Bluegrass Sounds for Sukkot: Naomi Sommers In Concert with Jefferson Hamer

Join acclaimed bluegrass artists Naomi Sommers and Jefferson Hamer for an early evening of music, all rooted in the themes of Sukkot. This intimate concert in our rooftop sukkah is for BJ members only. Space is limited so register now to reserve your seat!

Naomi Sommers is a singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in the folk-bluegrass style, with influence from her jazz-singing, classical-flute playing and poetry-studying days, too.  She performs original songs, along with some favorite traditional folk tunes and covers.  Naomi grew up in a musical family, with father, bluegrass musician Phil Rosenthal leading the way.  She plays solo, with her family (the Sommers Rosenthal Family Band), and a number of other groups, and has recorded and performed professionally since childhood. Over the years Naomi has sung and played flute, banjo, and guitar on more than 20 records released on her father’s independent American Melody label, and has recorded three albums of her own songs, as well as one with Lisa Bastoni as the slow-grass duo Gray Sky Girls.  Naomi’s album, “Gentle As The Sun”, was recorded in Nashville, produced by the acclaimed musician/producer Jim Rooney (John Prine, Iris Dement, Nanci Griffith, Bonnie Raitt). Her latest project is a live-in-the-studio album of original music, with Jefferson Hamer as her musical and production partner, to be released in early 2022. 

Jefferson Hamer is a songwriter and guitarist based in Brooklyn, NY. As a collaborator he plays many musical styles including electric American Roots (Session Americana), English Folk (Child Ballads, with Anais Mitchell), and traditional Irish music (Murphy Beds, with Eamon O’Leary). In 2018 he released Alameda, a self-produced LP of original songs. His most recent album is a harmony-rich folk and pop recording with Nashville musicians Kristin Andreassen, Lauren Balthrop, and Lawson White, affectionately known as JKLoL. His personal influences include classic British folk icons such as Richard Thompson and Bert Jansch, golden-era songwriters like Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young, cosmic American country from Gram Parsons to the Grateful Dead, brother duets, and progressive innovators of Irish traditional music such as Planxty.