Max Cohen’s natural humility hides an amazing talent. An accomplished guitarist, Max balances tremendous sensitivity with driving rhythmic power. As an accompanist, “He’s as trustworthy as they come,” says fiddler and music partner Donna Hébert. Their co-written air, Raven’s Wing, is in the Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music at the Boston College Libraries.
Max also plays with renowned folk singer Priscilla Herdman, who says, “Max is one of those rare guitarists able to create an atmosphere that supports and cradles the voice with both tenderness and strength.” The new partnership with Jane Yolen, Lui, and Donna particularly showcases Max’s guitar as he weaves poems and tunes together seamlessly. Yolen has full confidence in him “We know we are in the best of hands when Max is in the band.”
Max has coached youth performances with the Great Groove Band at Old Songs and Philly Folk Festivals since 2008. A producer and engineer, Max plays guitar on numerous recordings. Studio and production details at maxcohenmusic.com.
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Folk singer/songwriter Lui Collins has been on the scene for over 40 years, earning international acclaim for her music. Lui ranges from original and traditional folk to bossa nova in the original Brazilian Portuguese, with sixteen recordings to her credit. She’s shared a stage with Tom Rush, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Van Ronk, Stan Rogers, John Gorka, and Anais Mitchell, and has recorded with Johnny Cunningham, David Darling, and Rani Arbo.
Lui was hailed by the Boston Herald as a “folksinger for our times” and by the Boston Globe as “one of New England’s rst and brightest stars.” Guitarist Dave van Ronk called her “one of the best guitarist-arrangers I have heard in years.” And Canadian folk icon Stan Rogers quipped, “Lui sings my songs better than I do.”
She teaches and writes early elementary music curriculum for Upside-Up Music for families with young children. More information and presenter tools at luicollins.net.
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Recognized by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick for “outstanding artistic achievement,” Donna Hébert is cultural treasure. She’s a state Artist’s Fellow in the Folk Arts with two original songs on Smithsonian anthologies and eight appointments as a master fiddler in the National Endowment’s Master-Apprenticeship program.
The late Dr. Alan Jabbour, Dir. (ret)., American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, called her “An outstanding performer and world class teacher. I consider her at the forefront of the developing field of fiddle pedagogy.” Her Fiddling Demystified for Strings is a “cornucopia of fiddling” (Darol Anger, Berklee professor) and “should be required reading for all string teachers.” (Strings Magazine). fiddlingdemystified.com
Donna also has a fiddle-guitar duo with Max Cohen and they record and perform with Celtic group Mist Covered Mountains. She teaches fiddle and performance at Smith and Amherst Colleges and directs yearly children’s performances at Old Songs and Philadelphia Folk Festivals. .