Peter Mulvey is easily the most earnest and honest singer-songwriter on the circuit I’ve seen in years.

He is a man just as natural and comfortable in an intimate setting as he is in front of a large radio audience being heard by thousands. Mulvey is a veteran, itinerant performer with over two decades of touring, recording, song-writing and co-writing songs under his belt.

Mulvey handcrafts songs with precision, delicacy and a flair for narrative depth. Rather than call him a folk singer, he looks at himself as a writer and a keen participant-observer of life. He has an ease with storytelling that he wears like an old, perfectly fitting corduroy shirt.

In fact, it is a sign of a great and wondrous entertainer when the stories and banter between songs is as engaging as the outstanding performance of the musical material itself.

That’s how it was with Mulvey's performance at the Cooperage in Albuquerque, Nov. 4, promoted by AMP Concerts. He excelled as a singer-songwriter with many gears, including overdrive. The audience was in rapt attention throughout the evening. Through two substantial sets Mulvey demonstrated that he is a tour-de-force as a one man song machine in human form.

Drawing songs from across the range of his repertoire, he expanded the room into the realms of personal and world history, art and literature, as well as current affairs.

Within a couple of songs, people in the audience were head-bobbing and toe-tapping away to the rhythms and vocals. Mulvey is a masterful guitar player which is why his set took off like a human-powered rocket. He continued to build the mood with a series of topical, humorous and political songs. Since it was within a couple days of the World Series, he told the story of the 108 stitches on a baseball, 108 beads on a monk’s necklace and 108 years of the Chicago Cubs' curse being broken that week.

In an interview with Weekly Alibi, Mulvey spoke about his early influences and formative years as a musician. As a child, growing up Catholic, he was exposed to Greek myths and stories in church. He added that, in his opinion, if people are lucky they come to see the stories in their Catholic upbringing, retrospectively, as myths.

Musically, he began playing guitar at seven years old and was exposed to rock and roll in high school. Early artistic influences included guitar specialists Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. As a very young man, he began performing on the streets and in the subways of Ireland and Boston. These experiences in his youth were the most indelible and formative of his early musical career.

What cemented his path was that he fell in early with people who are the singer-songwriters that do this for a living. Mulvey wanted to become someone that made "live music for live people." “When I encountered these people," he continued, "I wanted to play music the way they play music.”

Between the ages of 20-22, he was exposed to the seminal Emmylou Harris record, Wrecking Ball, the wonderfully moody and atmospheric albums by Ry Cooder, the highly esteemed Tom Waits, and one of the giants of the folk festival and singer-songwriting scene, Greg Brown. It was at this time that Mulvey also had close encounters with the jazz genre.

“It’s the myth and dream realms, that is what we’re after. I feel like of all the musicians, it’s what the jazz players can say that’s more profound than any lyricists.”

Mulvey is a busy and prolific artist. He stated, “I can think easily of next four records I’d like to make ... with a violinist, with a string quartet, another with a group of female singers and a party record of old folk tunes.”

“I actually need to goof off and give those projects room to grow. Time to play, that’s what art is, play. American puritan ethic, we narcotized ourselves with work, avoiding the real business of being a human being ... caring about the people around you, sitting with the uncertainties of life. That’s what’s important.”

It's melodically clear: From Peter Mulvey we not only get entertained, we get educated.

Look for Peter Mulvey to return to our area on March 11, 2017, when he’ll be performing at the Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, N.M. Tickets for that springtime show are now available by clicking on this handy link.

Wendy Rule is a musical enchantress. She weaves vocal spells with her songwriting and choices of traditional songs. She is a full-throated, deeply resonant vocalist.

Rule performed 10 songs at the North Valley Library as part of AMP Concerts free series in association with the Friends of the Public Library.

Among the most notable songs were several atmospheric ones which embodied her personal strength and earth goddess nature. "Radiate," her final song, was the most powerful in the set and shifted the energy in the room. It was written for her son Ruben, now a young adult who is also a touring musician with two bands in Australia. The lyrics included these lines: "Your heart is true … and blessings are flowing through you."

Early in her set she introduced an old Welsh ballad, "John Riley," a classic folk song that she performed, a capella, to haunting, melodic perfection. Rule makes use of modulation and alternating her strong voice with a softer delivery, as she did on the fine song "Into the Trees." She sang: "A forest dark, a midnight magical, I took a walk, into the trees, to be with you, to see our dreams..,"—This song appears in a new Australian film, Boys in the Trees, that recently won best picture at the Austin Film Festival.

Rule has a highly engaging singing and storytelling style, connecting to the crowd through both anecdotes and a guitar-accompanied vocal performance. In "Winter," she sings, “l build a hearth of stone, and always a fire will be burning … and will fill all the shadows with light … When spirit calls my name, I’ll offer a song … Here by the fire, all I require is stillness."

Australian Wendy Rule, has Pagan leanings and is a musician with a purpose: “I love to help people connect to their own emotional world, and to trust it," she said in an interview with Weekly Alibi. “I hope to help people to honor their connection with nature and the world around them. And I like to inspire them to follow their own soul path."

Rule’s musical origins began with the fact that her father was a huge jazz fan. He introduced her to singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. So Rule became a jazz singer for some years before she began writing her own material. And she performed in musical theater after high school and through college.

Her songwriting process begins with a big emotion that needs to be expressed, or a big idea, such as those found in mythology. Then she takes a walk in nature, lets the process incubate and finds that the lyrics and melodies come through during her long walks. In that way, she opens up to what the universe is offering to her.

Her performing configurations vary from solo—as she did today—to pairing up with her husband Tim. For 20 years she has toured with cellist Rachel Samuel. She has also worked with a big band of up to seven pieces when touring at home in Australia. More recent influences include Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Björk, the Doors and world music.

The audience at the North Valley Library learned that Rule will be relocating with her husband to Taos as of this Winter. We welcome her back to the Land of Enchantment!

Rule has many CDs, is on You Tube and Instagram and keeps up active email correspondence with those who sign up for her mailing list. [wendy@wendyrule.com]

Douglas Cohen is a culture writer and essayist based in Corrales, New Mexico. Find his concert and music festival reviews at www.alibi.com.

The house was packed last Saturday night for Jake Shimabukuro's concert. It was an intergenerational mix of people; three generations of Albuquerque music lovers came out for the show. There were members of the folk-music community and veterans of the art-music recital scene, families and young people taking in new sounds.

The lighting at Simms Center at the Albuquerque Academy had artistic intent and contributed to the celebratory atmosphere with rich colors. From start to finish, it felt like a flawless performance. I arrived feeling tired and kind of out of it, but left feeling energized and inspired. The artist and his instrument blended so well together. Shimabukuro's ukulele seemed like another arm or the perfect dance partner, attached by life and love.

Shimabukuro played a few experimental tunes that were supposedly dissonant but were still musically enthralling. He followed up with traditional Hawaiian music and thoughtfully interjected three cover tunes, "Come Together," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "While my guitar gently weeps." The George Harrison tune was especially visceral and heartfelt.

Throughout the concert, Shimabukuro used two different instruments, each with different timbres and purposes, blending his instrumental knowledge into each piece he performed.

After each song Shimburakuro and the bass player would fist bump one another, obviously eager and excited to be playing together and for a receptive audience. The stage was very simple, just the two players interacting and focused on the other’s playing. Shimurakuro received two standing ovations at the end of the night; the audience was grateful for such an amazing journey and the musicians seemed thrilled to provide it.

One of most exciting opportunities afforded me by working as the Alibi music editor is soliciting work from writers/artists whose work I deeply admire. Sure, I would have gotten a kick out of chatting with Billy Bragg, but I know someone with a deeper connection to him. That someone is Tannex midwife, ABQ Zine Fest founder, sound artist and storyteller Marya Errin Jones. Read her poignant essay on him, Bragging Rites, to see what I mean. Check out B.B. A/V below. KiMo Theatre • Billy Bragg • Kim Churchill • Sun Mar 24 • 7:30 pm • $26-$35 • ALL-AGES! • kimotickets.com