Event
Caleb Hawley & Ryan Fitzsimmons
CALEB HAWLEY
Caleb Hawley has always wanted to be a professional baseball player. However, life did not grant him big muscles and outstanding eye contact. Instead, he was dealt the gift of fast fingers and massive vocal chords. After sadly realizing his circumstances, he set off to be a musician.
At 12, he learned his first Nirvana song on guitar. Due to the overwhelming response from the seventh-grade girls, he decided to learn more. First Metallica, next Pink Floyd. Then Dave Mathews or whatever else made people like him. Soon Caleb was the youngest bar hopper in Minneapolis, performing for old people all over the city.
A few years later, college came. He decided to head out to Boston and attend Berklee College of Music. He received a degree in jazz composition and was sent off to make a living in music, or in other words, die.
He had to move fast, before his college loans got the better of him, so he re-located to New York City and in July of 2007, released his debut CD, Greatest Hits.
Since then he (along with his dog Fargo) has traveled miles upon miles performing at clubs, colleges, and festivals all over the country. In journey, he has had the opportunity to share the stage with other artists including Marc Cohn, Shawn Mullins, Dave Barnes, and The Greencards. In November 2008, he was a top five finalist (out of 4,000) in the prestigious New York Songwriters annual showcase. Things are moving along, but he still hopes to be a baseball player someday.
RYAN FITZSIMMONS
While still a newcomer to Providence, RI, Ryan Fitzsimmons was nominated for Best Folk Act in the Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll for 2004. Ryan is simply the kind of musician who impresses immediately. Just a few years later, he won the 2007 Best Music Poll for Best Male Vocalist.
Originally from central New York, Ryan Fitzsimmons' first exposure to music was sitting on the stairs in his parent's house as a child, listening to his older brother Todd practice blues licks along to Muddy Waters albums. He fell in love with the sound, and playing guitar became simply what he had to do. Ryan first gained attention at age 14 playing lead guitar in an alternative rock band called Anodyne which was nominated for a Syracuse Area Music Award (SAMMY). But after performing in a number of electric bands, Ryan decided to give up the amplifiers to see what he could do with just wood and steel and voice. What he discovered in performing solo with an acoustic guitar was an intimacy and nuance he found instantly inspiring.
Bringing to the fold his years of electric guitar playing and using innovative alternate tunings, Ryan Fitzsimmons' acoustic world runs the emotional gambit. The lyrics of Ryan's songs range from gentle, poetic details to the in-your-face realism of a bar fight, and his guitar ranges just as far, from starry night to thunderclap.
Over the last 5 years, Ryan has quietly been establishing a reputation as one of the most original and promising young songwriters on the scene today. Playing shows from Montana to New England (including venues such as Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY; Johnny D's in Somerville, MA; and the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA) Ryan has been engaging audiences with his distinctive songwriting and dynamic performances. Along the way, Ryan has shared the stage with performers Richie Havens, Greg Brown, Jesse Winchester, Peter Mulvey, Vance Gilbert, Jeff Lang, and Railroad Earth, among others.
Ryan's first CD, Open All Night, is the long-awaited companion to his live show. The album is a statement of Ryan's history, and in it Ryan takes all the diners, gas stations, smoky bars, and side streets that he's come across and extracts the human element, drawing the listener in with the questions and emotions that these places resonate. The album also features collaborations with many of Ryan's friends, including a subtle give-and-take with Peter Mulvey on the song "Write it Down". Delivered with Ryan's inspired guitar playing and dynamic presentation, Open All Night (recently chosen as one of the best folk albums of 2004 by the Providence Phoenix) proves what has been exciting audiences at Ryan's live performances for years.
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LocationThe Oasis Coffeehouse
34 Alder Street
Waltham, MA 02453
United States
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| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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