P.O. Box 92398
Rochester, NY 14692
www.goldenlink.org
Media contact (not for publication): Dave Townsend, (585) 467-8690
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2025
Christine Lavin brings her music and wit to Golden Link.
See below for a list of concerts through May 2026
Rochester, NY – Christine Lavin is a witty songwriter-storyteller – as well as guitarist, author, and videographer – with a flair for the creative, the dramatic, and the humorous. Based in New York City since 1984, Lavin is especially known for her sense of humor, which is expressed in both her music – songs like “Sensitive New Age Guys” and “Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind” – and her engaging performances. Lavin performs on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 6:30 pm at the Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd., Rochester, NY. There will be a pre-concert knitting circle.
When asked where she gets the wide array of subjects for her songs, she said, “I get a lot of my ideas just from reading the newspaper.” Those ideas are conveyed in a highly picturesque manner in Lavin’s songs. Her work touches on many spheres of life, from politics and gastronomy to the mores of a multicultural society and even science and astrophysics.
Lavin was an entourage driver for the first week of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour back in 1975, and now after recording 26 solo albums and putting together 16 compilations, she has released her latest album, Drum School Dropout. It includes a funny and true story about her disastrous attempt to learn a new instrument and features a number of guest musicians, including Julie Gold, who toured with Lavin in the supergroup Four Bitching Babes, and Jeff Daniels, among others.
In April 2019, she was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame along with Al Jardine of The Beach Boys. In May 2021, Lavin received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from her alma mater, the State University of New York at Brockport.
Lavin released the holiday album Runaway Christmas Tree in 2003, which included tales of Christmas miracles gone wrong, celebrations of food, and a song that blends all the holidays into one. She will include some seasonal selections at this concert.
“Lavin’s hilarious, insightful story-songs always have a twist, they’re perfectly complemented by tuneful folk melodies, and they’ll make you forget just about any problems you have.” – CD Review
“It is precisely her take on the ordinary that makes her work so extraordinary.” – The Village Voice
Online ticket sales end at midnight on December 6.
General Admission: $25 ($27 at the door)
Golden Link Members: $20 ($22 at the door)
Students: $10
Children under 12: $5
See below for calendar listings for this and other upcoming concerts.
Photos of the performers are available at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1itUdQ1VH1dNEzcbkvGIhjdS6kc9BfsQK?usp=sharing
Phone or email interviews with the performer(s) can be arranged.
Founded in 1971, the Golden Link Folk Singing Society is dedicated to presenting, promoting, and preserving folk music in the Rochester area. Golden Link is a volunteer-operated and member-supported 501(c)3 not-for-profit arts, cultural, and educational organization.
CALENDAR LISTINGS
Christine Lavin
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 6:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
Christine Lavin is a witty songwriter-storyteller – as well as guitarist, author, and videographer – with a flair for the creative, the dramatic, and the humorous. She has more than 25 albums to her credit, along with her memoir (or mem-WHA?), Cold Pizza for Breakfast. Based in New York City since 1984, Lavin is especially known for her sense of humor, which is expressed in both her music – songs like “Sensitive New Age Guys” and “Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind” – and her engaging performances. She will include some seasonal selections at this concert. An alum of SUNY Brockport, Lavin was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame in 2019.
Tickets: General Admission: $25 ($27 at the door), Golden Link Members: $20 ($22 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.
New Voices Showcase: Tyler Westcott and A Girl Named Genny Duo
Saturday, January 10, 2026, 7:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
Join us for a special concert featuring regional musicians who are new to our monthly concert series. Tyler Westcott is a poet, singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Buffalo who specializes in storytelling, songwriting, and styles from folk and country blues to western swing. Armed with his trusty guitar, banjo, harmonica, and the gift of gab, he has a knack for describing the human condition with humor and joy. A Girl Named Genny has always sought to push the norm of what is expected from an Americana band, with influences ranging from jazz-roots music to bluegrass-folk genres, and even rock and roll. This concert will feature the duo version of the band, with Ray Mahar on vocals and guitar and Allegra Whiting on cello.
Tickets: General Admission: $20 ($22 at the door), Golden Link Members: $15 ($20 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.
Pepper and Sassafras
with Tim Burns and John Dancks
Saturday, February 21, 2026, 7:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, teams up with multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Wendy Sassafras Ramsay in the dynamic acoustic duo Pepper and Sassafras. Rodgers, also the founding editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine, delivers masterful band-in-a-box guitar work while Ramsay, harmonizer extraordinaire, adds flute, clarinet, guitar, accordion, and her quirky originals to the mix. For this Golden Link concert, the duo will be joined by long-time collaborators Tim Burns (guitar, mandolin, vocals) and John Dancks (upright bass).
Tickets: General Admission: $25 ($27 at the door), Golden Link Members: $20 ($22 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.
Low Lily
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 7:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
With the energy of fiddle music, the introspective quality of contemporary folk, the precision of bluegrass, and the drive of Americana, the Vermont-based trio Low Lily (Liz Simmons, Flynn Cohen, and Natalie Padilla) combine their individual talents into one stunning soundscape. Low Lily has shared their signature sound with enthusiastic audiences throughout North America and the UK, garnering two #1 songs on international folk radio and two Independent Music Awards.
Tickets: General Admission: $25 ($27 at the door), Golden Link Members: $20 ($22 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.
The Clements Brothers
Saturday, April 18, 2026, 7:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
The Clements Brothers are George (guitar) and Charles (upright bass), identical twins from the heart of New England. The two have been playing and writing music together for as long as they can remember, first entering the Americana music scene in 2012 as part of the internationally touring grassroots group The Lonely Heartstring Band, with whom they put out two albums on Rounder Records. This marks their first original project together, focused on capturing their singer-songwriter sensibilities in a unique blend, with harmonies only achievable by their identical voices, at once enthralling and intimate, groovy and serene.
Tickets: General Admission: $25 ($27 at the door), Golden Link Members: $20 ($22 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.
Kray Van Kirk
Saturday, May 2, 2026, 7:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Kray Van Kirk has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska, but he set science aside to write songs, tell stories, and summon heroes. “We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart,” he says. “The quest is to journey inside, find whatever it is that burns at the core of your soul, and bring it back into the light.” A charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic performer, Van Kirk has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and toured the U.S. and Canada.
Tickets: General Admission: $25 ($27 at the door), Golden Link Members: $20 ($22 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.
Garnet Rogers
Saturday, May 16, 2026, 7:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd, Rochester NY 14626
Born in Hamilton, Ontario to parents of Nova Scotian descent, Garnet Rogers spent many hours listening to Grand Ol’ Opry radio broadcasts and harmonizing with his brother, the late folk legend Stan Rogers. At 18, he was on the road as a full-time working musician with brother Stan, forming one of the most influential duos in the history of North American folk music. Since then, Garnet has courageously established himself as a formidable solo artist, performing across North America, everywhere from small town folk clubs to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
Tickets: General Admission: $30 ($32 at the door), Golden Link Members: $25 ($27 at the door), Students: $10, Children under 12: $5. For more information, visit www.goldenlink.org.