Two Way Street Coffee House – Bobcat Opossum
WELCOME TO THE TWO WAY STREET COFFEE HOUSE FRIDAY NIGHT SERIES!
Two Way Street Coffee House is Chicagoland’s most beloved folk and acoustic music venue, presenting weekly concerts and community events for over 50 years! The show starts at 8pm (CT) and the doors open at 7:30pm. (Suggested donation $10). We will also host this concert virtually. You may access the livestream on www.twowaystreet.org, on our Facebook page or on our YouTube channel.
On Friday August 28, 2026 Two Way Street Coffee House Friday Night Concert Series presents Bobcat Opossum.
FEATURED ARTIST
Sean Hoffman and Ellen Coplin have spent years exploring the connections between musical traditions—from Irish sessions and old-time fiddle tunes to bluegrass, Americana, and original songwriting. Their performances feel less like a concert and more like being welcomed into a musical gathering where every tune has a story and every song has found its way home.
ARTIST BIO
“Bobcat Opossum is a tune slinging, genre bending duo from the back alleys of the Midwestern wilderness. They’ve picked through the field and around the campfires for the tastiest folk songs and fiddle tunes in all the land. They have trod the rugged roads of Irish and Old Time American traditional music and have lived to tell the tales.
Multi-instrumentalists Sean Hoffman and Ellen Coplin prepare a slow-roasted feast for the ears, garnished with homegrown original songs. Pull up a chair, but be warned, you may get the feeling that you are in exactly the right place at the right time.” ~ Liv Lafluv
Bobcat Opossum is Sean Hoffman and Ellen Coplin. They draw inspiration for original music and repertoire from traditional music across several genres including Irish, Americana, bluegrass, classical, and old time music.
Bobcat Opossum is Ellen Coplin and Sean Hoffman, a genre-bending duo from the back alleys of the Midwestern wilderness. They draw inspiration from Irish, bluegrass, old time, and classical music. They believe that music should be accessible to all and is an essential part of life. They tour, perform, and teach extensively across the country. They are co-founders and co-directors of the Folky Fish Jam Camp, Debutants Hoot Camp, and the Fairfield Falcon Fiddle Club. They also play with Indiana newgrass band Debutants and Irish traditional band Soltre’.
Ellen Coplin crawled over to the piano as a toddler and hasn’t been able to shake the music habit since! She grew up in Northwest Ohio playing piano and cello and graduated from Taylor University with a bachelors in music composition. She is an accomplished and experienced teacher across many instruments including piano, cello, guitar, bass and ukulele. She plays cello and keyboard with newgrass band Debutants and Irish band Soltre.
She is also on staff for the Redwing Academy, a week-long music camp preceding the Redwing Roots Music Festival in Mt. Solon, VA.
Sean Hoffman has been teaching and playing fiddle for many years. He grew up playing bluegrass with his family in Indiana and studied Irish music with New York-based fiddler Brian Conway. He plays with multiple bands including Debutants, Bobcat Opossum, and Soltre. He is fascinated by the relationship between Irish music and old-time dance music, those not so distant cousins separated by an ocean and re-imagined in the hills and hollers of the New World.
Sean runs the Fairfield Falcon Fiddle Club, an after-school program for 4th and 5th graders in Fort Wayne, IN. He has also been on staff (2019 and 2020) at the Earful of Fiddle Music and Dance Camp in Rodney, MI and the Redwing Academy (2017-Present), and was the 2023 Guest Artist at the Linda Luebke Strings Festival in Terre Haute, IN.