Coffee House Concert

• Saturday, March 15 @ 7:30 pm
• Dover Art League, Dover, DE
• 302-632-5989

     On Saturday, March 15, 2025, Delaware Friends of Folk will present their monthly coffee house concert in the Dover Art League, 21 W. Loockerman St. in Dover, beginning at 7:30 pm. Admission is $7 for members of Delaware Friends of Folk, $10 for non-members, teens are half-price, and those 12 and under are admitted free. Fresh-brewed coffee, baked cookies, and other snacks will be available. Seating may be limited.

     The featured act will be Philadelphia native Craig Bickhardt. From the club scene of Philadelphia to the country-rock of Los Angeles to the picking parlors of Nashville, Craig has immersed himself in the sights and sounds of American music. His songs reflect a life lived. Dreams, heartaches and hard-earned lessons have fed his creativity. There is no other way he could’ve written the eloquent, often bittersweet songs that have become his trademark. Craig is a singer-songwriter of the old school–you can hear echoes of such ‘60s artists as Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot and Eric Andersen in his work. Added to this is the melodic sophistication of a Jimmy Webb or a Paul Simon, as well as a spare but telling lyric approach. “I admire songwriters like Woody Guthrie and poets like Robert Frost because they created functional art,” he says. “I think of my work as a ‘Please Touch’ museum – I want my songs to be sung until they’re worn out.”

     Also crucial to Craig’s art is his virtuosic guitar work, interweaving folk, blues, country and ragtime influences into a unique whole: “The guitar isn’t just an accompanying instrument for me–sometimes it’s the front man and my voice is the accompanist.” A Craig Bickhardt live set is a mix of absurd anecdotes and personal confessions, accompanying a well-stocked bag of original tunes and the occasional choice cover. His decades in music have given his performances the depth of experience–his love songs seem sweeter and more poignant, his story-song narratives more true-to-life than they could have in the past.

     Opening the evening will be Rehoboth Beach resident Julie Derrick. Julie creates music soaked in rich, timeless storytelling with innate pop sensibilities. She writes songs about the trickiness of being human and does it with a smile and a catchy hook. She is influenced by talents like Brandi Carlile, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. After college, Julie moved to California, where she honed her songwriting, and played regularly in a number of clubs. Currently, she runs a trampoline park with her husband, serves as the VP on the local school board, sings on the Praise team at her hippie church, and is a mom to three children. In this stage of her life, Julie believes her songwriting is better than ever.

     Delaware Friends of Folk events are supported in part by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.

Links:

www.delfolk.org

http://www.craigbickhardt.com/bio.html

https://www.juliederrick.com/

Presented by Delaware Friends of Folk.

Country / Folk / Bluegrass Rock / Pop Kids & Family Friendly Music Central Delaware

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