Prior to the evening concert on the park’s [Harry] Chapin Rainbow Stage, Michael Kornfeld, president of the Folk Music Society of Huntington and editor & publisher of AcousticMusicScene.com , conducts an on-stage conversational interview with the evening’s featured artists at 7:15 p.m. He also hosts a series of amplified showcases and song swaps from 2-5 p.m. near a canopy tent on the upper lawn area overlooking the stage. These will be preceded by an hour-long open mic hosted by singer-songwriter Toby Tobias, who runs the NorthShore Original Open Mic (NOOM), an Acoustic Ally of FMSH, from 12-1 p.m. and Remembering Lois Morton: A Musical Tribute from 1-2 p.m.

From 1-2 p.m, a number of artists will perform and share their reflections on Lois Morton, the late Huntington-based singer-songwriter who delighted audiences throughout the New York metropolitan area and beyond for years with her abundant charm and humorous songs of social commentary on such subjects as cell phones, clutter, diets, psychotherapy, and road rage. Participants in this tribute will include Josie Bello, Kirsten Maxwell, Larry Moser, Richard Parr, Glen Roethel, Dave Anthony Setteducati, Linda Sussman, and others. Here’s a link to a remembrance piece about Lois Morton: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2020/12/20/lois-morton-a-witty-singer-songwriter-1933-2020/.

The complete schedule for the Huntington Folk Festival appears below:

12:00 Open Mic
1:00 Remembering Lois Morton: A Musical Tribute (performances and reflections by Josie Bello, Kirsten Maxwell, Larry Moser, Richard Parr, Glen Roethel, Dave Anthony Setteducati, Linda Sussman, and others)
2:00 Song Swap: Hank Stone and Bob Westcott
2:30 Us!
2:45 Drew Velting
3:00 Christine Sweeney
3:15 Brett Altman
3:30 Allison Leah
3:45 Sea Chanteys: The Royal Yard and Alan Short
4:15 Catherine Miles & Jay Mafale
4:30 The Levins
4:45 Scott Wolfson & Other Heroes
5:00 Dinner Break
7:15 On-Stage Conversation with Paula Cole and Sophie B. Hawkins
8:00 Evening Concert on the Chapin Rainbow Stage: Paula Cole & Sophie B. Hawkins

Festivalgoers are advised to bring lawn chairs and blankets and a picnic supper (or they can walk into Huntington Village and enjoy a meal at one of its many restaurants).

Although the Huntington Folk Festival is free, attendees are asked to bring donations of nonperishable food to support Long Island Cares, Inc., the regional food bank founded by Harry Chapin. July 16 marks the 41st anniversary of the late Huntington-based singer-songwriter, social activist and humanitarian’s tragic death on the Long Island Expressway, while this year is the 50th anniversary of the release of Chapin’s breakout hit, “Taxi.”

The Huntington Summer Arts Festival is produced by the Town of Huntington and presented by the Huntington Arts Council. Additional support is provided by Presenting Sponsor Canon U.S.A., with partial funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning.

In recent years, Amram has shown a particular affinity for the folk community – as an active participant in Folk Alliance International and Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) conferences. Although now 86 years young, he has more energy and vigor than many people much younger than him. As folks who have sat in on the late-night showcases I host at NERFA Conferences can attest, Amram is generally the last man standing at 3 a.m. playing one of his many instruments as he improvises and accompanies other artists – particularly young and emerging ones.

Many honors have been bestowed on Amram — including the second annual Pete and Toshi Seeger Power of Song Award in 2012, several other lifetime achievement awards, and six honorary doctorates. I’m so delighted that Folk Alliance International members voted to honor him this year and that he was in Kansas City to accept his award from Deana McCloud, executive director of the Woody Guthrie Center.

Bruce Cockburn, The Great Hudson River Clearwater Revival and Others are also Honored

Others honored during the awards show hosted by Grammy Award-winning artist Paula Cole and celebrating excellence, tradition, innovation, and the collective history of the global folk community included:

Bruce Cockburn – The Canadian folk-rocker – who has highlighted environmental, social and indigenous issues globally over the past 40 years — was on-hand to accept the inaugural People’s Voice Award. Artist and activist Kris Kristofferson presented the award to Cockburn in recognition of his commitment to incorporating social and political commentary in his creative work and folk music career.

The Great Hudson River Clearwater Revival received its namesake Clearwater Award, established this year and set to be presented annually to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production. Launched by the late Pete and Toshi Seeger, the Great Hudson River Clearwater Revival celebrates environmental activism, music and education. Festival director Steve Lurie accepted the award from artist and activist Eliza Gilkyson.

Barbara Dane, Chloe Goodyear, Michelle Conceison, Ramy Essam, Si Kahn, and SONiA disappear fear were the recipients of Spirit of Folk Awards presented in recognition of their active involvement in the promotion and preservation of folk music through their creative work, community building and demonstrated leadership.

In addition, Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Megan Mullally (of Will and Grace fame), who is also a singer – and impressed as part of the duo Nancy and Beth — presented the following member-voted Best of 2016 awards:

Album of the Year: Undercurrent by Sarah Jarosz

Song of the Year: “Black Man in a White World” by Michael Kiwanuka and Inflo

Artist of the Year: Parker Millsap

Although none of the “Best of” award-winners were in attendance, each recorded a video that was screened during the awards show.

Folk DJ Hall of Fame Inducts Its Inaugural Class

Inducted into a newly established Folk DJ Hall of Fame in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the preservation, promotion, and presentation of folk music, as well as demonstrated and inspired leadership in the broadcast field, were Oscar Brand (the late host of the world’s longest-running radio show, Oscar Brand’s Folksong Festival, which aired for 70 years on WNYC AM 820 in New York City); Mike Regenstreif (an Ottawa, Canada–based veteran music journalist, broadcaster and host of Folk Roots/Folk Branches, which was heard on Montreal’s CKUT from 1994-2007, and who recently returned to the airwaves as a rotating host of both Saturday Morning and Canadian Spaces on Ottawa’s CKCU); and Howard and Roz Larman (the late hosts of FolkScene, a highly influential syndicated music program, emanating from KPFK-FM in Southern California, that aired from 1970-2016. Also recognized in the Hall of Fame’s inaugural year were folk DJs and past FAI- award recipients Rich Warren (longtime host of Midnight Special on Chicago’s WFMT, that also is nationally syndicated on some 70 stations) and Gene Shay (former longtime host of The Folk Show on Philadelphia’s WXPN-FM).

Note: Here’s a link to a previous AcousticMusicScene.com article about Oscar Brand:

https://acousticmusicscene.com/2016/10/08/remembering-oscar-brand-1920-2016/

29th Folk Alliance International Conference Attracts Nearly 3,000 People

The International Folk Music Awards was just one among many highlights of the 29th Folk Alliance International Conference, Feb. 15-19, which had as its theme “Forbidden Folk,” celebrating activism in art. Billy Bragg, a Grammy Award-winning British singer-songwriter and activist, delivered a stirring keynote and also headlined the second annual Kansas City Folk Festival that capped it on Sunday afternoon, while singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco also spoke, shared a couple of songs, and engaged in an on-stage Q & A interview.

The conference, which drew nearly 3,000 people from some 20 countries – and more for select events that were open to the public — featured several days of panel discussions and workshops, mentoring sessions, regional and peer group meetings, receptions, an exhibit hall, a health fair, and lots of music and networking. During four nights (and several afternoons), emerging and renowned touring artists from throughout the world showcased their talents for hundreds of concert and festival presenters, agents, managers, media, and music industry representatives in hundreds of juried and private in-room showcases, in-the-round song swaps, and jams that extended well into the early morning hours. Many also could be found plying their craft in the lobby, stairwells and other nooks and crannies of The Westin Crown Center — the hotel that played host to the conference for the fourth consecutive year.

Editor’s Note: An elected member of the Folk Alliance International board of directors, I also serve as board president for its largest regional affiliate — Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA), whose boundaries extend from Washington, DC’s northern Virginia suburbs to eastern Canada. I moderated a well-received panel discussion on “The Art of Adventurous Programming” for presenters, mentored a few artists, and led a regional meeting during the conference.

Although Kansas City may be better known for jazz, blues, barbecue and fountains, some 2,500 people from nearly 20 countries are expected to converge on this Midwestern U.S. metropolis for the conference, festival and a Winter Music Camp.

Ranked among the five largest music conferences in North America, the Folk Alliance International Conference will feature several days of panel discussions and workshops (with a few exploring the global and historical role of music in social, political, economic and environmental movements), mentoring sessions, regional and peer group meetings, receptions, an exhibit hall, a health fair, and lots of music and networking.

During four nights (and several afternoons), emerging and renowned touring artists from throughout the world will showcase their talents for hundreds of concert and festival presenters, agents, managers, media, and music industry representatives. There will be 200 juried music showcases in the evenings (each 30-minutes in duration and held concurrently on full-production stages in nine ballrooms throughout the host hotel) and hundreds of private in-room showcases, in-the-round song swaps, and jams that extend late into the night and early morning hours. The Official Showcases, which extend from 8-11 p.m. nightly, will be open to the public for a small fee.

In addition to Bragg’s keynote during the conference, singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco will speak about her music, activism, and the role of the protest singer in modern times.

International Folk Music Awards Show Opens the Conference

The conference opens on Wednesday, Feb. 15, with a star-studded International Folk Music Awards Show hosted by Grammy Award-winning artist Paula Cole and celebrating excellence, tradition, innovation, and the collective history of the global folk community.

In keeping with the theme of this year’s conference and reflecting its ongoing commitment to honor the socially conscious roots of folk music, Folk Alliance International will introduce two new awards this year. Artist and activist Kris Kristofferson will present the inaugural People’s Voice Award — recognizing an individual who has committed to social and political commentary in his/her creative work and folk music career — will be presented to Canadian folk-rocker Bruce Cockburn, who has highlighted environmental, social and indigenous issues globally over the past 40 years. The Clearwater Award, to be presented annually to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production, will be bestowed by artist and activist Eliza Gilkyson to its namesake, the Clearwater Festival. Launched by the late Pete Seeger and others, The Great Hudson River Clearwater Revival celebrates environmental activism, music and education

Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to noted composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and author David Amram (Living), the late activist songwriter Malvina Reynolds (Legacy), and prolific Canadian folklorist Helen Creighton (Business/Academic).

The Spirit of Folk Awards will be presented to six individuals who have been actively involved in the promotion and preservation of folk music through their creative work, community building, and demonstrated leadership: Barbara Dane, Chloe Goodyear, Michelle Conceison, Ramy Essam, Si Kahn, and SONiA disappear fear.

In addition, member-voted Best of 2016 Awards for Album, Song and Artist of the Year will be announced that evening, while inaugural members of a Folk DJ Hall of Fame will be inducted. Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Megan Mullally, who is also a singer, will present the member-voted awards.

[AcousticMusicScene.com will report more in-depth on the awards and their recipients following the conference.]

Music Camp Offers Instruction for People of All Ages and Skill Levels

In conjunction with its 29th annual conference, Folk Alliance International also hosts its fourth annual music camp, Feb. 17-19, affording people of all ages, skill levels, and walks of life an opportunity to learn from 20 noted artists and instructors including Gilkyson, Beppe Gambetta, James Hill, Bruce Molsky, Kim Richey, Mark Stuart, and David Wilcox. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, and master classes in old-time banjo, step-dancing, flatpicking guitar, old-time fiddle, African guitar, and songwriting are among the offerings open to the public from 10 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel, across the skywalk from the Westin Crown Center, where the conference takes place.

Single-day tickets for the music camp are $60, while a three-day pass is $150. Conference delegates may attend for a special rate of $10 per class. A full schedule of classes, for which there is a Feb. 17 registration deadline, may be viewed online at www.folkcamp.org.

Folk Festival is Open to the Public on Feb. 19

Closing out the conference on Sunday, Feb. 19, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the second annual Kansas City Folk Festival is free to all conference delegates and open to the public for a small fee. The indoor, family-friendly event will feature performances by national and international touring artists, an artisans market, and a ceili. Performers will include Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush, Grammy Award-winning children’s artists The Okee Dokee Brothers, Latin American emerging artist Ani Cordero, Sam Baker, BettySoo, Orlagh De Bhaldraithe, Ensemble Iberica, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Jimmy LaFave, Steve Poltz, and Wilcox. There will also be musical tributes to Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.

Each of FAI’s five regional affiliates will also present an artist/act. In order of appearance during the day, they are Lula Wiles (Northeast Regional Folk Alliance), Michelle Held (Folk Alliance Region Midwest), Grant Peeples and the Peeples Republik (Southeast Regional Folk Alliance), Rachel Laven (Southwest Regional Folk Alliance), and Scott Cook (Folk Alliance Region-West).

Billy Bragg will close out the afternoon on the festival’s Mainstage from 4-5 p.m.

Tickets for the festival at the Westin Crown Center are $30 for adults, with discounts available for seniors, students, and youth (ages 5-14). For more information and to order tickets online, visit www.kansascityfolkfestival.org.

Kansas City-based Folk Alliance International is 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.

Editor’s Note: An elected member of the Folk Alliance International board of directors, I also serve as board president for its largest regional affiliate — Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA), whose boundaries extend from Washington, DC’s northern Virginia suburbs to eastern Canada. I will moderate a panel discussion on “The Art of Adventurous Programming” for presenters, offer some one-on-one mentoring sessions, and lead a regional meeting during the conference.

By Kathy Sands-Boehmer

Mark Erelli is a native Bay Stater who makes us all so proud of calling him one of our very own. His thoughtful and provocative songwriting resonates with soul and dignity. If they gave a folk poet laureate award, he would most certainly be a winner. Hands down! Mark’s musical history has captured a little bit of rockabilly, a dash of bluegrass, and a big ole heaping of folk. I can’t help but think that Woody Guthrie, Roy Orbison, Jimmie Rodgers, and Sam Cooke would love his songs.

You’re a man who wears many hats: songwriter, solo musician, sideman, producer. Which of those roles comes the easiest and which one is the most challenging?

Of all the hats I wear, the two most important and rewarding are, of course, father and husband. My diverse musical career is simply what I can manage after my marriage and my family. Each of my musical hats comes with its own unique set of rewards and challenges, but the biggest challenge of all is just switching my brain between them all the time. Even the role I’ve inhabited the longest, singing and playing my own songs, can be difficult to just drop back into if I’ve been preoccupied with sideman work or producing. The easy part was finally realizing that I should just go wherever the energy seems to be organically flowing rather than trying to conform to some notion of what I ought to be doing.

You went to graduate school to study evolutionary biology. What were your aspirations at that time? Did you intend to teach or do research?

My aspirations in graduate school were to finish my program and then try my hand at making music for a living. I loved my scientific work, and I’m still amazed daily at the natural world. [However} I had this nagging sense that I would end up a bitter old man if I never had the courage to give music my best shot. But both my parents are teachers. so, in an alternate universe, I’m probably the cool biology professor at a New England liberal arts college, wearing the same flannel shirt every day and showing up at campus open mics to jam on Neil Young songs with the students.

Was there a pivotal moment when you could no longer quell the desire to pursue music?

The thing about science is that it is infinite — every answer leads to more questions. You will certainly never hear anyone tell you your work is finished. So I realized that after I got my degree I was going to have to be the one to give myself permission to play music. I already had a record deal lined up by the time I finished my program, and the day after I defended my thesis I went down to the Kerrville Festival in Texas and won the New Folk contest, so I took those developments as omens that I was making the right decision at the right time.

You were one of the first artists signed to Signature Sounds in the late 1990s. In a way, your career matured much as that prestigious label did. Do you recall getting the news that you’d been selected to join Signature Sounds?

Signature was holding a late night open jam in a hotel room at a music conference, and I was so shy I had to literally be dragged into the room by a friend and made to share my songs. It went well enough that I was invited to go record some demos at Signature Sounds’ studio. After that, the label head, Jim Olsen, began checking out my live shows locally. I still remember the time he showed up with his wife at my gig a couple days after she’d given birth to twins, and surprised me even more by offering me a deal after the show. We ended up making a lot of great records together, and though I’m not officially on the label anymore, I still count Jim as one of my best friends in the business.

Tell us about your work with Barnstar! How did that come about?

My involvement with Barnstar! evolved out of my friendship with Zack Hickman who, in addition to leading that band, has also produced my two most recent solo records. He saw something in me that he thought would dovetail with Barnstar!, and I’m glad he did. I can’t pick really fast, so bluegrass had always felt like it was beyond my realm of expertise. But it turns out I can sing really high, so I guess I’m halfway qualified to be in the band. I found the outfit so energizing that not long after we did our first gig, I started writing songs with that particular group in mind. We’re just finishing up our second record now, which will hopefully be released this fall.

Your collaboration with Jeffrey Foucault has been a constant for many years and was capped by the release of Seven Curses. Did you bond over murder ballads? Any thoughts about doing a sequel?

Jeffrey and I bonded over a mutual love of Chris Smither, who we’d both grown up listening to in high schools a thousand miles apart (I’m from Massachusetts; he’s from Wisconsin). I was always the only young kid at a lot of Smither’s coffeehouse shows here in the Boston area, so when I met this other guy my own age who had as deep an attachment to the music, it was a real revelation. I guess I’m glad I met him when I did, because if we’d met any earlier we probably would’ve just quit school and formed a band. Each of our voices is distinctive on its own but, together, we have a deeply intuitive blend. We’re guys, so we’re not naturally inclined to spend a lot of time talking or mapping out who sings which notes when we play together — we just do it. We teamed up again recently on a track for a Chris Smither tribute record,and all the magic was still there. So I hope we’ll get together for another project at some point.

How did you and Lori McKenna first meet, and what was it like producing her last CD?

Lori and I were first introduced to each other by Matt Smith at Club Passim, but we got to know each other a little better when we both lost the same songwriting contest, maybe 17 or 18 years ago. All these years later, she is like my musical big sister . . . I just can’t imagine my life in music without her. Producing her Massachusetts record was big for me; I had never helmed that sort of production before, so her confidence in me was both gratifying and a bit terrifying. I’m really proud [of] how that record showcases her talents. We just recently finished up another record together — just the two of us with acoustic guitars, playing live in the studio for two days, which was completely different from our approach to Massachusetts. Even though we’ve known each other a while, I am grateful we still feel like we are breaking new musical ground together.

Give us the scoop about your forthcoming CD. How would you describe it? Anything different that we can look forward to?

I wish I was ready to start talking about the new record. I’m nearly done with the artistic part, the recording and mixing — all the stuff that really lights my creative fires. I am trying to enjoy that creative honeymoon as long as I can before the next phase of the project kicks in. I know I’ll have to do the promotional stuff soon, and figuring out how to talk about the record so folks are motivated to listen to it is important. But, honestly, that’s my least favorite thing to do. I will say I’ve been toiling on it almost entirely on my own for the last six months, though I brought in some friends to play and sing in the last couple months, and they helped carry me over the finish line. It will be released this fall, and believe me, when it’s time to start talking about it, you won’t be able to shut me up.

Learn more about Mark on his website.

Like many of us, Kathy Sands-Boehmer wears many hats. An editor by profession, she also operates Harbortown Music, books artists for the Me and Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead, Massachusetts, serves as vice president of the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA) and is on the board of directors of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA). In her spare time, Kathy can be found at local music haunts all over New England. This and many previous Q & A interviews are archived at www.meandthee.org/blog and www.everythingsundry.wordpress.com, as well as in the Features section of AcousticMusicScene.com.