Get out! Local musicians a highlight of Art on the Green festival

Next weekend’s Art on the Green will be the festival’s 39th year of bringing regional fine art, endless expensive pottery, legendary German sausages and top-notch performances to the lush campus of North Idaho College.

Every year, festival organizers have a knack for selecting excellent local entertainment for both the main north stage and the smaller south stage.

Performers on the north stage this year will include the grand Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra and Laura Hamilton’s perpetually amazing North Idaho Dance Ensemble as well as folk dancers representing Ireland, Ukraine and the Middle East.

However, for music fans, the south stage is where you’ll want to stake your claim to a shady patch of grass. A diverse assortment of musicians will be entertaining there, including four acts that were gracious enough to discuss their music with me and answer some of my silly questions.

Singer/songwriter Cheryl Branz says she is excited about returning to the NIC campus when she performs on Friday evening. She attended classes there for two years before relocating to Colorado, where she earned a minor in vocal music and a major in journalism.

She looks back fondly at her time at the college by the lake, professing that “you just can’t beat the beautiful campus with its shade trees and knowing that the water is just across the road. Daydreaming about that water helped me through many of my classes.”

After a brief spell in California, where she married her husband, Clint, Branz settled once again in her hometown of Spokane, where she has been performing ever since.

Branz had been singing all her life in school choirs, in churches and at weddings and funerals, but six years ago, it dawned on her that she was missing something important: a guitar.

Inspired by artists such as the Indigo Girls, Jewel and Sarah McLachlan, Branz mastered the instrument and began writing her own acoustic folk/pop songs. She has been playing area coffeehouses, wineries and festivals in earnest ever since and recently recorded her first professionally produced CD, “Disappear.”

On the album, Branz’s voice is clear and strong, the tunes are highly melodic and her lyrics range from intensely personal on songs such as the title track and “I Judge Myself” to rather silly on tunes such as “Flip Flops,” in which she cleverly describes said footwear as “an island vacation for my feet.”

Branz praises another act performing at this year’s Art on the Green, Sidhe. She says Sidhe’s album “Carnival” is her absolute favorite local CD, and she enthuses that “Michael Millham is one of the finest guitar players in the region.”

I obviously hit a sweet spot when I asked Branz to describe her music as a flavor of ice cream. She chose Rocky Road, musing, “I can be a bit nutty on stage, but I also can sing about serious, sticky situations (enter the marshmallows). The chocolate part is just because I love chocolate. Mmmmm. Chocolate.”

Cheryl Branz will perform on the south stage Friday at 6 p.m.

Sylvia Lazo of Brazilian jazz act Olinda Duo says she loves performing at Art on the Green.

“The event is so attractive and diverse, and the audience (is) warm and enthusiastic,” she said. “They come to enjoy the artists and an alluring summer day, two things that inspire me to get out there and sing.”

The Spokane twosome consists of soprano vocalist Lazo and classical guitarist Paul Grove, who also teaches the instrument at NIC. Olinda Duo performs music from ballads and love songs to upbeat jazz and bouncy pop by mainly Latin American composers.

The classical guitar is perhaps an unusual instrument for this type of music, but Grove adapts the instrument masterfully, creating lovely backdrops for Lazo’s slightly operatic Spanish vocals.

Lazo, a Sao Paulo native, studied jazz improvisation at the Berklee School of Music and has charmed audiences on four continents both as a soloist and as a member of several Latin ensembles.

There’s an alluring sense of warmth in her voice, and Grove’s many years of experience shine through in his innovative and masterful instrumentation. Together, they make a perfect match, like sweet corn on the cob and melted butter. Lazo describes her music as “an Acai ice cream, a delectable Brazilian fruit with a berry-coconut taste. I try to bring to my performances a nectareous selection of things I’ve grown accustomed to love, hear and play: Brazilian music, jazz and Spanish classical songs. The music is at times cool and intimate, and other times, spirited.”

Lazo names Milonga, with its Latin fusion sounds, as one of her favorite local acts and also recommends jazz diva Shirley Horn’s album, “The Main Ingredient,” as essential summer listening.

Olinda Duo will play the south stage next Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

“Songs that echo in my soul like the sound of that freight train leaving the yard” is how Summit Sound owner Mark Stanton describes the music of Northwest folk singer Laddie Ray Melvin.

Melvin’s songs are like a well-worn heirloom quilt, woven together from threads of traditional Americana, country, blues and a bit of Dylanesque folk rock.

His voice is weathered and rich, and his songs are dusty landscapes of life experience written from the perspective of a mature soul. His performances are captivating, like hearing old ghost stories late at night around a crackling campfire.

Over the last 10 years, Melvin has independently released two CDs, most recently “In the Aftermath,” which he describes as “a collection of tunes that consider what it means to be a human in times of trouble.”

He has played countless festivals and venues throughout the Northwest, and his songs frequently are featured on local public-radio shows, including the “Nacho Celtic Hour.”

He says he is looking forward to playing at Art on the Green. “Any gathering of artists is bound to be a great time.”

His music would be “homemade” if it were a type of ice cream, he says.

When asked about his favorite local artists, he takes a democratic approach. “There are many, many songwriters in the region whose work I appreciate. I’m a member of the Spokane Songwriters Association, and I encourage folks to check out the Web site.”

Laddie Ray Melvin will play the south stage next Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Husband and wife Michael and Keleren Millham have been performing as Sidhe for more than a decade, becoming one of the most beloved and popular acts in the Inland Northwest.

Their intimate performances are unforgettable, and their sound is truly uncommon among Spokane acts – or anywhere else, for that matter.

It’s difficult to succinctly describe Sidhe’s sound, although the Millhams make an attempt with “progressive acoustic,” a term that may be too broad to give an accurate impression of their ethereal, otherworldly music.

Put traditional music of the British Isles, Sufi, classical, Latin jazz and art rock all into the proverbial sonic blender with Keleren Millham’s opulent voice and evocative lyrics, and you’ve got an addictively singular concoction.

And Michael Millham’s intensely intricate and physical finger-style guitar work has been known to make audiences’ jaws drop.

Sidhe recently spent a packed three weeks touring. According to Michael Millham, the CD that got the most play in the car was British cult folkie Nick Drake’s “Way to Blue” compilation, which gives you an idea what kind of music inspires the Millhams to greatness.

They have graced Art on the Green with their presence before. Michael Millham says their favorite thing about the festival is “the visual art, the constant stream of music that is not our own, the competent sound guys and the shuttle bus that goes close to Java on Sherman for a pickup (in more ways than one).”

Hmmm. We’ll assume he’s referring to the café’s famous lattes – and not its attractive employees.

If Sidhe were an ice cream, it would be “gelato, heavy on the chocolate but swirled with myriad flavors that have yet to be invented,” said Michael Millham.

For an act whose music is so hard to describe that it has caused writers to summon up vague and cliched adjectives such as “ethereal” and “otherworldly” (see above), that sweet metaphor is about as accurate a descriptor as any.

Sidhe will play the south stage next Sunday at 10:30 a.m.