Patty Larkin, Dom Flemons to Perform New Year's Eve at Berklee

First Night Boston, Berklee, and WUMB-FM 91.9 present guitarist, singer-songwriter, and Berklee alumna Patty Larkin, and roots multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons, performing at the Berklee Performance Center on New Year's Eve.

December 11, 2014

First Night Boston, Berklee, and WUMB-FM 91.9 present guitarist, singer-songwriter, and Berklee alumna Patty Larkin, and roots multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons, performing at the Berklee Performance Center on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2014.  The concert is a centerpiece of this year's First Night Boston festival, and will be broadcast live on WUMB-FM, and webcast worldwide on wumb.org, live from Berklee.

Admission is $10 by purchase of a First Night button. VIP tickets/seating is available for $35, which includes a button. Dom Flemons performs at 8:00 p.m. (WUMB broadcast, and wumb.org, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern), and Patty Larkin performs at 9:30 p.m. (WUMB broadcast, and wumb.org, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern).

Patty Larkin redefines the boundaries of folk-urban pop music with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics. Acoustic Guitar hails her “soundscape experiments” while Rolling Stone praises her “evocative and sonic shading.” She has been described as "riveting" (Chicago Tribune), "hypnotic" (Entertainment Weekly) and a "drop-dead brilliant" performer (Performing Songwriter).

Her most recent recording is “Still Green,” the title track inspired by the work of poet Kay Ryan; the album was written and recorded on Patty’s beloved Cape Cod. Larkin is a 1974 Berklee alumna, who came to the college to study jazz guitar.  She also holds an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee, presented in recognition of her many contributions to music and society.

Dom Flemons is the "American Songster," pulling from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds.  As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he cofounded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, he has played at a variety of festivals spanning from the Newport Folk Festival to Bonnaroo, in addition to renowned venues such as the Grand Ole Opry.

In July 2014, Dom released his third solo record with Music Maker Relief Foundation, and his first since leaving the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Prospect Hill finds Flemons digging deeply into ragtime, Piedmont blues, spirituals, Southern folk music, string band music, jug band music, fife and drum music, and ballads idioms with showmanship and humor. He was featured on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross and his new album has received praise from The Boston GlobePaste MagazineLiving Blues Magazine, and more.

New Year's Eve 2014 marks the fourth consecutive year that First Night Boston, WUMB-FM, and Berklee have collaborated on a live folk/roots concert broadcast.

In 2014, the City of Boston became custodian of First Night Boston, the largest and longest-running New Year’s Eve arts festival in the country. Each year from 1:00 p.m. to midnight on December 31, nearly 1 million people gather in downtown Boston for a celebration that showcases more than 1,000 artists in 200 performances and events at more than two dozen indoor and outdoor venues. First Night Boston features an afternoon Family Festival at the Hynes Convention Center, a Grand Procession parade that sweeps down Boylston Street, colossal ice sculptures that dot the city’s landscape, and a dazzling fireworks display to welcome the New Year. For nearly 40 years, First Night Boston has become a cherished Boston tradition and a signature event of the city.

First Night Boston 2015 is presented by Highland Street Foundation, committed to addressing the needs and concerns of children and families in Massachusetts and California. They direct efforts to provide access and opportunities in the area of education, housing, mentorship, health care, environment, and the arts.

WUMB-FM is a non-commercial radio station licensed to the University of Massachusetts with studios at the UMass Boston Campus as the central hub for a network of seven public radio stations in Boston, Worcester, Falmouth, Newburyport, Stow, Marshfield, Orleans, Massachusetts, and one in Milford, New Hampshire. The Boston, Worcester, and Falmouth stations all broadcast on 91.9FM. The Newburyport, Stow, and Marshfield stations can be heard on 91.7FM, the Orleans station can be heard on 1170AM, and Milford at 88.7FM. All eight facilities simulcast the identical program schedule, which is produced from our studios located at the UMass Boston Campus. The station's 24-hour broadcast schedule reaches more than 275 cities and towns in Eastern and Central Massachusetts and Cape Cod along with parts of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.