WHAT IS A LISTENING ROOM?
The idea of a listening room event is right in the name: to provide a space directly and exclusively for an audience to listen to an artist perform. Many musicians and other vocal artists find venues where they have to compete with other noise: the background chatter in a restaurant, patrons and orders in a bar, sports, and even other music playing on TVs and over speakers. What a listening room provides is a space free from those distractions, and invites an audience who is present for one reason: to listen to the performance.
Listening rooms have grown in popularity for a wide range of artists, from acoustic singer-songwriters to spoken-word performances and more. They are typically held in relatively small spaces and are often modeled to provide a more intimate experience than would be found in other settings.
At the CommUnity Zone, we offer this deep listening experience for both local artists who want the chance to perform for a small, focused audience and for listeners who want to hear the artist! Additionally, we provide a selection of food and drinks at the events!
The idea of a listening room event is right in the name: to provide a space directly and exclusively for an audience to listen to an artist perform. Many musicians and other vocal artists find venues where they have to compete with other noise: the background chatter in a restaurant, patrons and orders in a bar, sports, and even other music playing on TVs and over speakers. What a listening room provides is a space free from those distractions, and invites an audience who is present for one reason: to listen to the performance.
Listening rooms have grown in popularity for a wide range of artists, from acoustic singer-songwriters to spoken-word performances and more. They are typically held in relatively small spaces and are often modeled to provide a more intimate experience than would be found in other settings.
At the CommUnity Zone, we offer this deep listening experience for both local artists who want the chance to perform for a small, focused audience and for listeners who want to hear the artist! Additionally, we provide a selection of food and drinks at the events!
COLLABORATION WITH THE LEWISBURG MUSIC COLLECTIVE
We are excited to be working with our partner, the Local Music Collective, which began in September 2024. Music takes place on the second Wednesday of each month from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Each show includes performances from two performing acts.
At the CommUnity Zone, our hope is to offer this deep listening experience for both local artists who want the chance to perform for a small, focused audience and for the audience members who want to listen to the artist! We do plan on offering a selection of food and drinks at the events and hope to have both curated events with established artists as well as 'open nights' when the stage might be open to anyone who wishes to perform.
These shows are held in the Community Partnerships building at 328 Market Street, Lewisburg, PA. The maximum seating capacity for audience members in the space is 80. Cost of admission for the event will be $10 per person, with children under 12 admitted free.
JULY 13TH / 7:00PM
FRANK CLOKE, JOE STANFORD, BILL GROSE, URIE KLINE,
AND JERRY BRESEE
The Frank Cloke Quintet is back on Monday, July 13th! We have moved to Mondays for the summer so folks can attend Music in the Park at Hufnagle. Learn more about the members:
Frank Cloke (Bass) is a jazz bassist and music educator from East Stroudsburg, now based in Central PA. He is the Band Director at Mifflinburg Area High School and runs the concert and marching bands as well as the modern band program. He studied jazz at Penn State University (2024) and has performed with the PSU Centre Dimensions jazz ensemble, Crooner and Co. Swing Band, and the Zeropoint Big Band.
Joe Stanford (Tenor Saxophone) is from Langhorne, PA, and studied music education at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. He studied classical saxophone with Dr. James Umble and jazz studies with Dave Kana, Kent Engelhardt, and Dave Morgan. He currently teaches general music at Mifflinburg Intermediate School.
Bill Grose (Trombone) is a music educator based in Selinsgrove, PA, currently teaching in the Mifflinburg Area School District. Bill has performed with a variety of ensembles, including the Greater Finger Lakes Jazz Orchestra, Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra, The New York Wind Symphony, Penn Central Wind Band, Billtown Brass, Williamsport Symphony, Lycoming Trombone Consortium, Spencer and the T-Bones, and A Long Way from California.
Urie Kline (Drums) is a versatile percussionist active in Williamsport, Lewisburg, and State College. He performs regularly with the Cadillac Cats, Eric Ian Farmer, La Fiesta Latin Band, and the eponymous Urie Kline Band. He currently teaches at Lycoming College, Bucknell University, and Robert M. Sides. Urie currently resides in Williamsport with his wife and two cats.
Jerry Bresee (Guitar) has experience on the Washington DC jazz scene, playing with the 18-piece Loudoun Jazz Ensemble for 12 years, the Mad Dog Jazz quintet, the String Theory Jazz Trio, and here in Central PA with Jazz on 16 Strings, a quartet based around two guitars and bass.
Frank Cloke (Bass) is a jazz bassist and music educator from East Stroudsburg, now based in Central PA. He is the Band Director at Mifflinburg Area High School and runs the concert and marching bands as well as the modern band program. He studied jazz at Penn State University (2024) and has performed with the PSU Centre Dimensions jazz ensemble, Crooner and Co. Swing Band, and the Zeropoint Big Band.
Joe Stanford (Tenor Saxophone) is from Langhorne, PA, and studied music education at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. He studied classical saxophone with Dr. James Umble and jazz studies with Dave Kana, Kent Engelhardt, and Dave Morgan. He currently teaches general music at Mifflinburg Intermediate School.
Bill Grose (Trombone) is a music educator based in Selinsgrove, PA, currently teaching in the Mifflinburg Area School District. Bill has performed with a variety of ensembles, including the Greater Finger Lakes Jazz Orchestra, Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra, The New York Wind Symphony, Penn Central Wind Band, Billtown Brass, Williamsport Symphony, Lycoming Trombone Consortium, Spencer and the T-Bones, and A Long Way from California.
Urie Kline (Drums) is a versatile percussionist active in Williamsport, Lewisburg, and State College. He performs regularly with the Cadillac Cats, Eric Ian Farmer, La Fiesta Latin Band, and the eponymous Urie Kline Band. He currently teaches at Lycoming College, Bucknell University, and Robert M. Sides. Urie currently resides in Williamsport with his wife and two cats.
Jerry Bresee (Guitar) has experience on the Washington DC jazz scene, playing with the 18-piece Loudoun Jazz Ensemble for 12 years, the Mad Dog Jazz quintet, the String Theory Jazz Trio, and here in Central PA with Jazz on 16 Strings, a quartet based around two guitars and bass.
SEPTEMBER 9TH / 7:00PM
URIE KLINEUrie Kline is a versatile percussionist active in Williamsport, Lewisburg, and State College. He performs regularly with the Cadillac Cats, Eric Ian Farmer, La Fiesta Latin Band, and the eponymous Urie Kline Band. He currently teaches at Lycoming College, Bucknell University, and Robert M. Sides. Urie currently resides in Williamsport with his wife and two cats.
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FLACK, HICKEY, SACACOGLU TRIO |
OCTOBER 14TH / 7:00PM
DAVEY OIt's no surprise that Buffalo, NY born and bred songwriter Davey O. has been described by Buffalo News critic Jeff Miers as having "a journalist’s eye for detail and poet’s ear for the well-turned observation". Embarking on a twenty year journey that has resulted in a collection of justly-earned, highly introspective songs, Davey crafts pure Americana that is not of the social and political consciousness, but drawn from the deep well of experience and human emotion - no hackneyed story lines, no insincere polish, just an unflinching poet's look at life. The characters woven seamlessly into stories of which the song itself becomes the soundtrack for the movie playing inside the listener's head.
Armed with a steady, rhythmic pulse on his Gibson guitar, and a no apologies rust-belt work ethic, Davey puts rubber to asphalt, entertaining attentive, diverse audiences at listening rooms, coffeehouses, nightclubs, festivals, colleges and universities throughout the Northeast, Midwest, Midsouth and Atlantic U.S. - performances that result in engagement and communion between performer and audience through story and song. |
RESSE FULMER AND THE CARRIAGE HOUSE BANDThe Carriage House Band is a versatile indie-folk/americana ensemble that features regulars Chris Carey (drums), James Gascoyne (bass), Dylan Perrillo (bass), Jimi Woodul (guitar), Chris Bloniarz (octave mandolin), Connor Dunn (saxophone), and JP Hubbs (keyboard) in a variety of lineup combinations.
Reese and his band have become one of the fastest-rising roots music groups in upstate NY with expansive albums highlighting a reputation for compelling performances. With its rotating cast of talented players, a broad and dynamic body of work, and a refusal to set anything in stone, Carriage House Band shows are always fresh, full of joy, and hard to describe. Think Wilco with hints of Prine and Zappa: "smart, emotionally tuned arrangements and a stage presence that balanced earnestness with unpredictability. Their live performance thrives in the liminal space between genres folk, Americana, jazz and the result is a sound that’s complex without being convoluted." (NYSMusic) |
NOVEMBER 11TH / 7:00PM
ALLAN COMBSAllan Combs II is a singer-songwriter hailing from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Allan has been performing for audiences for most of his life, most notably working as a full-time solo musician in the Mid-Atlantic region for the past decade.
Combs’ self-taught guitar techniques provide a foundation for unique original songs and one-of-a-kind arrangements of popular tunes. Combs’ sound can be self-described as “ a blend of rock 'n' roll, soul, funk, jazz, and country into undeniably catchy, upbeat music”. In 2025, Allan was nominated for “Folk Artist of the Year” by the 2025 Central Pennsylvania Music Awards; his group Tanjo & Crow was also nominated for “Duo/Trio of the Year”. Combs was a second-year resident at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in 2025, where his group Tanjo & Crow was hosted for an EP release of songs recorded on site the previous year. In early September 2024, Combs released his first EP, “Solo Crow: Volume I”, which features all acoustic renditions of his newest songs. September 2025 marked the ambitious debut of Allan’s newest project, a full band playing his original works named AC II. & his Band. AC II & his Band plan to release their first single in Mid 2026. |
CHRIS CARITHERS AND SYLVAN DELL STRAGGLERSCoal towns, ghost towns, old men re-telling old stories--Christopher Carithers brings an old soul's perspective to each of his songs. Each word has been lived and earned. Real stories from real people– seasons of weakness, riddles in dreams, corner bars and fire halls, doctors, saints, and bombardiers, Christopher Carithers invokes Steinbeck & Salinger; walks us past painted porches and familiar faces; pauses beside rusting bridges. He lays us down beneath shooting stars.
Chris, a rust-belt writer and self-taught guitarist, is a life-long lover of roots rock, modal jazz, and improvisational performance. A native of the coal fields of Eastern Pennsylvania, Chris brings the boom and bust of his own story into his music. The high school kid with a guitar discovering Nirvana's "Nevermind", learning harmony and pitch the way that only deciphering songs by ear can teach… the young man penning poems and short stories for the college journal, a record review or two for local papers improvising in jam bands, paying dues a brief stint as a pro guitarist, playing road trips to pay the rent, discovering the Dead and Dylan, reconnecting to family roots in bluegrass and folk to come full circle… a seasoned player putting down the electric guitar and unplugging the effects pedals. |