For each of the last 10 years, City Winery owner Michael Dorf has brought more than a dozen musicians to Carnegie Hall to pay tribute to one of their heroes and raise money for music education programs for underprivileged kids. Those concerts, which have highlighted the music of Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen and Prince, among others, have raised more than a million dollars to date.
This year’s concert is a tribute to Paul Simon. Here’s a look at some of the performers taking the stage.
Josh Ritter- Like Simon, Ritter began his career as a storyteller before turning the lens on himself. The folk-rocker’s latest album, “The Beast in His Tracks,” was written in the wake of his divorce from fellow musician Dawn Landes.
Joy Williams – Williams is one half of the Nashville country-folk duo The Civil Wars, which released two hugely successful albums between 2011 and 2013, then went on indefinite hiatus due to personal differences. Her performance here could be a sign of what’s to come in the next phase of her career.
Antibalas – This Brooklyn-based collective is one of the few groups with the range necessary to serve as the house band for a tribute to Simon. With its knowledge of Afrobeat, funk, soul and jazz, it should be able to handle everything from Simon’s forays into reggae to his ’80s mega hits from “Graceland.”
Joe Henry- Henry is best known as a producer for artists such as Elvis Costello, but he’s a powerful musician in his own right. His songs tend to be mixtures of folk, jazz and country.
Allen Toussaint- A legend of New Orleans R&B, Toussaint has songs that have been covered by everyone from Otis Redding to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. His musical scope is broad enough that he produced Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” and played on Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Venus and Mars” in the same year.
