Jeffrey Martin and Anna Tivel at Riseform Brewing Co.

We coud not be more excited to be hosting Jeffrey Martin again at Riseform. For our first ever show at the brewery in April of 2024, we wanted to do something special. Jeffrey Martin delivered on this in a way no one could've imagined. It was an inspirtional and unforgettable evening for all who were lucky enough to be there.

This time, Jeffrey brings with him the incredibly talented Anna Tivel. For those who aren't familiar, her npr tiny desk concert will show you the impact she will have on this already amazing evening.

For those who have not yet discovered Jeffrey, here is a little more about him. Below that, a little about Anna as well:

As a babe Jeffrey Martin sought out solitude as often as he could find it. He’s always been that way, and he has never understood the whole phenomenon of smiling in pictures, although he is a very happy guy. One night in middle school he stayed up under the covers with a flashlight and a DiscMan, listening to Reba McEntire’s 'That’s the Night that the Lights Went Out in Georgia' on repeat until the DiscMan ran out of batteries. That night he became a songwriter, although he didn’t actually write a song until years later. After high school he spent a few years distracting himself from having to gather up the courage to do what he knew he had to do.

Eventually he found his way to a writing degree, and then a teaching degree. He wrote most days like his life depended on it, all sorts of things, not just songs, but songs too. He fell in love with teaching high school English, which was fantastic because he never thought he’d actually come to truly love it. His students were fierce and unstoppable forces of noise and curiosity, and for all that they took from him in sleep and sense, they gave him a hundred times back in sparks and humility.

All the while he was also playing truckloads of music. There was one weekend where he flew to LA while grading essays on the plane, played two shows, and then flew back home, still grading essays, and woke up to teach at 5 am on Monday morning. It was around this time he started wondering if such a life was sustainable.

Alas, music, the tour life, was a constant raccoon scratching at the back door. Jeffrey spent nights on end sitting up in bed, and then sitting on the front porch, staring off into the dark, wondering if he could bear to leave teaching to go on tour full time. Eventually his brain caught up with what his guts had known for months. With tears in his eyes he announced to his students that he wouldn’t be back the following year, and that he didn’t feel right hollering at them to chase their dreams at all cost if he wasn’t going to do the same.

Jeffrey Martin tours full time now. He is always making music, and he is always coming through your town. He misses teaching like you might miss a good old friend who you know you’ll meet again.

Anna Tivel:

Anna Tivel is an American indie folk artist from Portland, Oregon who is critically recognized as "one of the finest songwriters of her generation." She is noted for being a "masterful storyteller" with her music often compared to that of Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker, as well as Elliott Smith and Paul Simon.

Frequently collaborating with engineer Brian Joseph (Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver) and producer Shane Leonard (Mipso, Field Report), Tivel has released six studio albums of new original songs on the Portland-based label Fluff & Gravy Records and one with Mama Bird Recording Co. She also regularly records and releases alternative or acoustic versions of her past work.

Tivel's NPR Tiny Desk concert premiered on May 22, 2023 with critic Ann Powers commenting, "Tivel's remarkable empathy elevates her folk-based, jazz-touched compositions from mere stories to secular prayers."

Also check out other Music events in Marcellus, Entertainment events in Marcellus, Concerts in Marcellus.