CHELSEA HOUSE
West Brattleboro, Vermont

The big red barn in its heyday - Chelsea House was at the forefront of folk music scene

November 4, 2023 | Brattleboro Reformer (VT)
Page: B07 | Section: News
766 Words

Credited to the Brattleboro Historical Society.

The Chelsea House was a music venue, mostly folk, that operated in West Brattleboro, Vermont, from 1974 to 1981. It drew heavily from more populous areas to the south. The second petroleum crisis and new competition in Northampton, Massachusetts, did much to sink Chelsea House finances. Bill Gehman told me the recording studio was the only part of the operation that was making money.

Margaret MacArthur initially thought a Brattleboro folk coffeehouse would not work. Soon, though, she started making valuable suggestions about ways to make this project succeed. She was the featured act on opening night.

One of the "local" opening night musicians, referenced in the Reformer article but not named, was and still is John Roberts of the folk duo, John Roberts and Tony Barrand. Of John, Tony once said, "John is not a true basso profundo but he's very smart."

The Brattleboro Folk Festival started in the Chelsea House. In later years, it was moved to the West Village Meeting House and then outdoors. The outdoors festival featured the most amazing custom-made speakers one could ever hope to see, made up of countless small speakers. As unorthodox and odd looking as this concoction was, the sound was remarkably good.

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Chelsea House Founders

William Howard Gehman (1939-2007)

Carol Margaret Levin (1941-2020)

Tony Ashe was also very important to the Chelsea House.

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Brattleboro Reformer articles, behind a paywall, are available to subscribers as well as to people who purchase the newspaper. There may or may not be a set number of free articles online. I am posting this publication information here for the benefit of anyone who can and who wants to hunt up the article.

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