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

“Gathering in person after two years of making connections though our online events is going to be so lovely,” said Dalis Allen, SWRFA’s executive director and longtime conference coordinator. “Everyone is so excited! We have many new folks attending – joining our team of folks that have continued to make our SWRFA conference the welcoming event that it is.”

Prior to the official start of the conference on Thursday, folks will converge on Austin’s NeWorlDeli on Wednesday night for a party and meet & greet during which many registered artists will e afforded an opportunity to perform a song. Similarly, there will be an open mic during a pool party at the Holiday Inn-Midtown, the conference’s host hotel, on Thursday night, along with a meal courtesy of Berkalin Records. Prior to the pool party, there will be several panels during the mid-late afternoon.

Performing Artists Will Have Lots of Opportunities to Showcase Their Talents; Official Showcases are Open to the Public on Friday and Saturday Nights

A number of unplugged in-room showcases will follow the Official Showcases on Friday and Saturday overnight from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com’s in-room showcase on Saturday overnight will feature a Midnight Hoot preceded by several song swaps. Although the online publication for the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities has hosted showcases at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) and Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) conferences for many years, this marks the first time it is doing so during a SWRFA conference. A popular annual event at NERFA conferences since 2007, the AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot at the SWRFA conference will feature two-dozen artists/acts — each performing one song between midnight and 2 a.m. A house band is available to accompany any artists on request.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

10:30 Song Swap: Catherine Miles & Jay Mafale, Shanna in a Dress

11:00 Song Swap: George Ensle, Tim Grimm

11:30 Texas Troubadours: Brian Kalinec, Randy Palmer, Joel White

12:00 AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot – Part 1
(One song per artist/act; order subject to change.)

Taylor Pie, Nancy K. Dillon, Michael Henchman, Libby Koch, Ken Gaines, Karyn Oliver, Jake Farr, Grace Morrison, Sarah Pierce, Kacey & Jenna, Roxi Copland, Erin Ivey

House Band: Merel Bregante (percussion), John Inman and Brian Kalinec (guitars)

1:00 AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot – Part 2
(One song per artist/act; order subject to change.)

Ryan Biter, Deidre McCalla, Carl Solomon, Carla Ulbrich, Vanessa Lively & Ben Bedford, Claudia Gibson, Alicia Stockman, Natalie Price, Carolyn Shulman, Dan Weber, Lynn McCracken

House Band: Merel Bregante (percussion), John Inman and Brian Kalinec (guitars)

The conference wraps up with an extended Sunday brunch during which songwriters who drew a random song assignment/topic upon picking up their credentials at the outset of the conference, will share the songs that they wrote over the weekend. “Getting to listen to the songs written during the conference from a prompt is still one of my very favorite things I do all year,” said Allen. Many artists and other conference attendees share her sentiments and have made the song-sharing event a longtime conference highlight.

SWRFA (swfolkalliance.org) is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. SWRFA includes the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Editor’s Note: Besides hosting a late-night song swaps and a midnight hoot during the SWRFA conference, I will assist PuffBunny Records (an indie label for which I provide PR counsel and services) with its in-room showcase and Taylor Pie with a Q & A following the screening of Nobody Famous, an award-winning documentary about her and the 1960s folk-pop trio Pozo Seco Singers of which she was the lead singer and a founding member (along with Don Williams and Lofton Kline). I also will take part in a panel discussion on showcasing and offer some mentoring sessions on various PR, social media and strategic communications topics. I am a board member of Folk Alliance International and NERFA.

The regional events provide useful and enjoyable learning and networking opportunities, not to mention plenty of listening and performing opportunities for artists, presenters, agents and managers, DJs, and others engaged in the folk music field. Booking gigs is a primary objective of some performing artists who attend these annual conferences, while many presenters and folk DJs come primarily to scout out new artists and those who they have not previously heard and seen in live performance. However, these conferences are much more than that – they are really about forging connections and building community.

FARM Gathering in Illinois to Feature 14 Official Showcase Artists/Acts

The 14 artists/acts slated to perform during Official Showcases at the 2022 FARM Gathering on the evenings of October 21 and 22 are (listed alphabetically by last name or group name) Basset, Buffalo Rose, Sienna Christie, Djangophonique, Gina Forsyth, Ben Gage, Tim Grimm, House of Hamill, Jordan Hamilton, Donna Herula Trio, Spencer LaJoye, Annie Mack, Steam Machine, and Rupert Wates. Named as alternates were Tret Fure and Kelly Hunt featuring Stas Heaney. They were chosen from among nearly 170 entries. The FARM Gathering extends from October 20-23 at Doubletree Lisle Naperville in Lisle, Illinois -– near Chicago. Conversations and workshops during this year’s gathering will focus around themes of inclusion through song, storytelling, and community building. Grammy Award-winner Dom Flemons, The American Songster, will deliver a keynote address. While last year’s conference took place solely online, the 2022 Gathering will feature a combination of in-person and virtual content. For more information, visit farmfolk.org.

SWRFA Taps 16 Artists/Acts for its Official Showcases in Austin, Texas

SWRFA will host eight official showcases on Friday night, September 23 and another eight on Saturday night, September 24. The showcasing artists are listed below in order of performance (subject to change if needed). Sept. 23: Jean Rohe, David Starr, Karyn Oliver, Noah Zacharin, Deidre McCalla, Grace Morrison, Javier Jara, and Violet Bell. Sept. 24: Vanessa Lively, Erin Ivey, George Ensle, Shanna in a Dress, Abigail Lapell, Catherine Miles & Jay Mafale, Natalie Price, and Justin Farren. The Official Showcases will be held in the ballroom at the Holiday Inn-Midtown in Austin, Texas. In addition, an Alternates Official Showcase featuring Alicia Stockman, Beth//James, Ryan Biter, Leeann Atherton, Jason Erie, and Wild Ponies will take place in another room at the hotel following a pool party on Thursday night, September 22. The 23rd Annual SWRFA Conference extends from September 21-25. For more information, visit swfolkalliance.org.

A Bit About FAI, NERFA and Other Regional Affiliates

Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA.org), which draws the largest number of people to its annual conferences of any FAI region, will announce its juried Formal Showcase artists in August. Its conference is slated for November 10-13 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, with Formal Showcases at the legendary Stone Pony. A hybrid event, much of the NERFA conference will also be livestreamed. Although NERFA is no longer accepting applications for its in-person formal showcases, conference attendees (in-person and virtual) may still apply for virtual showcases until August 15. Artists must be registered for the conference in order to do so.

Folk Alliance Region-West (FAR-West) has opted not to host a conference this year, while Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) annual conference attendees converged on Black Mountain, North Carolina in May and will again.

Folk Alliance International (folk.org) — which hosts its 35th annual conference, February 1-5, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri — is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community – traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional – through preservation, presentation and promotion. Its conference theme is Facing the Future: Sustainability on Folk Music.

Editor’s Note: I serve on the boards of directors of both Folk Alliance International and NERFA and am a past president of NERFA. I have been a workshop presenter, moderator and/or mentor at FAI, FARM virtual, FAR-West, NERFA and SERFA conferences and will be participating in this year’s SWRFA conference. I am not involved in the selection of juried showcase artists, although I host late-night showcases under the banner of AcousticMusicScene.com at conferences.

The official showcases take place Friday and Saturday evenings from 7:15-10:15 p.m., with each artist/act performing a 15-minute set. Unplugged guerrilla 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 couple of film screenings and Q & A sessions, several thematic song circles, an open mic, peer group and one-on-one 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.

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. Formed in 2002, 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. SERFA has produced an annual conference since 2008. Its conference’s move to Black Mountain this year marks a return of sorts. Prior to the event’s move to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2019, it had taken place for eight consecutive years at the Montreat Conference Center, a few miles down the road and also nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted SERFA– like other FAI regional affiliates – to pivot to an online event last year, SERFA in Session: A Virtual Gathering.

Acclaimed Songwriter Thomm Jutz to Deliver Keynote Address

Named Songwriter of the Year in 2021 by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Thomm Jutz (pronounced “Yootz”) has written a number of bluegrass hits and his songs have been recorded by Balsam Range, Nanci Griffith, John Prine, and The SteelDrivers, among others. A native of Germany who has called Nashville home for many years, Jutz toured with such artists as Griffith, Mary Gauthier, David Olney, and Kim Richey; built a recording studio and produced albums for other artists – including Country Music Hall of Famers Bill Anderson and Mac Wiseman. He received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album in 2020 for To Live in Two Worlds, Volume 1 and is featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s American Currents exhibit, which is slated to extend from 2022-2023.

Afternoon Programming Includes Workshops, Film Screenings, Song Circles, Wisdom of the Elders, and More

Nearly 20 workshops and panel discussions will delve into such topics as African-American contributions to Southern Appalachian music and dance, basics of piedmont picking, creating in community: the Jack Hardy Songwriters Exchange method, expanding our folk community, free-range folklore: an introduction to the Music Maker method, getting the gig and being invited back, the magic of collaboration, media coverage and strategy, music off the radar: making money and making a difference, simple measures for drastic guitar playing improvement, social media & fan engagement, songwriter residencies, and trends in folk radio and radio promotion.

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be screenings of two recent music documentaries – The Mountain Minor and Nobody Famous – followed by Q & A sessions, as well as a Wisdom of the Elders session, several thematic song circles (songs of joy, struggle, place, and the environment), and one-on-one mentoring sessions during the afternoons.

The Mountain Minor is an award-winning narrative feature film that provides an authentic and respectful glimpse of Appalachian culture, music and history; of the joys and challenges experienced by the folks who have kept traditional mountain music alive. Loosely based on a true story, the film follows five generations of a family from their roots in eastern Kentucky in 1932 to a stage in Cincinnati, Ohio today as told by a man who yearns to return to his Kentucky home after migrating with his family to southwest Ohio during the Great Depression. Written-and directed by Dale Farmer (himself an old-time musician) and produced by Susan Pepper, a Cincinnati native now based in North Carolina, the film notably features traditional Appalachian musicians in acting roles. Among them are The Tillers, Smithsonian Folkways artist Elizabeth LaPrelle, banjoist and fiddler Dan Gellert, and Pepper herself. Following a series of festival screenings, The Mountain Minor had a limited theatrical run in late 2019-early 2020 due to the pandemic. It has aired on some public television stations and is available for home viewing.

Named Best Documentary in the 2021 New Jersey Film Festival and Best Music Documentary in the Seattle Film Festival earlier this year, Nobody Famous is set against the backdrop of the socially and politically volatile 1960s and traces the quick rise and ready fall of the folk-pop trio Pozo Seco Singers as folk music’s zeitgeist gives way to the heavy rhythm of rock & roll. Nobody Famous features Taylor Pie (Susan Taylor), who helped form the trio with Don Williams in the early 1960s and has been a solo singer-songwriter and musician since it disbanded. As Taylor Pie – then fresh from her first year in college – recounts today, while Williams went on to become one of the most successful country music artists of the 20th century, she shied away from fame and fortune, instead choosing to “go where the folk wind blows” – embracing her own path, her own unique artistry, and her own individual identity in the process.

Dozens of Artists to be Featured in Official and Guerilla Showcases

Following the official showcases (as well as on Thursday overnight), late-night guerilla showcases will take place in various rooms for several hours. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at the SERFA Conference since 2011, will host late-night song swaps and a midnight hoot (featuring two-dozen artists/acts – each performing one song) on Thursday, May 12, overnight. The AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot is a pre-arranged, round-robin song swap, a three-plus-hour version of which has been a popular staple at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) conferences since 2007, will feature two-dozen artists/acts – each performing one song. The Midnight Hoot 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 each other’s company and music before the conference really gets into full swing on Friday.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

11 p.m. PuffBunny Records Songswarm: Taylor Pie, Nancy K. Dillon,Nicholas Edward Williams

11:30 p.m. Texas!: Andrew Delaney, Claudia Gibson, Scott Martin

12:00 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot, Part 1:

(one song each, not necessarily in order of appearance)

Antonio Andrade, Ashley & Simpson, Meg Braun, Matt Burke, Cheryl

Cawood, Emerald Rae, Kala Farnham, Alice Hasen, Lara Herscovitch,

Lucy Isabel, Rob Lytle, Karyn Oliver

1:00 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot, Part 2:

(one song each, not necessarily in order of appearance)

Amy & Mike Aiken, Crowes Pasture, Dan & Faith, Paul Helou,

Letters To Abigail, Crys Matthews, Brant Miller, Halley Neal, Sam

Robbins, Hank Stone, Annette Wasilik, Elly Wininger

Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting the AcousticMusicScene.com guerrilla showcase and moderating the Q & A session with Taylor Pie following the screening o the award-winning documentary Nobody Famous that features her, I will be assisting PuffBunny Records (Taylor Pie’s label, for which I handle public relations) with its Friday night guerrilla showcase and an exhibit hall table. I will also again be a mentor offering advice and counsel on various aspects of PR, social media and strategic communications. A board member of Folk Alliance International, I’m a past president of Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) and continue to serve on its board of directors. I have been an active participant at SERFA conferences since 2011.

“The Broward Folk Club is dedicated to keeping folk and acoustic music alive and vibrant into the future, and we’re confident that this virtual festival can do just that,” say festival organizers. Since its inception, the festival has been a combination of a music fest, family reunion, community gathering, and weekend musical retreat. Although it generally features nearly 50 Florida-based and national touring artists/acts performing and leading workshops on two stages, this year’s online festivities have been scaled back a bit. However, unlike past festivals, this virtual one is free to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Donations are welcome and appreciated.

Featured performers include (in alphabetical order, not order of appearance) The Currys (Port St. Joe, FL), Friction Farm (Greenville, SC), Dave Gunning (Pictou, Nova Scotia), Lara Herscovich (Durham, CT), Joe Jencks (Dekalb, IL), Zoe Lewis (Provincetown, MA), Cara Luft (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Rod MacDonald (Lake Worth, FL), Crys Matthews (Washington, DC), Deirdre McCalla (Atlanta, GA), Mean Mary (Nashville, TN), Sofia Talvik (Sweden and Spain), and Twin Flames (Ottawa, Ontario and Nunavik, Quebec).

“Some art forms can’t pivot to online the way music is able to,” Herscovitch continued. “A big silver lining is that being online makes it all more accessible; it has been fun and amazing to connect at my own and others’ concerts with people from around the globe, and those who aren’t able to attend in person for other reasons. So, I’m just going with it, learning my own corner of the studio technology as fast as I can, and witnessing the ways that the heart and soul of music can still be delivered though a wi-fi connection. I figure it’s all just perfectly imperfect.”

Christine Stay and Aidan Quinn of Friction Farm shared similar sentiments.“ The South Florida Folk Festival was the first festival that Friction Farm played as a duo. We were recovering from the dread of being in a rock band, and the South Florida folk community was, and continues to be, unbelievably supportive and nurturing,” Stay told AcousticMusicScene.com. “We will certainly miss the late night song circles, hugs, musical spontaneity and that inexplicable energy that surrounds live music. But we can’t wait to hear our friends perform online, to celebrate the songwriter competition winners, and to see the faces of our beloved Florida friends and fans. Plus, we won’t get rained out and there won’t be a line for the bathroom.”

The Festival’s 2020 Singer-Songwriter Competition Winners Will Also Perform

Also slated during the virtual festival is a winners’ round featuring the three winners of last year’s South Florida Folk Festival Singer-Songwriter Compet ition: Pamela Machala (Boulder, CO), Aaron Nathans (Chester Heights, PA) and Karyn Oliver (Fort Worth, TX). They were selected by a panel of judges from among the 12 finalists who kicked-off last February’s musical festivities during the 2020 South Florida Folk Festival in Davie. Each received the Vic Heyman Songwriting Award, $200 cash prize and the opportunity to perform during this year’s event.

The songwriting competition is co-presented by Reba Heyman. Along with her late husband, Vic, Reba has been an integral part of the folk community in South Florida and nationally for many years. The couple, known for decades for their generous financial backing of folk festivals and artists, formerly ran a concert series in Rockville, Maryland known as Vic’s Music Corner. They also served on the boards of several music festivals and established a scholarship fund for performing artists.

The full schedule for the virtual 2021 South Florida Folk Festival appears on the Broward Folk Club’s Facebook page.

A panel of judges chose the three winners from among 12 finalists after each performed two songs live during the festival at its new location, the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds in Davie, on Saturday, February 8. Each of the winners receive the Vic Heyman Songwriting Award – a $200 cash prize and an invitation to perform at next year’s festival.

The songwriting competition is co-presented by the Broward Folk Club (the nonprofit organization that stages the festival) and Reba Heyman. Along with her late husband, Vic, Reba has been an integral part of the folk community in South Florida and nationally for many years. The couple has been known for decades for their generous financial backing of folk festivals and artists. They ran a concert series in Rockville, Maryland known as Vic’s Music Corner, established scholarship funds for artists, and served on the boards for several music festivals.

Now in its 26th year and continuing through today, the South Florida Folk Festival features more than 40 artists/acts from the U.S. and Canada performing and leading workshops. The three singer-songwriter competition winners, along with the runners-up, also are being afforded the opportunity to play ‘in-the-round’ during the festival’s second day. In addition, there is a jam area where amateur musicians can play traditional folk and other acoustic styles of music.

The 12 finalists, chosen by a preliminary selection committee from the local folk community, are Randy Emmons (Osprey, FL), Mike Glick (New York, NY), Susan Levine (Newburyport, MA), Pamela T. Machala (Boulder, C), Mel and Vinnie (Lake Worth, FL), Aaron Nathans (Chester Heights, PA), Karyn Oliver (Stokesdale, NC), Mike Ryan (Clifton, VA), Jan Seides (Austin, X), Paul Smithson (Eustis, FL), Think Twice (Robby Layton & Teresa Pembroke) (Boulder, CO), and Joe Virga (Cape Coral, FL). Each had submitted two original songs in the acoustic, folk, inde, Americana, singer-songwriter and associated genres.

Three winners selected by a panel of judges will each receive the Vic Heyman Songwriting Award – a $200 cash prize and an invitation to perform at the following year’s festival. In addition, all winners and runners-up will be afforded the opportunity to play ‘in-the-round’ during the festival’s second day on Sunday, Feb. 9.

The songwriting competition is co-presented by the Broward Folk Club (the nonprofit organization that stages the festival) and Reba Heyman. Along with her late husband, Vic, Reba has been an integral part of the folk community in South Florida and nationally for many yeas. The couple has been known for decades for their generous financial backing of folk festivals and artists. They ran a concert series in Rockville, Maryland known as Vic’s Music Corner, established scholarship funds for artists, and served o the boards for several music festivals.

In its 26h year, the South Florida Folk Festival (www.southfloridafolkfest.net) is expected to feature more than 40 Florida-based and nationally touring artists performing and leading workshops. There also will be a jam area where amateur musicians can play traditional folk and other acoustic styles of music.

Appearing in this year’s Emerging Artist Showcase are (listed alphabetically by last name or name of group, not in order of appearance): Answer the Muse, James Lee Baker, Suzie Brown, Wes Collins, Scott Cook, Corner House, Karen Dahlstrom, Sarah Eide, Roger Street Friedman, GoldenOak, Hawthorn, Lara Herscovitch, Kaiti Jones, Travis Knapp, Grace Morrison, Mosa, Zoe Mulford, Karyn Oliver, The Promise is Hope, River Run, Benjamin Dakota Rogers, Ellen Shae, Deborah C. Smith, and Dan Weber. Named as alternates were South for the Winter, Shawna Caspi, Jim Allyn, and Banjo Nickaru. 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.

The Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill 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. This year’s Most Wanted Song Swap will feature Quarter Horse, Solebello and Justin Farren.

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 was 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 looked for high-quality performances of interesting, well-crafted, acoustic-based material that need not be original. This year’s judges were Bruce Swan and Louise Baker from Baker Booking and WPKN (Bridgeport, CT) working as a team, Bruce Martin from Blues Café in Southbury, CT, and Pam Robinson from The Folk Project and curator of he New Jersey Uke Fest.

Artists slated to perform during the festival – in addition to those in the Most Wanted Song Swap — include Michael Allman & the Mile High Band, Annie & the Hedonists, Bettman & Halpin, BoDeans, Buddy System, Jim & Madeline Christensen, Emma’s Revolution, The Gaslight Tinkers, The Ivy Vie Players, Martyn Joseph, Stephen Kellogg, Low Lily, G,eorge Marshall with Wild Asparagus, Crys Mathews, Pamela Means Band, Mid-City Acres, Beth Molaro, Mustard’s Retreat, Nerissa & Katryna Nields, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Patti O’Brien Melita, Pete’s Posse, Kerri Powers, Paul Rosenberg, Rowan Brothers, Ryanhood, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, The Storycrafters, Tame Rutabaga, Andrew VanNorstrand, Kathryn Wedderburn, and Annie Wenz. The Falcon Ridge House Band — featuring Rad Lorkovic, Mark Dann and Eric Lee –also will be on hand to accompany a number of other artists.

Those camping at Falcon Ridge and staying up through the early morning hours can enjoy an array of informal jams, mini-showcases and after-hours song circles that help foster a sense of “folk” community and a different kind of festival experience at the Big Orange Tarp, Budgiedome, Pirate Camp and elsewhere. Singer-songwriters Terry Kitchen and Tony Kearney host the Nite Owl Swap and Nite Owl Hoot.

More information can be found and tickets for the festival may be ordered at www.falconridgefolk.com.

Editor’s Note: I have attended the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival each summer almost since its inception. It was an honor to serve as an Emerging Artist Showcase judge last year. For nearly a decade, I also arranged and hosted late-night song swaps at Falcon Ridge under the banner of AcousticMusicScene.com in partnership with Tribes Hill and, later, Pirate Camp. While I continue to camp with friends at Pirate Camp, I have enjoyed visiting various campsites and checking out a number of artists who are new to me over the past several years.

The official showcases take place Thursday-Saturday evenings from 7- 10:15 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 and group mentoring sessions, the SERFA Awards, an exhibit hall, and plenty of opportunities to learn, share and network –- including during built-in afternoon breaks in the programming.

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion.

SERFA (https://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. Its move to Chattanooga this year, following consecutive years at the Montreat Conference Center, a beautiful and tranquil spot nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, was necessitated by a growing number of attendees.

“We will miss Montreat, but we outgrew the lovely setting,” noted Don Baker, president of SERFA’s board of directors. “We are very excited to be in the vibrant city of Chattanooga, where we have been welcomed with open arms.” Citing the board’s desire for SERFA to broaden its horizons and be more inclusive, Baker expressed pleasure with the cultural and racial diversity of its new conference home.

Apart from an opening reception at the Songbirds Guitar Museum on Wednesday evening, May 15, all of the conference activities will take place on one level of The Chattanoogan hotel.

Ellis Paul to Deliver Keynote Address

Ellis Paul has played more than 5,000 shows – gracing stages at the Newport Folk Festival, Carnegie Hall, and clubs and coffeehouses the world-over. A prolific songwriter, he’s penned more than 500 songs. “His songs are literate, provocative and urbanely romantic.” (Scott Alarik, The Boston Globe). He’s recorded and released 20 albums, while his music has also been featured in a number of Hollywood film soundtracks – including several by the Farrelly Brothers – as well as commercials, documentaries and TV shows.

“Despite his success and sense of history, Mr. Paul remains an artist with his eye on the future and an interest in discovering the transformative potential in his music.” – The New York Times

SERFA Awards to be Presented

Separately and together, Norman and Nancy Blake have created some 40 albums. They began recording together in 1974 – although Norman had already played on recordings by such notable artists as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and John Hartford by that time. The Blakes’ musical experiences together and separately have encompassed 1950s bluegrass, classical music, session work in Nashville, he Aeroplane Band, and very traditional southern music.

A co-founder of the Fiddle Puppets (1979 — which developed into/was transformed into Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble 15 years later – Eileen Carson has been a pioneer in bringing percussive dance to performing arts sages, folk festivals, and the general public. Mark Schatz has played bass with such notable artists as John Hartford, Claire Lynch, Tim O’Brien, and Tony Rice as well as he bands Nickel Creek and Spectrum.

Fletcher Bright, who died in 2017 at age 86, was part of the Dismembered Tennesseans band for 70 years and hosted legendary jam sessions. He also led the Three Sisters Festival.

J.T. Gray has owned the Station Inn, Nashville’s preeminent bluegrass club, since 1981. Besides being responsible for a 165-seat venue, he is a bassist and previously toured with Jimmy Martin.

Workshops and Panel Discussions Organized by Tracks

More than 40 workshops and special events during the conference will be organized by tracks: Activism, Business, Media, Performing and Recording, Presenting, Roots and Sources, Songwriting, and Special Events. Workshops and panel discussions will delve into such topics as Americana Blues and the Africa-American Folkloric Tradition, The Art of Co-Writing, Claw hammer Banjo, Elements of a Compelling Interview, Fair Trade Music, Folk Music and Social Responsibility, House Concert Roundtable, How to be a Storyteller in Song, How Not to Think Like a Guitarist and Still be One, How Presenters Choose Artists, Reinterpreting the Music of Charlie Poole, 300+ Years of Banjo, Vocal Technique for the Touring Musician, and Women’s Empowerment in the Folk Music World. Also slated are a Community Sing, peer group meetings, Yoga, and a Women’s Song Circle.

A Wisdom of the Elders session — to be moderated by Art Menius, SERFA’s executive director — will feature Norman and Nancy Blake (described above) and music industry veteran David Wilkes. Among other things, Wilkes was active in New York’s folk scene for six decades, managed the iconic The Bitter End in NYC’s Greenwich Village, was a music publisher, and served as vice president of A&R for the influential folk label Vanguard Records and as manager or co-manager for such artists as Emmylou Harris, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Josh White, Jr. He also owned the Coffee House Circuit — which booked Havens, Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, and John Denver. Still active as a manager and agent, Wilkes also is the U.S. representative for the Canadian folk-world music group Sultans of String.

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be one-on-one mentoring sessions, yoga, an exhibit hall, communal meals, and, of course, a lot of music. Grady Ormsby of Down East Folk Arts will host several open mics.

Official and Guerilla Showcases Abound

Slated to present official showcases on Thursday, May 16, are (in order of appearance) Crossing the Caney, Andy Cohen, Rod Abernethy, Grace Morison, Wolf and Clover, Antonio Andrade, Boomtown Trio, Karyn Oliver, and Resonant Rogues. Friday’s official showcase lineup features David Davis and the Warrior River Boys, Carolann Solebello, Frank and Allie Lee, Belle Plaine, Grant Peeples, Amy Speace, Twin Kennedy, Wyatt Easterling, and Ben Van Winkle. Saturday’s showcase artists include After Jack, Nancy Beaudette, Nicholas Edward Williams, Deidra McCalla, The Currys, Cary Morin, Flint & Feather, Eric Brace Peter Cooper and Thomm Jutz, and Ginger Cowgirl.

Here’s a link to listen to a sampler featuring 23 of the official showcase artists/acts: https://noisetrade.com/serfaartists/serfa-showcase-artists-2019

Following the official showcases (as well as on Wednesday overnight), late-night guerilla showcases will take place in various rooms for several hours. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at the SERFA Conference for the past eight years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday, May 16, overnight. These will primarily take the form of song swaps.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

11:00: Todd Hoke and Jeff Talmadge

11:30: O Canada: Nancy Beaudette, Flint & Feather and Twin Kennedy

12:00: Women of Note: Deidre McCalla, Kate Mills and Grace Morrison

12:30: Guys of Note: Wyatt Easterling, Brian Ashley Jones and Dennis Warner

1:00: Songswarm: Nancy Dillon, Ruby Lovett, Taylor Pie

1:30: Long Island Sounds: Joe Iadanza and Hank Stone

Here’s a link to view a couple of Ruby Lovett videos — including a recent one for her song, “A Father’s Love,” that appears on her new album entitled It’s A Hard Life. Taylor Pie accompanies her, while AcousticMusicScene.com‘s Michael Kornfeld and singer-songwriter Nancy Dillon also can be seen at the bonfire: https://www.rubylovett.com/videos.

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Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting AcousticMusicScene.com showcases, I will moderate and participate in a panel discussion entitled Recording Promotion Demystified. 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.

A regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, 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 seventh 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.

Kathy Mattea to Deliver Keynote Address and Accept an Award

Kathy Mattea, a Grammy Award-winning country/folk artist and activist, will deliver a keynote address during the conference. Although best known for such country music chart topping hits as “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses,” “Come From the Heart” and “Goin’ Gone,” her 18 albums contain bluegrass, folk, gospel and Celtic influences. Mattea also made major waves in folk circles with her album, Coal, featuring songs about the Appalachian coal-mining culture and celebrated the Appalachian culture of her native West Virginia on her 2012 follow-up recording, Calling Me Home. Mattea has been part of the distinguished teaching staff for the annual Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina each summer. She is married to singer-songwriter Jon Vezner, who penned such hits for her as “Where’ve You Been.”

“There’s nothing more powerful than sitting in a room and sharing music together,” asserts Mattea. “Folk music is about stripping away all the bells and whistles, and celebrating the simplicity and directness of that connection.” She believes “SERFA is important because it helps people who steward live music to connect directly with musicians, and helps those musicians find ways to connect with people who are passionate about keeping live performance… ALIVE!”

Mattea 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 John McCutcheon and Sundilla Music.

McCutcheon, who was the keynote speaker at a previous SERFA Conference, is one of America’s most revered folksinger-songwriters – perhaps best known for his classic “Christmas in the Trenches.” A multi-instrumentalist who plays a dozen different traditional instruments, he has been performing and recording since the mid-1970s. His latest album, Trolling for Dreams, topped the folk radio charts in January. A longtime labor and social activist, McCutcheon also was a founder and leader of Local 1000, the traveling acoustic musicians local of the American Federation of Musicians.

Sundilla Music is an Auburn, Alabama-based nonprofit cultural organization that presents The Sundilla Concert Series and, along with Troy Public Radio, The Sundilla Radio Hour. Launched in 1993, the acoustic concert series’ motto is “We’re a great place on the way somewhere else,” and its 12 concerts a year feature professional touring musicians from outside the area. The weekly hour-long radio program, which premiered on Troy Public Radio in March 2013, now airs on several radio stations and also is available as podcast via iTunes and other platforms. Hosted by Kelly Walker, the program features music and conversation with independent contemporary folk musicians.

Workshops and Panel Discussions Organized by Tracks

Some three-dozen 75-minute workshops during the conference will be organized by tracks: Activism, Business for Performing artists, Performing and Recording, Presenting, Songwriting, and Trad. Workshops and panel discussions will delve into such topics as The Art and Craft of Home Recording, Blues in Open Tunings, Can Music Change the World?, Creating Successful Tours, Creating Your Own Brand, How to Elicit Audience Participation, Marketing Your Music to Folk Radio, Music for Film and Television, Sharing Best Practices for Presenters, Sponsorship and Grants for Events, Videos: How and Why, Women as Tradition Bearers, Writing Songs On Purpose, and Writing Strong Bios and News Releases. Rain Perry, a singer-songwriter and independent filmmaker, will screen her new documentary about the music business, entitled The Shopkeeper, and will engage in a question and answer session following it.

A Wisdom of the Elders session will feature Reggie Harris, Doug Orr and Patrick Sky. An artist, educator and activist, Harris seeks to convey messages of joy, unity, tolerance and peace through music that is steeped in the tradition of Africa-American spirituals, folk, gospel, rock, and songs of civil and human rights. Orr, president emeritus of nearby Warren Wilson College, founded the Swannanoa Gathering that takes place there annually. He also is the co-author (with Scotland’s Fiona Ritchie) of Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia, a 2014 New York Times best seller. Sky, who was part of the folk scene centered around New York City’s Greenwich Village during the early 1960s, later embraced Irish music, established the noted Green Linnet Records label, and became an acclaimed uilleann piper and pipe maker.

Official and Guerilla Showcases Abound

A number of artists have been selected by a panel of judges to present official showcases on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 7:15-10:15 p.m. Slated to perform on Thursday are Friction Farm, Andy Ferrell, Rebecca Wudarski, Johnsmith, Ordinary Elephant, Scott Cook, John Sherman & Randy Clepper, and Sultans of String. Friday’s official showcase lineup features Sarah Clanton, Noah Zacharin, Hoot and Holler, Reggie Harris, Al Petteway, Anne McCue, Lyal Strickland, and Lauren Sheehan. Saturday’s showcase artists include The Levins, Mare Wakefield and Nomad, Josh Harty, Mean Mary, Bill Mize, Rebecca Folsom, MSG Acoustic Blues Trio, and Blue Yonder. These artists were chosen from among nearly 150 applicants.

The official Showcases are open to the public for $15 each night or $30 for all three nights. Tickets will be available at the door at Convocation Hall, located inside the Assembly Inn at Montreat Conference Center.

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 six years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday and Friday, May 18 and 19, overnight. These will take the form of song swaps.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

Thursday Night, May 18:

10:40: Steve Brooks, Jefferson Ross, Lyal Strickland, Dennis Warner

11:30: Antonio Andrade, Scott Cook, Gina Holsopple

12:00: Dan & Faith, Max & Ruth Bloomquist

12:30: Tony Denikos, Karyn Oliver, Letitia VanSant

1:00: Bruce Michael Miller Anna p.s., Laura Zucker

1:30: Mike & Amy Aiken, Eugene Tyler Band

Friday Night, May 19:

10:40: Nashville Cats: Wyatt Easterling, Sarah Lois Richards, Priscilla Sanders, Susan Shann

11:30: Leah Kaufman, Isabel Taylor

12:00: I’m From New Jersey: Diane Perry, John Sonntag

12:30: Reggie Harris, Mara Levine

1:00: New York Duos: The Levins, The YaYas

1:30: Acoustic Blues: Ann McCue, M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio, Jon Shain & FJ Ventre

Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting AcousticMusicScene.com showcases, I will be part of workshop- panel discussions on artist bios and news releases and booking and management. 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).