The Barns at Wolf Trap Kicks off its Spring Season 1/18

The Barns at Wolf Trap Kicks off its Spring Season with a variety of new performers. 

International Guitar Night

Wednesday, January 18 at 8 p.m.

$25

This performance brings a unique blend of internationally influenced guitar work from the fingertips of master finger-style guitarist Adrian Legg, Lulo Reinhardt with his unique approach to gypsy-jazz, Brazilian-influenced Marco Pereira, and International Guitar Night (IGN) founder Brian Gore. Each performer is a master of diverse influences, and IGN is revered by fans and critics alike as one of the top guitar showcases in North America. Since its humble beginnings at a San Francisco laundromat in 1995, the concept has exploded into a worldwide celebration of diverse guitar techniques and stylistic exploration, focusing on collaboration amongst top guitar players rather than competition for recognition or sales.

Christine Lavin

Thursday, January 19 at 8 p.m.

$20

The Barns at Wolf Trap welcomes back Christine Lavin after surpassing 25 successful years in the industry as one of the most charming, demonstrative, and witty folk artists of her time. Touring all over the U.S. and Canada, Christine is known to host knitting circles backstage prior to shows. Lavin has been charming audiences for a quarter of a century with her witty, sharp, and playful songs like “Tom Cruise Scares Me” and “Biological Time Bomb.” Her recent memoir, Cold Pizza for Breakfast, took home the Deem Taylor Award given out by ASCAP for films and books related to the music industry. She was also included as part of Boston WUMB’s Top 100 Artists of 2009. Her songs have been performed by artists as diverse as cabaret diva Andrea Marcovicci and Broadway stars Betty Buckley, Sutton Foster, and David Burnham; to the college a cappella Dartmouth Decibelles and the Accidentals.

Red Molly

Friday, January 20 at 8 p.m.

$20

Following an impressive 2011 which saw Red Molly break into the top 10 of the Americana Top 40 Chart and No. 5 on the Folk DJ Top Albums chart behind Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch, the undeniably charming trio arrives at The Barns in their Wolf Trap debut. Often referred to as a “happy accident” given the band’s humble beginnings around a campfire at the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Red Molly is now drawing invitations from nationally acclaimed festivals and is regularly filling 250-500 seat theaters. In 2010 Red Molly vocalists Laurie MacAllister and Abbie Gardner said farewell to Carolann Solebello and welcomed Austin-based singer/songwriter Molly Venter. With the addition of Venter, the current trio feels as if they have pinpointed the essence of Red Molly’s sound and is excited to try out their new material while on tour.

Tom Chapin

Saturday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m.

$22

Dubbed “the best family artist around” by Billboard magazine, Tom Chapin returns to The Barns to offer selections from his 2010 studio release, Broadsides, A Miscellany of Musical Opinion (2010), a collaboration with songwriter John Forster featuring several original tunes composed for NPR’s Morning Edition. Lyrical content runs the gamut of current political and social topics, touching on zombie banks, No Child Left Behind, the outsourcing of war to contractors, and genetically enhanced mice.

Chapin has more than 20 albums to his name, with three GRAMMY wins and five subsequent nominations. He prides himself on writing songs that gather the generations in a unified musical bond; “songs for everyone—old, young, and in between,” as Chapin himself put it. This will be his 20th career appearance at The Barns at Wolf Trap.