NANCY COVEY is a concert, festival and cultural music tour producer, presenter, and curator.
Renowned as concert director and talent booker at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica during the heyday of the L.A. music scene, Covey gained fame by showcasing folk, jazz, Celtic, Cajun, blues, roots and Americana musicians such as Doc Watson, John Lee Hooker, Emmy Lou Harris, Los Lobos, Etta James, T Bone Burnett, Mose Allison, Clifton Chenier, Van Dyke Parks, Bill Monroe, Richie Havens, Loudon Wainwright III, Odetta, and hundreds more.
Covey also produced concerts in larger LA venues for artists such as Little Feat, Jerry Garcia & Legion of Mary, Stephane Grappelli, John Renbourn, Boys of the Lough, Alan Stivell, Bonnie Raitt and Tom Waits.
Covey is credited with discovering John Hiatt and Vince Gill plus introducing British folk rocker, Richard Thompson, to North American audiences when she booked and promoted Thompson’s first-ever USA solo tour in 1981.
After marrying Richard Thompson in 1985 and establishing homes in Los Angeles and London, the couple’s 35 year personal & professional partnership and global artistic network yielded great creative fruit for both.
EARLY LIFE A native Californian and daughter of travel documentary filmmaker Keith M. Covey and folk guitar playing mother Barbara Covey, Nancy was deeply influenced by the family’s close friend, ethnomusicologist Bess Lomax Hawes (NEA) who taught the eager 11-year-old to play “This Land is Your Land” before it was popularized nationally.
During the Folk Revival of the 1960s, Covey’s mother took her teen to the famed L.A. folk club, the Ash Grove, to see acts like Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. She raised her with the Girl Scout motto “Be Prepared”, and took Nancy to McCabe’s Guitar Shop to buy her first guitar.
FESTIVAL PROMOTER / ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Covey leveraged her contacts, deep knowledge and life on two continents, when she was named Artistic Director for London’s weeklong multi-arts festival, “The American South”, at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre. This festival featured music, dance, theatre, literature and art and was one of the most well-attended festivals of its kind at the South Bank. She also co produced Cajun & Zydeco festivals in her home town of Los Angeles.
FESTIVAL TOURS INTERNATIONAL Nancy Covey’s company, Festival Tours International (www.festival-tours.com), has been taking small groups of music lovers across countries and continents for decades to discover true local music. Nancy leads all the tours herself and through her connections and friendships tour members meet local musicians and artists . This provides a personalized experience of the unique culture of the places they visit. Past tours have included Louisiana, England & Scotland, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Slovenia, Corsica, Spain and most recently, Brittany France. Nancy also pioneered multiple music-focused People to People music trips to Cuba.
RICHARD THOMPSON While connecting Richard Thompson to artists, agents, managers and music heavyweights, including as her own manager Gary Stamler , as well as Hale Milgrim (then-president of Capitol Records) plus Thompson’s current team, Vector Management, Nancy played a vital role in her ex husband’s successful career.
Behind the scenes, Covey helped Thompson curate his 10-day festival, MELTDOWN, again at the South Bank Centre in London June 11-21, 2010. A highlight of the festival was the seminal guitar night, “Six Strings” featuring her husband and the legendary James Burton which Covey helped curate. After Thompson’s musical theatre song cycle, “Cabaret of Souls” premiered in London, Nancy Covey and Debra Green brought the production to UCLA’s Royce Hall and the Broad Theatre in Santa Monica.
In 2012, the couple created their annual Thompson family “Frets and Refrains,” a week-long guitar and songwriting camp for musicians of all ages near Woodstock, New York. The inter-generational event was organized by Covey, with teachers Richard Thompson, son (with Linda Thompson) Teddy Thompson, grandson Zak Hobbs, and open mic/DJ Jack Covey Thompson, Richard & Nancy’s youngest son. Guest guitar and songwriting teachers at Frets & Refrains have included Shawn Colvin, Jill Sobule, Patty Griffin, Martin Simpson and many others. In 2021 the younger generation of Thompsons took over the lead in organizing camp which continues to thrive! www.fretsandrefrains.com.
QUOTES
“It was largely Nancy’s energy and vision as concert director that transformed the 150 capacity room from an out –of the –way “folkie” joint in the back of a guitar shop into one of Southern California’s hippest venues.”
Robert Hillburn, Los Angeles Times“Nancy Covey was to her 150 seat domain what Bill Graham was to the Fillmore.”
LA Weekly“Two years later, we’re still celebrating this mind-body-and soul-stirring trip. Thanks again Nancy Covey…are we lucky or what?”
Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times December, 2018
15332 Antioch Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90272
(310) 749-2035
Music & Culture Tours that are not for Tourists
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