"Mystic Cafe" singer-songwriter series presents Brian Claflin With guest, poet Brook Van Der Linde $10-20 suggested donation (Tix: night-of, no advance sales) (doors 7pm) Snacks & hot beverages available. This is an alcohol-free venue.
Welcome
January 2026: announcing upcoming NEW SINGLE
“ICE on the ROAD” - for Renee Nicole Good
Preview YouTube video here:
Written in response to the killing of this young mother of three as she was driving away from ICE agents in her Minneapolis neighborhood on January 7th of 2026.
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My stepdad, Jamie O'Hara, passed away in January of 2021. For over 50 years Jamie made his own music and wrote hit songs for many other artists. My mother and I were honored to welcome Ms. Emmylou to sing a tribute to him in Nashville in July of 2022, at a long-overdue in-person Celebration Of Life generously hosted by the BMI Center in Nashville.
Jamie was a huge influence on my singing - and, his earliest songs, my songwriting as well. Luckily for us all, the songs live on. "Gone Long Gone", co-written with Kieran Kane, has long been a favorite at memorial services around the country. Emmylou recorded it on the first Trio album with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and this time sang it in Jamie's memory. Photo by Samantha Kae.
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Here's a video of me doing "Difficult People", an original heavily influenced by the late great John Prine, performed at Jubilee Community in Asheville:
DIFFICULT PEOPLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo6kK4314Oo&list=LLzVpv053VLlIFUEngJUjxGQ
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I'm proud to announce that my song, "I'm Gonna Walk It With You", co-written with Ellie Grace and recorded with her in 2016 as the duo Claflin & Grace, has been selected for inclusion on the compilation Hope Rises, produced by Noel 'Paul' Stookey of Peter, Paul, & Mary fame, through his nonprofit Music2Life.
Music to Life is a national nonprofit that empowers local musicians to become champions for change in the areas of civil rights, climate advocacy, poverty and health. Music to Life’s Activist Musician Accelerator, the first of its kind for activist artists, builds partnerships between musicians and their communities to create measurable change through music. It is based in Wilder, Vermont. For more, visit www.musictolife.org
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SHOWS:
Previous events
An intimate house-concert hosted at the mad hatter's tea party - - I mean, the communal home associated with the Jubilee! Community church... Same thing.
Outdoors, hosted at my elementary alma mater (but NOT a children's show!). Open to the public.
My set starts promptly at 7pm, with Marie Danielle at 8pm, Kellen Zakula and The Yeah Daddies at 9pm, and Strawberry Runners at 10pm.
Songwriter round-robin with Matt Townsend, Hannah Kaminer and Nate Spencer - and EP release party (and video shoot!) for my "Cesspool of Sin" EP.
Last year this event drew 10,000 people, and was voted by The Nation Magazine as “Most Valuable Protest” of 2013.
Hosted by the Mountain People’s Assembly, a coalition of WNC organizations, and regional WNC NAACP Branches, this non-partisan program will highlight the destructive policies enacted by the North Carolina statehouse over the past year while strongly focusing on the voter empowerment campaign, “Moral March to the Polls.”
Featuring the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the NC NAACP and other guest speakers, as well as musical entertainment - like me, joined by Saro Lynch.