Hard Luck Café: Kirsten Maxwell

Kirsten Maxwell (kirstenmaxwell.com), a multifaceted singer-songwriter who has been earning accolades and winning over audiences across the country, returns to her hometown to kick off the 2024-2025 season of Hard Luck Café concerts co-presented by the Folk Music Society of Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre (423 Park Avenue, Huntington,  NY) in the Cinema’s Sky Room on Wednesday, September 18, from 7pm-10pm. 

An open mic, for which sign-up is at 6:30pm, precedes the concert.  Tickets are $25 ($20 for Cinema Arts Centre/FMSH members) and can be purchased online at cinemaartscentre.org or at the box office now through the evening of the event.

“Kirsten Maxwell is an amazing writer and powerful, evocative singer whose performances are a sheer joy. She shines in her own lyrical compositions and in her singular choices of other artists, especially those of Joni Mitchell.”  That’s how Judy Collins describes Kirsten, whom she has invited to open for her in concert a number of times.

Kirsten has drawn comparisons to such timeless singers as Collins, Mitchell and Joan Baez, while her vocal range and ability allow her to move seamlessly across genres – broadening the scope of her performances.

She’s been a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition and an audience-voted “Most Wanted” artist following a Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Kirsten took first place in a contest sponsored by the Rhode Island Songwriters Association (RUISA) in 2015 and was a winner in the 2016 South Florida Folk Festival Singer-Songwriter Competition. She has had coveted official juried showcases at several conferences hosted by regional affiliates of Folk Alliance International, and has showcased her talents during Singer-Songwriter Cape May and as part of NERFA Presents Young Folk at the Mariposa and Philadelphia Folk Festivals. In 2020, she was one of five artists selected to receive a grant from the Joe’s Pub Working Group – an artist development program of The Public Theater in NYC.  Kirsten also has spent some time in Nashville, where she has performed at the iconic Bluebird Café, whose founder, Amy Kurland, says: “She is a very special artist. Her voice, her songwriting, and her delivery make her stand out to me.” Paul Shaffer has expressed similar sentiments: “I once saw Kirsten Maxwell take the stage in a raucous bar. The patrons were there to drink, not listen. She began a delicate ballad, and by the third line, she had them in the palm of her hand. Kirsten is a strikingly special performer.”

Kirsten’s evocative renderings, coupled with her naturally passionate voice, often bring audiences to tears.  Chris McKhool of Sultans of String, an acclaimed Canadian instrumental ensemble, says: “If I could sing like her, I’d give up the violin.”