One featured performer comes to Andover as a “talented transplant from Japan to New York,” whose singing, songwriting and guitar-playing feature “a landscape of riveting patterns and eclectic sounds that defy clear categorization.” The other is a Boston-area native who “has carved out his own way of writing American songs and earned a reputation as a passionate performer” during his 20 years as a professional singer-songwriter-guitarist. Both will appear as solo headliners at the Andover Community Coffeehouse.

On Friday, December 21, Hiroya Tsukamoto will bring his “abstract, imagistic compositions” to the center stage.  Earlier this year Tsukamoto took second place in the International Finger Style Guitar Championship, held annually in Kansas.

And on Friday, January 18, the audience will hear Kevin Connolly deliver “songs that capture something about regular life in America today.” He is described as “maintaining a strong presence and tie to his New England roots.”
Both concerts will begin at 7 PM in the Highland Lake Grange Hall, 7 Chase Hill Road in East Andover.  Admission is free, although donations — which are shared with the performers and the Andover Community Church, owner of the Grange Hall — are gratefully accepted.  

Also appearing onstage will be up to a dozen open-microphone performers, whose contributions in previous months have ranged from the spoken word to show-business, jazz, folk, bluegrass, and country-and-western tunes.  

Sponsor for the December event is Holly Hanson, “Websites for Musicians.” Learn more at ninejuly.com.  The January concert sponsor is New Horizon Hair Stylists of Andover.

Doors to the Grange Hall open at 6 PM for food purchases offered by the Andover Community Church, and for open-mic sign-ins on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

A photographic record of past Coffeehouse performers, both headliners and open-mic participants, is shown on the Coffeehouse website at andovercoffeehouse.org, and on the Facebook page “Andover Community Coffeehouse.”

Video recordings of past programs are shown on a number of community-access channels across the state and are available for viewing anytime on Andover’s town website at www.andover.nh.us/ by clicking on “Town Information” and then “Video Archive.”  The videos are produced by volunteers at Andover Community Cable.

The coffeehouse is located at the intersection of Route 11 and Chase Hill Road in East Andover.  The Andover Community Coffeehouse operates under the umbrella of the Andover Community Association (ACA).