Common Ground Coffeehouse was founded as an effort to build community, to support regional and national musicians and other artists, to raise money and awareness of grassroots community groups that provide either much-needed social services or work toward progressive, nonviolent social change.  Since 2005, Common Ground has used its profits to operate the Common Ground Microcredit Fund. The fund raised has raised over $20,000 for local, regional and global community groups and organizations.  Click here for the link to the Common Ground Coffeehouse Website.

New York-based singer/songwriter known up and down the east coast for his hummable melodies, spot on lyrics, tight, groovy band and soulful, energetic live shows.

Saturday, February 25th
Common Ground Cabaret with Ralph Gunderman and Gail Joy Newman
Ralph Gunderman, who has done numerous cabarets in NYC, makes his third appearance at the Common Ground. His shows embrace an eclectic mix from Harold Arlen to Tom Waits to Spike Jones. Sharing the evening will be singer/actor/comic Gail Joy Newman, who performs Rock, Blues, Jazz, Rap, Yiddish songs, commercial jingles, TV show theme songs, and cell phone ring tones.

Saturday, March 24th
Nerissa and Katryna Nields
"As the work of the Everly Brothers or the McGarrigle Sisters has amply demonstrated, there are few sounds as sublime as close harmonies rendered by siblings. In the case of western Massachusetts folk rockers the Nields, the siblings are sisters Nerissa and Katryna Nields, and their inimitable vocal blend is a disarming mix of clean folk harmonies and clenched Generation-X angst." -The Chicago Tribune

Saturday, April 28th:
The Mandingo Ambassadors
"If you step into a New York club where the Mandingo Ambassadors are playing, and close your eyes, you go back in time, and across the Atlantic to Guinea, West Africa, in the 1960s. In the flush of Guinea’s independence from France, visionary African dictator Sekou Touré used music to forge a national identity. He funded bands from all over the country, selecting the most talented players through rigorous competitions, and 'nationalizing' top bands in state-supported nightclubs in the capital, Conkakry. Although the Mandingo Ambassadors consist of four Guineans and four Americans (most of whom have studied music in Guinea), the sound is, as founder and lead guitarist Mamady Kouyaté proudly proclaims, “100-percent Manding” with mellifluous, Latin-tinged rhythms and vocal melodies, and fleet, stinging electric guitar lines drawn from Guinea’s centuries-old traditions of Manding music." -Banning Eyre, Guitar Player Magazine

Saturday, May 19th
Driftwood, with South County
Influenced by classic artists such as Bob Dylan, The Band or even Hank Williams and modern bands like Old Crow Medicine Show or The Avett Brothers, Driftwood has a sound and energy all their own.  Whatever the influences or the sounds, from ballads to up tempo rock feels, the songs are beautiful and the energy is off the chart.

Saturday, June 2nd
Rock and Soul Revue
Join us as we cap off the year with our own in-house band, the First U Rock and Soul Revue