On Saturday, August 28, catch Ivor Novello Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated music legend Richard Thompson. Then on Saturday, September 4, Lowell Summer Music favorite Rhiannon Giddens returns. Finally, on Friday, September 17, don’t miss feminist icon and Grammy-winner Ani DiFranco.

Based on current federal guidelines, Lowell Summer Music Series’ primary venue, Boarding House Park, located on the grounds of the Lowell National Historical Park, is not currently cleared to host full-capacity events. The intention is to host all events at Boarding House Park if it is permitted, but Lowell Memorial Auditorium has been secured as a back-up location to ensure there will be live music in downtown Lowell this Summer!

RICHARD THOMPSON
The Los Angeles Times describes Ivor Novello Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated music legend Richard Thompson as “The finest rock songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix.” His trademark fleet-fingered fretwork, poetic songwriting, and impassioned picking comprise his nineteenth and most recent solo album, 13 Rivers. Born in 1949 in Notting Hill, West London, Richard Thompson first rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead guitarist and songwriter for the folk-rock group Fairport Convention. After departing the group, he produced six albums with then-wife Linda Thompson, including the critically acclaimed I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974) and Shoot Out the Lights (1982).

After the dissolution of the duo, Thompson revived his solo career with the release of Hand of Kindness in 1983. Three of his albums – Rumor and Sigh (1991), You? Me? Us? (1996), and Dream Attic (2010) – have been nominated for Grammy Awards, while Still (2015) was his first UK Top Ten album. 13 Rivers, released in 2018, is his nineteenth and most recent solo album. He continues to write and record new material regularly, and frequently performs live at venues throughout the world. He will perform solo acoustic at this show.

His songwriting has earned him an Ivor Novello Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association in Nashville, and a 2006 lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio. Powered by evocative songcraft, jaw-dropping guitar playing, and indefinable spirit, this venerable icon holds a coveted spot on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list. 2011 saw Thompson receive an OBE (Order of the British Empire) personally bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. His 1991 song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” was included in Time magazine’s “All Time 100 Songs” list of the best English-language musical compositions released between 1923 and 2011.

RHIANNON GIDDENS
Singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens is the co-founder of the Grammy award-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, in which she also plays banjo and fiddle. She began gaining recognition as a solo artist when she stole the show at the T Bone Burnett – produced Another Day, Another Time concert at New York City’s Town Hall in 2013. The elegant bearing, prodigious voice, and fierce spirit that brought the audience to its feet that night is also abundantly evident on Giddens’ critically acclaimed solo debut, the Grammy nominated album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, which masterfully blends American musical genres like gospel, jazz, blues, and country, showcasing her extraordinary emotional range and dazzling vocal prowess. Giddens’ follow-up album Freedom Highway was released in February, 2017. It includes 9 original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote along with a traditional song and two civil rights-era songs, “Birmingham Sunday” and the Staple Singers’ well-known “Freedom Highway” from which the album takes its name.

Giddens’ recent televised performances include The Late Show, Austin City Limits, Later…with Jools Holland, and both CBS Saturday and Sunday Morning, among numerous other notable media appearances. She performed for President Obama and the First Lady on a White House Tribute to Gospel along with Aretha Franklin and Emmylou Harris. The program was televised on PBS. Giddens duets with country superstar Eric Church on his powerful anti-racism song “Kill a Word”; the two have performed the song on The Tonight Show and the CMA Awards, among other programs. Giddens received the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Singer of the Year and has won the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Bluegrass and Banjo in 2016.

Giddens, who studied opera at Oberlin, made her acting debut with a recurring role on the television drama Nashville, playing the role of Hanna Lee “Hallie” Jordan, a young social worker with “the voice of an angel”.

Rhiannon Giddens’ latest album, there is no Other, recorded with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, was released May 2019 on Nonesuch Records.

ANI DIFRANCO
Widely considered a feminist icon, Grammy winner Ani DiFranco is the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990. While she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has embraced punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, electronica and even more distant sounds. Her collaborators have included everyone from Utah Phillips to legendary R&B saxophonist Maceo Parker to Prince. She has shared stages with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Greg Brown, Billy Bragg, Michael Franti, Chuck D., and many more.

Tickets for the Richard Thompson show are priced at $40 in advance. There are also premium seats – beach chairs are provided by the Series – set in three rows directly in front of the stage for $140. Tickets for the Rhiannon Giddens show are priced at $46 in advance, with the premium seats selling for $146. Tickets for tte Ani DiFranco show are $39 in advance, with the premium seats selling for $139.

Tickets for these shows go on sale Friday, May 21st at 10 a.m. through Lowell Summer Music Series, by calling 1-800-657-8774. Children under 12 are always free courtesy of Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union – parents, this is a great way to introduce your kids to live music in a safe, family-friendly environment. Don’t forget their ear protection!

For those of you who are unaware of the Series, or if you are aware of it but have never attended a show there, it is an outdoor (Covid-19 and weather permitting) concert series held on National Park Service grounds in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Series is not-for-profit, which helps keep the ticket prices reasonable. The Series is co-presented by the Lowell Festival Foundation and Lowell National Historical Park.

Surrounding Boarding House Park are old mill buildings, part of the Lowell National Historical Park, which you can tour if you arrive early enough. They provide an unusual setting for an evening of great music and ambiance.

The Series generally runs from mid-June to early September, although this year all shows are in August and September.

This Series is dear to my heart. I have been a season pass holder since 2007 and it is one of the highlights of the year (and of summer in particular) for me. Many lasting friendships have been made there. I expect this will be another excellent year!

2021 SEASON SCHEDULE
Colin Hay Band – Saturday, August 7, 2021
JJ Grey & Mofro – Thursday, August 12, 2021
Tower of Power – Saturday, August 14, 2021
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band – Friday, August 20, 2021
Richard Thompson – Saturday, August 28, 2021
John Hiatt – Friday, September 3, 2021
Rhiannon Giddens – Saturday, September 4, 2021
Los Lobos – Thursday, September 16, 2021
Ani DiFranco – Friday, September 17, 2021
Jake Shimabukuro – Postponed – New Date TBA

2022 SEASON
Gaelic Storm – Friday, June 24, 2022
Joss Stone – Saturday, June 25, 2022

All previously purchased tickets for rescheduled shows will be valid for the new performance date. Refunds for rescheduled shows will be available until June 30, 2021.