Hard Luck Café: Rupert Wates

Rupert Wates – Photo by Randy Bradbury

Singer-songwriter Rupert Wates (rupertwatesmusic.com) will take the stage during the monthly Hard Luck Café concert series co-presented by the Folk Music Society of Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre (423 Park Avenue, Huntington) in the Cinema’s Sky Room on Wednesday, February 21, from 7pm-10pm. 

Wates will be joined on several numbers by his regular bassist, Trifon Dimitrov; the two are featured in this video of “Guinevere”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeRibKO4OSw

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. 

Rupert Wates was born in London and studied at Oxford University. He has been a full time songwriter since the late 1990s, when he signed a publishing contract with Eaton Music Limited.  Moving in 2001 to Paris, Wates formed his own quartet and began playing live regularly. In fall 2006 he came to the US; he is now based in New York City and Colorado.  Since coming to the US, Wates has won more than 50 songwriting and performing awards. 

His music is an eclectic mix of acoustic, melodic art/folk, with flavors of jazz, vaudeville and cabaret. He has released twelve solo CDs, which have received outstanding reviews in the international online press and have been played on radio stations all over the world. In addition, Wates’ songs have been covered by other artists in the UK, Canada and the US.

Wates averages 120 live shows every year across acoustic venues in the US, Canada and in Europe. He performs sometimes solo, and sometimes with his trio or his quartet. He prefers smaller listening rooms where the audience is up-close and the emphasis is on the music.  He was voted an Artist Of The Year in both 2013 and 2016 by the international house concert network Concerts In Your Home (www.concertsinyourhome.com). In 2018, Wates was a Finalist in the Kerrville New Folk Song Contest, and an Emerging Artist at Falconridge Folk Festival. 

Despite Wates’ British background, and underpinning the universality of his music’s appeal, Folk And Acoustic Music Exchange has called him “a prime figure in American music” (www.acousticmusic.com) and goes on: “This is one gifted sonofabitch… If you’re not hip to this guy yet you’re missing out.”  Audiences everywhere respond to Wates’ brand of melodic art/folk—haunting songs that ring true.

Discography: Elegies (2023), Instrumental (2023), For the People (2022), Lamentations (2020), Full Circle (2019),The Lights Of Paris (2017), Colorado Mornings (2016), The Nightwatchers (2015), The Rank Outsiders Ball (2014), At the Losers’ Motel (2012), Joe’s Café (2010), Dear Life (2008), Coast to Coast (2007) and Sweet or Bitter Wine (2005).