BatesDowntown presents an evening of Americana

The BatesDowntown concert series presents an evening of classic country, folk, blues and other roots music by the Seth Warner Trio and the duo Day for Night at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at 22 Park St.

Admission is free, but tickets are required, available at batestickets.com. To learn more, contact 207-786-6163 or olinarts@bates.edu.

The Seth Warner Trio plays folk, blues, Americana and old-time country. Guitarist-singer Warner, whose performances have been described as “ethereal” by the Portland Press Herald, has appeared at venues as diverse as the Stockholm Folk and Blues Connection, the Boston Early Music Festival, WGBH radio and recently at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

Highlights from his two-decade career include performances and collaborations with the Parker String Quartet and tours with the extraordinary blues singer Francine Reed. Warner manages the Olin Arts Center at Bates and has served as executive producer for several internationally acclaimed classical recordings.

Also in the trio are Michael Desrosier, who plays electric guitar, and Tim Webb, who performs on upright bass.

Hailing from northwest Portland, Doug Hubley and Gretchen Schaefer are Day for Night. They support their harmony singing with guitar and mandolin. Their inspirations include Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, Lefty Frizzell, George Jones and some of country’s premiere brother acts — the Stanley Brothers, the Everly Brothers, the Louvin Brothers.

The pair, who first made music together in the 1990s as members of the Cowlix and the Boarders, combine wry humor with a bedrock reverence for musical tradition as they cover about three decades’ worth of country music — in addition to a growing list of Hubley originals, including “Bittersweet” and “The Ceiling,” both available on their ReverbNation site. “The Ceiling” is also for sale on iTunes.

Day for Night is a popular attraction at the annual Cornish Apple Festival and performs regularly at the Portland wine bar Blue. The band has also appeared at the Cornish Inn; the Frog and Turtle Gastropub, Westbrook; the Last Church on the Left, Portland; and in a variety of Bates productions.

Like Warner, Hubley is a Bates employee — college writer in the Bates Communications Office.