Peter, Paul and Mary’s music and social activism helped to shape a generation. Through the years, the popular and inspirational folk trio who frequently sang out against war and injustice touched the hearts and consciences of millions of people worldwide, won five Grammy Awards, received eight gold and five platinum records, released six Billboard top 10 singles, had two #1 Billboard chart-topping albums and a dozen top 40 hits, and have been the subject of five PBS documentaries.

Peter Yarrow was born on May 31, 1938 in New York City. Although he took violin lessons as a child, inspired by folks like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, he later switched to guitar. After graduating from Cornell University in 1959 with a degree in Psychology (although he also was a teaching assistant in an American folklore class), Yarrow returned to NYC and began playing the folk clubs and basket houses of Greenwich Village. After meeting music impresario Albert Grossman (who managed Dylan, Janis Joplin, Odetta, and others) who was eager to work with a folk harmony group, Yarrow set about with Grossman to launch one.

Peter, Paul and Mary – featuring Yarrow (guitar and tenor vocals), Noel Paul Stookey’s (guitar and gentle baritone vocals) and Mary Travers’ (contralto vocals) — formed in 1961, having made its first public appearance that fall at the Bitter End on Bleecker Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village. The trio’s eponymous debut album, released on Warner Brothers Records in May 1962, topped the charts that summer, remained in the Billboard magazine top 10 for ten months and the top 20 for two years, sold more than two-million copies, and featured the Grammy Award-winning hit single, “If I Had a Hammer.” That song, penned by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of The Weavers (whom Yarrow viewed as early mentors), became an anthem of the civil rights movement and was performed by the trio on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, along with its rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” during the historic 1963 March on Washington at which the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Peter, Paul and Mary’s rendition of “ Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” was released in the summer of 1963 and also became a big hit for the trio. Archival footage of the trio performing the song during the march appears in the 2014 PBS documentary 50 Years with Peter, Paul and Mary, produced and directed by Emmy Award-winner Jim Brown. As Yarrow observes in the documentary, it was time when “music began to inspire America, tweak its conscience, and articulate its dreams.”

Besides “Blowin’ in the Wind,” the trio also recorded Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In” and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” with its rendition of the latter song also landing in Billboard’s top 10. Yarrow served on the board of the Newport Folk Festival and helped to emcee the event in 1965 when Dylan went electric. Famously, as recreated in the widely acclaimed Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown that is currently screening at movie theaters, Dylan borrowed Yarrow’s guitar to play “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

Although Peter, Paul and Mary performed together over the span of 50 years, there were times when the trio was on hiatus with each of its members pursuing solo careers and projects. The first such break came in 1970, shortly after the release of the trio’s cover of John Denver’s “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” and Yarrow’s conviction after pleading guilty to taking “indecent liberties” with an under-age girl who had come to his dressing room seeking an autograph in 1969, for which he served three months in prison.

While “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” was its last number one hit, Yarrow penned “Light One Candle” for the trio in 1982 – while war was raging in Lebanon – that has since become a popular Chanukah song. Peter, Paul and Mary performed “Light One Candle” — whose lyrics commemorate a war of national liberation fought by the Maccabees, while also calling for peace in the Middle East – for several years before recording it on its 1986 studio album No Easy Walk to Freedom. Its moving lyrics include: “Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice justice and freedom demand. Light one candle for the wisdom to know when the peacemaker’s time is at hand.” The 1986 album’s title track is a civil rights anthem that Yarrow co-wrote with Margery Tabankin.

An anti-war activist, Yarrow helped to organize and produce a number of large events including peace concerts at NYC’s Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium, as well as the 1969 “Celebration of Life” march and demonstration in Washington, DC during which some 500,000 people demanded an end to America’s involvement in Vietnam.

Yarrow was a major champion of other songwriters who particularly sought to nurture the talents of new and emerging ones who, as he put it, “write from the heart.” A founding board member of the Newport Folk Festival, he also developed and hosted a Sunday afternoon concert focused on emerging folk artists and songwriters – providing earl opportunities to such artists as Eric Anderson, Tim Hardin and Buffy St. Marie. Ten years later, in 1972, he partnered with Rod Kennedy, the late founder-producer of the Kerrville Folk Festival to establish what’s now the Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. 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.

Yarrow believed that music could be a transformative tool for informing the ethical sensibilities of children. In 1999, he established Operation Respect — an educational nonprofit organization and program that seeks to teach children about tolerance and respect for each other’s differences – using music, video, and conflict resolution curricula developed by Educators for Social Responsibility. In an interview with AcousticMusicScene.com in 2010, Yarrow maintained that “all kids deserve to grow up accepting each other,” expressing concern that 160,000 American children refuse to go to school because of cruelty, according to the American Association of School psychologists. Citing “our need to inherit a peaceful world,” he noted that peace education was regarded as “seditious” when the Operation Respect program was launched. It has since been incorporated into the curriculum of some 22,000 U.S. elementary and middle schools.

A former board member of the Connecticut Hospice, where he also periodically sang for patients and staff, he was long active on behalf of the hospice movement.

Last April, Yarrow joined Stookey in in performing in Boston during a Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Peter, Paul and Mary were among the inaugural class of inductees.

As Yarrow told AcousticMusicScene.com in 2010: “”Music can be used as a powerful force in a world where we desperately need it … Music is something that binds the hearts and can bring us together.” Here’s a link to read that article: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2010/11/27/the-peter-yarrow-sing-along-special-airs-on-pbs-stations/

Many of Peter Yarrow’s songs and those by other songwriters that Peter, Paul and Mary covered over the decades have a timeless quality to them and multigenerational appeal. For Peter Yarrow, “Day is Done,” yet his music and that of Peter, Paul and Mary lives on. So too do his widow Mary Beth (the niece of the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN), whom he met during a 1968 Democratic presidential primary campaign event and married the following year), his daughter Bethany, son Christopher, granddaughter Valentina, and lots of adoring fans.

Our folk community mourns his passing, as well as the recent deaths of Mike Brewer (a Missouri-based folk-rock singer-songwriter who, with his musical partner Tom Shipley, recorded the hit song “One Toke Over the Line”), David Mallet (the Maine-based singer-songwriter best known for “Garden Song”), and Josh White, Jr. (a Michigan-based singer and guitarist who followed in his late father’s folk and blues footsteps for decades).

Tyler Childers’ Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? was named Album of the Year, while Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” was named Song of the Year. Billy Strings is 2023’s Artist of the Year, while The War and Treaty is the year’s Duo/Group of the Year, and S.G. Goodman is its Emerging Act of the Year. Americana Music Association members also voted SistaStrings as Instrumentalist of the Year.

Tyler Childers (Album of the Year – Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?) is a 32-year-old singer-songwriter whose music blends neo-traditional country, bluegrass and folk. Although the crooner released his first album independently in 2011, it wasn’t until 2017 that he started to get international attention with the release of Purgatory, a breakout album that helped to prompt invites to perform at Bonnaroo, the Grand Ole Opry, Lollapalooza, Merlefest, and the Newport Folk Festival. His latest release is 2023’s Rustlin’ in the Rain. [Here’s a link to enjoy Tyler Childers’ official video for “In Your Love”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II-L8Hq0_i4.]

Bonnie Raitt (Song of the Year) is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist. A ten-time Grammy Award-winner, she has been performing and recording for more than 50 years. “Just Like That” is the title track of her 21st album — her first new release in more than six years. It also was the recipient of a coveted Grammy Award for Song of the Year, as well as Best American Roots Song in the 65th annual Grammy Awards presented by The Recording Academy earlier this year. [Here’s a link to view the official lyric video for Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skd0XR3twCA.]

The War and Treaty (Duo/Group of the Year), the husband and wife team of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, was named Duo/Group of the Year for a second consecutive year. The two, who are signed to Universal Music Group, have been performing together since 2014. Their musical repertoire features a mix of Americana, blues, country, folk, rock, and soul. The War and Treaty was previously named Artist of the Year in the 2020 International Folk Music Awards presented by Folk Alliance International and Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2019 Americana Honors and Awards. [Here’s a link to enjoy the official music video for The War and Treaty’s “Have You A Heart”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw9VYGlhQAQ.]

S.G. Goodman (Emerging Artist of the Year) is a Kentucky-born and based singer-songwriter who is signed to Verve Forecast Records. She performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 2021 and has released two albums that feature a mix of Americana, folk, country, and rock.

SistaStrings (Instrumentalist of the Year) is a duo comprised of sisters Monique (cello) and Chauntee Ross (violin), who have seen their musical fortunes rise since moving to Nashville from Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2011. As the daughters of two ministers, they grew up playing gospel and classical music in church, later expanding their musical horizons to include work on country, folk and hip-hop pr0jects. Last year, SistaStrings collaborated with Milwaukee-based singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey on his Righteous Babe album, Love Is the Only Thing – lending both their instrumental talents and vocal harmonies. They have also toured with both Allison Russell and Brandi Carlisle. [Here’s a link to enjoy the classic folk song “Shenandoah,” as performed by Peter Mulvey and SistaStrings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLSPsKBXB0.]

Lifetime Achievement Honorees Also Recognized

Recognized as Lifetime Achievement, Trailblazer and Legacy Award honorees were The Avett Brothers, George Fontaine, Sr., Patty Griffin, Bettye LaVette, and Nickel Creek. The Avett Brothers are folk rocking’ North Carolina-based roots music icons and four-time Americana Award winners. George Fontaine, Sr. is co-founder and owner of New West Records, an indie label that has released nearly 500 albums – including many by Americana artists, as well as CDs and DVDS from the PBS television program Austin City Limits. Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter Patty Griffin is a two-time Grammy Award-winner and 2007 Americana Artist of the Year, who has released nearly a dozen albums and been an inspiration to many other artists – a number of whom have covered her songs. Bettye LaVette, the 2023 Legacy Award recipient, is a soulful singer- and interpreter of American song, whose musical career spans more than 60 years. Nickel Creek is a multiple Grammy Award-winning, innovative and virtuosic acoustic Americana, bluegrass and folk-rock band.

“This year’s Lifetime Achievement honorees represent the diverse sounds that contribute to the American roots music canon,” said Jed Hilly, the Americana Music Association’s executive director. “Our honorees have inspired this community individually and have collectively changed the landscape of the music industry.”

Musical performance highlights from the 22nd Annual Americana Honors & Awards show will be featured on a special episode of Austin City Limits that is set to air on PBS television stations on November 25.

AmericanaFest, which began Sept. 22 and continues through Sept. 25, is a festival and conference filled with daytime panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of artist showcases at venues throughout the Music City. Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world. Visit americanamusic.org for more information.

His latest album, Come Around, was recorded last fall and features 11 original songs – largely meditations on life and love — plus a cover of the traditional blues classic “In My Time of Dyin’.” Lutes co-produced the album with longtime collaborator Rob MacDonald – with whom he is also in a duo and part of the roots ensemble Sussex. Featuring backing vocals by Annabelle Chvostek, Come Around is Lutes’ eighth studio release since 2000. His previous recording, 2017’s Walk in the Dark, was named Album of the Year by Blues and Roots Radio, while 2013’s The Bravest Birds topped the EuroAmericana Charts and spent seven months in the Roots Music Report Top 10. Other artists have recorded several of Lutes’ songs.

Here’s a link to enjoy a video of Lutes performing “Knives,” the opening track on Come Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu9m7gOQrY4

Allison Russell is a soulful Nashville-based, Montreal-born Scottish Grenadian Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and activist who is also a co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago and was part of Po’ Girl. She is in the running for Contemporary Album of the Year, English Songwriter of the Year, New/Emerging Artist of the Year, and the Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries Award in recognition of her debut solo album, Outside Child.

Wrought with emotion, its 11 original songs are “about resilience and survival, transcendence and the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family,” says Russell, who faced abuse and trauma during her youth that music has helped her to overcome. She showcased her talents and also served as the weekend closing curator at the 63rd annual Newport Folk Festival this summer.

Here’s a link to view the official video for Russell’s song “Nightflyer,” the first single off Outside Child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJgwj8d9eo

The Canadian Folk Music Awards were established in 2005 to bring greater exposure to the breadth and depth of Canadian folk music, celebrating and promoting it in all its forms. This year’s nominees span the country from Whitehorse, Yukon to Cambellton, New Brunswick, and from Banff, Alberta to Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were chosen for each category via two-stage jury process. More than 100 jurors, locatedacross Canada and representing all of its official provinces, territories and languages determine the recipients in each category.

A complete list of 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees follows, while more information may be found online at folkawards.ca.

Children’s Album of the Year / Album jeunesse de l’année

• Campfire Time! by/par Peter Lenton aka Peter Puffin’s Whale Tales (AB)
• Falling in Africa by/par Garth Prince (AB)
• Believe in Your Magic by/par Penny Pom Pom (BC)
• Heart Parade by/par Splash’N Boots (ON)
• Think About the Wild by/par Remy Rodden (YT)

Contemporary Album of the Year / Album contemporain de l’année

• XO, 1945 by/par Ryland Moranz (AB)
• All This Time Running by/par Craig Cardiff (ON)
• Solar Powered Too by/par Rick Fines (ON)
• Voyageur In Song by/par David Leask (ON)
• Outside Child by/par Allison Russell (QC)
• À l’ouest du réel by/par Reney Ray (QC)
• Come Around by/par Rob Lutes (QC)
• Encounter by/par BEYRIES (QC)

Contemporary Singer of the Year / Chanteur contemporain de l’année

• Kelly Bado for/pour Hey Terre (MB)
• Terra Spencer for/pour Chasing Rabbits (NS)
• Craig Cardiff for/pour All This Time Running (ON)
• Denise Flack for/pour Good Water (ON)
• Rob Lutes for/pour Come Around (QC)

English Songwriter(s) / Auteur compositeur(s) anglophone

• Scott Cook for/pour Tangle of Souls (AB)
• Noah Reid for/pour Gemini (ON)
• Rick Fines for/pour Solar Powered Too (ON)
• Allison Russell for/pour Outside Child (QC)
• Ian Tamblyn for/pour A Longing for Innocence (QC)
• Rob Lutes for/pour Come Around (QC)

Ensemble of the Year / Groupe de l’année

• The Hello Darlins for/pour Go By Feel (AB)
• The Fugitives for/pour Trench Songs (BC)
• Elliott BROOD for/pour Keeper (ON)
• OKAN for/pour Espiral (ON)
• Whitehorse for/pour Modern Love (ON)

French Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur-compositeur(s) francophone de l’année

• Émilie Landry for/pour Arroser les fleurs (NB)
• Anne-Sophie Doré-Coulombe for/pour Nos maisons (QC)
• Flavie Léger-Roy for/pour Les trous dans les coeurs (QC)
• Guillaume Beaulac for/pour Guillaume Beaulac (QC)
• Reney Ray for/pour À l’ouest du réel (QC)

Global Roots Album of the Year/ Album traditions du monde de l’année
(Note: This replaces the World Album of the Year.)

• El Currucha by/par Eliana Cuevas (feat. Aquiles Báez) (ON)
• Espiral by/par OKAN (ON)
• Songs From Home by/par Polky (ON)
• VelkomBak by/par Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra (QC)
• Wutiko by/par Elage Diouf (QC)

Indigenous Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur compositeur(s) autochtone de l’année

• Phyllis Sinclair for/pour Ghost Bones (AB)
• Morgan Toney for/pour First Flight (NS)
• David Laronde for/pour I Know I Can Fly (ON)
• Chelsey June & Jaaji for/pour Omen (QC)
• Laura Niquay for/pour Waska Matisiwin (QC)

Instrumental Group of the Year / Groupe instrumental de l’année

• Amber & Zebulun for/pour South of North, East of West (ON)
• Shane Cook & The Woodchippers for/pour Be Here for a While (ON)
• Frank Evans & Ben Plotnick for/pour Madison Archives (ON)
• Bùmarang for/pour Echo Land (QC)
• Oktopus for/pour Créature (QC)

Instrumental Solo artist of the Year / Instrumentiste solo de l’année

• Adam Young for/pour Yearbook (NS)
• Maneli Jamal for/pour Soul Odyssey (ON)
• Cédric Dind-Lavoie for/pour Archives (QC)
• Dave Clarke for/pour The Healing Garden (QC)
• Olivier Demers for/pour À l’envers d’un monde (QC)

New/Emerging Artist(s) of the Year / Artiste(s) de la relève de l’année

• The Hello Darlins for/pour Go By Feel (AB)
• Oxlip for/pour Your Mother Was A Peacock (BC)
• Noah Reid for/pour Gemini (ON)
• Polky for/pour Songs From Home (ON)
• Allison Russell for/pour Outside Child (QC)
• David Lafleche for/pour Everyday Son (QC)

Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries Award / Prix Innovation musicale Oliver Schroder

• Decoration Day for/pour Makeshift Future (ON)
• Speaker Face for/pour Crescent (ON)
• Briga for/pour Territoire (QC)
• Allison Russell for/pour Outside Child (QC)
• Cédric Dind-Lavoie for/pour Archives (QC)
• Rosier for/pour Légèrement (QC)

Producer(s) of the Year / Réalisateur(s) de l’année

• David Travers-Smith, Fernando Rosa, Annabelle Chvostek for/pour String of Pearls (ON)
• Luke Doucet, Melissa McClelland for/pour Modern Love (ON)
• Cédric Dind-Lavoie, Corne de brume for/pour Archives (QC)
• Quinn Bachand for/pour Légèrement (QC)
• Rob Lutes, Rob MacDonald for/pour Come Around (QC)

Single of the Year / Monoplage de l’année

• Still Waters by/par The Hello Darlins (feat. Matt Andersen) (AB)
• Never Mind The Weather by/par Big Little Lions (BC)
• Gospel First Nation by/par William Prince (MB)
• Everything Reminds Me by/par The Deep Dark Woods (NS)
• Yellow Snow by/par Andrea Bettger (NT)
• Elmira (Remix) by/par The East Pointers (feat. Lonely Kid) (PEI)
• Pontoise by/par Rosier (QC)
• The River by/par Loryn Taggart (QC)

Solo Artist of the Year / Artiste solo de l’année

• Dana Sipos for/pour The Astral Plane (BC)
• William Prince for/pour Gospel First Nation (MB)
• Laura Smith for/pour As Long As I’m Dreaming (NS)
• Maneli Jamal for/pour Soul Odyssey (ON)
• Rick Fines for/pour Solar Powered Too (ON)
• Alicia Toner for/pour Joan (PEI)

Traditional Album of the Year / Album traditionnel de l’année

• Kitchen Days by/par Braden Gates (AB)
• Alive by/par Fred Eaglesmith & Tif Ginn (ON)
• Be Here for a While by/par Shane Cook & The Woodchippers (ON)
• Le bonhomme Sept Heures / The Bonesetter by/par Grosse Isle (QC)
• Les sessions du Vices & Versa – 15th Anniversary by/par David Boulanger (QC)

Traditional Singer of the Year / Chanteur traditionnel de l’année

• Ray Schmidt for/pour Sold Out at the Ironwood (AB)
• Pat Chessell for/pour The Road Not Taken (BC)
• Ewelina Ferenc for/pour Songs From Home (ON)
• Nicolas Boulerice for/pour Maison de pierre – Confiné au voyages (QC)
• Sophie Lavoie for/pour Le bonhomme Sept Heures / The Bonesetter (QC)

Vocal Group of the Year / Groupe vocal de l’année

• The Fugitives for/pour Trench Songs (BC)
• The Gilberts for/pour Tell Me (NS)
• Whitehorse for/pour Modern Love (ON)
• Les Bouches Bées for/pour Les trous dans les coeurs (QC)
• Twin Flames for/pour Omen (QC)

Young Performer(s) of the Year / Jeune artiste(s) de l’année

• Paige Penney for/pour When All is Said and Done (NL)
• Isabella Samson for/pour If It’s Not Forever (NS)
• Hannah Thomas for/pour Christmas Don’t Be Late (ON)
• Irish Millie for/pour Thirteen (ON)
• The Broken Bridges for/pour The Porch Sessions (ON)

A pioneer among producers of outdoor music festivals, Wein (pronounced WEEN) created the renowned Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and the Newport Folk Festival, which has been held in or near the coastal Rhode Island resort city since 1959.

The Newport Folk Festival has featured a wide array of established and emerging artists over the years and helped to launch the careers of such artists as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan during the 1960s. Pete Seeger was among the folk luminaries who backed Wein when he launched the Newport Folk Festival. “Working with Pete has been one of the joys of my life and it’s influenced me in my relationships with people and artists in general,” Wein told AcousticMusicScene.com in 2012. “It’s because of that that I became deeply involved with the traditions of folk music.” However, Wein never felt constrained to just book artists whose music neatly fit into the “folk” genre; Dylan’s electrifying performance at the festival in 1965 shocked folk purists.

Born on October 3, 1925 in Lynn, Massachusetts, Wein grew up in Newton, near Boston. An accomplished jazz pianist, who led his own band for a while, Wein, nevertheless, opted to focus his career on presenting music — rather than performing it. A former Boston jazz club (Storyville and Mahogany Hall) and record label owner, artist manager, music columnist and, in later years, an executive board member of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wein also wrote Myself Among Others: A Life in Music (Da Capo Press, 2003), an autobiography that has become a major reference on jazz history. Within its pages he noted that “the thing that has given me the most gratification in my life” was the acceptance that he received as a player himself from such jazz luminaries as Lester Young and Sidney Bechet.

“Jazz came out of a folk tradition, although they [jazz and folk music] went in different directions as years went by,” said Wein during that January 2012 interview with AcousticMusicScene.com. He noted that the relationship between the two was the impetus behind the popular New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival that he created in 1970.

Born (Sept. 25, 1949) and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Taylor became a leading figure in the Texas singer-songwriter scene of the early 1970s after standing himself in Houston in 1970 while en route to California following a brief stint at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

“There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres back in those days,” recalled Taylor, whose contemporaries included the late Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. “You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Just as Clark and Van Zandt influenced him and his narrative storytelling style of songwriting, so too did Taylor inspire others like Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett.

Although Taylor made his recording debut in 1976 as part of a Houston songwriters compilation entitled Through The Dark Nightly, and was a winner of the prestigious New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country in 1977, it wasn’t until 1981 that he released his first album, Shameless Love, which the Houston Chronicle named as one of the Top 50 Great Texas Singer-Songwriter Albums in January 2017. Following a hiatus of nearly 14 years, Taylor’s self-titled sophomore release came out on the Austin, TX-based Watermelon Records in 1995. He followed that three years later with Resurrect, which was named one of the “100 essential records of all-time” by the now-defunct Buddy magazine. Among his six albums to follow was Scuffletown, a 2001 release that prompted Taylor’s first headlining appearance on Austin City Limits. He previously appeared on the show a year earlier as a guest of on Lyle Lovett’s 25th season episode, during which Lovett paid tribute to Texas songwriters who inspired him.

Here’s a link to view a video of Eric Taylor performing “Hemingway’s Shotgun” with Lovett on Austin City Limits:
https://vimeo.com/396765167

In addition to these and other appearances on Austin City Limits with Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen, Taylor also appeared on Late Night with David Letterman with Nanci Griffith, to whom he was married from 1976-1982 and who called him “the William Faulkner of songwriting in our time.” Griffith also recorded several of Taylor’s songs – including “Deadwood,” “Dollar Matinee,” “Storms,” and “Ghost in the Music” (which they co-wrote).

Taylor’s The Kerrville Tapes (2003) was his first live recording and captures performances during three years of appearances at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Over the years, he also played such notable U.S. music festivals as the Newport Folk Festival and the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, as well as a number of festivals in Europe and venues across the U.S. and Europe. He also taught at the Kerrville Song School, led songwriting workshops elsewhere, and created The Texas Song Theater in which he was joined by performing songwriters David Olney and Denice Franke on songs and spoken word.

The Great Divide, Taylor’s fifth studio album, reached #3 on the EuroAmericana Chart and was among the most-played releases on folk radio in 2006. That was followed in 2007 by the 10-song collection Hollywood Pocketknife and by Live At The Red Shack, a live recording before a studio audience and featuring some of his oldest friends and favorite musicians, in 2011. Among those who joined him on vocals during two nights of music at the Houston studio in May of that year were Franke, Griffith, Lovett, and Susan Lindfors Taylor.

Taylor’s 10th and final CD, Studio 10 (2013), also was recorded at The Red Shack. Among his nine original songs on it (in addition to a cover of Tim Grimm’s “Cover These Bones”) are two that were written for the Storyworks.TV documentary film Road Kid to Writer – The Tracks of Jim Tully, for which Taylor received an Emmy Award nomination for Music Composition in 2016.

The official showcases take place Thursday-Saturday evenings from 7:15-10:30 p.m., with each artist/act performing a 15-minute set. In addition, the conference will include late-night guerilla showcases hosted by AcousticMusicScene.com and others from 10:40 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Also on the agenda are daytime informational seminars and workshops, a Wisdom of the Elders session, one-on-one mentoring, The SERFA Awards, two-dozen exhibitors, and plenty of opportunities to learn, share and network.

Conference attendees also can enjoy strolling around the beautiful grounds and hiking along the trails at Montreat. Indeed, Don Baker, president of SERFA’s board of directors expresses hope that attendees “will also get outside to relax and rejuvenate in the bucolic surroundings.” Built-in mid-afternoon breaks in the programming afford conference-goers opportunities to do just that.

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org), a nonprofit organization that seeks to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community – traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional – through education, advocacy and performance. SERFA (www.serfa.org) exists to promote, develop and celebrate the diverse heritage of roots and indigenous music, dance, storytelling and related arts in the southeastern United States. Its annual conference is a primary means of doing that. This is the eighth consecutive year that it is being held at the same location — a beautiful and tranquil spot nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This year’s conference opens with a barbecue, followed by a barn dance and an open mic on Wednesday night, and concludes on Sunday morning with a farewell breakfast.

Here’s a link to a short video that provides an introduction to SERFA and its annual conference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOjr5I0TkM“>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOjr5I0TkM

Jim Rooney to Deliver Keynote Address

Jim Rooney will deliver a keynote on Friday afternoon, May 18. A musician, club and festival presenter, recording producer and engineer, author, music publisher, and songwriter, Rooney traces his love for bluegrass back to Massachusetts in the 1950s – when he heard a band called the Confederate Mountaineers on radio station WCOP. Before long, he was on WCOP himself and hooked on performing. While at Amherst, Rooney met Bill Keith, who would be a friend and musical partner for much of the next 60 years. In 1962, they recorded “Devil’s Dream” and “Sailor’s Hornpipe, the first documentation of Bill’s chromatic style shortly before he joined the Blue Grass Boys. Over the years, Rooney and Keith collaborated frequently – including with the Blue Velvet Band, Mud Acres, and in concert tours with many others. Rooney also helped to bring such bluegrass luminaries as Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs to the attention of northern, urban audiences when he managed the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. He also helped program the Newport Folk Festival, launched the event that evolved into New Orleans’ Jazz & Heritage Festival, and helped build Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Studio. As an author, Rooney penned the first biography of both Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters (Bossman), the first history of the Boston folk scene (Baby Let Me Follow You down, with Erik von Schmidt), and a memoir (In It For the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey). As a producer and studio engineer, he’s worked on projects with Iris DeMent, Don Edwards, Nanci Griffith, Hal Ketchum, Carl Perkins, Peter Rowan, and Ian Tyson, among others. He also helped to build a successful artist-oriented publishing house (Forerunner) with songwriters like Pat Alger, Shawn Camp, Tim O’Brien, and Barry & Holly Tashian turning out a number of country radio chart-hits. Camp and O’Brien also occasionally perform with Rooney at Nashville’s Station Inn as Rooney’s Irregulars.

Rooney, Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz, and Michael Stock to Receive Awards

An Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award and IBMA Distinguished Service Award recipient, Rooney also will be among the recipients of awards from SERFA in recognition of extraordinary contributions to folk music and the folk music community in the Southeast.

Also being honored are traditional folk artists Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz and longtime folk DJ Michael Stock.

Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz are longtime West Virginia residents who have performed traditional folk music separately and together. Since meeting 30 years ago at Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp in upstate New York, they have wrapped their songs in stories of the people and places of the music – transporting audiences to another time when life was simpler and families were held close. They have appeared in concert and at festivals throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom and also teach southern traditional singing a several music camps during the summer. Hawker & Schwarz have released two albums together. Hawker, who grew up in rural Virginia as part of large extended family of singers and musicians, has recorded six albums — four of them with Kay Justice. Schwarz, who was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey and New England, has more than 30 album credits. A multi-instrumentalist and singer, he was part of the New Lost City Ramblers, a vocal and instrumental folk group that helped popularize traditional string band music and introduce urban audiences to southern rural music during the 1960s and 1970s. Schwarz also joined with bandmate Mike Seeger, Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens and Lamar Grier – all of whom had been friends since the mid-1950s — to form the Strange Creek Singers in the late 1960s. Named after Strange Creek, WV, the group performed a mix of traditional and original songs in old-time and bluegrass styles.

Michael Stock, one of the 120 people who gathered in Malibu, California in 1989 to form what would become Folk Alliance International, has produced and hosted “Folk & Acoustic Music” every Sunday afternoon since 1981 on public radio station WLRN 91.3 FM in Miami, Florida. The show features a wide range of folk music — from bluegrass, blues and old-time to contemporary singer-songwriter and Americana — along with local and touring artist interviews and in-studio performances. Videos of more than 500 of these may be found on his YouTube channel. Stock also has been a concert promoter, operated a folk nightclub, and hosted folk music programs on cable television.

Workshops and Panel Discussions Organized by Tracks

Some three-dozen 75-minute workshops during the conference will be organized by tracks: Activism, Business for Musicians Media, Performing and Recording, Presenting, Songwriting, and Roots and Sources. Workshops and panel discussions will delve into such topics as the art of community jams and song swaps, the art of record-making, backwoods Appalachian songs and new generations, DIY touring, the folk music community and social responsibility, how to grow your audience, learning from the old songs, music in healing environments, promoting to radio, sharpening the tools in your promotional tool kit, social media, Texas country blues-style guitar, and using music for tourism development. Several workshops will focus on house concerts, while there also will be forums for presenters.

A Wisdom of the Elders session will feature Rooney, Hawker & Schwarz, and award-winning songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler. A West Virginia native, Wheeler has lived in North Carolina since 1963 — apart from a short stint in Nashville managing United Artists Music Group. His songs have been recorded by nearly 100 artists – including Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Bobby Darin, Elvis, The Kingston Trio, Kenny Rogers, and Neil Young. Among his songs are “Coal Tattoo,” “Coward of the Country,” “Jackson,” “Ode to the Little Brown shack Out Back,” “The Coming of the Roads,” and “The Rev. Mr. Black.” Wheeler also has written a dozen plays (including four outdoor dramas) and penned or co-authored several books of humor – including Laughter in Appalachia, which is now in its 13th printing. He was recently inducted into both the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Hall of Fame and is a recipient of Distinguished Alumnus awards from Warren Wilson College and Berea College.

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be one-on-one mentoring sessions, yoga, two-dozen exhibit tables, communal meals, and, of course, a lot of music. Grady Ormsby of Down East Folk Arts will host several open mics that are being dedicated to the memory of singer-songwriter Robert Bobby (Joe Milsom), a frequent conference attendee, who died earlier this year after a battle with brain cancer.

Official and Guerilla Showcases Abound

Slated to present official showcases on Thursday, May 17, are ilyAIMY, James Lee Stanley, Sarah Peacock, Rough & Tumble, The Belle Hollows, Jacob Johnson, Ernest Troost, and Suzie Vinnick. Friday’s official showcase lineup features Alan Barnosky, Jon Byrd, Beth Snapp, Escaping Pavement, Ed Snodderly, Tret Fure, Matthew Sabatella, and Piper Hayes. Saturday’s showcase artists include Louisa Branscomb with Jeanette & Johnny Williams, Rupert Wates, Brian Ashley Jones, Bill and the Belles, Edgar Loudermilk Band (featuring Jeff Autry), Jane Kramer, Greg Klyma, and David Jacobs-Strain and Bob Beach.

To listen to a sampler featuring songs from each of the 24 official showcase artists, click on the following link:

https://noisetrade.com/serfaartists/serfa-showcase-artists-2018

Following the official showcases, late-night guerilla showcases will take place in various meeting rooms between 10:40 p.m. and 2 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at the SERFA Conference for the past seven years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday and Friday, May 17 and 18, overnight. These will primarily take the form of song swaps.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

Thursday Night, May 17:

10:40: Friction Farm

11:00: Tennessee: Claudia Nygaard, Erin O’ Dowd and Taylor Pie

11:30: O Canada: Linda McRae, Suzie Vinnick and Noah Zacharin

12:00: Guys of Note: Alan Barnosky, Paul Helou and Chuck McDermott

12:30: Women’s Voices: Kala Farnham, Jane Kramer and Tret Fure

1:00: A Pair of Duos: Dan & Faith and Jubilant Bridge

1:30: Tunes by Todds: Todd Burge and Todd Hoke

10:40:The Belle Hollows

11:00: Marylanders: Domenic Cicala and Teghan Devon (with Emily Matteson)

11:30: Mara Levine, Dennis McDonough and Susan Shann

12:00: Guys of Note: Jacob Johnson and James Lee Stanley

12:30: Women’s Voices: Gina Holsopple, Beth Snapp and Heather Styka

1:00: Keystone Staters: Antonio Andrade and Meghan Cary

1:30: Acoustic Blues: David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach, Jon Shain & FJ Ventre and Ruth Wyland

Editor’s Note: Besides hosting AcousticMusicScene.com showcases, I will facilitate and participate in a panel discussion on social media. I will also again be a mentor offering advice and counsel on various aspects of public relations and strategic communications. An elected board member of Folk Alliance International, I also serve as board president for the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA). I have been an active participant at SERFA conferences since 2011.

An Idaho songbird who wrote heartfelt, expressive, often deeply personal songs of love and loss, loneliness, poverty and social injustice, and sung them in her fluid, mellifluous yet sometimes heartbreaking voice, Sorrels passed away at the Reno, Nevada home of her daughter Holly Marizu, where she had been living for the past several years. Although the cause of death was undetermined, Sorrels, 83, had been suffering from dementia and colon cancer. Nearly 20 years earlier, she had beaten breast cancer after having suffered a cerebral aneurysm ten years earlier in 1988.

Sorrels also was a folklorist and a collector of folk songs of all kinds – ranging from English ballads to Mormon songs and the works of contemporary songwriters — who had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of musicology.

Five generations of her family lived and worked in Idaho. Her paternal grandfather, Rev. Robert Stringfellow, was an Episcopalian preacher who came to Idaho during the state’s early years, while her grandmother, Rosalie Cope Stringfellow, for whom she was named, was a photographer and journalist. Interestingly, her maternal grandfather, James Madison Kelly, was “an Irishman and an Atheist,” who she recalled “having cursed at his horses in Shakespearean language.”

Many of her family members were storytellers, and Sorrels grew up surrounded by books and songs and immersed in ideas and poetry She was born in 1933 and lived in Idaho for many years in a cozy handmade cabin that her father, Walter Stringfellow, a piano-playing and musical-loving engineer, had built on Grimes Creek, located in the mountains near Boise, the state capital. Her mother, Nancy Stringfellow, who ran a bookshop in downtown Boise and through whom she acquired her love of literature, had named the cabin “Guernica,” meaning “little place that holds your heart.” Although she later returned there, Sorrels left Idaho at age 19 — determined to see the world beyond its boundaries.

In the early 1950s, she married Jim Sorrels, whom she met while both were performing at the Boise Little Theatre. A few years later, they moved to Utah. She launched a career as a folklorist at the University of Utah during the 1950s and also taught folk guitar classes there and promoted concerts in the area – including Joan Baez’ first Salt Lake City appearance.

After 14 years of an often stormy and abusive marriage, she left her husband and Salt Lake City in 1966 and with her five children headed back home to Idaho. Taking to the road, Sorrels followed her true passion – music – with her children in tow – embarking on a lifetime of traveling that resulted in her being known as the Travelin’ Lady, also the name of one of her early songs and albums, which tells of her divorce and heading out on the road. For a brief period of time, she and her children lived in Saratoga Springs, New York with Lena spencer, founder of the famed Caffe Lena there.

During a career that spanned more than six decades, Sorrels recorded more than 25 albums and appeared on many others. She performed at numerous clubs and venues and at many major music festivals. She graced stages at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966 (where she first drew notice while performing with Mitch Greenhill) and Woodstock in 1969 (where she jammed with Jerry Garcia), and received a standing ovation following her performance at the 1972 Isle of Wight Festival. Sorrels continued performing actively through the 1990s, touring both as a solo artist and with longtime close friend Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Health issues prompted the “travelin’ lady” to cut back on her touring and eventually retire to her home in Idaho during the next decade. However, she returned to the studio in 2007 to record an album, the Grammy-nominated Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce “Utah” Phillips, to benefit her friend who had congestive heart failure and died the next year.

Considered among the top artists of the Beat Generation, Sorrels earned the admiration and friendship of such famed writers as Hunter S. Thompson and Studs Terkel, both of whom wrote liner notes for her. Thompson, the gonzo journalist and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, referred to her songs as “so close to the bone, I get nervous listening to them.” A Rosalie Sorrels Archive is maintained as part of the Beat Generation Archives at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Through the years, Sorrels also earned praise from the Boston Globe, which hailed her as “one of America’s genuine folk treasures” and from fellow folksingers and storytellers like the late Gamble Rogers, who called her “the hillbilly Edith Piaf.” Sorrels, who was herself influenced by Malvina Reynolds, also helped to inspire a new generation of folk artists during the 1980s – including such notables as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, Christine Lavin, and Tom Russell.

Although most of the songs Sorrels recorded and performed (accompanying herself on acoustic guitar), she also helped to preserve the oral folk tradition through her fine interpretations of traditional songs and those written by others. Sorrels also wrote or co-authored several books — including Way Out in Idaho, a collection of songs, stories, poems and recipes published by the Idaho Commission for the Arts in connection with the state’s centennial celebration in 1991.

Sorrels received two Grammy Award nominations, the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1986, the World Folk Music Association’s Kate Wolf Award in 1990, a Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network in 1999 for “exceptional commitment and exemplary contributions to the art of storytelling,” and an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Idaho in 2000. She also was a featured artist in the Smithsonian Institution’s Founding Members of Folk exhibit and accompanying recordings.

Besides her daughter Holly, Sorrels leaves behind another daughter, Shelley Ross, a son, Kevin, her brother Jim, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her eldest son, David, committed suicide in 1976, and she paid tribute to him in her plaintive song, “Hitchhiker in the Rain.” Another daughter, Leslie, died last year.

A multi-CD set of songs entitled Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady is expected to be released soon and may expose Sorrels’ songs to a new generation.

Here’s a link to a video promoting an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the tribute album.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rosalie-sorrels-tribute#/

The Durham, North Carolina-based string band – whose music is a mix of minstrel songs, rural folk and work songs, pre-World War II country blues, early jazz, southern black music from the 1920s and 30s, and old-time fiddle and banjo-based tunes — is known for its energetic live shows punctuated with stories about the origins and history of the tunes they play. The band has played Bonaroo and the Newport and Philadelphia Folk Festivals, among others, as well as such renowned venues as the Grand Ole Opry. Carolina Chocolate Drops received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2011 for Genuine Negro Jug, while the band’s 2012 Buddy Miller-produced Leaving Eden also garnered extensive critical acclaim and a Grammy nod.

Carolina Chocolate Drops co-founder Rhiannon Giddens, the last remaining original member of the band (vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Justin Robinson left in 2011) announced plans to tour throughout 2014 with guitarist-banjo player Hubby Jenkins and two new band mates – cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett.

“Dom and I have been a tremendous team for the last eight years, and I wish him all the best on his new solo endeavor,” said Giddens in a prepared statement. “I know he will be enriching the landscape of American music wherever he goes. Carolina Chocolate Drops lives on, and honors all past members who have added so much over the years; we wouldn’t be where we are without each and every one. I’m looking forward to introducing new, talented musicians to the ever-expanding Chocolate Drop family.”

Giddens drew accolades recently for her performance at the T Bone Burnett and Joel and Ethan Coen-produced Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis concert at New York’s Town Hall that will be broadcast on Showtime beginning Dec. 13. Variety called her “the breakout star of the evening’s second half… who held the capacity crowd spellbound,” while The Wall Street Journal noted that she “channeled gloriously the spirit of Odetta.”

Carolina Chocolate Drops will be featured in a new hour-long music documentary Nashville 2:0: The Rise of Americana that begins airing later this month on PBS stations across the U.S. Sprinkled with performances by a number of notable artists and laced with insightful interviews with musicians and music critics, the documentary takes a look at how the Americana genre is burgeoning in the country music capital of the world. Carolina Chocolate Drops, who record for Nonesuch, also perform a rendition of “Days of Liberty” on a just-released ATO Records compilation of Civil War tunes entitled Divided & Untied.

As for Flemons, who also has released solo albums with Music Maker Relief Foundation, he plans to kick off 2014 with a tour of Australia and will perform stateside throughout the year. The multi-instrumentalist – who plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, fife, drums and quills – is focused on creating music that is rooted in history while taking a contemporary approach. In doing so, he hopes to re-examine what traditional music can become and instill interest in old-time folk music among new audiences.

Here’s a link to a video of Dom Flemons performing “Milwaukee Blues”:

Citing what he called “a staggering career” and calling him “a towering icon among icons,” Mike Ross, the outgoing chair of APAP’s board of directors, presented the award to Wein during an awards ceremony and luncheon at the Hilton New York in Manhattan, a highlight of the 55th Annual APAP Conference that took place there and at venues around the city, Jan. 6-10.

The Newport Folk Festival, slated this year for July 28-29 at Fort Adams State Park, has featured a wide array of established and emerging artists over the years and helped to launch the careers of such artists as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan during the 1960s. Pete Seeger was among the folk luminaries who backed Wein when he launched the Newport Folk Festival. “Working with Pete has been one of the joys of my life and it’s influenced me in my relationships with people and artists in general,” Wein told AcousticMusicScene.com. “It’s because of that that I became deeply involved with the traditions of folk music.”

An accomplished jazz pianist and an executive board member of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wein also is the author of Myself Among Others: A Life in Music (Da Capo Press), an autobiography that has become a major reference on jazz history.

“Jazz came out of a folk tradition, although they [jazz and folk music] went in different directions as years went by,” said Wein. He noted that the relationship between the two was the impetus behind the popular New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival that he also created.

Wein has been honored by many organizations, educational institutions, publications and heads of state over the years. As previously reported on AcousticMusicScene.com, he received the first Power of Song Award during a benefit concert last October for Clearwater, a nonprofit organization launched by Seeger and others more than 40 years ago.

Wein, who was recognized with a Jazz Masters award as Jazz Advocate by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2005, also participated in an hour-long panel discussion “NEA Jazz Masters & Jazz Futures: Playing It Forward,” that preceded the awards luncheon. Wein also has been honored by White House celebrations under Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and received France’s highest honor (the Legion d’Honneur) as well as the Bernardo O’Higgins award from the president of Chile.

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters is a Washington, D.C.-based national nonprofit service and advocacy organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenters field and the professionals who work within it. More information on the association may be found online at www.apap365.org. A report on some of the many workshops and artist showcases that took place during the APAP Conference will be posted on AcousticMusicScene.com in coming days.

Music festival impresario George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, will be among those honored during a Sunday afternoon awards luncheon recognizing individuals whose service to the performing arts has had a significant impact on the industry and on communities worldwide.

On Thursday, Jan. 5, prior to the official start of the conference, APAP will host a free day-long series of workshops produced in partnership with JazzTimes Magazine.

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, APAP is a national service and advocacy organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenters field and the professionals who work within it. More information on the association may be found online at www.apap365.org, while more information on the conference is available at www.apapnyc.org. AcousticMusicScene.com will be there and will report on select highlights in January.