Hard Hittin’ Songs For Hard Hit People
Saturday, October 9th, 6:30pm
St. John’s Church
2640 St. Paul St., Baltimore MD 21218

Caleb Stine hosts Hard Hittin’ Songs for Hard Hit People, a night of roots and folk music straight from the heart. For the sixth year, local and national musicians will band together to raise money for Heart’s Place, an overnight emergency shelter located in St. John’s (2640) that provides a counseling, meals, and a warm, compassionate haven for homeless men, women and children- the only shelter in Baltimore that serves families. The lineup this year includes Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith (Brooklyn), The Baltimore Shape Note Singers, The Mumbles (New Orleans), Channing and Quinn (Nashville), and Caleb. $10 suggested donation to Heart’s Place, all ages welcome. Hope to see you there!

Heart’s Place is a strong force in Baltimore’s fight against homelessness. For more than 20 years it has offered a place for those in need during the Winter months.

In light of the benefit, I’d also like to share a site I came across a few months back. Invisible People TV is a blog site run by a formerly homeless man who documents the face of Homelessness across America. With a compassionate and curious spirit he is able to elicit honest and moving accounts from the people he meets. The result is a collection of unfiltered, raw human stories. It’s a site well worth exploring if you have a few moments.

Here’s one of the profiles of a young working mother, trying to keep her family of 5 off the street:

So you’re a couple dudes who just finished college, you want an adventure. You want to head out on the road. You want to see America. But you want to do it your way. Something new. Something . . . musical.

Meet Dan Elliott and Maj O’Grady. They are biking across the country on a quest to understand American music up close and personal. It’s a journey through local music scenes in the American Heartland as heard from a bicycle. Their couple month quest is being documented on a blog called Bandcycle.

Several weeks ago, my friend Kat Hudson contacted me about some guys who were interviewing local bands from their bicycles, they were in Baltimore, could I help? I thought they needed a couch to crash on so I offered to have them at my place. Turns out they were curious, adventurous dudes (with a couch already pre-lined up further down the road) and they wanted to hear about Baltimore and what this city is offering up musically. You can read their take on our visit here.

They’re still pedaling, and it’s cool to see the adventure unfold. Check them out and write them a little encouragement. (Looks like they’re taking a deserved couple days off right now).

Farm Fest. Over 1000 people will gather at the Prigel Family Creamery for an afternoon of music, farm-fresh produce and meats, and local food and drink. This fun afternoon supports 1000 Friends of Maryland’s program to Keep Farmers Farming. There will be a children’s area with farm related games. We’re having games for adults, including cowpie bingo!

Click here for link to Tickets and Info. Tickets purchased ahead of time are $25. Day of $35.

Baltimore, MD – Emerging from the widely-divergent Baltimore music scene is singer/ songwriter Caleb
Stine who is the soul of that scene, and the best representation of a city he calls, “vibrant, troubled,
and passionate.” His straightforward, honest, music is what Baltimore is at its core – hardworking,
genuine, and unafraid to tell it like it is. Armed with a storyteller’s eye and a restless independent
spirit, Stine is set to deliver his latest album, ‘I Wasn’t Built for a Life Like This’, on September 25, 2010.

This year has been a busy one for Stine. In addition to his solo-touring schedule and regular
shows with alt-country rockers The Brakemen, he has collaborated with artists as diverse as Arty Hill
(who has been called the future of Honky-tonk by the Houston Press), Kenny Liner of The Bridge,
and rapper Saleem. Stine and Saleem’s long running partnership has produced the album, ‘Outgrown
These Walls’, which the Baltimore Sun called, “Truly compelling.” The standout track from the
album, “Baltimore”, was used by CNN in a news segment on prescription drug addiction. Stine has also
found time this year to score two independent documentaries.

His deeply-personal music has been described by Honest Tune Magazine as, “somewhere
between the renegade cowboy-poetry of Townes Van Zandt and the sweet rough and tumble sound of
Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’. The power in his music comes not from overwhelming volume or violent guitars,
but from simple strums and carefully measured words that together carry an army of unmatched
strength.”

‘I Wasn’t Built for a Life Like This’, Stine’s 5th full-length album, is a collection of ten-
unflinchingly direct songs in which Stine continues to tell the story of his exploration in what he
calls, “an evolving and eroding America. “ The New Yorker calls this direct approach, “appropriately
train-like, steady and powerful.” His timeless style of songwriting evokes images of a classic generation
of outlaw-country songwriters like Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, and Willie Nelson. Each song is
glimpse into the heart and soul of America.

Baltimore Magazine proclaims about his songwriting, “Stine weds wide-eyed sensitivity to
world-weary tunes with a warm twang. He contemplates right and wrong, love and hate, and questions
the durability of what’s pure.”

The uncommonly gifted songwriter simply explains, “I like to produce songs that breathe and
spit, and sometimes leave fresh wildflowers on your doorstep.”

Stine will celebrate the release of, I Wasn’t Built For a Like This, with an intimate show at the
Creative Alliance at the Patterson on September 25.

–Tim Newby

On Sunday, July 25th at 9:30pm I’ll be playing an opening set for my friends The Defibulators. Self described as ‘Hee-Haw on acid’, I first encountered these vagabonds at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn when their show incorporated call and response Corn-Liquor jams and a singing ventriloquist dummy. They drive around in an old ambulance and generally create spontaneous knee-slapping wherever they go. Come on out if you feel like dancing/laughing/crying/celebrating America.

Sunday, June 6, Caleb Stine plays on a bill with Holly Golightly and Noble Lake, at The Metro Gallery. 8pm. Come on out. It’s going to be a great night.

On Sunday May 30, at 3:30, Caleb Stine plays a set at the 25th Sowebofest! Check out details and schedules at soweboarts.org.

Thanks to Novembergirl for the photo.