Davey O and Shawn Taylor

This concert and other TBT events brought to you by our generous donors and patrons, as well as the following organizations: Middletown Commission on the Arts, Community Foundation of Middlesex County, Department of Community and Economic Development.

It's no surprise that Buffalo, NY born and bred songwriter Davey O. has been described by Buffalo News critic Jeff Miers as having "a journalist’s eye for detail and poet’s ear for the well-turned observation". Embarking on a twenty year journey that has resulted in a collection of justly-earned, highly introspective songs, Davey crafts pure Americana that is not of the social and political consciousness, but drawn from the deep well of experience and human emotion - no hackneyed story lines, no insincere polish, just an unflinching poet's look at life. The characters woven seamlessly into stories of which the song itself becomes the soundtrack for the movie playing inside the listener's head.

Armed with a steady, rhythmic pulse on his Gibson guitar, and a no apologies rust-belt work ethic, Davey puts rubber to asphalt, entertaining attentive, diverse audiences at listening rooms, coffeehouses, nightclubs, festivals, colleges and universities throughout the Northeast, Midwest, Midsouth and Atlantic U.S. - performances that result in engagement and communion between performer and audience through story and song.

Since June of 2020, Davey has been releasing new music in a digital only format via "The Share Project" , with all proceeds of these downloads donated directly to his local food bank, FeedMore WNY. In August of 2023, Davey released a new 6 song EP, "Some Days", a collection of songs recorded in his home studio, remixed and mastered by Neale Eckstein at Fox Run Studios in Sudbury, MA.

Davey currently resides in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst, NY with his partner Sheila, and their cats, Lola and Bigsby.

Wandering roots troubadour Shawn Taylor, weaves music from many colored threads of Americana. His fourth original CD “Balance,” wanders from Appalachian to island groves, rock to pop, sparse folk ballads to finger-style time twisters and gut busting blues. “Shawn Taylor is one of the finest traveling troubadours performing on the circuit these days. Boasting world-class guitar chops, soul enriched vocals and an uncanny knack for capturing life in a song,” wrote Brian Owens, of Metronome Magazine - Boston in June 2018. “His lyrics dabble in a wonderful gritty naturalism that's uncommon around here,” wrote Dan Barry of the New Haven Advocate. "Shawn Taylor has a mellowness to his voice that works well against the frenetic flash of finger-picking that is the foundation of his songs. The songs crackle with the guitar work," declared TheAlternateRoot.com.

Taylor has won and placed in, performing songwriter competitions up and down the east coast, including the Towne Crierin New York and Infinity Hall in Connecticut, and has also been awarded internationally for his short fiction. He’s played some of America’s most treasured listening rooms such as the Blue Bird Café in Nashville, Tennessee and Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Georgia, and has shared the stage with legends and notables including Maria Muldaur, Peter Mulvey, Vance Gilbert, Pat Wictor, Scott Ainslie, Spuyten Duyvil, Garnet Rodgers and Sarah Potenza. He’s released four solo CD’s and in 2017 produced a ‘pay it forward’ charity compilation CD ‘Songs For Hope,” in honor of the innocent lives lost at Sandy Hook School, where his wife Amy taught until recently.

His wandering roots grow deep. He was born in Ohio and raised mostly in Massachusettes, but lived in five different states before turning one. He’s been an oysterman, a custom cabinet maker and has thru-hiked (end to end), the Appalachian Trail (GA-ME), the John Muir Trail (CA) and The Long Trail (VT). He’s spent the past decade relentlessly performing (267 shows in 2017), travelling, exploring and developing his wandering roots sound and philosophy. Summer 2017, Amy and their two children (seven and nine) joined him on the road for the first time. Their six-week tour touched down in eight states, included wild ponies and their car getting caught in a flash flood, and ended with Taylor’s appearance as a 2017 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival “Emerging artist.” The family will join him again on the road in 2018 for 6,ooo miles, growing their roots wider and deeper, and planting and harvesting future seeds of wandering roots.

Admission link: https://buttonwood.networkforgood.com/events/64863-davey-o-shawn-taylor