2025 Summer Music Series
ACC presented the second year of its free Summer Music Series, with performances at Athens Riverfront Park and award-winning brewpub Night School.
Celebrating the diverse musical landscape of the greater Hudson Valley, the series featured a continuum of local and regional musicians, from emerging artists to established performers. In collaboration with community partners, local students and youth groups from Greene, Columbia, and Ulster counties engaged with artists through Q&A sessions and open sound checks, offering unique opportunities to experience the creative process firsthand.
This concert series is organized by Jacob Miller, Executive Director of the Athens Cultural Center, with funds provided by CREATE Council of the Arts and the New York State Council of the Arts, the FairGame Arts Grant, the Athens Community Foundation, the Greene County Youth Bureau, the Avery Foundation for the Arts, the Hudson Sloop Club, and ACC members.
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of The Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by CREATE Council on the Arts.
Ciarra Fragale
Saturday, June 21, 2025 @ Night School (21 Second Street Athens, NY 12015)
MUSIC @ 7PM
Open Sound Check @ 4:30PM
Youth Q & A @ 6PM
Ciarra Fragale is an indie pop singer/songwriter, producer, and actor from NY’s Hudson Valley. By blending the nostalgic traditions of songwriting with unique new-wave sensibilities, she creates a refreshing sound all her own. In addition to making her own music, Ciarra has also composed many works for theater and film.
“While “Lose My Cool” has a section tagged “instrumental freak out,” it excites not through deployment of effects pedals but through Fragale’s knack for uncovering the feelings hidden within feelings.” -Beats Per Minute
In 2017, Ciarra released her first full-length “Seasons,” written and recorded entirely in her home. It was during this recording process that she started to experiment with different sounds and textures, igniting her love for production. After two more years of touring and recording, Ciarra followed up “Seasons” with her second full-length “Call It What You Will” in 2019. Shedding the nu-folk sound for more of an Indie/alt pop direction, “Call It What You Will” was an ambitious project that artfully portrayed Ciarra’s growth as an artist. Produced by Fragale, the album was recorded at Nashphone Recording, a studio owned and operated by engineer Jesse Bolduc (of the band Candy Ambulance).
Fragale’s newest self-titled LP is her best, most cohesive work to date. Ranging from Motown inspired heartbreak pop to modern and cerebral indie rock, Ciarra creates a distinct sonic world that allows her to display what makes her artistry so special. Pounding keys, angular guitars, and steady driving beats grace these buoyant and emotive tracks, with Ciarra’s one of a kind vocals gliding in and out of smooth and sweet harmonies showcasing her masterful musicianship and songwriting prowess. Following on the heels of this compositional triumph, her influences and lived experience come together in the beautifully danceable Jazzercise Is On TV, produced by Indie legend Eric Slick (Dr. Dog), available everywhere on 02/07/2025.
Hen In the Foxhouse
Saturday, July 19, 2025 @ Night School (21 Second Street Athens, NY 12015)
MUSIC @ 7PM
Open Sound Check @ 4:30PM
Youth Q & A @ 6PM
Hen in the Foxhouse is the lo-fi indie project of Honduran American composer/lyricist, Elena Sophia Krell, most recently collaborating with multi-instrumentalist Ru Lemer (engineer, co-producer) and drummer Chris Gartmann (HV legends 3).
“‘Look Up’ is…truly remarkable…, showcasing Krell's talent as a songwriter, lyricist, and performer. With its eclectic blend of musical styles, insightful lyrics, and captivating vocals, this album is sure to appeal to a wide range of listeners. Hen in the Foxhouse is a name you'll want to remember.” -Broken8Records.com
Born in Germany and growing up all over Europe and Latin America, Elena speaks five languages and considers music her first and primary one. She trained as an opera singer at Oberlin Conservatory and sang professionally for five years. She then earned a PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University and went on to teach in Africana Studies, Latin American and Latinx Studies, and Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies at Vassar College for nine years before transitioning to part-time remote work and focusing on music full-time.
Her classical and academic trainings form a rich and diverse bedrock for music that is uniquely simultaneously languid and urgent. Her 5 full-length records and 3 EPs culminated in a 13-track record, Look Up, released August 2024.
Reminiscent of Natalia LaFourcade, The Magnetic Fields, and Philip Glass, Look Up (2024) feels eclectic but cohesive, like "an aquatic ecosystem of disparate plant and animal life that belong together."
Hen in the Foxhouse is based in the Hudson Valley, in Kingston, NY.
The Goddess Party
Saturday, August 16, 2025 @ Athens Riverfront Park
(4 North Water Street, Athens, NY)
Open Sound Check @ 4:30PM
Youth Q & A @ 6PM
MUSIC @ 7PM
The Goddess Party emerged in 2023 from a simple idea: to invite those wishing to experience powerful goddess energy to come together and “just sing.” What has resulted is a fiery community collective in the Hudson Valley that fosters deep connections through in-person collaboration and shared artistic expressions.
“The enormous ensemble performs ethereal and high-energy songs that range from original compositions to Bulgarian field songs to punk anthems by Le Tigre, PJ Harvey, and others, accompanying the music with thematic visuals, choreographed movements, immersive lighting, projected imagery, and bespoke costumes and props.” -Chronogram
The Goddess Party is an immersive theater project that has sold out all four performances across two years at Opus 40 in Saugerties, Kingston’s historic Old Dutch Church, and most recently with their biggest and most complex performance titled “The Parting of the Veils” at Basilica in Hudson in November 2024. The show features 30+ women in an all-female, Hudson-Valley-based art choir backed by a six-piece rock band playing original compositions, Bulgarian field songs, and punk anthems by the likes of Le Tigre and PJ Harvey. The performances are enhanced with thematic visuals, choreographed movements, immersive lighting, projected imagery, and custom-designed costumes and props.
The Big Takeover
Saturday, September 20, 2025 @ Athens Riverfront Park
(4 North Water Street, Athens, NY)
Open Sound Check @ 4:30PM
Youth Q & A @ 6PM
MUSIC @ 7PM
Fronted by the charismatic Jamaican-born singer and songwriter Nee Nee Rushie, the seven-piece New York band The Big Takeover plays original music that is rooted in and reverent toward the genres and rhythms of Jamaican pop: reggae, rocksteady, ska.
“Led by the powerhouse, Jamaican-born singer and songwriter NeeNee Rushie, The Big Takeover's horn-powered global blend reveals deep fluency in reggae and world music, hints of soul and Motown, and their own infectious brand of pop classicism.” — John Burdick
They are devotees of Desmond Dekker and the way the old school did it. At the same time, The Big Takeover crosses lines and blends traditions like global pop fusionists. Their deceptively complex arrangements and big hooks connect with the spirit of Motown and the uptown sophistication of the 21st century retro soul and R&B revival scene.
That rich sound, along with their rigorous performing schedule and studio work, has been paying off. In 2018, the Big Takeover completed a successful 12-state tour. They were enthusiastically received by 10,000 at Omaha’s Jazz on the Green festival. They delivered an outrageously infectious and nuanced acoustic performance on the popular reggae-centric Sugarshack Sessions. Meanwhile, their current standalone single “Rainboots” has scored big with the discerning tastes at National Public Radio. The Big Takeover has appeared live in studio on several NPR stations, while “Rainboots” is in rotation on all of them.
