Most people may know the Tile Works of Bucks County from a class trip or family outing with the kids, but how many of you knew it was a concert venue as well?
If you love live music and supporting local musicians, you’ll be hard pressed finding a more magical venue in Bucks County.
Joe Montone of Stage United, a nonprofit organization committed to bringing concerts to Bucks County venues, and Tile Works collaborated to bring the history of Bucks County and Bucks County musicians together.
On Friday night he and and his small crew transformed the historic space into a stage with accent lighting, speakers and mic stands.
The tile works had tables and chairs arranged, a small bar and a catering team was busy cooking everything from pulled pork to brownies.
The final touch? A crackling fire in the ornate stone fireplace.
The sold out event started with Montone hosting a Q&A with each artist before their respective sets.
The Beacon also got a chance to speak with each artist as well, starting with Newtown’s Chelsea Mitchell who has released several albums under the moniker Dirty Dollhouse. While she was solo tonight, her bandmates are vocalist Eric Lawry, bassist Joshua Machiz, and guitarist Pete Hall. Some may recognize Chelsea if you have ever shopped at Newtown Book & Record Exchange. Not only is she the owner, but you can often find her behind the counter pricing records. While most artists moonlight as musicians, Mitchell is involved in the music business both 9-5 and after.
Mitchell has been writing songs since childhood and with encouragement from her father, and teachers began putting her songs down at local studios. While ambitious to record and share her art, she has never moved to Nashville or LA to “make it big” — whatever that is these days. You don’t have to leave town to make art.
She has recorded at local studios including Philadelphia’s MilkBoy and even local attics and barns.
She understands the struggle involved in making a living in music as she has a front row view of the whole process from recording to sales. While she expressed mild frustration at seeing labels sign the same type of artist again and again, she seems happy with where she’s at. She has that rare grounded view of stardom. She has built a life where she is able to make and share her art, entertain local crowds and build a fanbase.
As she took the stage tuning her guitar and thumbing through her setlist, she gave her husband and bandmate a shoutout for being in the audience for her. Acknowledging that we’ve all “been through it” the last few years, she talked about her struggles with anxiety.
Some of that anxiety made its way onto her latest album The End.
One standout track is Good Night, and Good Luck/The End. It opens with radio static and gurgling news reports sharing the latest doom and gloom. The song takes an unexpected turn though with her playfully singing about riding her bike around while the apocalypse looms.
“I’ve always have a dark sense of humor and I can’t write a song without some of it creeping in.” Mitchell said.
While the lyrics are a slice of the zeitgeist, the sound is not. Her soaring voice and almost poppy folk vibes keep it light. It’s something to dance to at the end of the world.
Between songs she also recalled the kindness of a teacher who pulled her aside and said “You can sing. I want to teach you how to do it right.” That teacher, a trained opera singer gave her free lessons that in the end were process as they obviously paid off.
In her far too brief set, Mitchell played newer tracks as well as an older single “Sidecar” which seemed to be a crowd pleaser.
She finished with a mesmerizing cover of Chris Issak’s “Wicked Game” which she dedicated to David Lynch who passed earlier in the week.
You could hear a pin drop, and judging by the many faces with their mouths wide open, a jaw-dropping way to end the night.
Opening for Mitchell was another local musician, guitarist Greg Sover, who’s Brooklyn-born but now lives in Abington.
Like Mitchell, Sover was bit by the music bug as a child when he heard his father playing Haitian tunes on his guitar. Like many before him, hearing Hendrix made him pick up the electric guitar and never put it back down.
Sover releases music on his own label Grounded Sound and also struggles with the challenges of modern listening trends. Streaming doesn’t pay the bills but playing local gigs, licensing songs for use in commercials or films and selling CDs and vinyl to his fans keeps the music coming.
His set was somewhat unplugged, but you could still hear and appreciate the ferocity in his playing as he handled the guitar with precision. He played several of his own tracks, including one called Stress Relief, as well as a Bob Marley cover, another artist who inspired him.
\When we discussed his influences, he said he and his father share a love for Cyndi Lauper’s Time after Time, which was produced by members of Bucks County’s The Hooters. He said he is always striving for that magical guitar sound. Speaking of the Hooters, Sover has worked with David Uosikkinen as well as Billy Cox, a member of Hendrix’s original band and other notable and legendary musicians.
With all of this local talent it’s about time Bucks gets a little more attention instead of being lumped in with Philadelphia.
One of the best ways to help is to support local musicians whether by seeing their shows or buying their albums. Joe Montone is doing his best to keep these local programs going, and judging by the enthusiastic crowd response last night, the audience agreed.
There will be two more shows like this at the Tile Works in February and March.
For more information and tickets visit: https://www.thetileworks.org/events and https://www.stageunited.org/.
