Camp Verde News – Music in the Stacks returns on Thursday, May 12th at 5:30 pm in Camp Verde Community Library’s Fireside Room. Music in the Stacks is a showcase of local and national musicians who entertain regularly in Northern Arizona. There are 3-5 different performers during the show, with a rotating variety each month.
May’s concert features the following talented local musicians: Gary Simpkins, Christy Fisher, Mike McReynolds, Tony Cook, and Matt Fabritz.
Gary Simpkins has been around the folk/rock, singer/songwriter scene since the ’60’s, cutting his teeth on the Open Mic scene in his college days in New Haven. He’s played gigs all over the Northeast, notably at the Bitter End in New York City, Club 47 (Now Club Passim’s) in Cambridge, the Exit in New Haven, and Salt in Newport (where he opened for Maria Muldaur). Gary moved to Arizona in the ’80’s and for the past 25 years has been playing folk festivals and shows throughout the region in and around the Verde Valley. He has also almost continuously run open mikes since the ’60’s, and is dedicated to giving new musicians the same mentoring that he had when he started out in New Haven.
Christy Fisher is based in Jerome and has performed with a few area musical groups throughout her 30 years in the area, including Mountain Stranded Time, Cattywampus, Christy and Frenz, The Jerome Philharmonic Convergence, and the Jerome Ukulele Orchestra…and has released two albums in the past year that are now charting in over 40 countries. Nominated in four categories by the 2021 International Singer and Songwriters Association, Fisher’s performances are a combination of award-winning songwriting, unusual audio engineering techniques, and powerful vocals.
Born into family of musicians, Mike McReynolds has been playing guitar since the fifth grade and has played professionally ever since as a single, in duos, trios and in full bands. He’s a sing-songwriter who enjoys writing in all genres of music from blues, folk to rock. Through the years he has developed his own style and has performed in all of the major singer/songwriter festivals nationally and internationally.
Gary, Christy, and Mike are joined by Flagstaff’s Matt Fabritz, long-time percussionist for many rock and country bands in northern Arizona, and Tony Cook, an accomplished musician, and Arizona fiddle icon.
Camp Verde Community Library is located just off of Montezuma Castle Highway at 130 Black Bridge Road, Camp Verde AZ. For more information about this or any other library program, visit the library’s website at www.cvlibrary.org or call 554-8391.