The OutWest Concert Series, presented by SCVTV, is back again with An Evening with Tracy Newman and the Reinforcements on Thursday, September 24.

Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show will start at 8 p.m. at the Repertory East Playhouse on Main Street in Old Town Newhall.

Admittance prices are $20 and $17 for members of the WMA, SCVHS, FOHP and BASC.

Tracy Newman grew up in Los Angeles. She started playing guitar as a young teen, back then she was mostly influenced by the Kingston Trio, because she could actually play some of their songs, especially “Tom Dooley” which had, and still has, only two chords.

After high school, Tracy wanted to be a folksinger, but her parents insisted she go to college. She went to the U of A in Tucson and quickly dug up the “folk” community. Soon she stopped attending college and was playing on street corners for money. Her mother flew to Tucson and dragged her back to Los Angeles.

In the early 70s, she joined an improvisation class taught by Gary Austin, which became The Groundlings. Tracy is a founding member, and besides being in the show, she began teaching and directing there. Her sister, Laraine Newman, was the first Groundling to be discovered there by Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night Live.

It was at the Groundlings that Tracy met her future TV writing partner, Jonathan Stark. They started on Cheers, and worked on many shows, including Bob (Bob Newhart), The Nanny, Ellen, The Drew Carey Show and Hiller and Diller (Richard Lewis and Kevin Nealon). In 1997, they won the Emmy and the prestigious Peabody Award for writing the ground-breaking “coming out” episode of Ellen. In 2001, they created the ABC comedy, According to Jim, which completed it’s eighth and final season of production.

Tracy has been writing songs all along and is performing full-time. She has three CDs. Her current band is made up of Gene Lippmann (guitar and vocal), John Cartwright (bass), Paula Fong (vocal) and Doug Knoll (drums). The music is essentially acoustic folk. They do a funny, moving and memorable show.

More on Tracy Newman
http://tracynewman.com/

2015 Concert Series Schedule
http://www.outwestmktg.com/events/live-music.cfm

SCVTV Presents The OutWest Concert Series features top performers of Western, Bluegrass, Swing, and Americana Roots Music in Old Town Newhall’s intimate Repertory East Playhouse. Sponsored by SCVTV, OutWest, The REP, WMACC, and a special “thank you” to the Magazine of Santa Clarita. These concerts are filmed and aired by SCVTV, the community’s public television media center.