Watts’s acclaimed group, Boister, celebrates 20-year milestone at 447 on April 1

CAMBRIDGE — Cambridge resident Anne Watts brings Boister, her long-running musical ensemble, to town for a concert at 447 (447 Race St.) on April 1. The show, which starts at 7:30 pm, commemorates the band’s 20th anniversary.

Boister formed in 1997 and has, over the years, released seven CD’s of Ms. Watts’s original music, including last year’s Cast a Net; appeared at a wide variety of venues, including The Kennedy Center, The World Café in Philadelphia, the NXNE Festival in Toronto, and the American Visionary Art Museum; and been featured in The Washington Post and on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”

Baltimore’s City Paper called the band’s music “devastating and refreshingly radical” and named Ms. Watts “Best Pop Composer” in 2014.

Boister’s songs explore themes of birth and death, love and war, and, ultimately, transcendence. The band’s music exudes “a Copland understanding of American space mixed with a continental musical intimacy,” notes Baltimore arts writer Bret McCabe.

“We want to commemorate 20 years of music-making here in Groove City, since many of our songs were inspired by the people and natural world of Dorchester County,” says Ms. Watts, who’s lived in Cambridge since the mid-1990s and teaches piano out of her home.

In addition to Boister, the evening will also include bluegrass by The High and Wides, oysters on the half-shell, a cash bar, and birthday cake by Bay Country Bakery. Tickets are $20, $15 for students, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth.

Call 410-228-2818 for more information.