Booking gigs may be the primary objective of some performing artists who attend the FARM Gathering, and many presenters and folk DJs do scout out new artists and those whom they have not previously heard and seen in perform live. However, the conference experience is much more than that; it’s really about forging connections, building community, and attending workshops and panel discussions to learn about options to further their careers, promote the music, and attract audiences and listeners

This year’s conference also includes a Presenter Summit for the first time. It will feature a full track of programming designed specifically for venues, festivals and other concert presenters to learn from experts in accounting, audience development, community engagement, marketing, and production.

Taking center stage during this year’s FARM Gathering will be 14 artists/acts selected by a panel of judges to each perform a short set of just shy of 20 minutes, with full sound Showcasing their talents on Friday night will be Mac and Cheese, Dennis Warner, Weary Ramblers, Andy Baker, Stone & Snow, Amy Speace, and Paula Boggs Band. Saturday’s official showcase lineup features Warren & Flick, The Twangtown Paramours, Sam Robbins, Maggie’s Wake, Dave Moore, Bruce Henry & Dean Magraw, and Abigail Stauffer and the Wisdom. Unplugged private showcases follow from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. each evening.

On the docket for Thursday night is a barn dance, followed by a folk DJ showcase featuring performances by Friction Farm, Gia Dagenhart, Chris Walz, Matt Watroba, The Springtails, Helene Cronin, Senior Infants, Bobbie Lancaster, Rees Shad, Mark Jewett, The Thorntons, and Dandelion Delivery Service. Following that showcase, attendees also will shuffle between a number of rooms to enjoy private showcases.

“In addition to the great performances and showcases we have lined up, I am very excited to welcome some special guests to this year’s conference who will speak to the issues affecting our country and our local music communities right now, including our keynote speaker Nicky Mehta.” said Ellen Stanley, the conference director. “Although best known for being a member of the Canadian folk band The Wailin’ Jennys, she is also an activist and will talk about how artists can stay true to their artistic vision and the causes they believe in.” She also mentioned Spencer LaJoye, a winner of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition, who will give a spotlight talk ahead of the keynote about telling their truth as a queer artist

Daytime programming includes a wide array of workshops and panel discussions and peer group conversations addressing timely topics. “”We’re going to talk about the issues that we’re all worried about, and we hope to provide a welcoming space for everyone to share their stories and learn from others as we do our best to navigate these challenging times, Stanley told AcousticMusicScene.com.

Song swapping and jamming, speed mentoring sessions, open mics, and FARM’s popular Performance Lane series of 10-minute mini-showcases that take place simultaneously in several rooms are also part of the daytime mix. Special events on Friday include a 30-minute Chicago Celtic Spotlight featuring Reverie Road and a folk DJ meet & greet. Marilyn Rea Beyer, who hosts the nationally syndicated weekly radio program “The Midnight Special” from the studios of Chicago’s WFMT, will host a Wisdom Across the Ages panel discussion featuring artists and activists from different generations: Amy Speace, Paula Boggs, Katie Dahl, and Sam Robbins. Also on the docket for Saturday afternoon is a Celtic jam, as well as the spotlight and keynote talks. FARM’s 2025 Lantern Bearer Awards will be presented following dinner that evening to two individuals who have made significant contributions to the folk community locally and/or regionally. This year’s recipients are Charlie Mosbrook (a musician, former FARM board president, and current vice president of Folk Alliance International) and Lilli Kuzma, a veteran folk DJ at WDCB Public Radio in Glen Ellyn, Illinois).

AcousticMusicScene.com Hosts Two Nights of Private Showcases

Although AcousticMusicScene.com has hosted primarily song swap-style private showcases at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA), Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA), and Southwest Regional Folk Alliance (SWRFA) conferences, and its editor & publisher has also participated in Folk Alliance Region-West (FAR-West) conference, this year marks the first time that two nights of private showcases will be held under its banner at a FARM Gathering. The AcousticMusicScene.com Showcase lineup follows.

Thursday Overnight in Muddy Waters (Conference 3) Room

10:30  Ben Bedford & Vanessa Lively, Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus

11:00  Erin Eades, Rob Lytle

11:30  The Shandies, another artist TBA ?

12:00  Julie Grower, Lucy Isabel

12:30  Tony DiCorpo, Doug Harsch

1:00    Josh Harty, Josh Rose

1:30    Patty & Craig, The Raven & The Remedy

2:00    Beth Bombara

Friday Overnight in Childress/Saxton (Oak/Green) Room

10:30  Two from Texas: Lynn Crossett, Tipps & Obermiller

11:00  A Trio of Duos: Ruth & Max Bloomquist, Dan & Faith, Tom & Barb Webber

12:00  Mixed Bag: Sue Horowitz, Miles & Mafale, Mike Ward

1:00    Chris Farrell, Jim Gary

1:30    Gina Forsyth, Karen Mal & David Stoddard

2:00    Rick Vines, Joshua Vorvick

FARM is one of five North American regional affiliates of Folk Alliance International (folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. Although folks from throughout North America attend its annual Gathering, FARM (farmfolk.org) serves Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Nunavut, Ohio, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The 2026 FARM Gathering is set for October 22-25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. FAR-West and SWRFA held their annual conferences earlier this fall, while NERFA’s is slated for Nov. 6-9 in Albany, New York.

Editor’s Note: In addition to curating and hosting two nights of private showcases, I look forward to sharing information and insights gleaned from my many years as public relations and strategic communications professional, as well as a concert and former festival presenter with conference attendees. I will join Elexa Dawson and Joy Zimmerman as part of a Promoting Your Event panel discussion and will offer a series of one-on-one speed mentoring sessions. A past president of NERFA and former board member of Folk Alliance International, I am excited to be attending my first in-person FARM Gathering.

Nurture the Future is this year’s conference theme. “It was something we felt needed to be communicated as our world is changing every second of the day,” says Jill Kettles, SERFA’s board president. “We aim to uphold the past, mold the present, and project it for future generations; this is not just important but vital.”

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. SERFA (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. It has produced an annual conference since 2008. This is SERFA’s third consecutive year at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.

The official showcases take place Friday and Saturday evenings, with each artist/act performing a 15-minute set. Unplugged private showcases follow from 10:40 p.m. to 2 a.m. Also on the agenda are daytime panel discussions and workshops, a Wisdom of the Elders session, a few thematic song circles, open mics, mentoring sessions, an awards presentation, an exhibit hall, communal meals, and plenty of other opportunities to learn, share and network –- including during built-in afternoon breaks in the programming. Informal jams and song circles also are apt to break out in the lobby and outside (weather permitting).

Rachael Sage, Award-Winning, Prolific Singer-Songwriter and Boutique Label Owner to Deliver Keynote Address

Daytime Programming Includes Workshops, Song Circles, Think Tanks, and Mentoring Sessions

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be moderated, interactive “think tanks” on House Concerts and Small Venues and Hey, What’s Your Problem, one-on-one mentoring sessions, several thematic song circles, several thematic song circles, and a Wisdom of the Elders session during the daytime hours.

Wisdom of the Elders and SERFA Awards are Among Conference Highlights

The Wisdom of the Elders conversational panel session provides a structured opportunity for conference attendees to learn from and about veteran leaders in the folk community and for the elders to talk among themselves as well. Participants this year are Scott Berwick, Wayne Erbsen and Taylor Pie.

Berwick has long been active in American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 1000 (the traveling musicians union), has been attending SERFA conferences for the past decade, and has also been involved with the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the Hudson Valley Folk Guild, and the Ashokan Center, as well as an informal, weekly song circle near his home in upstate New York.

Erbsen has been engaged in traditional American music for more than 50 years as a musician, recording artist (with nearly 20 albums to his credit), professor at Warren Wilson College and the University of North Carolina at Asheville, author and publisher (who has written and published 40 books), and a public radio DJ.

A Tennessee-based traveling folk minstrel and Americana artist, Taylor Pie (Susan Taylor) helped form the Pozo Seco Singers with Don Williams in the early 1960s and has been a solo singer-songwriter and musician since the folk group disbanded. Many notable artists have covered her songs, while Pie was inducted into the Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015. Along with her friend Kathryn Harrison, she launched PuffBunny Records in 2007 to share her music and that of other artists she admires. Taylor Pie, who now handles A &R for the label, also stars in Nobody Famous, an award-winning music documentary that was screened during the 2022 SERFA conference.

Menius, who currently hosts “The Revolution Starts Now” on Hillsborough, NC-based WHUP, has hosted radio shows on four stations since 2007. The first executive director of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), from 1985-1990, Menius also served as Folk Alliance International’s initial board president in 1990 and manager from 1991-1996, prior to serving as associate director of MerleFest for a decade and then as executive director of Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky and The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC. He’s also produced concerts, festivals and conferences and worked as a fundraiser, marketing director, emcee, stage manager, and writer.

Dom Flemons, an Arizona native and Chicago area-based musician who has earned the moniker “The American Songster” since his repertoire covers more than 100 years of American roots music, records for Smithsonian Folkways. He is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife, and rhythm bones), music scholar, actor, slam poet, record collector, and the creator, host and producer of American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville, Tennessee. Earlier this year, he was named the grand-prize winner as well as first place honors for Best Folk/Americana Roots Album (for American Wildfire) in the International Acoustic Music Awards. In 2020, he received the prestigious United States Artists Fellowship Award in the Traditional Arts category. Two years later, he received a degree as Doctor of Humane Letters from his alma mater Northern Arizona University and was the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony or the Class of 2022. Flemons was a founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, a Grammy Award-winning African-American old-time string band.

Junior Appalachian Musicians, Inc. (jamkids.org) is the nonprofit parent organization for more than 50 afterschool programs for children ages six and up. JAM provides communities with the requisite tools and support to teach children to play and dance to traditional old time and bluegrass music. Its program model introduces music through small group instruction on instruments common to the Appalachian region and provides youth with opportunities to learn traditional music with their peers from local teaching artists and to perform in their communities and regionally.

Taylor Caffery, the longtime host of “Hootenanny Power” on WRKF in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the recipient of this year’s Kari Estrin Founding President’s Award. His weekly radio show incorporates musical styles and cultural influences from Caffery’s five decades on radio that began when he hosted his first show while in the U.S. Navy and continued with his college radio station KCSL. To that musical gumbo, he mixes in new discoveries from Folk Alliance International and SERFA conferences.

Dozens of Artists to be Featured in Official and Guerilla Showcases

Slated to present official showcases on Friday evening, May 10 are (in order of appearance) Sue Horowitz, Chris Haddox, Ron Fetner, A Tale of Two, Dustin Gaspard, Nicholas Edward Williams, Helene Cronin, and Admiral Radio. Saturday’s official showcase lineup features Jess Klein, Wes Collins, Bett Padgett, Cast Iron Bluegrass, Ruth and Max Bloomquist, Stone & Snow, Couldn’t Be Happiers, and Ordinary Elephant.

Here’s a link to a Spotify playlist that features one song from each of the official showcase artists.

Following the official showcases on Friday and Saturday, as well as an open mic on Thursday, late-night guerilla showcases will take place in various meeting rooms for several hours. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at SERFA conferences since 2011, will host a couple of late-night song swaps and a midnight hoot (featuring more than two-dozen artists/acts – each performing one song) on Thursday, May 9, overnight. The AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot is a pre-arranged round-robin song swap that is intended to provide concert and festival presenters, folk DJs and others with an opportunity to get a small sampling of the music of a lot of artists in a short period of time on the conference’s opening night. It also enables artists to enjoy and each other’s company and music before the conference really gets into full swing on Friday.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com Showcase schedule:

10:40 Brooklyn in the House: Carolann Solebello and Pat Wictor

11:00 Long Island Sound: Hank Stone and Jim Whiteman

11:30 Midnight Hoot, Part 1 (one song each):

Antonio Andrade, Max & Ruth Bloomquist, Dan & Faith, Katie Dahl, Annie Stokes

12:00 Midnight Hoot, Part 2 (one song each, not necessarily in this order)

Taylor Pie, The Farmer & The Crow, Amy Speace, Annie & Rod Capps, Marc Douglas Berardo, Karyn Oliver, Lindsay Whiteman, Miles & Mafale, Rachael Sage, Emma Frances, Nicholas Edward Williams, Noah Zacharin

1:00 Midnight Hoot, Part 3 (one song each, not necessarily in this order)

Jon Shain & FJ Ventre, Erin Ash Sullivan, Robert Bidney, Rob Lytle, Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus, Meg Braun, Alice Hasen, Brian Ashley Jones & Melanie Jean, Couldn’t Be Happiers, Reckless Saints, Siena Christie

Lisa Bastoni (Northampton, MA), Liv Greene (Washington, DC), Scott Mulvahill (Nashville, TN), Daniel Neihoff (Paducah, KY), D.b. Rielly (New York, NY), and Aaron Smith (Harrison, AR), will each perform 20-minute sets during a Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winners concert at the festival on Sunday afternoon, June 2, and will receive cash honorariums and other prizes. They were selected as 2019 New Folk Winners by songwriters Joe Crookston, Ellis Delaney and Rebecca Loebe who served as judges. More than 500 songwriters had initially submitted entries.

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. It is the longest continuously running festival of its kind in North America.

“New Folk is our way of finding new, exciting, excellent songwriters from around the world,” said Dalis Allen, producer of the Kerrville Folk Festival. “Our line-up every year is full of artists who have remained a part of the festival long after their first introduction in the competition.”

Kerrville, completing its 48th year, extends through Sunday, June 9. Besides concerts each evening, Kerrville features “Ballad Tree” song-sharing sessions, late-night and afternoon song circles and jam sessions at various campsites, concerts and activities for children, organized canoe and kayak trips on the Guadelupe River and Hill Country bike rides, a professional development program for teachers, as well as a three-day songwriters school and instrumental workshops. For more information, visit www.kerrville-music.com. A listing of all of this year’s New Folk Finalists was included in a previously posted article: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2019/04/16/2019-kerrville-new-folk-finalists-announced/

Justin Farren is Top Winner in Songwriter Serenade

Neihoff was also among the winners in the 13th annual Songwriter Serenade that took place on May 4 in Moravia, TX. First-Place honors in that competition went to Justin Farren, a Sacramento, California-based singer-songwriter, who was also a 2016 Kerrville New Folk Winner and is one of the “Most Wanted to Return” artists at this summer’s upcoming Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, NY, following audience voting after last year’s Grassy Hill Emerging Artists Showcase. He was chosen from among 15 semi-finalists in the Songwriter Serenade by a panel of judges who evaluated them based on lyrics (imagery, story, creativity, and originality), melody (structure, phrasing, and rhythm), and performing ability (vocals, musicianship), as well as stage presence/audience rapport.

Taking second through seventh place, respectively, were Scott White, Wyatt Espalin, Daniel Neihoff, Kyle Donovan, Kora Feder, and Scott Marin. In eighth through 15th – in alphabetical order – were Hilary Adamson, Helene Cronin, Teghan Devon, 
Jackson Emmer, Claudia Gibson, 
Keith Larsen, 
John Statz, and
Alicia Stockman. Prize monies were awarded to all of the finalists.

Singer-songwriters Mary Bragg (last year’s first-place winner), Susan Gibson and Walt Wilkins judged the Songwriter Serenade.

Six songwriters will be chosen as 2019 New Folk Award Winners after performing, along with the 26 other finalists, at the Threadgill Theater on the Quiet Valley Ranch Campgrounds. A Kerrville New Folk Award Winners concert is slated for Sunday, June 2.

Songwriters may submit two original songs (written after Jan. 1, 2017) online at www.tlok.org/kff/ or by following the link on the Kerrville Folk Festival website’s New Folk page, filling in the requested information and uploading two separate song files (any common audio format should work). Alternatively, home-burned CDs (mp3 format only) may be mailed to the Kerrville Folk Festival office along with a completed entry form. The entry fee is $25. Official guidelines, along with entry information and forms, are posted at www.kerrville-music.com/new-folk.

‘New Folk is our way of finding new, exciting, excellent songwriters from around the world,” said Dalis Allen, producer of the Kerrville Folk Festival. “Our line-up every year is full of artists who have remained a part of the festival long after their first introduction in the competition,” she continued. Among those she cited as first coming to the festival’s attention as New Folk Finalists are Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Hal Ketchum, James McMurtry, Lucinda Williams, Jimmy LaFave, John Gorka, David Wilcox, Tish Hinojosa, Dave Carter, Johnsmith, Tom Prasada-Rao, Tom Kimmel, and Michael Lille.

The six songwriters named as winners in the 2018 Kerrville New Folk Competition were Ben Bedford, John R. Butler, Helene Cronin, Rich Krueger, Mac Leaphart, and Sarah Morris.

Slated to perform in the hotel’s ballroom on Friday evening, Sept. 28, from 7:30-10 p.m., are Scott Cook, Byrd & Street, Mike P. Ryan, T Buckley, Dave Ray Cecil, Suzie Vinnick, The Cowboy Way, and The Flyin’ A’s.

Saturday night’s lineup features Nancy Beaudette, Andrew Delaney, Claudia Nygaard, Jaime Michaels, Ben Bedford, Helene Cronin, Clint Alphin, Jenny Reynolds, and Joana Howerton & Michael Cross.

Rich Warren, host of the nationally syndicated “The Midnight Special” radio show that emanates from Chicago’s WFMT-FM, and who celebrates 50 years of hosting folk music on the radio in 2018, emcees both nights. In addition to conference registrants, the official showcases will be open to the public for a $15 cover charge each night.

Following a popular pool party and open mic hosted by John Whipple (with a buffet sponsored by Berkalin Records) on Thursday night, Sept. 27, Charlie Stewart of Handshake Management will emcee the Official Alternates Showcase in the hotel’s Elm Room. Set to perform short sets beginning at 10:30 p.m. are Cari Ray & Shaky Legs, Flagship Romance, Kyle Donovan, Kora Feder, Susan Cattaneo Band, and Ronny Cox.

Besides the official showcases, the SWRFA Conference will feature open mics, in-room showcases extending into the early morning hours, and daytime panel discussions and seminars that address many facets of the music business, according to Dalis Allen, who produces the conference, as well as the annual Kerrville Folk Festival. “We eat meals together, form wonderful new relationships and renew old ones,” she notes. “And we are certain to have fun.”

Prior to the official start of the conference, Paul Barker will host a SWRFA meet and greet and open mic at Threadgill’s North on Wednesday night, Sep. 26, while John Whipple hosts another one by the hotel’s pool on Saturday afternoon. A two-hour, hands-on ‘SongCRAFT” workshop, led by singer-songwriters Nancy Beaudette and Laura Zucker, is set for Thursday afternoon.

Upon arriving at the conference, all registered artists will be given a random song topic/prompt. They are expected to write about these during the weekend and perform their songs following Sunday brunch. This song-sharing event has long been a conference highlight.

SWRFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, a nonprofit organization that aims to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community — traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional — through education, advocacy and performance. SWRFA includes the southwestern United States and Mexico. Its 19th annual conference is expected to draw performing artists, presenters, managers, agents and others engaged more than peripherally in the world of folk and acoustic music. For more information and to register to attend the conference, visit www.swfolkalliance.org.

Ben Bedford (Springfield, IL), John R. Butler (Matlacha, FL), Helene Cronin (Plano, TX), Rich Krueger (Evergreen Park, IL), Miller McKeown Leaphart Sr. (Nashville, TN), and Sarah Morris (St. Paul, MN) will each perform 20-minute sets during a Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winners concert at the festival on Sunday afternoon, June 3, and will receive cash honorariums and other prizes.

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. Being named as a New Folk Winner is regarded as a very prestigious honor.

The 47th annual Kerrville Folk Festival extends through Sunday, June 10. Besides concerts each evening, Kerrville features “Ballad Tree” song-sharing sessions, late-night and afternoon song circles and jam sessions at various campsites, concerts and activities for children, organized canoe and kayak trips on the Guadelupe River and Hill Country bike rides, a professional development program for teachers, as well as a three-day songwriters school and instrumental workshops. For more information, visit www.kerrville-music.com.

Editor’s Note: A listing of all of this year’s New Folk Finalists was included in a previously posted article: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2018/04/14/finalists-announced-in-2018-grassy-hill-kerrville-new-folk-competition/

Slated to perform (in order of performance) at the Threadgill Theater on the Quiet Valley Ranch Campgrounds on Saturday, May 26, from 1-4 p.m., are Scott Cook (Sherwood Park, Ontario), Ian Flanigan (Saugerties, NY), Izzy Heltai (Boston, MA), Hope Dunbar (Utica, NE), Michael Braunfeld (Villanova, PA), Sarah Morris (St. Paul, MN), Mac Leaphart (Nashville, TN), Helene Cronin (Plano, TX), T. Buckley (Calgary, Alberta), Cari Ray (Nashville, IN), Dave Ray Cecil (Greensboro, NC), Rich Krueger (Evergreen Park, IL), Kora Feder (Brooklyn, NY), Austin MacRae (Ithaca, NY), Clint Alphin (Nashville, TN), and Susan Cattaneo (Medford, MA).

New Folk Finalists slated to perform on Sunday afternoon, May 27, include Teghan Devon (Myersville, MD), Rupert Wates (New York, NY), Ira Wolf (Nashville, TN), Chad Elliott (Lamoni, IA), Ezra Vancil (Dallas, TX), Kelly Augustine (Centennial, CO), Aaron Nathans (Chester Heights, PA), Nikhil Dasgupta (Portland, ME), Andrew Dunn (Lebanon, NJ), Brittany Jean (Brewster, WA), Ben Bedford (Springfield, IL), Jerry Green (Phoenix, AZ), Frankie Zwick (Nashville, TN), John R. Butler (Matlacha, FL), Erinn Peet-Lukes (Boulder, CO). and Prateek Poddar (Weston, MA).

Named as alternates were Scott Fab (Royal Oaks, MI), Angela Easterling (Green, SC), Laura Zucker (Lafayette, CA), Kristen Ford (Nashville, TN), Heather Styka (Chicago, IL), Mike P. Ryan (Clifton, VA), Grant Peeples (Tallahassee, FL), and Amy Aiken (Norfolk, VA).

After performing, six songwriters will be selected as 2018 New Folk Winners by songwriters Pierce Pettis, Jaime Michaels and BettySoo, who are serving as judges. The six, to be announced during the evening concert on May 27, 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 Winners concert at the festival on Sunday, June 3.

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 Winner is regarded as a very prestigious honor.

Besides concerts each evening, Kerrville (which extends for 18 straight days — Thursday, May 24-Sunday, June 10) features “Ballad Tree” song-sharing sessions, campfire jam sessions, concerts and activities for children, organized canoe and kayak trips on the Guadelupe River and Hill Country bike rides, yoga, beer and wine seminars, a Young Artists Performance Incubator, a professional development program for teachers, as well as a three-day songwriters school and instrumental workshops. For a complete schedule and additional information, visit www.kerrville-music.com.