Pianist/ accompanist Joe Holt's next guests for his August "First Friday" show are the mother/ son collaboration of Beth and Jonah McDonald.

Beth McDonald is a singer/songwriter from another time who is trying to find her place in this one. Her influences range from Peggy Lee and Diana Krall to Sarah McLachlan and Billy Joel. She is drawn less to genre and more to songs that touch us with melody and enduring meaning.
Jonah McDonald, freshly graduated from high school, is already an experienced performer (as an actor in film, theater, and network television, and as a singer).  Like his mother, he also has an old soul and a deep appreciation for well-written music.

Beth will perform selections from her latest recording, “If Only,” which contains all original material based on timeless themes. She is known for making her audiences laugh and cry and come away feeling renewed.
Jonah will croon his way into your hearts with his renditions of old and new songs. His acting gives him a natural bent towards comedy, and he is always eager to connect with his audience and leave them feeling entertained.

Their solos and duets will share music that has at its core a sense of timelessness, whether with recent popular songs  or selections from the Great American Songbook. From one generation to the next, like mother -- like son.

The Mainstay is pleased to host another Singer/ Songwriter Showcase. The idea for the Showcase is the brainchild of The Mainstay’s new Delmarva Singer/Songwriter Association that meets monthly. It features an afternoon of original music written and performed by over a dozen local singer/ songwriters who share the stage in small groups in a Nashville-style “round” format and then take turns performing selections of their music.

The show will include award-winning songwriters as well as up and coming local and regional artists.  

Why is it usually surprising when a friend, a neighbor, steps in front of a microphone on a local stage, starts to sing, and something spellbinding comes out? Local singer/songwriter Barbara Parker has such a gift. Her strong, just-right voice and heartfelt original songs instantly bring us elsewhere as few vocalists can. Her musical palette pays tribute to the grand folk dames of classic coffeehouses, snippets of old time country, blues, and even an occasional rock ballad; And she does so with a humility that makes us feel grateful to be welcomed in. Barbara will be joined on the Mainstay stage by Greg Zant on guitar, Dave Sharp on bass, and Bob Miller on drums. Barbara tells us to expect an evening of music with a bluesy slant to it.

Jason Love is a concert cellist, an orchestral conductor, and music educator.

As a cellist, Mr. Love has performed a wide array of concertos with orchestras including the U.S. premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s Cello Concerto, the North Carolina premiere of Tan Dun’s multi-media work, The Map, and concertos by Shostakovich, Dvorák, Bloch, Haydn, and Boccherini. His chamber recitals included work with the Columbia Orchestra Piano Trio for more than a decade. He is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory where he studied cello with Ronald Thomas and conducting with Frederik Prausnitz.

Mr. Love also spent twenty-four years as Music Director and Conductor of the Columbia Orchestra. He was praised for his “intelligent and innovative programming” by the Baltimore Sun, noting that “Love has the musicians playing not only with verve and passion, but with an awareness to enter into the emotional core of the works they perform.”

Pianist Daniel Lau has received enthusiastic press notices for both his solo and chamber performances. The Washington Post praised his “exemplary artistry,” the Baltimore Sun noted “Lau’s beautifully shaded playing,” and the Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA) lauded his “flair, great technical proficiency and expressiveness.”

The Ontario Arts Review stated, “Daniel Lau is a superb pianist whose dexterity, focus and concentration are not spoiled with histrionics or over-dramatization.”  He performs frequently with Camerata Philadelphia, and is a founding member of the Ravel Trio for which he was praised by the Swiss Journal du Jura for his “splendid interpretation, vigorous and nuanced playing.”

Philadelphia-based singer and pianist V. Shayne Frederick has a sound rooted in jazz, soul, and classic balladry.

Raised on a sonic diet of gospel and contemporary R&B, he discovered jazz in his early teens. It wasn’t singers that captivated him at first, but the great jazz instrumentalists (Mingus, Miles, Monk, Herbie) – something that comes across vividly in his horn-like approach to a melody.

But it’s V. Shayne’s vocals that are constantly (and rightfully) at the forefront. Impressively, his young voice has the smooth lining of a legendary crooner like Nat King Cole and the vocal range depth of a Joe Williams.

His work has been featured at TEDx, NPR, a multitude of music fests, museums, and jazz clubs throughout the country. V. Shayne has been cited by the Broad Street Review as “one of the region’s busiest and best jazz singers,” appointed “one to watch” and a “shining light” by All About Jazz, and called “soulful” in Downbeat Magazine. According to WRTI radio, “Frederick could sing about breakfast cereal and make me believe in a higher power,” and WXPN radio remarks, “his stunning baritone effortlessly soars; sometimes a seductive whisper, sometimes an exuberant belt.”