PORT ANGELES — In what Amber Hosken hopes will become a summertime tradition, live music will fill Harbinger Winery on Friday night in a benefit concert for First Step Family Support Center.
Hosken, marketing coordinator at First Step, has worked with board member Sarah Cronauer to make this happen: Folk songbird and cellist Emma Beaton of Nashville, Tenn., and her friends Blair McMillan and David Moss will arrive for the 7 p.m. show at Harbinger’s tasting room.
Tickets are $20 per person or two for $35, with proceeds to support First Step’s programs for young parents across Clallam County.
To purchase, visit FirstStepFamily.org or phone the agency at 360-457-8355; any remaining tickets will be sold Friday evening at the winery, 2358 W. U.S. Highway 101.
Beaton, who grew up in Qualicum Beach, B.C., has been traveling the continent with her music since she was a youngster.
With her debut recording, “Pretty Fair Maid,” she won the Canadian Folk Music Awards’ Young Performer of the Year prize — at age 18.
She went on to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and toured for six years with her folk band Joy Kills Sorrow.
For a time, she lived in New York City with McMillan, her sweetheart. They joined the Brooklyn music scene and met Moss, a like-minded soul who still lives there.
Beaton and McMillan moved to Nashville seven months ago — “it feels like home,” she said — and have managed to put together a tour with their friend Moss.
Port Angeles might not have been on their itinerary. But Cronauer, who joined First Step’s board just six months ago, invited the trio out to here, having discovered Beaton’s music in 2013.
Joy Kills Sorrow played a house concert at Cronauer’s place two summers ago, and she’s been a fan ever since of the artist’s unusual pairing of voice and cello.
The daughter of Scottish emigrants, Beaton grew up playing Scottish music — and during many summers in her youth, did some branching out at Port Townsend’s Festival of American Fiddle Tunes.
Beaton was a cellist first; then she started singing while in high school.
It’s not easy doing both at the same time, she said, but whichever instrument she’s using, she seeks the essential connection with her audience.
To her mind, a show isn’t just about ascending the stage and playing flawlessly.
No, “getting the audience laughing,” Beaton said, “getting them responding is one of the most important things.”
With words and music, she seeks to let her listeners in. They’re part of it, after all.
Hosken, for her part, said the Harbinger concert is a three-way collaboration: Cronauer, Harbinger and the musicians all wanting to get together for a local cause.
Harbinger will donate 25 percent of wine sales Friday evening to First Step. Desserts, courtesy of board members, will be laid out for donations.
“I do think we can have a really nice party there,” Hosken said.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
