A Beloved Tradition: New Year's Eve at Brattleboro Music Center

The Brattleboro Music Center presents its 24th annual New Year's Eve concerts with all-star musicians on Wednesday, Dec. 31. A favorite local tradition, these concerts highlight the Amidon-Bode-Murphy-Tracy families, as the group joins together to present a family-friendly, joyful celebration of song with soaring fiddle tunes and traditional musical favorites to close out the year. Special guest Emily Miller of West Virginia will perform on fiddle and vocals. Miller grew up immersed in old-time country music and devoted her career to preserving, sharing and teaching that music, according to publicity materials. Miller tours and records with The Sweetback Sisters, The Starry Mountain Singers, and with her husband Jesse Milnes. Local favorite and multi-instrumentalist Keith Murphy performs on guitar, mandolin, piano and foot percussion, and internationally acclaimed fiddler Becky Tracy will present "fiercely intelligent and driving arrangements of dance tunes and traditional songs." They founded the Traditional Music program at BMC 20 years ago, and Murphy is Director of the Northern Roots Festival which takes place in Brattleboro Jan. 24 and 25, 2026. Entering its 19th year, the Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival "honors the wide variety of sources that contribute to the music of New England, including, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, Scandinavian and northern European traditions." New Year's Eve Concert Origin Keith Murphy explains in a recent phone call with The Keene Sentinel that Peter (Amidon) passed away this fall after a courageous battle with cancer. "He was a huge fixture in the community and had spearheaded these concerts for the last 24 years." "He was an incredible person and will be dearly missed, but we've been doing this for almost a quarter of a century which is pretty amazing. Like all these great, rooted traditions, it has the strength and momentum to carry on. Peter and Mary Alice's younger son, Stefan, and his wife, Zara, are going to be stepping up and taking a bigger role in the show this year, which is great," Murphy adds. "Zara and Stefan will bring their own flavor to it. We're also incredibly lucky that Emily Miller is our special guest this year," adds Murphy. Multi instrumentalists and vocalists Zara Bode and Stefan Amidon of Brattleboro will open the shows. They will share their distinctive warmth, wit and showmanship before being joined on stage by fellow folk musician, Emily Miller. Together, the three form the core of a Vermont band, The Sweetback Sisters. They play various stringed instruments: guitar, fiddle, percussion, piano and mandolin. "I'm genuinely looking forward to singing with Emily (Miller) again," Bode wrote in an email to the Sentinel. "There's a clarity and ease when our voices meet — each song lets us reach back into the tradition while keeping the music alive and present for the moment we're in." Bode is best known for her band "Zara Bode's Little Big Band" and her husband, Amidon, is a master percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and bass singer. "It's a full-circle moment because when Emily was younger, she was a student in this area and studied with Becky (Tracy). Before that, I knew Emily when I was living in Toronto and taught her piano," adds Murphy, "So she is the perfect person to kind of help weave everything together this year." When asked what the audience can expect at this year's show, Murphy explains, "We're going to continue the essence of the show which is this very diverse mix of a lot of great song material, a lot of it traditionally inspired, but also some little surprises of something more contemporary." "And then, we will be doing stuff together which I think will be a new sound. And I think that's going to be very exciting. We don't even know yet exactly what it's going to be, but we know it's going to be great," says Murphy. "This concert is also a chance for us to look back on our year as musicians, with a lot of gratitude. And of course, being a concert that we've done for so long, the audience has a very strong feeling of community; and so it's kind of a chance for us to reflect on that community and to feel and express our gratitude for that," adds Murphy. "These New Year's Eve concerts are a beloved Brattleboro tradition. We hope that you will join us as we say so long to this challenging 2025 and look forward to a new year full of hope and, of course, music," wrote Mary Greene, executive director of the Brattleboro Music Center in an email to The Keene Sentinel. IF YOU GO: WHAT: BMC's annual New Year's Eve Concerts WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 31st Two performances: 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (Please note: each show runs about 80 minutes) WHERE: Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way, Brattleboro, Vt. MORE INFO: Tickets: $20/adults and $5 for ages 6 – 14; free for children 5 and under Call BMC at 802-257-4523, or email info@bmcvt.org https://bmcvt.org/events/category/special-events/