me & thee Coffeehouse

Founded in 1970, the me & thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead is the oldest continually running folk music coffeehouse in New England, and has become the model of the successful community music club. The founding of other coffeehouses often entails field trips to this charming Marblehead club to see how it's done. The Boston Globe has called me & thee "The Carnegie Hall of church coffeehouses."

Shows are held every Friday from the end of September through early May, except for December, in which there is one concert; and January, in which there are none. Average attendance is 175 people, and dress is casual. On-street parking is free, though spots in front of the church usually fill up pretty early. Spaces are always available on nearby side-streets where parking is unrestricted unless marked otherwise.

Concerts are held in the sanctuary of the Unitarian-Universalist Church. As with all BACHA coffeehouses, the shows are secular and presented as a community outreach by a volunteer committee of church and non-church members.

"The acoustics are incredible," says booking coordinator David Jenkins. "People continually tell us how easy it is to hear the performer wherever they sit. Both the performers and the audience talk about the intimate feeling they have at shows; they feel like they're really present with each other."

Acts range from traditional folk singers to contemporary songwriters, though there is always an emphasis on performers who sing songs that connect with the real lives of the listeners. "There is something all our performers have in common," says Jenkins. "It's acoustic music, kind of heartfelt, talking about human experience and reflecting a community of people who share those values. The people who sing here tend to reflect the same community values that most of our audience has."

The name me & thee is taken from a traditional Unitarian greeting, and the coffeehouse is known for its "longish" breaks, often lasting a half-hour, in which people gather to chat, eat homemade desserts, sip coffee and tea, and peruse the artist’s CD table. Because of the lengthy breaks, performers often come out to meet people, take requests and sign CDs, which usually happens only after shows at most coffeehouses. The result is often an excitingly impromptu second set, with performers feeling even more comfortable with their audience, and encouraged to wander off-script, resurrect old favorites, and try out new songs in a convivial, living-room warmth that me & thee regulars have come to savor.

"We like to think of our shows less as concerts than an evening with the performer," says Jenkins. "There's some kind of communication between the audience and the performer that sparks both of them to respond immediately to the music that's going on."