Calliope Center Stage: Cheryl Wheeler

Singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler is known for brilliant, hysterical performances and beautifully crafted songs. Her deceptively plain-spun songs have been hits for such mainstream stars as Suzy Bogguss (Aces) and Dan Seals (Addicted) and have been recorded by a variety of artists, including: Bette Midler, Maura O’Connell, Peter Paul & Mary, Juice Newton, and Garth Brooks. It’s been said that there are two Cheryls. There is poet-Cheryl, writer of some of the prettiest, most alluring and intelligent… Show more ballads on the modern folk scene, and there is comic-Cheryl, a militant trend defier and savagely funny social critic. The result is a delightful contrast between poet and comic. Poet-Cheryl writes achingly honest songs of love and loss. Contrasting the prosaic landscapes of small-town America with the hopelessly rootless life of the traveling performer, she touches common chords with any who feel the tug between our busy, noisome times and the timeless longing for simplicity and silence. Comic-Cheryl comes on like Groucho-in-a-housecoat, a fiercely everyday woman with a barbed-wire tongue. Shredding the mores of our gossipy, greedy, trend-obsessed culture, Wheeler always aims enough darts at herself to never seem sanctimonious. When poet-Cheryl and comic-Cheryl take their separate turns and meld into the same artistic vision, Wheeler emerges as a gifted and openhearted songwriter approaching the sure summit of her craft. Her abiding faith in her audience’s ability to find their own lives reflected in the sweet spaces of her songs reveals an artist comfortably wearing the austere genius that defines the best folk music. Tickets are $20 (advance), $25 (door), $10 (student) General Admission (advance) $20.00 Student Ticket- General Admission Valid Id Required $10.00

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