Friday, June 6, 2025
7:30 PM

The series concludes Friday, June 6, and we are expanding from our traditional three songwriters’ format for the first time ever for a special celebration of music and love. There are so many great talents in and around San Diego. For one night only, explore an array of excellent artists all assembled to deliver songs of love to you. Enjoy Acoustic Evenings exemplified, featuring Lee Coulter, Julia Sage, Dave Booda, Monette Marino, Santiago Orozco, Jesus Gonzalez, Jefferson Jay, Bri Schillings, and Michelle Lerach. One night only—and leave with a few new favorite artists.

Friday, May 30, 2025
7:30 PM

The series continues Friday, May 30, with Tim Flannery, Jeff Berkley, and Ashley Norton. A celebrated singer-songwriter with 14 albums to his name, Tim Flannery blends bluegrass, country, and rock into heartfelt narratives about love, travel, and life on the road. A three-time World Series champion coach with the San Francisco Giants, he and his wife also founded the Love Harder Project, a nonprofit with an anti-bullying focus. Jeff Berkley is a San Diego-based songwriter, musician, and producer known for his soulful style and collaborations with major artists like Jackson Browne and Ben Harper. A multi–San Diego Music Award winner and Hall of Fame inductee, he continues to create and produce across genres.Singer-songwriter-guitarist Ashley Norton is the leader of the all-female Americana band Lady Psychiatrist’s Booth and creator of the popular all-female songwriter showcase Songbirds. Her performances feature original compositions and unique renditions of beloved classics. 

Friday, May 23, 2025
7:30 PM

On Friday, May 23, the series continues with Jimmy and Enrique, Sue Palmer and Liz Ajuzie, and Walt Richards. Guitarist Jimmy Patton and percussionist Enrique Platas blend flamenco, Middle Eastern, salsa, calypso, Brazilian, and other world rhythms into their fiery, virtuosic performances. Their unique world-music style captivates audiences with intricate guitar passages and exotic percussive rhythms. Known as the Queen of Boogie Woogie, Sue Palmer has been a force in the San Diego music scene for over 30 years. Inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame, Palmer teams up with powerhouse vocalist Liz Ajuzie, whose dynamic voice perfectly complements Palmer’s electrifying piano playing. An expert in guitar and banjo, Walt Richards has been performing and teaching music for over 50 years. He has worked with numerous musical groups, participated in live theater productions, and even won an Emmy for his television work.

Friday, May 16, 2025
7:30 PM

The series opens on Friday, May 16, with Wax, Cindy Lee Berryhill, and Gayle Skidmore. Gold-record recipient Wax is mostly known as a rapper with millions of views on YouTube to show for it. He is also a producer, songwriter, singer, and comedian. A founding member of the New York City Anti-folk movement, Cindy Lee Berryhill emerged as a distinctive voice in alternative music in the late 1980s. With a legacy of critically acclaimed albums, she continues to inspire with her signature mix of folk, rock, and social commentary. Seven-time San Diego Music Award nominee Gayle Skidmore has written over 2,500 songs since she began composing at age 8. A multi-instrumentalist trained in classical piano, Skidmore has mastered over 20 instruments and blends folk, pop, and classical influences into her award-winning songwriting.

Friday, September 27, 2024
7:30 PM

The series concludes Friday, September 27, with San Diego Music Hall of Fame inductee Fred Benedetti, Sandé Lollis, and Lisa Sanders and Brown Sugar. Benedetti studied classical guitar with Segovia and practices jazz, folk, rock, and flamenco styling. He is featured on over 200 records and numerous film and television soundtracks/ads. Singer-songwriter Lisa Sanders has a distinct country/bluesy/Americana sound; her genres include folk, pop, gospel, rock, and jazz. Sanders and Brown Sugar are a dynamic soulful, heartful singing duo with a gift for crafting wonderful songs and masterful storytelling. They have been together touring and recording as a duo for two decades, with Sanders singing lead and playing guitar, and Karen “Brown Sugar” Hayes, who is a nurse by day and a beautiful singing duo partner lending her gift of sweet harmonies to song by night. Sandé Lollis is an award-winning San Diego–based singer-songwriter known for her ability to weave captivating stories through her music. Drawing inspiration from personal experiences, conversations overheard in cafés, favorite books, and random thoughts, she crafts original melodies paired with introspective lyrics that explore the complexities of love, heartbreak, and life's twists and turns. Her voice and honest lyrics have struck a chord with listeners, with many praising her ability to connect on a deep emotional level. Lollis’s performance is soulful and wholly uplifting and earned her well-deserved San Diego Music Awards nominations for Best Country or Americana Album in 2022 and Best Country or Americana Artist in 2023.

Friday, September 20, 2024
7:30 PM

The series continues Friday, September 20, with Tom Griesgraber, Billy Galewood, and Steve Bulman. Billy Galewood is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper from Cleveland who ended up in California, where he continued to hone his eclectic acoustic/hip-hop sound. His shows blend hip-hop, acoustic rock, funk, improvisation, and comedy. Multi-instrumentalist-composer Tom Griesgraber is known for many roles, including behind the scenes, in the music industry, but the Berklee College of Music graduate is best known onstage for his mastery of the unusual Chapman Stick. A seasoned guitar player of 30 years, Stephen Bulman specializes in percussive fingerstyle music. Known for his distinctive use of harmonics and pitch bending, his tranquil compositions create a soothing auditory experience.

Friday, September 13, 2024
7:30 PM

On Friday, September 13, the series continues with singer-songwriter Bri Schillings, singer-guitarist Sierra Marin, and Santiago Orozco. Schillings shares the belief that heartfelt music has the power to heal through what she calls “soul vitamins.” Her seductive and powerful voice will take you on a journey where the heart and the soul meet. Sierra Marin took a different direction post-graduation from UC Santa Barbara by busking at markets and on street corners across the United States for two years. This experience solidified Marin’s shared belief with Schillings on the incredible healing power of intentional music. Singer and songwriter Santiago Orozco is a Colombia native who has spent the last decade living on the road in coastal Southern California. Winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert contest in 2015, he incorporates electronic elements into his well-established acoustic guitar sound. He draws inspiration from house rhythms, Caribbean moods, Spanish Rumba, Reggae, Brazilian, Balkan, and Middle Eastern grooves and has supported international and national touring artists, such as The Roots, The Wailers, Fred Wesley, Mike Love, Los Amigos Invisibles, JJ Grey & Mofro, Lucinda Williams, Richard Thompson, Sister Nancy, Chris Isaak, Aterciopelados, Jarabe De Palo, Vokab Kompany, The Bunny Gang, and El Gran Silencio.

Friday, September 6, 2024
7:30 PM

The series opens Friday, September 6, with gold-record recipient Wax, Jesus Gonzalez, and Rob Deez. Wax is mostly known as a rapper with millions of views on YouTube to show for it. He is also a producer, songwriter, singer, and comedian. Rob Deez classifies himself as a singer/song-rhymer appealing to comedy, hip-hop and small coffee-shop concert audiences. Deez is a longstanding patron of San Diego’s musical theater community, particularly City College’s Saville Theatre. Local visionary and musician Jesus Gonzalez creates vast and lush layers of soulful vocal harmonies, different instrumentation, and percussion using a looper. Gonzalez’s original and improvised songs invite you to be present with your heart and to fall deeper with your sense of self. In a recent interview with NPR’s top-shelf artists series, Jesus said, “At the core of it all, I think my music is simply shouting ‘Can you believe we’re all here?!’”

Friday, April 12, 2024
7:30 PM

With a voice as smooth as Kentucky bourbon and a heart worn on both sleeves, Tim Flannery’s performances ebb and flow with brilliant melodies and soaring harmonies. A talented and prolific singer-songwriter, Flan has music enjoys radio support across the planet, from the shores of Ireland to beach towns up and down the California coast

San Diego Music Hall of Fame founder Jefferson Jay is also a veteran singer-songwriter and founder of the Acoustic Evenings concert series. He launched the series in 2008 as curator and host after completing his master’s thesis on the  Athenaeum Music & Arts Library’s history.

Bobo Czarnowski is a singer-songwriter who plays complex open tuning guitar melodies with evocative lyrics sung with a warm and inviting voice. His sound has been compared to Gordon Lightfoot and Tom Paxton (Troubadour). His album The Man I Hope to Be was nominated for Best Folk or Acoustic Album in the 31st San Diego Music Awards in 2022 and Thank You in 2023. Drew Cady accompanies him on cello.

Friday, April 5, 2024
7:30 PM

Mostly known as a rapper, Wax writes songs in a wide range of styles that cater to many different types of audiences. Some are advanced technical displays of rap word play, some are heartfelt tales of struggle, some are inspirational numbers containing optimistic advice and/or guidance.  

Billy Galewood is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper from Cleveland who ended up in California where he continued to hone his eclectic acoustic/hip-hop sound. His shows blend hip-hop, acoustic rock, funk, improvisation, and comedy.

Monette Marino began drumming at age eight and has spent the majority of the last 20 years studying under master drummer Mamady Keïta from Guinea. She branched out as a solo artist and continues to explore drumming systems with a deep respect for the cultural heritage preserved through the language of the drum.

Friday, March 29, 2024
7:30 PM

Bohemian Jamie Shadowlight is an electric and acoustic violinist, singer-songwriter, and trailblazer of blending multidimensional art and music. Over the years, she has gained international recognition as an artist of quality and soul with a range encompassing reggae, hip hop, Americana, classical, jazz, fusion and rock.

Irving Flores is an accomplished pianist, composer, arranger, and music producer. He has performed with Bill Watrous, Charles McPherson, Abraham Laboriel, Poncho Sanchez, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Alex Acuna, Akira Jimbo, Rene Camacho, Cuba’s “El Negro” Hernandez, Gilbert Castellanos, and Peter Sprague.

Ashley E. Norton’s live shows consist of songs from all of her albums plus unique versions of covers audiences know and love!

Friday, March 22, 2024
7:30 PM

Jack Tempchin is a legendary hit songwriter whose compositions “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone” are synonymous with the Southern California sound.

London born Gregory Page is an eclectic, prolific, genre-bending performing songwriter, balladeer, recording artist, film maker, art activist, music producer, and published poet.

BanjerDan (Dan Mazer) is a “banjo-centric” acoustic musician and entertainer based in Santa Cruz County. His music is an Americana mix, rooted in straight-ahead bluegrass and branching out to include folk, country, blues, oldies, and other styles.

Friday, November 10, 2023
7:30 PM

Singer Marie Haddad has a songwriting and piano style that has been described as “somewhere between Kate Bush and Leonard Cohen” (San Diego Downtown News). 

Israel Maldonado’s performances include education, entertainment, and a humble warmth. Trained in classical guitar from a young age, he performs a blend of Latin and pop music.

Guitarist Jimmy Patton and percussionist Enrique Platas incorporate flamenco, Middle Eastern, salsa, calypso, Brazilian, and other world rhythms into their music. Listeners experience virtuosic guitar passages accompanied by exotic percussive rhythms producing a fiery sound.

Friday, October 27, 2023
7:30 PM

The late singer-songwriter Don Truesdail, who had a profound impact on other musicians, played at the Athenaeum’s first Acoustic Evenings series on October 27, 2008. As a tribute to this great man and his music in our 15th anniversary season, his close friend Jefferson Jay will share his songs.

Hugh Gaskins, who performed in our debut series in 2008 and has encored in the last 15 years, plays multiple instruments in a powerful fusion of blues, rockabilly, and mountain music along with influences from gospel, Elvis, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, and Big Joe Williams.

Singer-songwriter Gaby Aparicio is inspired by her coastal Uruguayan and Italian family roots. She performs her signature fusion of Latin, world, pop, reggae, and soul at venues and festivals.

Friday, October 20, 2023
7:30 PM

Sue Palmer aka the Queen of Boogie Woogie, Sultana of Swing, and Lady Who Skates on the 88s, has amazed audiences all over the world with her unique style and phenomenal left hand for over 30 years.

Singer-guitarist-keyboardist Jack Tempchin is a legendary writer of  hit songs, including “Peaceful Easy Feeling” recorded by the Eagles.

Singer-songwriter Lisa Sanders has a musical style that can only be described as a soulful country blues; her genres include folk pop, gospel, rock and jazz.

Friday, October 13, 2023
7:30 PM

Singer-songwriter Bri Schillings feels that music has the power to heal through what she calls “soul vitamins.” Her seductive and powerful voice will take you on a  journey where the heart and the soul meet.

Singer-guitarist Sierra Marin travelled the United States for two years supporting herself by playing at markets and on street corners. There, she experienced first-hand the incredible power of intentional music to empower and heal. 

Violinist Jamie Shadowlight’s instrument of choice is an electric violin matched with various effects pedals. On this night, she will be sharing her singer/songwriter side, playing piano and guitar, sharing songs from her recent journey healing from cancer, Songs from Michelle’s Garden. Her ethereal energy opens pathways with each note.

Friday, May 5, 2023
7:30 PM

Fred Benedetti was born in Sasebo, Japan, and began playing the guitar at the age of 9. In 1986 he was one of the 12 guitarists chosen worldwide to perform in the Master Class of Andres Segovia at USC. MohaviSoul is a 6-piece, award-winning working band. The resurgence of acoustic music encouraged guitarist-singer Mark Miller and singer-mandolin player Randy Hanson to form MohaviSoul in 2012. A love of Western history and cowboy and train songs inspired Walt Richards and Paula Strong to form Trails and Rails.

Friday, April 21, 2023
7:30 PM

Wax is mostly known as a rapper.  He is also a producer, songwriter, singer (kinda), comedian, and all around creative dude. Billy Galewood is an American singer, songwriter and rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. Long-time curator and host of Acoustic Evenings, Jay is at home with the Athenaeum audience.

Friday, April 07, 2023
7:30 PM

Guitarist Greg Douglass has toured and recorded with Van Morrison, Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Hot Tuna, Dave Mason, and Eddie Money and co-wrote and played on the Steve Miller Band hit “Jungle Love.” Blossom and Bloom is an organically grown local duet featuring legendary virtuoso Jeff Bloom on guitar, and vocals with Sandra Herrera on lead vocals and percussion. The San Diego Music Award-winning acoustic duo have been performing together at many of San Diego’s most prestigious venues, special events, coffee shops, and Farmer’s Markets throughout the city for the last 5 years. Ritmo Latino is a supergroup of four friends who play some of the finest Latin music today in San Diego.

Friday, November 4, 2022
7:30 PM

On Friday, November 4, Jay features guitarist Jimmy Patton and percussionist Enrique Platas whose musical collaboration has given creation to their unique, fiery world-music style; Gaby Aparicio who experiments with sound in her solo bilingual appearances; and Shakedown String Band whose core sound relies heavily on vocal harmonies and soaring melodies, with momentum powered by tight drums and percussion that leave no mistake about the groove.

Friday, October 21, 2022
7:30 PM

On Friday, October 21, Jay features Tim Flannery with a voice as smooth as Kentucky bourbon and a heart worn on both sleeves, whose performances ebb and flow with brilliant melodies and soaring harmonies; Wax’s songs display advanced, technical rap wordplay, heartfelt tales of struggle, and inspirational numbers containing optimistic advice and/or guidance; and Jefferson Jay, long-time curator and host of Acoustic Evenings, is at home with the Athenaeum audience.

Friday, October 7, 2022
7:30 PM

On Friday, October 7, Jay features singer, songwriter and rapper Billy Galewood; violinist Jamie Shadowlight plays jazz and Latin-influenced music; and award-winning guitarist Seawall Prophet has 5 full-length albums with a vast catalogue of original and cover songs spanning a variety of styles, including beach rock, Cali-pop, reggae, funk, punk, blues, and acoustic roots.

Friday, April 29, 2022
7:30 PM

On Friday, April 29, sit back and listen to singer-songwriter Lisa Sanders, who was signed in 1998 by MCA Records and whose debut album Isn’t Life Fine was produced by Steve Poltz; violinist Yale Strom (with bassist Jeff Pekarek), a klezmer performer, who, in addition to recording 15 CDs of klezmer music, one of which (Shimmering Lights—X SH6.45) is in the Athenaeum circulating collection, is a documentary filmmaker and ethnographer; and singer-songwriter Sutton James, whose most recent efforts within the indie-folk/alt-country genres belie the spirit of rock ’n’ roll that will always be alive and well in his songwriting.

Friday, April 8, 2022
7:30 PM

On Friday, April 8, the spotlight is on Jefferson Jay with Michael James; vocalist Whitney Shay, winner of five San Diego Music Awards, who has received high praise from music critics, calling her “a future blues icon” (Blues Matters!); and Trails and Rails, enchanting with cowboy and train songs of the West and 19th and 20th century folk tunes.

Friday, April 1, 2022
7:30 PM

On Friday, April 1, Jay features guitarist Greg Douglass, who has toured and recorded with Van Morrison, Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Hot Tuna, Dave Mason, and Eddie Money and cowrote and played on the Steve Miller Band hit “Jungle Love”; local music hero Fred Benedetti, who studied classical guitar with Segovia but also plays jazz, some folk and rock, and even a little flamenco; and Story and Tune (Californian poet Karyn Thurston and Aussie singer-songwriter Ben Grace), who share a real-life love story of meeting despite the odds.

Friday, November 12, 2021
7:30 PM

Wax is mostly known as a rapper. He is also a producer, songwriter, singer (kinda), comedian, and all around creative dude. Israel Maldonado has been performing in and around hot spots in Southern California for more than 20 years. Jefferson Jay, always active, has current projects that include a groundbreaking, all-inclusive animated series called The Hunt for the Holiday Spirit and five upcoming acoustic records, cumulatively entitled Spring.

Friday, October 15, 2021
7:30 PM

Gregory Page is an eclectic, prolific, genre-bending performing songwriter, balladeer, recording artist, film maker, art activist, music producer, and published poet with an extensive discography. Jeff Berkley has been called a San Diego legend, and it’s easy to understand why. His musical contributions include his work in current bands Berkley Hart and Berkley Hart Selis Twang, as well as previous bands like The Cry, The Redwoods, and Citizen Band. An amazing guitarist and percussionist, he is also an accomplished songwriter. Jamie Shadowlight, based in Pacific Beach, plays a wide range of violin repertoire, including jazz and Latin-influenced music.

Friday, October 1, 2021
7:30 PM

Sue Palmer, San Diego’s Queen of Boogie Woogie, has amazed audiences all over the world with her unique style and phenomenal left hand for over 30 years. Rob Deez says, “I’m a comedic singer-songrhymer, which basically means that I can appeal to many different audiences. The comedic side fits in at comedy shows, the singer side works at coffee shops and bars, and the rhyming side does well at hip-hop shows.” Jon Zampese, a high energy performer, writes a danceable blend of soul, pop, jazz, and R&B.