Anne Saunders, the festival’s artistic director, expressed delight that Falcon Ridge stalwarts Vance Gilbert, Nerissa & Katryna Nields, and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams are returning –along with Family Stage faves The Storycrafters — while Woodstock, NY-based husband & wife Americana duo Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams will make their Falcon Ridge debut. So too will Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and country-rock pioneer Richie Furay — who was a founding member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco and Souther, Hillman & Furay.

Among the other artists and acts slated to perform are the Adam Ezra Group, Annie & the Hedonists, The Black Feathers, The Ebony Hillbillies, Tret Fure. The Gaslight Tinkers, Craig Harris, Alice Howe & Freebo, David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach, Steve Postell, Sam Robbins, South For Winter, Amilia K. Spicer, and Annie Wenz.

The popular festival, which will feature four stages of music, officially kicks off on Friday afternoon, July 27, at noon. That’s when 13 artists have been invited to perform in the 2024 Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase on the festival’s Mainstage. Appearing in this year’s showcase are (listed alphabetically by last name, not in order of appearance) are Carlyle, Allie Chip, Heather Anne Lomax, Louie Lou Louis, Nan MacMillan, Sean Magwire, MQ Murphy, Alex Radus, Tina Ross, Ida Mae Specker, Mark Stepakoff, Tracy Walton, and Dylan Patrick Ward. Although there is no compensation for showcasing artists, each receives full admission, on-site camping and meals during the festival plus a guest pass

The Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase is not a contest, and artists won’t be judged per se during the festival, although the audience is surveyed as to which showcase artists they’d like to see return the following year to participate in a Most Wanted Song Swap. In evaluating submissions, a panel of three judges looked for high-quality performances of interesting, well-crafted, acoustic-based material. This year’s judges were Ron Olesko of Folk Music Notebook, singer-songwriter Carolann Solebello and Hannah Stritzker from Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Katie Dahl, Kemp Harris and The Honey Badgers –three of the four top audience-voted showcase performers from last year — will showcase their talents during this year’s Most Wanted Song Swap, as well as in other performance slots during the festival.

An Activities 4 Kids Area, Circle of Song acoustic community stage, Family and Workshop Stages, and Dance Barn also will begin on Friday afternoon, July 26, while evening Mainstage performances and nightly dancing are slated to follow the daytime programming. Mainstage performances extend until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, while Sunday’s musical festivities wrap up at 6 p.m. For those camping on the fairgrounds, there will be some late-night musical revelry featuring an array of informal jams, artist showcases and song circles that help foster a sense of “folk” community and a different kind of festival experience.

Tret Fure, a Virginia-based singer-songwriter also making her maiden flight at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, shares their excitement. “I’m delighted to be part of the lineup,” she said. “It’s gonna be a very moving weekend, I feel, on the heels of the recent passing of Tom Prasada Rao [a much-adored member of the folk and singer-songwriter community]. I know that there’ll be a lot of love for him there, so I’m just delighted to be part of the weekend.”

While live music may be Falcon Ridge’s main draw, festivalgoers also can enjoy a variety of ethnic and good ole Americana cuisines with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, while and array of international craft vendors will be plying and selling their wares.

Thursday Night Music Stage Precedes the Festival and Features Nine Talented Acts

Prior to the start of the actual festival, the aforementioned Pre-Fest Tastings & Farmers Market will take place on Thursday afternoon, while Scotten Jones (a co-founder of the Lounge Stage that hosted live music on Thursdays for many years) and Kathy Sands-Boehmer of Harbortown Music host a Thursday Night Music Stage beginning at 5 p.m.

“Being given the opportunity to present some artists on the Thursday Night Music Stage is a real labor of love,” said Sands-Boehmer, a former concert presenter who curates it. “So many folks come to the fest a day or two early so this is a great chance to experience music together before the actual festival begins on Friday.”

Artists slated to appear on the Thursday Night Music Stage include Mya Byrne, Goodnight Moonshine, Honeysuckle, Eva James, Kat and Brad, Heather Maloney, Miles and Mafale, Grace Morrison, and The Rough and Tumble.

“We are thrilled to be playing the Thursday Night Music Stage this year,” said Eben Pariser who, with his wife Molly Venter, is part of the New Haven, CT-based guitar & vocal duo Goodnight Moonshine. “Molly and I are old-school Falcon Ridge alums, having both won the emerging artist showcase with our respective bands, Red Molly and Roosevelt Dime,” He noted. “Even as everything changes, it’s nice to know that some things stay the same – like the feeling we get when we reunite with our Falcon Ridge community.”

Three-day festival tickets are $250 with camping or $175 without camping. Single -day tickets also are available for $65. All three-day tickets include Pre-Fest Thursday admission, while tickets for Pre-Fest Thursday also can be purchased for $20 at the gate. Children ages 12 and under will be admitted free, while tickets are heavily discounted for teens. The campgrounds will open by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24. More information on the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival can be found at falconridgefolk.com.

Adam Ezra Group, Shawn Colvin, Vance Gilbert, Martin Sexton, and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams are among the artists slated to appear. Also showcasing their talents will be Allison Leah, John John Brown, Ian Campbell (the festival’s artistic director), Bruce T. Carroll, Scott Cook with Pamela Mae, KJ Denhert, Kala Farnham, Deidre Flint, Abbie Gardner, Goodnight Moonshine, Kyle Hancharick, Phil Henry, Mike Horyczun, The McKrells, The Meadows Brothers, Matt Nakoa, Shanna in a Dress, Victor Wainwright and the Train, Tracy Walton, and more. Artists will also conduct workshops.

Ian Campbell, who curates the festival, said that Black Bear Americana Music Fest was borne out a conversation with his now partner, Beth, who told him that she was thinking of creating a festival and asked if , with his experience in the music business, would he be interest. “She called another friend, Evan Dobos, who mis a whiz at web design and branding – and then I called some old friends who I knew from 1984 when they were a small DJ company,” he said, noting that “the now huge” Powerstation Events partnered with them in producing the festival.

He acknowledged that the festival drew a “pretty scant attendance” its first year. “We tease that all six people who were there had an amazing time,” Campbell said. “Artists like Vance Gilbert and Joe Crookston stood on the stage and told the small crowd: ‘You can say you were here in the beginning of what is going to be a huge festival.’”

From its humble beginnings, the festival has grown each year. Although still relatively small, Campbell and his team keep adding new elements and layers to the festival. “This year will have 50+ acts, all kinds of workshops – from songwriting and studio pre-production to guitar, open tuning, ukulele and hand drums all the way to [making] bourbon-candied bacon and Slambovian jellyfish umbrellas,” he noted. “We have showcase and jam tents, and just all kinds of things going on all the time. There won’t be a dull moment, if you don’t’ want one. Then again, you can kick back at your campsite with a fire and have all the dull moments you want,” Campbell added. Participating artists appear to share his enthusiasm for the festival.

Performing Songwriters Share Their Reflections on the Festival

A studio owner, as well as performing songwriter, Walton is also pleased to see a number of artists who he is currently recording are part of this year’s festival lineup. “Sierra West is really amazing, and the Meadows Brothers have been favorites of mine for years, so getting to produce them has been special,” he said. “Seeing acts like Shawn Colvin and Martin Sexton headlining this year is super exciting,” he added.

Calling Litchfield County “one of the prettiest places on the planet in the fall,” Walton maintains “it’s the perfect setting for what should be an amazing weekend. It feels like this is going to be the year that Black Bear really arrives as a big player on the festival circuit.”

Kyle Hancharick, an upstate New York-based singer-songwriter, is also “excited” to be returning to the festival. Like Walton, Hancharick performed at the first festival in 2018, while he came as a listener and participated in a few workshops that he called “incredible” last year. “It’s such a supportive environment with incredible talent,” he said. “Ian Campbell and his team have grown this festival in the very best of ways,” he noted, while also expressing appreciate for the audience it draws. “The festival has grown since its beginnings but it still has that intimate feel between performers and listeners. They’re true folk fans,” he added.

“I love Black Bear Fest – with the exception of the temperature making my stage name a little more difficult to execute,” she said. Besides showcasing her performance and songwriting chops that have earned her accolades as a winner of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition and the Great River Folk Fest Song Competition in 2020, as well as of the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase in August, Shanna will lead songwriting workshops including Let’s Write a Funny Song.

Late-Night Song Circles to Take Place Under the Big Orange Tarp

New to the Black Bear Americana Music Fest this year will be unplugged, late-night song circles under the Big Orange Tarp hosted on the campgrounds by Alan Rowoth beginning after the music ends on the main stage on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as a housewarming circle on Thursday night preceding the actual start of the festival.

Inspired by the late-night song circles that he experienced at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country beginning in 1992, Rowoth sought to replicate what he calls “the incredibly intimate nature of this listening experience” at other festivals.” Noting that campground music was virtually unheard of at other folk festivals around the country at the time, Rowoth decided “to try to spread the germ” by taking his Big Orange Tarp to campgrounds at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (which now also takes place at the Goshen Fairgrounds), Planet Bluegrass in Colorado, Sonoma Valley in California, and other spots. “I honed the performer quality and fine-tuned the circle format to maximize the listener experience to try and stimulate interest in the house concert scene that was just beginning to take off. Audience response was incredible. Other festival camps began to emulate us.”

Having engaged in this labor of love for more than 30 years now as he seeks to create opportunities for musicians by connecting them with listeners and presenters, Rowoth is pleased to bring the Big Orange Tarp to Goshen, CT this year. “Black Bear is a great fit for us,” he said. “Ian Campbell’s love of music and the community festival experience is exactly what the Big Orange Tarp is all about. We could not be more excited about partnering with Ian.”

As at Falcon Ridge, Rowoth plans to start each night with established performers — including some who are part of the official festival lineup and others who are not — and eventually transition to an open circle. “We have no scheduled closing time; it ends when everyone leaves,” he added. Although Rowoth often livestreams performances from the Big Orange Tarp via his Facebook page to create even greater accessibility, he believes that “Nothing feels as good as being there in person.”

For Tickets and More Information on the Festival

Day tickets and multi-day camping tickets for the Black Bear Americana Music Festival may be purchased online at blackbearmusicfest.com, where you will also find more information on the festival – including the complete artist lineup and schedule.

“For more than two decades, the New Bedford Folk Festival has been enjoyed by both locals and visitors who love food, music and artisan markets, so it was very much missed during the pandemic,” said Rosemary Gill, executive director of the Zeiterion PAC, the festival’s presenter since 2016.

The festival schedule includes a plethora of talented artists and acts — many of them performing in song-swap style workshops with folks whom they may have never even met, making for unique musical pairings. It also poses a dilemma of choices that may have some attendees walking briskly from one stage to another nearby to catch certain artists.

There will be continuous music from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on seven sound stages, ranging from the intimate “Meet the Performer” area at the historic Seamen’s Bethel (which figures In Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby Dick) and the National Park Garden Stage to the majestic 1200-seat Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. Besides nearly 75 musical performances on those stages, there will be non-ticketed areas open to the public – including six blocks of craft vendors, a gourmet food court & beer garden, and a Southcoast Stage featuring local performers.

“We continue to attract high-caliber musicians who are the best in their genre,” maintains Alan Korolenko, who originated the festival as New Bedford Summerfest in 1996 and currently serves as its artistic director, along with his wife Helene. “Our loyal audience look forward to the artists they know, as well as those they haven’t yet experienced, like at the workshops [featuring three of four artists/acts on stage at the same time] that match unlikely musicians,” he said. “These unique performances have helped New Bedford Folk Festival to become the gem it is today.” This summer’s song swap-style workshops include “A Change is Gonna Come: Topical Songs Then and Now,” “The Great American Songbook: What’s In It, What Should Be In It,” and “Now I Long for Yesterday: Songs I Wish I had Written.”

Local artists Back Porch, Butch McCarthy, Chuck Williams, Dori Rubbicco, Eric Kilburn, Fourteen Strings, Gary Fish and Red Fish, Jeff Angeley and the Pebbles of Rain, Joanne Doherty, MaryBeth Soares and Dave Perreira, Mike Laureanno, Molly O’Leary, New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus, Putnam Murdock, Sacred Harp with The Beans, The Harper and The Minstrel, and The Jethros will showcase their talents on the Southcoast stage, the only stage open to the public without tickets.

Besides the music, many artisans and crafts makers will set up booths along the cobblestoned streets between the performance tents and venues. Among them will be jewelers, instrument makers, tie dyeers, local honey purveyors, ceramic artists, vendors selling handmade health and beauty products, and more.

Admission to the festival is quite affordable at $50 for the weekend or $40 for one-day. Weekend and single-day passes are available for purchase at Zeiterion.org, by calling 508-994-2900, or in person at the box office at 684 Purchase Street. Children under 12 will be admitted free with an adult.

For more information and to see complete schedules for the weekend, visit newbedfordfolkfestival.com.

Marking its usual calendar spot and Brigadoon-like appearance, the fest will be shorter & sweeter yet still brimming with love, talent, community spirit and, of course, still accessible and ASL-interpreted, according to Anne Saunders, the festival’s artistic director. She noted that this year’s festival will seek to be as contact-free as possible and advises attendees to bring and use only their own chairs. There will be no on-site camping.

A Day of Falcon Ridge — for which advance ticket sales end by July 28 — will feature eight acts on two stages, along with more limited food and crafts and the ever-present community vibe. Slated to perform are festival stalwarts Vance Gilbert, Nerissa & Katryna Nields, the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, and Susan Werner.

Over the span of more than 30 years, the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival has drawn thousands of music lovers to a farm in Hillsdale, New York — located in the foothills of the Berkshires near the tri-state corner of NY, Connecticut and Massachusetts — where the multi-day event usually takes place. The festival generally features dozens of artists performing on several stages, children’s music and activities, and a wide array of crafts, food and other vendors. In recent years, it has been preceded by a Pre-Fest Tastings Day & Farm Market featuring locally grown food, drink and artisanal items, along with performances by a number of artists on The Lounge Stage curated by Tribal Mischief Productions. Those camping at Falcon Ridge and staying up through the early morning hours have enjoyed an array of informal jams, mini-showcases and after-hours song circles that help foster a sense of “folk” community.

Saunders expressed hope that Falcon Ridge can return to its previous incarnation next year. “But this year, amid the pandemic, we’re following state and federal guidelines and exhibiting an abundance of caution out of concern for the health and safety of our community,” she said.

The festival usually features dozens of artists performing on several stages (including a dance tent), children’s music and activities, and a wide array of crafts, food and other vendors. For the past several years, a Pre-Fest Tastings Day & Farm Market has taken place on Thursday and featured locally grown food, drink and artisanal items, along with performances by a number of artists from the late afternoon through the evening on the Lounge Stage curated by Tribal Mischief. Those camping at Falcon Ridge and staying up through the early morning hours have enjoyed an array of informal jams, mini-showcases and after-hours song circles that help foster a sense of “folk” community. This year’s virtual festival will be quite a different experience to be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home.

The Falcon Ridge 2020 Share & Shelter In Place Fest will be shown on the festival’s Facebook and YouTube pages: facebook.com/FalconRidgeFest and http://youtube.com/channel/UCgoYgzUgfFhTc_EXhNeC_ng? from 1:30-4:30 p.m. each day and will also be archived for replay and future viewing. The audio stream from the virtual festival may also be heard on FolkMusic Notebook.com, the 24/7 online music channel.Live streams from virtual camps, song swaps and mini-showcases — including The Lounge Stage on Thursday night (see details below), Big Orange Tarp, Dave Carter Song Circle, Night Owl Song Swap, Pirate Camp and more will also be shared at later times via various online platforms.

Evocative archival footage from past festivals and special messages from previous festival artists, longtime vendors, radio sponsors, dancers, campers, and others in the festival commUNITY will be interspersed among performance videos by 30 confirmed participating artists/acts and an abbreviated Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase.

Scott Cook (a Canadian prairie roots balladeer), Zoe Mulford (a transatlantic singer-songwriter) and South For The Winter (a Nashville-based, genre-bending trio) were the artists who were voted “Most Wanted” to return by festival attendees following last year’s Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase.

More information on Cook and the other Most Wanted artists, as well as video links, may be found in an article that was published in February and may be found at https://acousticmusicscene.com/2020/02/12/falcon-ridge-most-wanted-artists-named-2/.

Although 24 artists/acts usually showcase their talents on Friday afternoon, this year’s abbreviated edition of the Emerging Artist Showcase includes 11: Andy Baker, John Beacher, Randy Lewis Brown, Buffalo Rose, Kala Farnham, Lynne Hanson, Indian Summer Jars, Karyn Ann, The Levins, The Real Sarahs, and Shanna in a Dress. The Emerging Artists Showcase is not a contest, and artists won’t be judged per se, although the audience is surveyed as to which showcase artists they’d like to see return the following year to participate in a Most Wanted Song Swap.

Lounge Stage at Falcon Ridge Streams Via Twitch on Thursday, July 30

Another highlight of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival has been The Lounge Stage. For the past 10 years, many festivalgoers have flocked to it on Thursdays for an early musical fix before the festival formally gets underway on Friday.

Curated by Tribal Mischief (the brainchild of Ethan Baird and Jake Bush, who are also the mainstays of the band Pesky J. Nixon) with tech support by Scott Jones, what began as a special event on the festival’s campgrounds now customarily takes place in the Dance Tent. This year, The Lounge Stage will stream live on Thursday evening, July 30, from 7p.m.-12 a.m. EST at http://twitch.tv/tribalmischief.

Artists slated to perform, in order of appearance, include Pete Mancine, Izzy Heltai, Zoe Mulford, Brian and Katie (We’re About 9), Mya Byrne, Kirsten Maxwell, Dinty Child, Sol y Canto, Mike McKenna Jr., Annie Sumi, Tragedy Ann, Rachael Kilgour, Crys Matthews, Heather Mae, and Vance Gilbert.

Baird noted that the Lounge Stage at Falcon Ridge was launched to afford the weeklong attendees at the festival and select artists an opportunity to more intimately engage with each other when the festival was forced to shorten its schedule after a couple of really challenging years due to weather. Over the last decade, the Lounge Stage has presented more than 200 artists. “This year, the stage has really been split into two entities,” said Baird. “ One run by Scott Jones — our initial partner in putting the Lounge Stage together as the technical director and master of lighting, sound, and recording – will feature a retrospective of the last 10 years of material from the Lounge Stage’s evolution from hillside show to a festival mainstay. Jake and I are taking what we have built with the Tribal Mischief network of conversational programming and music presentation and are hoping to present the best amalgamation of virtual and live events.

Baird acknowledged that while multiple musicians can share a stage via the platform that Tribal Mischief is using, current technology won’t allow for them to play together live simultaneously. “However,’ he added, “they can cheer for each other, comment, speak, and interact. That interaction has always been the principle on which the Lounge Stage was built, and to be able to facilitate that means a lot to us.”

Baird noted that “Tribal Mischief is in the middle of a high-risk experiment in which we are betting on technologies and online tools that the folk community hasn’t really embraced as of yet — namely YouTube and Twitch. There are millions of people out there on these platforms actively and desperately looking for good content, for something different. We are betting that this is something that the remarkable creators in our community may not have realized they were missing.”

In addition, but of equal importance, according to Baird, “both of these platforms offer creators the opportunity to earn money passively through advertising.” He said that “while we welcome the subscriptions of our fans and want to encourage community building and engagement, we are trying to move away from a fundraising mechanism that is 100% reliant on donations. We hope to be able to build that through efforts like this.” Accordingly, this will be the first Lounge Stage for which donations will be accepted. It will also be the first one for which all the participating artists will be paid, while 20 percent of the funds raised will go to help ensure that the continuation of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

“We won’t take a penny raised through this show – making sure that the artist community has an opportunity to make some money this year –considering all the shows and performances that have been lost is really important to us, “ Baird added.

Tribal Mischief (http://tribalmischief.com) seeks to assist worthy causes and build community through music. Baird and Bush host weekly conversational broadcasts with music makers and others in the music industry each Sunday on Tribal Mischief’s Twitch channel.

To stream or download past Lounge Stage performances, visit http://theloungestage.com.

Although there is no cost the stream the Falcon Ridge 2020 Share & Shelter in Place Festival, Saunders noted that donations — via paypal.me/FalconRiidgeFolkFest or venmo.com/FalconRidgeFolks or from the venmo app: @FalconRidgeFolks –will be much appreciated.”One of our goals in presenting this virtual fest, as far as contributions raised,is to come as close as we can to paying all of our confirmed artists their entire fee for this year because, for many of them, it may be the only fee they will get for a very long time,” she said. “Along with that, we hope to give something substantial to Dodds Farm [where the festival usually takes place] so that they can continue to hold on as well.”

“None of us know when it will be possible to responsibly invite you back to Quiet Valley Ranch; we are hoping with all our hearts for October,” The Kerrville Festival Foundation staff wrote in a May 14 email to friends of the festival. “In the meantime, we are doing all we can, using every option available to us to weather this storm, and we will succeed.

What gives us faith is all of you. We are so deeply touched by so many messages of encouragement, love for the festival, and love for the community. And as festival time draws closer, we asked our artists to help us with a gift to our Festival family.”

Kerrville Folk Festival Virtual Concerts are slated for Saturdays May 23, May 30 and June 6 from 7-9 p.m. CDT/8-10 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT. Among the artists set to perform are Marcia Ball, Beat Root Revival, Black Pumas, The Chris Chandler Show, Mikaela Davis, John Elliott, Folk Family Revival, Rebecca Folsom, John Fullbright, Vance Gilbert, Jaimee Harris, Kyshona, Bernice Lewis, The Limeliters, James McMurtry, Tom Meny, Possessed by Paul James, Tom Prasada-Rao Trio, Bruce Robison, Shake Russell & Michael Hearne, Darrell Scott, Texicana Mamas, Verlon Thompson, Trout Fishing in America, Wood & Wire, and more.

The virtual concerts will stream online at https://kerrvillefolkfestival.orgg and on the festival’s Facebook page, where more details will be posted in coming days. Viewers will be afforded the opportunity to tip the artists and donate to the foundation. The two-hour concerts each evening will be followed by Virtual Campfires via Zoom hosted by members of the Kerrmunitty.

Named as finalists in the Grassy Hill-Kerrville New Folk Competition are: Clint Alphin (Nashville, TN), Andy Baker (Gables, MI), Nancy Beaudette (Cornwall, ON, Canada), John John Brown (Pawling, NY), T Buckley (Calgary, AB, Canada), Susan Cattaneo (Medford, MA), Ryan Davenport (Taylor, TX), Anne E. DeChant (Avon Lake, OH), Nick Dupuy (New Canaan, CT), Eliza Edens (Williamstown, MA), Daniel Elixir (Brixley, MO), Chad Elliott (Limoni, IA), Jeremy Facknitz (Colorado Springs, CO), Sadie Gustafson-Zook (Boston, MA), Claire Kelly (Nashville, TN), China Kent (Denver, Colorado), Abigail Lapell (Toronto, ON, Canada), Louise Mosrie (Williamstown, MA), Russ Parrish (Burnsville, MN), Michael Prysock (Dallas, TX), Justina Shandler(Roanoke, VA), Shanna in a Dress (Boulder, CO), Aubryn Stevens (Nashville, TN), and Alex Wong (Nashville, TN).

After performing the two songs that they submitted during New Folk Concerts slated for Oct. 9 and 10 at the Threadgill Theater during the festival, six songwriters will be selected as 2020 New Folk Winners. The six will receive cash honorariums and other prizes, as well as the opportunity to return the following weekend to each perform 20-minute sets during a Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Award Winners concert.

Established in 1972 at the urging of Peter Yarrow, the Kerrville New Folk Concerts have become a highlight of the annual festival that is geared towards singer-songwriters of various musical styles and is the longest continuously running festival of its kind in North America. In addition to receiving cash awards and additional performance opportunities, being named as a New Folk Award Winner is regarded as a very prestigious honor.

Scott Cook, a Canadian prairie roots balladeer, was the top choice “with an amazing 49% of voters in his corner,” according to Anne Saunders, the festival’s artistic director. An internationally touring Edmonton, Alberta-based troubadour, Cook has been playing an average of more than 150 shows and a dozen festivals annually since 2007. His sixth album, Further Down the Line (2017), is packaged in a 132-page softcover book that features a look back, in words and pictures, on his first decade of near-incessant rambling. A straight-talking, keenly observant singer-songwriter, Cook delves in folk, roots, blues, soul and country, and accompanies himself on fingerstyle guitar and clawhammer banjo.

Here’s a link to a video by JB Nuttle of Cook performing “Fellas Get Out The Way”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q3iGNvkPM8praie

Zoe Mulford, a transatlantic singer-songwriter, is, perhaps, best-known as the writer of “The President Sang Amazing Grace,” which was covered by Joan Baez on her 2018 album Whistle Down the Wind and was named Song of the Year in the 2018 International Folk Music Awards presented by Folk Alliance International. Baez’s recording was the most-played song on folk radio during March 2018, while Mulford’s own rendition of it appears on her 2017 release Small Brown Birds that was the most-played album on folk radio in February of that year, according to the Folk DJ Charts.

Here’s a link to view a video by JB Nuttle of Zoe Mulford performing the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qdB1EypJFU

Mulford, who originally hails from Pennsylvania, has released five albums on the cooperative Azalea City Recordings label. She now lives in the North of England and tours on both sides of the Atlantic.

South for Winter is a genre-bending Nashville, Tennessee-based trio whose music fuses folk, blues, classical, jazz and rock elements. Band members cite The Civil Wars and The Lone Bellow among their influences. Initially a duo featuring Colorado singer-songwriter Dani Cichon and New Zealand musician Nick Stone who met while doing volunteer work in Peru in 2014, South for Winter became a trio with the addition of Michigan cellist Alex Stradal in 2017. The group released its debut EP in January 2018 and a follow-up EP that August before embarking on its first national tour. The band has since toured Canada as well.

Here’s a link to view the official video for South for Winter’s song “All We Have”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnjwe7k6Mp4

Popular Festival is Set for July 31-August 2, 2020

Although many of the festival’s participating artists are still to be announced, its popular Friday Night Summer’s Eve Song Swap will feature Vance Gilbert, Matt Nakoa, Susan Werner and one more TBA. Longtime festival favorites Katryna and Nerissa Nields and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams also have been confirmed for the weekend.

Apply Now for Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase

Applications also are now being accepted for this year’s Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase. From among all entries received by May 10, 24 artists/acts will be selected for two song/10-minute spots on the main stage on Friday afternoon, July 31, during the festival.

An opportunity to be seen and heard in a large amphitheater setting, with hundreds of folk fans, presenters, agents, media and other music industry professionals in attendance, the showcase is open to all performing artists who have not previously showcased their talents at Falcon Ridge in the last two years and who will not be appearing on its stages in any other capacity this year. In evaluating submissions, a panel of three judges will look for high-quality performances of interesting, well-crafted, acoustic-based material that need not be original.

Selected artists, to be notified by June 15, will be assisted by a stage and sound crew and may have their mailing lists, CDs and other merchandise available in the festival’s sales tent. Their names will also appear in the festival program book. Although there is no compensation for showcasing artists, each will receive full admission, on-site camping and meals for the festival, plus one guest pass per act. There is a $20 showcase application fee. Artists may submit materials online via Submittable: https://showcasefalconridgefolkfestival.submittable.com.