Harvey Reid, autoharp virtuoso, a modern minstrel, pushing the limits of acoustic music, guarantee amazing musical entertainment.
Joyce Andersen, a folk musician who follows her passion in every genre, from bluegrass to rock, began playing violin as an 8 yo child. She discovered, mastered, and fell in love with every style she encountered, once stating: “I just learned how to find the music that had always been there hiding from the mainstream.” Andersen performs her own music on the violin, accompanying it with vocals, putting “a modern spin on an old art form.” With her musical influences ranging from Billie Holiday and Otis Redding to Sheryl Crow, The Rolling Stones and Louis Armstrong, she seeks to bridge all the genres in her albums and live performances.
Over the course of her 30 year career, she has performed at a number of well established venues—including Carnegie Hall and on The Conan O’Brien Show—and released numerous celebrated recordings including her early breakthrough album The Girl I Left Behind, and her solo album Swerve! (2011), where she developed an innovative solo setup using loops, effects, foot percussion and electric/acoustic fiddles to merge improvisation with multiple genres: jazz, gospel, rock, torch songs, and Appalachian tunes. Among her numerous solo albums, she has others recorded with folk musician Harvey Reid.
Joyce is recognized for playing violin and singing simultaneously in counter‑rhythms and layered textures, crafting dramatic one-woman soundscapes without prerecorded tracks. She credits Harvey, her husband and musical partner with, among other things, showing her how “to make CDs on her own label, work hard getting little concert gigs, and to earn one fan at a time.”
Joyce continues writing new songs for a proposed tenth album.
Harvey Reid, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, writer and music educator, began his musical journey listening to sixties music on top forties radio stations, and began playing “recreational” guitar at age 14, performing with friends at parties and local coffeehouses. He began writing songs at the same time but never intended to become a musician. He began a period of self-education, being introduced to many of the roots of American music in the blues, bluegrass, and folk music by a local progressive FM radio station, based in Bethesda, MD and like Joyce, began honing his craft by attending regional concerts and festivals, where he had opportunities to jam with bluegrass legends, and fell in love with bluegrass and old time music, and began playing autoharp.
He is considered to be one of the modern masters and innovators of the acoustic guitar, autoharp and 6-string banjo. He has absorbed a wide range of musical styles of acoustic music, from hip-hop to slashing slide guitar blues to old time Celtic, ragtime and even classical.
His reputation as a “musician’s musician” is unparalleled. He has released over 32 recordings on the Woodpecker record label many recognized with industry accolades. Additionally he was voted as one of the Top Ten Fold CD’s of All Time, in company with Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, and other musical giants. Apple Computer used his version of J.S. Bach’s Minuet in G in their iPhoto software.
He is author of dozens of music education books. Among many notable publications, he wrote the first college textbook for folk guitar, Modern Folk Guitar, the epic, The Troubadour Chronicles, blazing a new trail in music history and education. Among his many awards he has won the National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition, the International Autoharp competition, and in 2023 was inducted into the Maine Music Awards Hall of Fame.
Harvey Reid and Joyce Andersen are traveling less to perform, while raising their two children in York, Maine. They can be found performing locally, and in 2020 began a series of livestream performances, which can be heard on their Puffin and Loon You Tube channel where their current goal is to post a daily new song for one year until 3/11/26!
How fortunate are we to call these talented artists and performers “neighbors” who are gracing us with their unique blend of multi-genre music as part of our Capriccio celebration.