WORTON — One of Kent County’s favorite sons, Marlon Saunders, is returning to Red Acres Farm Venue on Saturday night, Aug. 22 for a concert that the super-talented singer, songwriter, record producer and playwright said is a tribute to his grandmother Josephine Hazel Phillips, affectionately known as “Josie,” and Helen Elizabeth Williams, affectionally known as “Sis,” matriarchs of well-known Worton area families who passed away in the last year.
“I felt that it would be great to honor ‘Miss Sis’ and my Grandma Josie. They were good friends and our families have been connected for years. … So happy we can take a moment to honor these beautiful women,” Saunders told The Evening Enterprise in an email.
Saunders recalled how at previous concerts at Red Acres that Sis Williams and his father James Saunders handled the ticket sales and “welcoming folk.”
And, “my Grandma Josie was very special to me and my family but also to many in the county,” he said.
This will be Saunders’ fifth concert at Red Acres, a farm owned by the Williams family for more than 100 years.
As in the past, Saunders will showcase local talent. This year’s lineup includes Sis Williams’ daughter Heidi DeFabritus, who grew up at Red Acres Farm.
The cost is $20 at the gate; you can pay by cash, check or Venmo.
Walker Family food truck and Rock Hall-based Get the Scoop ice cream vendor will be on-site.
Beer and wine also can be purchased.
Seating will be available, but you also can bring your own lawn chairs.
Red Acres Farm is located in the 25000-block of Lambs Meadow Road, adjacent to Kent County High School.
Saturday’s concert starts at 7 p.m.
It’s a rain or shine event.
Kent Cultural Alliance returns as the primary sponsor.
Saunders grew up in Big Woods and also spent a lot of time with relatives in Butlertown, which is about a mile down the road from Red Acres Farm.
A man of many talents and one who wears many hats, Saunders seems to always be on the move.
He’s a professor of voice at The New School’s School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
Jazzhole, the band Saunders co-created with John Pondel and Warren Rosenstein in 1994, is recording a new record and about to release a new recording this fall, “Beauty In The Grind, The Mixtape.”
He worked with The Lumineers at The Newport [Rhode Island] Folk Festival in July, singing with acclaimed backing and session vocalists Cindy Mizelle and Biti Strauchn, and then came back to record with the well-known band out of Philly called Mondo Cozmo.
Saunders also has been working with award-winning theater maker Irina Kruzhilina, and is the composer for her new work titled “Notice To Appear,” which deals with the plight of immigration and the complexities of our justice and political system. He described it as “a very powerful work!”
The Evening Enterprise interviewed Saunders this week by email.
1. What sorts of music can the audience expect Saturday?
“A lot of the music will be from the Motown/Muscle Shoals 60s era. We will throw in a few other songs but we’re going to play a lot of 60s songs. Great music!“
2. Who will be performing with you?
“We will have the same lineup [as in the past], my cousins who I grew up playing with at Mt. Olive AME Church — Chris Copper on drums, Wayman Blackston on bass, Keith Wilson on guitar. Anthony Turk Cannon will join playing saxophone. On vocals again holding down the backgrounds will be Portia Turner, Karen Somerville and Jerome McKinney. We will have some special guests too!”
3. What’s it like returning “home” to perform?
“I love coming home to perform. It is the connection of family, extended family and friends that feels amazing! It’s a great feeling to have classmates who I have known all of my life still come out and support! The love and support I feel here has always been constant and I carry it with me all over the world.”
4. You have said in previous interviews that you really like the Red Acres venue. What makes it special?
“I do love performing at Red Acres because it is a good, relaxing, chill vibe. The sound is good and I love that folk get up and dance! By the time we get to the second half of the show, folk are just up and dancing and we just groove music more so they enjoy themselves. It is a great vibe for us all!”
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Marlon Saunders is a 1983 graduate of Kent County High School, where he played the saxophone in the high school’s Brigade of Blue marching band.
He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston.
He now lives in the St. George area of Staten Island, New York.
Saunders is the CEO and founder of The Seamless Voice, a vocal coaching and artist consulting company.
From 2015 to 2017, he toured with Stevie Wonder on The Songs In The Key of Life Tour as choir director.
He has served as a vocal contractor for Sam Smith, Bastille, Logic, Mondo Cozmo and Andrea Bocelli.
And, he appears in the 2007 film “Enchanted” as the Calypso Singer who sings the Academy Award-nominated song “How You Know” with Amy Adams.
