Grace Stumberg

Songs of the Day – Grace Stumberg, “Limbo”; Dee Adams, “Stick Around”

By Seamus Gallivan

What a wonderful double-whammy we’re offering tonight in Larkin Square for Round 4 of the 13-week Live at Larkin Free Wednesday Concert Series presented by First Niagara – Grace Stumberg in her homecoming from another stint overseas as tour assistant to Joan Baez, and Grace’s local mentor Dee Adams in her first full-band performance in more than a year.

The bond between Dee and Grace was built at the Sportsmens Tavern Monday open mic, which Dee hosts and has an ace regular in Grace. While Dee is a native of England who was raised in the States, settled in Buffalo in 2004, and just this month earned her U.S. citizenship, Grace grew up not far from Larkin Square in South Buffalo – in fact, Grace’s grandmother lives in the shadow of the Larkin at Exchange Building, and posted on the Facebook event page for tonight (yes, Grace’s grandma is on Facebook) amid Grace’s many excited posts about returning to the stage in her hometown -

“I’ll be the first one there! Bought me a walker just so I could walk over. Practiced this morning! Should be in rare form by the big day.Want an autographed picture of you and joan for my wall of fame. Can you swing it???? I’ll feel like such a BIG WHEEL. WOW.”

How ’bout that?! The red carpet will be rolled out for sure…

To further the Sportsmens song celebration vibe, this week’s Larkinville Players – Jony James, Geno McManus, and Mike DiSanto – will take on the approach of our Song School Song Swap Series, for which both Dee and Grace have performed. The three guitar slingers will take turns leading songs and playing along on the others in short side stage sets before and between Dee and Grace.

Check out these songs from tonight’s leading ladies, both sung with a smirk about some dumb guy, and help us welcome Grace home and Dee’s band back tonight in Larkin Square! - The Good Neighborhood

It looks like 2012 will be a big year for Western New York’s Grace Stumberg.

The singer/songwriter has signed on as personal assistant to the one and only Joan Baez. Stumberg will accompany Baez on her tour of the United Kingdom beginning in February, and she’ll continue her duties as an outreach educator for Music Is Art while on the road, with updates published via Baez’s tour blog. Stumberg and her band will then take to the road, making it as far as Los Angeles on a six-week jaunt in April before returning home to celebrate the release of the follow-up to her 2010 CD debut.

Prior to the onset of this whirlwind of activity, the Grace Stumberg Band will share a bill today (Feb. 1) in the Sportsmen’s Tavern (326 Amherst St.) with Toronto’s rather brilliant new wave/alternative outfit the Ruby Spirit, a band already revered in these parts for scintillating gigs in Mohawk Place and the Town Ballroom in 2011.

The Brass Monkeez will open the show at 7 p.m. A $10 cover will go to benefit Music Is Art’s "Music In Action: community outreach program.

-- Jeff Miers - Harry Skull/ The Buffalo News/Jeff Miers

(While I/The Hosey Report am/is trying to review shows in chronological order, there will be occasions where the time continuum will be deviated from, as in this post, in which I feature a photograph taken by my loving, talented wife, Valerie Dunne. Of course, I will add some, er, color. KJH)

The Grace Stumberg Band, featuring its namesake, Grace Lynn Stumberg, on guitar and vocals, along with guitarist Bob James on guitar, Mike Petrino on bass and Josh English on drums, contributed an excellent set to the first day of ChalkFest on the 500 block of Main Street Saturday, August 11.

While keeping things in a basic rock and roll approach, Stumberg and band included dollops of roots rock, folk rock, blues, and power pop coloring lyrics on relationships of all kinds and levels, mostly optimistic or at least hopeful in the face of adversity, and happily were quite realistic and honest, escaping any saccharine or pappy excesses. James, who may have as good a Buffalo rock and roll pedigree as anyone performing today (Restless, Jumpers, The Rain), did what he does best, supply some fine guitar leads with taste, economy and power. Stumberg’s guitar playing, mostly rhythm and counter but occasional lead, is also tasteful and a bit bluesier at times, while the Petrino/English rhythm section was right on the mark.

I’ve caught Stumberg several times live, in settings from solo acoustic to full band, and she is adaptable as she is talented. One memory is of her playing an immigrant Thanksgiving dinner event at a former job of mine in a band also featuring bassist and Buffalo Music Hall of Famer Jim Wynne (Gamalon). Along with a enjoyable, funky set, they invited several of the immigrants to dance and sing with the band; one, an Iranian man of about 30-35, sang in very traditional, almost muezzin-style vocals, and Stumberg and Wynne led the band in wonderful accompaniment that went on for about 10 minutes, almost perfectly getting across the idea of working and creating together. It could only have been better if someone such as David Wasik could have joined in the music.

Stumberg, who just returned from touring with Joan Baez as her personal assistant, will soon release her second CD, and I would recommend, based on what I have heard live, that you pay attention. - Kevin Hosey of The Hosey Report

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Grace Stumberg

Who?: Singer, guitarist and songwriter is a top graduate of Robby Takac’s Music Is Art New York State-certified “Music In Action” program.

Why? Stumberg is an immensely talented songwriter whose music is folk-based, deeply affecting and clearly accessible in a mainstream fashion. As MIA’s most visible representative, she is the poster child for Takac’s thesis that music can be a rewarding vocation, one which can have a positive impact on both the individual and the broader culture. She’s also an able ambassador for Buffalo’s deep musical talent pool.

What’s next?: Stumberg is touring as part of the “Chocolate Revolution Tour 2011.” The tour combines workshop-styled appearances in high schools with gigs in clubs at night. Recently, the promoter for Rochester’s yearly Cornhill Festival caught Stumberg at a tour stop and booked her to perform at this summer’s festival.

Check out: www.gracestumberg.com; www.musicisart.org .

—Jeff Miers - Buffalo News / GUSTO

At just 21 years old, Grace Stumberg is already establishing herself among singer-songwriter circles in Western New York. Beyond her substantial skills - show-stopping voice, justified confidence alone with a guitar, and songs that suggest that the senior at Villa Maria College has her act together a lot more than most at her age - Grace is earning standout status by understanding the meaning of being a Good Neighbor.... READ MORE - FOLLOW LINK - BUFFALO RISING

WHO: Singer, songwriter, guitarist and graduate of Music is Art’s “Music in Action,” Stumberg is a student at Villa Maria College’s Music Business program.
NEXT UP: A CD release for her debut disc, “To Whom It May Concern,” is 7 p.m. Monday [June 7] in the Ninth Ward at Babeville. Fellow Buffalo singer- songwriters Dee Adams, Noa Bursie & Cathy Carfagna will perform. Tickets are $13, which includes a $3 donation to the Western New York Food Bank.
WHY?: Veteran Buffalo musician Bob James, who worked with Stumberg during her high school tenure in the “Music in Action” program, has this to say about MIA’s star pupil: “Talent. Meaning. Promise. That’s it.” He’s right. Stumberg is the genuine article, a 21-year old songwriter whose talent is blossoming, and whose musical tastes transcend those of her immediate generation. There’s purity and grace at play throughout “To Whom It May Concern,” an intimate record centered on the singer’s considerable vocal power, and even more readily apparent soulfulness. Stumberg has tapped into something deep and meaningful. Based on her debut, it seems fair to suggest that Robby Takac’s “Music in Action” program is doing good work.
CHECT OUT: www.gracestumberg.com - BUFFALO NEWS / GUSTO

Grace’s Road Report – What I’ve Learned from Touring with Joan Baez

From Seamus Gallivan: Back in March, Buffalo singer-songwriter Grace Stumberg filed three reports from her time on tour in Europe as a personal assistant to folk icon Joan Baez. Still touring regularly at the age of 72, Baez so enjoyed the assistance of the 23-year-old budding Buffalo icon that she invited Stumberg to join the next tour - in the midst of which Stumberg checks in from Fes, Morocco, where Baez delivered the finale of the 18th annual Fes Festival of World Sacred Music.

After the tour’s completion in mid-July, Stumberg’s homecoming performance will take place on Wednesday, July 18th, as part of the Live at Larkin free weekly concert series in Larkin Square.

By Grace Stumberg

I have had the pleasure joining Joan Baez on her tour of France, Italy, Germany, and Morocco this summer as her guitar tech and personal assistant. As a working singer-songwriter myself in Buffalo, I have always tried to create songs that have a deeper meaning and are clearly accessible to many ages and genres of listeners. It’s been so amazing to see Joan, and American folk singer, go straight into the homes of people who do not speak her language. There is something in Joan’s music the entire world understands – peace and nonviolence.

I’m writing from a palace in Fes, Morocco. Upon arrival, I witnessed a little boy pummeling a little girl’s face in on the street with cars passing near her head and people just standing around. I’ve witnessed cats and dogs eating garbage in the streets where mothers are sleeping on the sidewalk with babies in hand. I ask myself, “Why am I here?” “How did I end up here?”

I am here because of Baez, a woman who inspires youth and gives hope to believers in nonviolence and peace here in Morocco and across the world. She comes into the shadows and brings light to the darkness with her voice and words.


A street view in Fes, Morocco
I’ve learned that as a musician, having your own voice and beliefs are important in crafting your music. As a human being, I’ve learned that having your own voice and beliefs and uniting with others of the same can really make change. I’ve learned that many look up to music as a way to speak, feel, and understand things that are sometime out of our “world” or realm.


Seeing the Alps by Baez tour bus
I have always heard, “music is the language of the world,” but I’ve never truly understood the meaning until this concert in Morocco; Joan Baez steps on stage as an English-speaking American singing a message of hope and peace to Arabic Sufi Muslims, French, Italian, and German people, of all ages and genders, achieving unity at a sacred Moroccan festival with a capacity of 3,000.

I’ve learned from Joan Baez that music is truly a force that can never be broken. My love and understanding of its power will never wane, as it hasn’t in Baez at age 72 – she is still out doing it, and it energizes me as a 23-year-old musician to go out and share my music with the world and do it for a good cause, uniting with groups such as The Good Neighborhood that use music as means for advocacy. - Seamus Gallivan at the Good Neighborhood 2012

WNY's Grace Stumberg poised for a big year

It looks like 2012 will be a big year for Western New York’s Grace Stumberg.

The singer/songwriter has signed on as personal assistant to the one and only Joan Baez. Stumberg will accompany Baez on her tour of the United Kingdom beginning in February, and she’ll continue her duties as an outreach educator for Music Is Art while on the road, with updates published via Baez’s tour blog. Stumberg and her band will then take to the road, making it as far as Los Angeles on a six-week jaunt in April before returning home to celebrate the release of the follow-up to her 2010 CD debut.

Prior to the onset of this whirlwind of activity, the Grace Stumberg Band will share a bill Wednesday in the Sportsmen’s Tavern (326 Amherst St.) with Toronto’s rather brilliant new wave/ alternative outfit the Ruby Spirit, a band already revered in these parts for scintillating gigs in Mohawk Place and the Town Ballroom in 2011.

The Brass Monkeez will open the show at 7 p.m. A$10 cover will benefit Music Is Art’s “Music In Action” community outreach program.

jmiers@buffnews.com - Jeff Miers Buffalo News 2012

Dreams need wheels and a rising local musical talent is putting that advice into action by leaving Buffalo in early February for a first tour.

A graduate of Robby Takac's Music is Art's, NYS-certified Music in Action - career skills training program, acoustic rock singer songwriter, Grace Stumberg will be touring in support of NYC-based duo Left on Red who headlined last summer's Elmwood Festival of the Arts and is well known for building a career "busking" in NYC subways.

The tour mixes music with a message.

The Chocolate Revolution Tour 2011 visits high school classrooms during the days and clubs in the evenings, sharing music, career stories, and global business lessons about "Fair Trade" chocolate as a smarter alternative to Valentine's Day. The tour grew out of a single event, conceived February of last year at Ani Difranco's Babeville by Left On Red and Tanza Zabinski of The Elmwood Festival of The Arts. "Fair Trade" purchases, like coffee and chocolate, support small farmers and also reduce child-exploitation.

This year, that February 2010 single event has grown into a 6 city club tour and adds a school classroom feature in each city.

The tour departs February 2 to visit a few venues in the NYC area before stops in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca, and Buffalo (Babeville, Feb 11). Following these acoustic dates with Left on Red, Grace Stumberg travels with her full band for a featured showcase at the 15th annual Millenium Music Conference in Harrisburg on Feb 19, where Stumberg's manager/guitarist Bob James will be a music industry panelist.

Stumberg, 21, is a South Buffalo resident who released her debut CD last June to growing critical support. She currently attends Villa Maria College, helps lead the "tunes4food" Food Bank music campaign that has raised over 40,000 meals since June 2009, attended a private invitation audition for NBC's "Americas Got Talent" last November, and is in talks with the producers of Roadtrip Nation about use of her song, "to whom it may concern" in the new season. She is a regular workshop trainer at Music in Action school events across WNY.

www.sonicbids.com/gracestumberg | www.musicisart.org - BUFFALO RISING