Hoover Library Theatre announces 2021-22 season lineup

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The Hoover Library Theatre is back in business after more than a year off due to the pandemic, today announcing its lineup for the 2021-22 season.

The lineup features a diverse group of acts that includes the 10-time Grammy and 10-time Dove Award-winning group Take 6, jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, bluegrass legends Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, gospel singer David Phelps, the Danu Irish music ensemble, the ‘60s and ‘70s Americana show Live From Laurel Canyon, and Grammy Award winner Paula Cole.

“I think we’ve got a little bit of everything and something that will appeal to everyone, depending on your particular tastes,” said Matina Johnson, the fine arts manager for the library.

The Live From Laurel Canyon show actually was rescheduled from the tail end of the 2019-20 season, when the May 2020 performance in Hoover was canceled. The Kingdom Choir’s performance in April 2020 also was canceled. Johnson was unable to get The Kingdom Choir rescheduled for this season but snagged them for 2023.

Some plays that originally had been booked for the 2020-21 season couldn’t get their tours together for the new year, so those performances didn’t make it into this season, Johnson said. That leaves an all-music lineup for the Hoover Library Theatre’s 2021-22 season, which is a rarity.

However, Johnson said she plans to later announce some additional shows to fill in the gaps this year, most likely in the spring. They won’t officially be a part of the season, but there should be some nice surprises to throw in the mix, she said.

As a relatively small 250-seat venue, the Library Theatre had to promise the acts that tickets would be available for all seats, meaning no social distancing, Johnson said. However, she’s not sure whether the theater will have its usual receptions and meet-and-greet times with the performers, she said.

“We’ll just have to see how things go and be flexible and adaptable,” she said.

Tickets go on sale Aug. 16 for those who had 2019-20 season tickets and Aug. 19 for other people who want to buy full-season packages, Johnson said. Tickets for individual shows go on sale Aug. 20.

Tickets are $30 per show, plus a $3 processing fee, for a total of $33 per show. That’s up slightly from a total of $30 two years ago. Each act will perform on two nights at 7:30 p.m., except Take 6, which will perform both its shows on Dec. 4 at 4 and 7:30 p.m.

“We’re just excited,” Johnson said. “We’re so ready for the arts to be back to life.”

Here’s a description of each act in the 2021-22 season, based on information provided by the Hoover Library Theatre and the acts’ websites:

MADELEINE PEYROUX

Oct. 4-5, 7:30 p.m.

Peyroux was born in Athens, Georgia, but moved to Paris as a teenager with her mother in 1987 after her parents’ divorce. She befriended the city’s street musicians and made its Latin quarter her first performance stage. The jazz singer cites Edith Piaf as an influence on her music and recorded her own rendition of “La Vie En Rose,” soulfully capturing the tune’s romanticism and melancholy. Thirty years after her formative days in Paris, Peyroux now is the curator of nine albums who has performed sold-out tours worldwide. Her version of Serge Gainsborough’s “La Javanaise” was used in the soundtrack of Oscar winner “The Shape of Water,” and her accolades include the coveted British Broadcasting Corp. International Artist of the Year honor. Her performance in Hoover will be part of the national tour of the re-release of her second album, “Careless Love.” She will have a jazz ensemble with her, Johnson said.

PAULA COLE

Nov. 4-5, 7:30 p.m.

Cole is known for her chart-topping singles, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” and “I Don’t Want to Wait,” the latter of which became the theme song for the hit TV series “Dawson’s Creek,” from her double-platinum second album. With 11 albums to her credit, Cole has garnered seven Grammy nominations and a Grammy win for Best New Artist in 1997. She was also the first sole woman without collaborators to be nominated as Producer of the Year. Today, as a visiting scholar at the Berklee College of Music, she encourages students to think like a producer and let the tracks be a voice. Cole’s latest album, “American Quilt,” does just that with a tapestry of blues, jazz, folk and gospel guided by Cole’s powerful voice and deeply personal lyrics serving as the roadmap to the diversity of America’s interwoven cultural lineage.

TAKE 6

Dec. 4, 4 and 7:30 p.m.

With 10 Grammy Awards, 10 Dove Awards, 2 NAACP Image Awards, a Soul Train Award and 3 Gold albums to their credit, Take 6 has come a long way from their days at Huntsville, Alabama’s Oakwood College where Claude McKnight formed the group as The Gentleman’s Estates Quartet in 1980. April 2018 marked the release of their 16th album, titled “Iconic'', and the debut of a PBS special, “The Summit,” alongside The Manhattan Transfer. The vocal orchestra has pushed the boundaries of creativity across most musical genres, from straight-ahead jazz to pop, adult R&B, doo-wop and blues. Take 6 has performed with and won praise from performers such as Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Ben E. King, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Al Jarreau, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Whitney Houston. The group was chosen as the first musical group to perform in Cuba at the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba and has been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

DAVID PHELPS

Jan. 20-21, 7:30 p.m.

Phelps, a tenor, has a vocal range that extends more than three octaves. For nearly 20 years, he was a member of the Gaither Vocal Band and during that time received numerous Dove Awards, Grammy Awards and was a part of multiple platinum-selling recording projects. As a solo artist, he received 2009 Dove Award nominations for Male Vocalist of the Year and Long Form Video for the Christmas DVD “O Holy Night” to add to his many awards and honors. Since 2012, Phelps has topped the Billboard charts multiple times with releases such as the 2012 live DVD “Classic,” the 2015 live DVD “Freedom,” the 2017 live DVD “The Best of David Phelps” and most recently, the 2018 live DVD “It Must Be Christmas.” The various recordings have been featured on numerous TV networks, including the Public Broadcasting System, and have received acclaim in both secular and gospel music venues.

LIVE FROM LAUREL CANYON

Feb. 23-24, 7:30 p.m.

Laurel Canyon originates from its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood and slices its way through the Hollywood Hills. The Live from Laurel Canyon show, created by composer Brian Chartrand, is a 90-minute retrospective of music and stories of some of the most influential artists of the 1960s and 1970s, including The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Carole King, James Taylor, the Mamas & the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jim Morrison — all of whom resided in the canyon from 1965 to 1976, changing the landscape of American pop music. Much more than a “tribute” act, Live from Laurel Canyon not only performs the music of that era, but takes the audience on a journey through the stories that inspired the songs when an entire generation of youth was searching for a sound to define them.

DANU

March 3-4, 7:30 p.m.

Hailing from historic County Waterford in Ireland, Danu is one of today’s leading traditional Irish ensembles. Their standing-room-only concerts throughout Ireland feature high-energy performances and a mix of ancient Irish music and new repertoire. For two decades, Danu’s virtuosi players on flute, tin whistle, fiddle, button accordion and bouzouki and Irish and English vocals have been heard around the globe and recorded seven albums. Their live DVD, “One Night Stand,” was filmed at Vicar St. Dublin. Winners of numerous awards from the British Broadcasting Corp. and Irish Music Magazine, Danu has toured throughout Europe, the Middle East and North America with stops at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Symphony Space in New York City and major concert engagements in the United Kingdom, India, Israel and across Europe. Danu takes its audiences on a musical journey to their native Ireland. Danu’s recordings are available on the Shanachie label, and live performances are often broadcast on National Public Radio, NPR, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the BBC. 2020 marked Danu’s 20th anniversary.

RHONDA VINCENT & THE RAGE

May 4-5, 7:30 p.m.

Vincent is a seven-time Grammy nominee and won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2017. In 2020, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Rhonda Vincent & The Rage is the most awarded band in bluegrass history. To date, the band won one Grammy, 19 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, including the top Entertainer of the Year honor in 2001; consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year wins between 2000 and 2006; and 89 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Awards. Vincent’s brother, Darrin Vincent, is a member of the Grammy Award-winning bluegrass group Dailey and Vincent, which has played on the Hoover Library Theatre stage seven times. Rhonda Vincent’s musical career started at age 5, when she sang gospel songs with her family’s band, which was later known as the Sally Mountain Show. She picked up the mandolin at age 8. With the release of her album “Back Home Again” in 2000, she returned to bluegrass with the goal of expanding both the musical reach and the accessibility of the genre.