Music at the Third Annual Dighton Arts Festival
On the Main Stage
Gary Duquette/1 Bad Ant
Johnny Botelho
Gary Duquette – 1 Bad Ant is a singer, finger style guitarist, song interpreter, and songwriter who has recently embarked on a solo career. You can find him somewhere under a bright red spot light, pouring his heart and soul into every song he does. Whether it’s a slow ballad or an up tempo bottleneck blues, he approaches each style with the same heartfelt tenacity and high energy.
After many years of developing as a band musician, he now redefines his sound and style of play. Night after night, he reaches to perfect this dying art of live acoustic music.
Gary plays at many local clubs and parties and just this past year released his first solo CD, Ant-strumental. He wrote, arranged and produced all of the songs on this awesome CD and played the guitar, bass and percussion himself.
Find out where Gary is playing or listen to excerpts from his CD at www.1badant.com.
Johnny Botelho was born & raised in Fall River, Massachusetts. He is a Singer/Songwriter of Folk music with roots in the tradition of Greenwich Village though he leans toward the contemporary folk scene. He writes songs that are lyric driven about his close ties to family, friends and the area that he calls home.
"I'm Home" is his first CD released in 2004 on Bongo Beach Productions. The CD is dedicated to his beloved parents and his late brother, James. John plays his songs in the Folk Coffeehouses and Pubs throughout New England and recently opened for Michael Troy at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River.
Johnny is currently back in the studio recording new songs with John Mailoux at the mixing board. He will also co-produce this new CD. His plan is to have a more organic sound employing fiddle, upright bass and his acoustic guitar.
More information about Johnny can be found at www.myspace.com/johnnybotelhomusic
On the Emerging Artists Stage
Maria Ventura
Matt Borrello
Sarah Borrello
Kara Fortier
Mia Boostorm
Maria Ventura, who won the Best Female Vocalist award in this year’s Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll, turned 16 in July. She has been performing and writing songs since she was nine. Most often seen at Steve’s Backstage Pass, Rick’s Music World and area open mics locally, she's played extensively throughout New England, especially at venues in Providence, such as AS220 and The Century Lounge. When Maria was 11, she played her first of many shows in New York City at venues like FEZ and Arlene’s Grocery, and at summer festivals on the Lower East Side where she has had the privilege of opening for David Johansen, Gloria Deluxe, Regina Spektor. When she was 12, Maria formed a short-lived punk band called The Prom Bombs and a country duet called The Hiccups, the latter with multi-instrumentalist Joel Thibodeax, who has since been signed to Sub Pop records. That same year, Maria got to open for Blue Man Group. At 14, Maria released her first CD, called Tear Bird Train.
Singer-songwriter Matt Borrello, 17, took second place honors in the youth songwriting competition at this year’s Boston Folk Festival and won the crowd-pleaser award at the same event. Matt credits Neil Young, Johnny Cash, and especially Bob Dylan as songwriting and musical influences. An equal dose of inspiration comes from local folk musicians he often sees and performs with. Matt also entertains at local nursing centers and assisted-living homes, playing sing-alongs and traditional folk songs. At the 2006 Newport Folk Festival, Matt ended up on stage sitting in with the French-Canadian zydeco band, Blou. Matt has opened shows for Rick Fetters, Don White, Polly Fiveash! & Anand Nayak, and Kevin So at local venues including Steve's Backstage Pass, the Union Coffeehouse, and the Soule Homestead Folk Concert Series.
Sarah Borrello was the winner of the youth songwriting competition at this year’s Boston Folk Festival. Though only 16 years old, Sara’s love of music goes back many years. Her formal training began at the age of six when she started classical piano lessons, which she continued with for nine years before picking up a guitar. She lists her major musical influences as Janis Joplin, Fiona Apple, and Kurt Cobain. Sarah has been performing publicly for more than two years. Most recently Sarah has performed at both The Narrows Center for the Arts and the Soule Homestead Folk Music Series. Currently, she is writing and performing music for both guitar and piano and is working on her second full-length CD.
When Kara Fortier was eight years old, she watched a show about a Canadian fiddler. That was six years ago, and it sparked an interest in fiddle music she hopes will never die. In April of 2002 she started violin lessons. A little more than a year later, however, she switched to fiddle. She has been taking lessons with Sam Ruest in Assonet ever since. Now 14, Kara plays in a variety of fiddle styles that capture the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and Cape Breton. Kara also plays traditional fiddle tunes on a regular basis with the Freetown Fiddle and Folk Club.
Mia Boostrom, 14, has been singing seriously for the past four years and has made rapid strides in that time. The winner of the Talent America competition for the Taunton area in 2004, she went on to appear in the national Talent America program in New York City that same year. She currently performs regularly at area open mics, including a recent feature slot at Rick’s Music World. Mia accompanies herself on piano and guitar, and has studied both voice and piano for the past three years. Her musical influences include John Mayer, Fiona Apple and Jewel. She performs her own material and interprets the work of others, including up-and-coming artists such as Los Angeles songwriter Colbie Caillat.
The Dighton Elementary School Chorus and the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School Jazz Band will also perform at the festival this year.
