Straw Dog Writers Guild invites you to this benefit concert by singer-songwriter Linda Shear at 4 pm on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at the Northampton Center for the Arts.

Linda is a singer-songwriter and pianist, with music at the center of her heart and life. In the early 70s, she performed in Chicago at the first out-lesbian concert in the U.S. Linda toured with her band, Family of Woman, and played solo in bars, clubs, coffee houses, and festivals, including the main stage at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Linda’s songs come from deep in her heart, and she invites you into that heart when she performs in celebration of love, social justice, and the power of authenticity.

Linda is thrilled that Alice Robbins, a renowned, virtuoso, will be  accompanying her on a few songs at the concert.

Alice Robbins, a performer on both baroque cello and viola da gamba with Early Music ensembles world-wide, is a founding member of the Arcadia Players of western Massachusetts. A graduate of Indiana University and the Schola Cantorum of Basel, Switzerland, she also taught at Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges in the Five College Early Music Program since 1979. She now is venturing to explore other musical activites along with serving on the boards of Arcadia Players, Viola da Gamba Society of America, and as president of the VdgS-New England. 

“They stay with you, these beautiful songs of Linda Shear; the tunes linger, and the lyrics take you places to remember and to emotions, you'll know.  And her performances are so compelling.  I have often said that if I played the piano, I would want to play it like Linda."

~Dan Crary, Bluegrass guitarist and 2022 awardee of the Lifetime Achievement award from the International Bluegrass Music Association

Watch a video of Linda's song: Morning Prayer

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