ADAM EZRA GROUP

With support from the Joe Cirotti Trio. 

Working outside the confines of the traditional music industry, Adam Ezra and his bandmates – Corinna Smith (fiddle), Alex Martin (drums), Poche Ponce (bass) – built a community of fans through sheer grit and determination, regularly performing hundreds of shows a year for the past two decades without any major label or mainstream radio support. Fusing folk intimacy and rock energy with soul power and pop charm, the band first emerged from Boston in the early 2000s and quickly garnered widespread acclaim for their bold, insightful songwriting and interactive, euphoric performances. From hole in the wall bars and house concerts to sold-out headline shows and dates with the likes of Little Big Town, The Wallflowers, Gavin DeGraw, Train, and The Wailers, Ezra and his bandmates treated every single gig like their last, attracting a die-hard following that believed not just in the music, but in their commitment to activism and social change, as well. 

After their tour was cancelled at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ezra brought the show online to continue this commitment and created The Gathering Series which to-date has reached a cumulative audience of 15 million viewers. The bands ongoing daily livestreams since March of 2020 stands as a testament not only to Ezra’s artistic endurance, but also his ability to connect with viewers and provide an accepting and supportive space for newcomers to join his tight-knit community of fans. Through his own experience with COVID, his move across the country, and even his wedding day, Ezra has broadcasted without fail from wherever he found himself each night at 7pm Eastern. In addition to bringing The Gathering Series to the real world as they performed nearly 50 safe, socially distanced shows in parks and backyards around the United States to bring light to fans through music, the band didn’t stop there. Their homegrown festival, The Ramble, hosted by RallySound, raises money and marshals resources to help homeless veterans find safe and dignified housing for the last ten years. While the band was unable to bring the festival to fans live in the year of COVID, they instead incorporated it into The Gathering Series and hosted a 24-hour, nonstop livestream where they raised enough money to help house 64 veterans.   

The Adam Ezra Group hit their 500th Live stream show on July 25th, 2021. They have also played an additional 50 backyard socially distanced shows, and are starting to tour heavily again in traditional and outdoor venues.  As if this wasn’t enough to keep them busy,  the band also embarked on an ambitious new recording series dubbed ‘The Album Project’ which will see the band releasing at least 19 new singles over the next few years. What comes next for the Adam Ezra Group? The future is anyone’s guess right now, and the only thing the Adam Ezra Group knows for sure, is they’ll be out there making music however and whenever they can.

Joe Cirotti Trio

Joe Cirotti Trio, a well-oiled string band from the shadows of Northwest Jersey’s Appalachian ridge, fuses their multi-instrumentalist upbringings with a passion for the roots of American folk, jazz, country, and bluegrass. Their bond is rooted in proximity, strengthened by a blue-collar passion for picking, and buoyed by their shared propensity for roots music and whiskey.

Formed in 2015, the current line-up of Joe Cirotti: guitar, Pete Lister: upright bass, and Timmy Coyle: mandolin and guitar, continues to craft a sound steeped in tradition yet infused with modern twists.

The group also occasionally plays as a 4/5-piece ensemble, adding banjo, fiddle, dobro, percussion, or even more mandolin, often joined by founding member Mike Alexander.

Joe Cirotti Trio has become a fixture at premier area venues across the NWNJ area, and is booking into the summer and fall across a wider area. Their debut release, “Joe Cirotti Trio”, launched on CD and Vinyl in December 2023, and streaming on all major platforms.

They find common musical ground in influences like Doc Watson, Tony Rice, and Garcia/Grisman, but also as diverse as Django Reinhardt, Pink Floyd, and Van Halen. This stirs up a one-of-a-kind blend of Americana, bluegrass, alt-country, and gypsy jazz, and acoustic pop.