A Hopkinton backyard will be the scene of a reunion of musicians who once frequented a Westborough venue that served as a haven for folk music in the 1980s and 1990s.
The 08:30 Club, a group of musicians and show promoters who became friends during Worcester’s folk music boom in the 1980s, is planning a concert featuring musicians who often performed at the Old Vienna Coffeehouse, which once sat on a busy Westborough street.
Former Old Vienna booking manager Tim Mason said organizing the reunion brought together musicians who had played on Old Vienna’s stage, promoters and former club employees, and community members with fond memories.
“Everyone who works on it has had some connection to the club – either through working at the club, volunteering or performing,” Mason said. “The club has been closed for 30 years. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some kind of reunion here?”
The reunion concert will begin at noon on August 17, and organizer Robert Haigh said he expects it to go on long after dark.
According to Haigh, the venue is outside a private residence, so the address is not publicly known. However, concertgoers who reserve tickets online through 0830club.com will be given information on how to get to the show.
“The lineup is extraordinary”
Scheduled artists include multi-Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Lori McKenna, a Stoughton native who has written songs recorded by Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw and others, and who co-wrote the Grammy-nominated song “I Bet You Think About Me” with Taylor Swift. Also scheduled is Worcester native Duke Levine, currently a member of Bonnie Raitt’s touring band.
Also performing will be New York folk singer Christine Lavin and Bay State artists Barbara Kessler and Don White, along with a dozen other local and touring musicians who have made waves at the Old Vienna Kaffeehaus.
Other expected artists include Chris Eberhart, Doborah Henson-Conant, Peter Mulvey, Diane Zeigler, Jimmy Infantino, Buddy Mondlock, Paul Della Valle and Walter Crockett, Emilia Ali and Jan Luby, with special guests including Bob Malone, Richard Cambridge, Lydia Hutchinson, Marilyn Rae Beyer, Todd Winmill, Ellen Karasm and Robert Haigh.
“The lineup is extraordinary. The people who have agreed to play on this show are a who’s who of people who started their careers when Old Vienna offered the space,” said Haigh.
At its peak, Old Vienna drew crowds from across New England to see headliners such as Kris Kristofferson, Arlo Guthrie and Alison Krauss.
The coffeehouse also hosted performances by local musicians and hosted open mic nights, which for some artists marked the start of their music careers.
A bit of music history
Haigh recalled an open mic where a then-unknown 16-year-old walked on stage with a guitar, played a few songs and left, but not without making a big impression. “The very first stage she ever played on was the open mic at the Old Vienna Kaffeehaus, and we came down the stairs and said to her, ‘You have to come back. I don’t think you understand what you just did on that stage at the open mic. Everyone is talking about you,'” Haigh said.
The teenage singer was McKenna.
“Everyone who plays (at the reunion show) has a little bit of that kind of history and it all traces back to the steps of old Vienna,” Haigh said.
Folk musician and former editor of Worcester Magazine Walter Crockett said that at Old Vienna everyone is friends, which creates an atmosphere that everyone can enjoy.
“The whole folk scene was very collegial. People got along. They tried to help each other,” Crockett said.
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“This made us heard”
Crockett will appear at Saturday’s gathering alongside longtime friend and former Worcester Magazine editor Paul Della Valle.
He said that in the 1990s, when he played guitar in a popular local folk band, he often opened for national artists who came by on tour, and that those gigs earned him more appearances in larger venues throughout the rest of Massachusetts.
“It was a wonderful time, a great place and one of the best cafes in the country for music,” Crockett said. “It got us heard and got us the chance because it was on our resume. You’d go to another venue and say, ‘We played at Old Vienna,’ and that was helpful.”
For a new generation
Mason said he and a committee of other former Old Vienna regulars thought not only about the music when putting together the show, but also about the community they had built back then.
“It’s important that we make this a reunion,” said Mason. “Most of the day will be busy on stage, but we want to give the artists a space to meet again and again and give the audience enough space to chat and exchange ideas.”
The program features artists who met at a specific time and place, but Mason said you don’t have to have attended Old Vienna shows or even have been alive when the coffee house was open to enjoy the show.
“We have a new generation. My daughter was two or three years old at the time and doesn’t remember the club, but she’s coming,” Mason said. “For the people who know, it’s significant, but for the people who didn’t get the chance to be a part of it, it’s a good opportunity to discover something and get a little taste of what we did back then.”
Old Viennese Coffee House Reunion Festival
When: 17 August, 12:00
Where: Private residence in Hopkinton. Venue address information will be provided upon online ticket reservation.
How much: Admission is free, but donations are requested. Tickets can be reserved online at 0830club.com.
