Warm weather and some hot acoustic music are in the forecast for Long Islanders this summer, including a number of outdoor concert series and festivals. More than 125 concerts, open mics and jam sessions set for June through mid-July appear in this installment of the Long Island AcoustiCalendar. [To see the listings, click on the headline.]

A lot of good live acoustic music is on tap for Long Island listeners during May. Siobahn Quinn and Michael Bowers, a talented Virginia-based duo, play the Garden Stage in Garden City on May 2. The Folk Music Society of Huntington brings four truly gifted emerging artists (Joe Crookston, Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac and Randall Williams) to the Congregational Church in Centerport on May 3 as part of the Falcon Ridge Preview Tour (See the article about the tour that graces AcousticMusicScene.com’s home page). Canadian singer-songwriter Garnet Rogers makes a return visit to the University Café in Stony Brook on May 4. Top-notch Philadelphia-based father and son acoustic blues and roots duo Beaucoup Blue perform in the Babylon Village Arts Council’s free concert series at Astoria Savings Bank in Babylon, May 8. Dar Williams, one of the most engaging and gifted performers on today’s acoustic music scene, makes a return visit to the Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington on May 9. Arlo Guthrie brings his Solo Acoustic Tour to Bay Shore’s Boulton Center on May 10, while Michael Johnathon, singer-songwriter and host of the syndicated “WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour” performs nearby for The Eclectic Café. We’re About 9, a stellar trio from Maryland, brings its original contemporary acoustic songs and nice harmonies to the Our Times Coffeehouse in Garden City on May 16. Former Long Islander Arlon Bennett brings his “Summer’s Voice” to the Folk Music Society’s Hard Luck Café series in Centerport on May 17, while folk-rock singer-songwriter Steve Forbert plays Bay Shore’s Boulton Center that evening. Later in the month, talented Toronto-based singer-songwriter David Celia performs for Acoustic Long Island in St. James on May 21 and The Song Box house concert series in Seaford on May 24. The Kennedys, Pat Wictor and LI’s own Johnny Cuomo pay tribute to Bob Dylan on his 67th birthday at Stony Brook’s University Café on May 24. Noted acoustic blues guitarists Stefan Grossman and Tokio Uchida ply their craft at the Good Coffeehouse Music Parlor in Brooklyn on May 30. Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega is at the Inter-Media Art Center (IMAC) in Huntington on May 31. [For more information on these and many other live music choices on Long Island in May, as well as the first week in June, click on the headline.]

The Folk Music Society of Huntington will host a Partial Capo Techniques Workshop for guitarists with Randall Williams on Saturday, May 3, from 4-6 p.m., at the Congregational Church of Huntington, 30 Washington Drive (off Route 25A), Centerport. Open to guitarists of all skill levels, the two-hour workshop costs $25 (if pre-registered) and $30 at the door, if space is available. Checks payable to the Folk Music Society of Huntington may be sent to P.O. Box 290, Huntington Station, NY 11746. The workshop precedes the society’s Falcon Ridge Preview Tour concert at 7:30 p.m. that evening featuring Joe Crookston, Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac and Williams – all of whom were voted as audience favorites among emerging artists “most wanted” to return during the 2007 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. (More information on that appears in the AcoustiCalendar.) [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

Spring has sprung. Crocuses are blooming. But it’s not just the birds that are singing. Throughout Long Island – from Brooklyn to the Hamptons and many places in between –a growing number of singer-songwriters, song stylists and other acoustic musicians are strutting their stuff in concerts, jams and open mics. In addition to a lot of homegrown talent, notable touring artists like Greg Brown, Tom Chapin, Jerry Douglas, Arlo Guthrie, Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen, Colin Hay, Garnet Rogers, The Roches, SONiA & Disappear Fear, Cheryl Wheeler, Dar Williams, and Jack Williams visit during April and May. So too do such emerging talents as Joe Crookston, Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac and Randall Williams (together as part of the Falcon Ridge Preview Tour in Centerport on May 3), as well as Marc Douglas Berardo, Lara Herscovitch and Karyn Oliver. [For information on more than 100 acoustic music events taking place on LI through mid-May, click on the headline.]

You don’t have to be Irish to enjoy Irish music. And there will certainly be a lot of opportunities to hear some “reel” good tunes and ballads this month in the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day. In addition to some fine music being performed by local artists, a number of talented touring artists visit our Isle this month. Of particular note are the performers on the bill for the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s Phil Ochs Song Night that kicks off the month on March 1; Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers at Bay Shore’s Boulton Center for the Performing Arts and Cathie Ryan, the former lead singer of Cherish the Ladies, at Port Washington’s Landmark on Main Street, both on March 7; the blues & roots music pairing of former LIer Toby Walker and Pat Wictor at the Garden Stage in Garden City that same night (Walker also has two solo gigs on LI in March, while Wictor pays homage to Phil Ochs in Centerport); a free program of Andean music performed by Hinantillan at the West Hempstead Public Library on March 9 and a visit by young Canadian singer-songwriter Nathan Rogers (son of the late Stan) to Stony Brook’s University Café the same day; an anticipated capacity crowd for a March 15 homecoming engagement by Port Washington native Richard Shindell at The Landmark on Main Street; the LI debut of Ellis, a sparkling and thoroughly engaging singer-songwriter from Minnesota, at Garden City’s Our Times Coffeehouse on March 21; a not-to-be-missed duo performance by 17-year-old singer-songwriter & Falcon Ridge Folk Festival fave Anthony da Costa and Red Molly’s Abbie Gardner at Acoustic Long Island in St. James on March 26; an intimate house concert in Babylon featuring the talented Canadian husband & wife duo The Laws, with gifted guitarist and conservatory-trained singer-songwriter Randall Williams opening on March 28. For more information on these and other acoustic music happenings on Long Island in March, click on the headline. – Michael Kornfeld

Several Long Island-based acoustic musicians marked important milestones in January. Phil Minissale, the Long Island Blues Boy, turned 21. Denise Romas, who has been part of the local acoustic music scene for years, released her debut album. And Gathering Time – an acoustic trio featuring Glen Roethel, Stuart Markus and Hillary Foxsong – performed live in the studio at WFDU in Teaneck, New Jersey. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

"The nights were long and cold and scary; can we live through February?" That's a question posed by Dar Williams in her song "February" from her 1998 release, Mortal City. Indeed, we can. Although it may be bitter cold out at times, Long Islanders can find plenty of good, live acoustic music indors to help warm our hearts and souls. In addition to a number of talented local artists, you are bound to love the sound that the gifted and eclectic young Canadian duo known as Twilight Hotel (a highlight of both the 2007 Shelter Valley Folk Festival in Ontario and the AcousticMusicScene.com Showcase at NERFA in Monticello last fall) makes in Babylon on Valentine's Day, while talented New England-based singer- songwriters Greg Greenway and Danielle Miraglia visit our shores on Feb. 1 and 16, respectively. More than 50 concert , coffeehouse, open mic and jam session listings for the month follow, along with a few set for early March. [Click the headline to view the calendar, which is updated several times during the month.]

The new year gets off to a good start on Long Island, musically speaking , with a number of talented local and touring artists slated to perform at venues in Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn and Queens. Visiting artists include Wisconsin-based singer-songwriter johnsmith (Jan. 4 in Garden City), Maine's Jud Caswell and Massachusetts' Chris O'Brien on an "emerging artists" double-bill (Jan. 5 in Centerport), husband & wife duo The Kennedys and singer-songwriter Ellis Paul (Jan 6 and 20, respectively, in Stony Brook) , eclectic indie singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco (Jan. 17 in Huntington), New England's well-traveled troubadour Bill Staines (Jan.18 in Garden City). The iconic Richie Havens and Jorma Kaukonen (Jan. 18 and 24, respectively, in Bay Shore), and rootsy female Americana trio Red Molly sharing a bill with gifted Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Pat Wictor (Jan. 26 in Port Washington). Also on tap are the first official LI appearance (outside of a restaurant or private party) by the harmonic trio Gathering Time (Jan. 12 , on a co-bill with NYC singer-songwriter Gretchen Witt, in Bay Shore) and a CD release concert for local singer-songwriter Denise Romas (Jan. 26 in Lindenhurst). [To see the entire calendar, featuring more than 50 gigs during January plus several during the first weekend in February, click on the headline].

Caroling, Handel's "Messiah" sing-ins and stagings of "The Nutcracker" may dominate the musical landscape in December. However, local and touring artists also ensure us that there is some fine acoustic music in the offing. [To see the listings for December, as well as some listings for January 2008, click on the headline].

With dozens of concerts, coffeehouses, jam sessions and open mics scheduled throughout Long Island this month, acoustic music fans have reason to give thanks. You can “elect” to go out and hear some veteran local artists who have been plying their craft on LI for years and/or such touring artists as Paul Geremia, Patty Larkin, Tom Rush and Hans Theessink. [To see the calendar listings for November and select listings for the first half of December 2007, click on the headline].

Arlo Guthrie and Jean Ritchie are among the two dozen individual musicians, groups and organizations with connections to Long Island slated to be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame during gala ceremonies October 21 at Queens College’s Kupferberg Center for the Arts on Kissena Boulevard in Flushing. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

While the outdoor festival season on Long Island begins to draw to a close in September, there will be plenty of good live acoustic music to enjoy indoors this fall. A listing of more than 100 concerts, coffeehouses, jam sessions and open mics that are scheduled in September and October follows. A number of acoustic music happenings during the first half of November also are included. [To see the listings, click on the headline].