BY SEAN SMITH
SPECIAL TO THE BIR

A union of two local folk/acoustic music series has created a new Boston-area venue whose offerings will include Celtic performers.

The Eliot Street Coffeehouse will kick off on Nov. 1 with Fellswater, a Massachusetts-based ensemble that plays music of Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and Canada. On Nov. 22, Eliot Street will feature The Bombadils, a Canadian quartet with a repertoire from Irish, Canadian, bluegrass, and old-timey traditions, along with their own material.

The coffeehouse, headquartered at First Church in Jamaica Plain, will draw on the combined efforts of the First Church’s “Eliot Street Soirée” series, headed by Janna Maria Fröhlich and a dedicated team of church volunteers, and notloB Parlour Concerts, under the direction of Jeff Boudreau. Located at 6 Eliot Street, First Parish also has hosted a series of contra dances and other similar events.

Fellswater, whose instrumentation comprises whistle, flute, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, violin, and smallpipes, is noted for a combination of cerebral arrangements and crisp playing. In addition to performing at both the Eliot Street Soirée and notloB series, the group has appeared at BCMFest, the New Hampshire Highland Games, Sandywood Farms and the Blackstone River Theatre. Fellswater – whose members are Betsy Ketudat, Jim MacConduibh, Sarah MacConduibh and Matthew Phelps – recently released their second CD, “Thursday Night.”

The Bombadils met at McGill University in Montreal four years ago while pursuing their studies in jazz and classical music, and began performing regularly throughout Québec at pubs and cafés, local dances, weddings and concerts. Singing in English and French, drawing on improvisation as well as traditional styles, the band has recorded a CD, “Fill Your Boots!” Its members are Anh Phung (whistles and flute), Sarah Frank (fiddle and vocals), Luke Fraser (guitar, mandolin and lead vocals) and Evan Stewart (upright bass).

The starting time for both shows will be 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:30 p.m.

Boudreau, in a press release announcing the new coffeehouse, said, “With community support, additional concerts will be presented in the parish hall, with the possibility of presentations in 2014 in the stunning 250-plus seat sanctuary.
“We have additional ideas incubating,” he added, “too early to disclose.”