Write a commentFollowing a short break around the holidays, the Oswego Music Hall will kick off its 2024 Winter/Spring Season next Saturday evening, January 13, featuring Boston-area standouts, The Adam Ezra Group.
The folk/rock/soul band consists of Adam Ezra on guitar, Corrina Smith on fiddle, Poché Ponce on bass and Alex Martin on drums.
We caught up with Adam at a weekend retreat for about 200 of the band's followers at a resort in Fairlee, Vermont. "The Winter Gathering brings together friends and fans from an inspiring community built around the music we play," Ezra said. "We'll likely play around 15 hours of music this weekend, and we won't repeat a single song!"
Adam said that he's been performing for about 20 years, and that the group's current lineup has been together for several years. "Alex has been with me for 12 years, and Corrina for 10. Poché is the new guy - he's only been with us for 6 years," said Ezra. "Pre-Covid we played about 230 shows every year, but since then, I became a Dad to two beautiful daughters, and we've pared down a bit how often we play. The main thing is that we all have a good time. I probably have more fun than I deserve."
Adam said that the group's community of followers really gathered steam during the pandemic. "Once everything shut down we lost the outlet for our creative energy and we missed playing for our audience. We began to live stream performances, and called it The Gathering Series. We ended up doing more than 500 shows online." He said that they still continue The Gathering performances, playing acoustic music on Tuesdays at 7:00pm, and streaming live performances on weekends.
(Ezra says it's possible that the Oswego show will be streamed, but they usually don't announce that until right before showtime. He said, "If you want to be 100% sure of seeing the show, you'll have to be there in person.")
While the band is in Oswego, the Music Hall has arranged a Meet and Greet an hour before show time at 6:30 pm. Ezra is a supporter of veterans organizations throughout New England. Each year his RallySound Foundation holds a music festival called The Ramble near Boston with all proceeds going to benefit homeless veterans. He said, "Last summer we were able to donate $143,000 to aid those who served."
"We do veteran outreach at most of our shows," he said. The Music Hall has invited local organizations Clear Path for Veterans and the Oswego County Veterans Service Agency to join Ezra and the band on Saturday evening to raise awareness of veterans issues.
Ezra said that he and the band have been working on several new songs in recent months, though he's unsure if they will be released as singles or compiled into an album. As for what concert goers might expect to hear on Saturday, "We have quite a library of original music," he said, "but we still often pay tribute to other great songwriters who have come before us."
Tickets for The Adam Ezra Group's January 13 performance at The Music Hall in Oswego are available online at OswegoMusicHall.org, or at The River's End Bookstore in downtown Oswego. The Music Hall is located at 41 Lake Street in Oswego. The Meet & Greet is at 6:30 pm and showtime is at 7:30 pm.
