Cindy Kallet (Monthly Program)

MAINE SONGWRITER and extraordinary fingerpicking guitarist Cindy Kallet will bring her finely crafted music to FSGW on Saturday, April 20, for FSGW's free monthly member program. With a voice that friend and musical collaborator Gordon Bok says 'will give you the shivers,' Cindy sings both traditional songs - many of them about the sea - and songs of her own making, accompanying herself on guitar. (Boston Globe columnist Scott Alarik calls her 'a brilliant guitarist.')THIS IS A RARE DC appearance for Cindy, who spends most of her time in Rockland, Maine, chopping wood, making music with friends, and being a mom to her two boys and an involved member of her community. She has made numerous recordings - five solo efforts on the Folk Legacy and Stone's Throw labels, two wonderful harmonic collaborations with Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone, and a collection of favorite instrumental and vocal duets with neighbor Gordon Bok (aptly titled Neighbors).Cindy has been a public school teacher, a baker, a carpenter, and a scallop shucker; and has used her formal education in biology working in wildlife sanctuaries and an entomology lab, running a wildlife museum, and teaching environmental education. Her original songs speak to a deep love of the land and the natural world, a passion for peace and justice, and an ability to distill the essence of life's moments, small and large, into pure poetry. One of her two recently released recordings, Leave the Cake In the Mailbox, a CD for children, offers a glimpse of her wacky sense of humor and ability to see family life as the circus it can be. Her other new CD, This Way Home, includes a riveting performance of the traditional sea chantey, 'Shallow Brown,' followed by a retelling of that chantey in the voice of the slave who became cargo bound for America. It is this ability to inform her original songs with a solid knowledge of tradition that sets Cindy apart as a songwriter.