by the like of Fleet Foxes, First Aid Kit and Ray LaMontagne.
Zak and Lena record and often tour with fellow musicians and band mates, Mike Knowles (bass), Max Eddington (piano), and Jackson Cromwell (percussion). Over the last two years, they shared the stage with many notable artists such as Lady Lamb, The Dustbowl Revival, The Ghost of Paul Revere, The Mallett Brothers Band, and Parsonsfield.
Natural High Jumble, a sharp and energetic trio, rises out of Western Maine’s rolling hills. Lindsay Mower, principle songwriter/vocalist/bassy rhythm guitarist (western Maine songstress); Matt Mower, drummer/percussionist and Joe Hodgkins, lead/rhythm guitarist, bring to the stage a soulful, grooving blend of folksy, bluesy jazz rock.
General admission is $8, students and seniors $5, children 12 and under free. A cash bar is available.
Emery Community Arts Center is located on Academy Street on the University of Maine at Farmington campus.
GoldenOak began writing music and performing in 2014. Their early songs led to their first official release, Pleasant St., in 2016, an album they co-wrote with cellist Seth Wegner. Following Pleasant St., Zak and Lena produced the Acadia Sessions, a series of live video sessions to highlight the album as they toured widely in the Northeast gaining in audience and recognition.
In October 2017, GoldenOak released Foxgloves, a 6 track EP that builds on Zak and Lena’s folk roots with a remarkable orchestral approach. On the EP, the siblings expand their earthy sound and songwriting with percussion, piano, trumpet, cello and violin. The band kicked off their Foxgloves release tour with a sold out show at Portland’s One Longfellow Square, and in December, Foxgloves was voted “EP of the Year” by the Portland Music Awards.
More on the UMF Emery Community Arts Center
The Emery Community Arts Center is an innovative, experimental venue for the arts in Western Maine. It features an exciting 2,500-square-foot, 109-seat multipurpose performance space with dynamic vertical foldaway doors that open onto an outdoor performance area and a 1,600-square-foot Flex-Space gallery for traditional exhibits, new media and performance art. A dramatic interior corridor offers additional exhibition space and connects the center with the UMF Alumni Theater.
Media Contact: Ann Bartges, director of Emery Community Arts Center, ann.bartges@maine.edu or 207-778-7461
