John Elliott with Dylan Patrick Ward at Stage 33 Live

BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – California singer-songwriter John Elliott has been compared to artists from Paul Simon to Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, and called “the Andy Kaufman of folk music.” His songs have been prominently heard on Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, and Californication. He’s been featured in PASTE Magazine and on NPR. Anaïs Mitchell invited him to play the role of Hades in a California tour of Hadestown. He’s been around long enough to have music industry people tell him that what mattered most was MySpace plays. Then it was getting 3,000 likes on the Facebook page. Then it was Spotify plays. He has performed in every state in the union except Hawaii.

Dylan Patrick Ward will open, folk misfit for these absurd times — equal parts compassionate and irreverent, his songs use catchy melodies and blunt, storytelling lyricism to weave tales of outcasts, loveable losers, and people on the brink. He’s drawn comparisons to the Mountain Goats, John Prine, and Randy Newman. A songwriter’s songwriter, he’s shared the stage with acts like Peter Mulvey, The End of America, Jeffery Lewis, and Cloudbelly.

Tickets for this Sunday, October 1, 2023, 3:00 PM matinee are $15 in advance through stage33live.com or $20 at the door. Limited seating; the event will be recorded and filmed. Stage 33 Live is at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, Vermont.

Stage 33 Live is a casual and intimate industrial-rustic listening room in a former factory hosting local, regional, and national performances and presentations of original material. No bar or kitchen, the stage is the mission; coffee / soda / juice / water and a variety of snacks are available by donation. More info about the nonprofit, all-volunteer project, and this and other upcoming events, online at stage33live.com

Stage 33 Live gratefully acknowledges the help of so many individuals without whom none of this would be happening, and institutional support this season from The Island Corporation, the Vermont Arts Council, the Bellows Falls Opera House, the Rockingham Arts & Museum Project, and WOOL-FM to help fund improvements and maintenance, and generally smooth out a lot of the rough edges. Stage 33 Live is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and all donations are deductible to the fullest extent. Volunteers run the thing from stem to stern.