Bottlebrush Gallery & Center for the Arts

Want more information on these classes? Click on the kids/teens and adult classes links at the top of this page. We will be adding more classes, so please check back for updates.

Act Up! Children’s Theatre: Ages 9-15.

Saturdays, 1-3:30pm, September 21 through December 21. $10 per session.

Taught by Creatively Healthy instructor and coach Debbie Smith Wagner.  Please contact the Gallery to RSVP. More information:  Kids’ Classes link above.

A fun and spirited class designed for children and pre-teens that teaches the basics of improvisational acting. Our class meets monthly and will include puppets, warm-up exercises, creative performance with games, and an improv skit using simple costumes and props.

Conga Drumming: Basics and Intermediate  Ages 14 to Adult.

Mondays, 6-7:30pm, September 16-October 21. $90 for 6 weeks includes use of drums. 

Explore the exciting world of Afro-Cuban and Latin Rhythms in a fun and friendly atmosphere. A 6 week, fully interactive class designed for beginners and experienced drummers alike. We will cover: Technique, Clave, Tumbao, Calypso, Rumba, Guaguanco, Abakwa and Practice Methods. $90 for 6 weeks, includes use of drums. Taught by experienced drummer Bryan Fazio. Reservations required as the class is limited in size.  More information:  Adult Classes and Kids/Teens Classes  links above. Last day to sign up: September 16.

The Rowan Cunningham Band

Harmony’s second annual Bluegrass and Beyond Music Festival has arrived! Two days of music starting Friday evening 9/6 at 6:30 (gates open at 5:30) and continuing all day Saturday, 9/7.

R&B musicians Danny Kalb and The Billy Price Band will play Friday night.

Saturday’s line up in order of performance: Tiger Maple String Band, Well Strung, Midnight Rooster, The Allegheny Drifters, Border Ride, Midnight Ride, The Rowan Cunningham Band, and headliners The Honeycutters.  Complete information, schedule of bands, online ticket sales, lodging and more on the festival web page, www.concertsinharmony.com.  The Gallery will be open for the entire festival. The weather forecast is stunning– clear with highs in the 70s. Stop in and see us– support local art and music!

Please come out and share this evening with three young singer-songwriters from Butler, Beaver, and Allegheny Counties. It is our pleasure to open the stage and the venue to such dedicated voices of our present and our future.

As always, we’ll have some snacks on hand. Lately, as the sense of community grows, folks have been bringing and sharing some treats, and we appreciate that. Feel free to bring snacks. We thank you!

Folk~Acoustic~Rock 

Friday, August 23, 2013  7:00pm. $10 Admission.  BYOB. RSVP to Gallery.

Eric Taylor learned intricate blues guitar stylings from music legends Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell. He developed his own unique guitar picking style that would be imitated by many of his contemporaries from the early Houston days such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nanci Griffith.

Taylor has headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, played National Public Radio’s “Mountain Stage” and has appeared on both “Late Night With David Letterman” and “Austin City Limits”.  www.bluerubymusic.com

“Eric Taylor is a sage musician, a lyrical genius and a master of the guitar.”

with Special Guest BeJae Fleming

Friday, 19^th July 2013, 7:00pm

Call (724) 452-0539 or email hith@zoominternet.net

Malcolm Holcombe  Country Blues~Americana

“Haunted country, acoustic blues and rugged folk all meet [here]…”     —Rolling Stone

Born and raised in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Malcolm Holcombe is being recognized by the contemporary U.S and European folk/Americana community as a performer of national stature and an uncommonly unique guitarist/vocalist.

If you’ve not seen him in a live setting, this is what you have to do. His presence is spooky and timeless, as one imagines it was like to see Son House or Leadbelly. No emotional stone is left unturned. http://malcolmholcombe.com  

With special guest Nic Landon playing old time guitar rags and minstrel banjo tunes. This young man teaches at McPharlin Music right here in Harmony and is quite a talent. I’m sure you will find him very entertaining providing musical arrangements seldom heard in the contemporary era.

Malcolm Holcombe with special guest Nic Landon

Friday, 14th June 2013, 7:00pm

Bottlebrush: A Gallery for the Arts

539 Main Street “On the Square”

Harmony, PA  16037

Admission: $10  BYOB

RSVP Required: 724.452.0539 or HITH@zoominternet.net

  Phil was the first show at Harmony in the House, and we are pleased that he wants to come back to let you hear his new cd The Fall and Further Decline of the Mighty King of Love. Read what our friend Peter   Cooper wrote about Phil – http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2013/02/15/peter-cooper-on-music-fortune-eludes-phil-lee-but-fun-he-has/?repeat=w3tc

Phil Lee on Phil Lee:

 “I love Phil Lee. He’s this creature I’ve created who does what he likes and likes what he does.” Other folks like what he does, as well. Not millions of other folks. Perhaps, though, an acceptable amount. “I’m not as    famous as I ought to be, but (wife) Maggie says I’m famous enough,” he says. “Maggie’s always right.”

 Phil Lee — his last name is actually Pearson, but that doesn’t sound right — travels the world with a couple of guitars and sings, mostly truthfully, “Phil Lee don’t have to work/ He gets paid for having fun.”

 Phil makes albums, the latest of which is the brand-new “The Fall and Further Decline of the Mighty King of Love,” and those albums are readily ignored by mainstream radio programmers but happily consumed by the pockets of fans who make it possible for him to travel the world with a couple of guitars. http://www.phillee1.com

If you look up Steve Cohagen on the web, you will be directed to IMDB to read about his work in many well-known Hollywood and regionally directed movies. He’s behind the scenes but in the credits. Steve is our neighbor and our friend, and we are always glad when he has the time to come by for a show. He is also a well-regarded singer/songwriter in the Pittsburgh area. Close your eyes and you can hear him calling Tom Waits to the table. His songs tell fascinating stories and whether on guitar and harp, or pulling off an old Taj Mahal tune on the banjo, we know you will enjoy him. Steve’s songwriting teeters, gracefully balanced in the harmonious mix. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always, always hopeful.

Phil Lee (Nashville) with special guest Steve Cohagen

Friday, 31^st May 2013, 7:00pm

Bottlebrush: A Gallery for the Arts

539 Main Street “On the Square”

Harmony, PA16037

Admission: $10  BYOB

RSVP Required: 724.452.0539 or HITH@zoominternet.net

John Lilly is a multi-talented acoustic music performer specializing in Americana, country roots, and traditional folk music. He writes new songs that sound as old as the hills, and performs older songs like they were made yesterday. According to one reviewer, “If Hank Williams had a sunny disposition, he’d be John Lilly.” John has released 6 CDs. Cold Comfort debuted at the #1 position on the Freeform American Root (FAR) radio, and Haunted Honky Tonk achieved the #1 position on both the Freeform American Roots (FAR) and the Euro Americana radio charts in 2007. http://pages.suddenlink.net/johnlillymusic/

With Special Guest Rick Bruening
Rick Bruening is a local singer songwriter whose songs and stories are recollections of real life drama with a little artistic license thrown in. Call it folk music, roots music, or acoustic Americana. He invites you to rest a while and listen to his life tales. http://www.backwoodsfolk.com/
Come out and support local, live music!

Free music in Harmony tomorrow to celebrate Earth Day. Rick Bruening 2pm at The Harmony Inn, The Squirrel Hill Billies at 4pm at the Bottlebrush, and Tiger Maple String Band at 7pm at The Center of Harmony. Come on out and say hello!