Dueling Fiddlers Make Doctorow’s Music New

The Bridgehampton Museum’s archives building will be the site of a live-music series called “Summer Songs: The Great American Songbook . . . and Other Stories,” featuring Caroline Doctorow and her band, the Ballad Makers. The series will comprise four concerts, the first happening on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Concerts are also scheduled for June 30, July 28, and Aug. 25. 

Ms. Doctorow, who lives with her family in Bridgehampton, said that while she typically plays with a fiddler and bassist, this series will see both a bassist and two “dueling” fiddlers. “We tried this out recently at a gig upstate,” she recently told The Star, “and it was terrific! It adds a whole new dimension to my music when two fiddlers compete on solos.” 

She and her band will perform folk standards, Americana favorites, classic fiddle tunes, and her own compositions. Up-and-coming East End songwriters will open each show, and the concerts will include musical guests. The Ballad Makers are Gary Oleyar on fiddle and guitar, Chris Tedesco, also on fiddle, and Karl Allweier on bass. Each is a nationally touring musician. 

Ms. Doctorow, who has been playing folk music for almost 35 years, received the Alexander Award from the Long Island Arts Council this year, along with a state proclamation from State Senator John E. Brooks honoring her years as a folk singer. Along with musicians including Taj Mahal, Guy Davis, Dar Williams, and John Cohen, she will appear in the upcoming documentary film “If I Had a Hammer,” a celebration of the late folk singer Pete Seeger’s legacy coinciding with the 100th anniversary of his birth. 

Along with the Summer Songs series, Ms. Doctorow will also perform this year at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Okla., and the Beacon Corn Festival in New York’s Hudson Valley. 

Her most recent album, the 2016 release “Dreaming in Vinyl,” reached No. 2 on a folk radio airplay chart compiled from nationwide playlists in October and November of that year. The album recalls the pop-music and folk revival peak years in the 1960s, featuring songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Donovan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and Randy Newman. Also included are two of her own compositions, “To Be Here” and “That’s How I’ll Remember You,” the latter written for her father, the novelist E.L. Doctorow, who died in 2015. 

Tickets to the Summer Songs concerts are $20 and will be available at the door.