The show can be viewed online at Harbortown Music’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. It may also be shared via the AcousticMusicScene.com group on Facebook. Although there is no set fee to view the livestream, tips for the artists would be most appreciated (suggested donation: $20) and may be made via paypalme.com/harbortownmusic.

About the Artists:

One of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary folk music, Amy Speace was discovered in 2006 by Judy Collins and signed to her record label. The Americana Music Association UK named the title track of her album Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne was named International Song of the Year in 2020. Speace’s latest release, 2021’s There Used To Be Horses Here. chronicles the year between the birth of her son and the death of her father. A new album, Tucson, is set for release this year. Collins, Red Molly, and Blues Hall of Famer Sid Selvidge among others, have also recorded her songs. Speace founded the East Nashville Song Salon in 2010 and teaches songwriting and performance at conferences, institutions, and privately. For more information, visit amyspeace.com.

Accompanying herself on piano, Kate Klim, whose songs mix her folk and pop sensibilities, was a winner of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition in 2010, has been part of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase, and has been a finalist in the Mountain Stage Newsong Contest, the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest and the Telluride Troubadour Competition, among others. After a hiatus of a few years surrounding the birth of her two sons, she returned to the studio in early spring 2020 to begin recording her fourth album. Released earlier this month, Something Green is an album about hope, love, change, and new growth. For more information and to listen to some of her songs, visit kateklim.com.

Both artists also have YouTube channels. Here’s a link to view an official video of Amy Speace performing the title track of There Used To Be Horses There. And here’s a link to view the official lyric video for “Something Green,” the title track of Kate Klim’s new release.

About Your Hosts:

Michael Kornfeld, a veteran strategic communications and public relations professional – whose clients have included a number of independent recording artists and labels – launched AcousticMusicScene.com in 2007 to provide news, information and commentary for the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities. The longtime president of the Folk Music Society of Huntington, a nonprofit presenting organization on Long Island, NY, Kornfeld also serves on the boards of Folk Alliance International and NERFA, curates the annual Huntington Folk Festival, emcees concerts, and hosts showcases and mentors artists at various music conferences and festivals.

Kathy Sands-Boehmer is an enthusiastic and tireless presenter, promoter and supporter of independent musicians. For years, she booked and promoted artists, new and old, at a well-respected 225-seat venue north of Boston, Massachusetts; was an active leader of the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA); and has also mentored and managed artists. She blogs about all kinds of great music for Everything Sundry and recently launched Harbortown Music as a resource for musicians and venues — building community, while promoting and presenting high-quality music. Sands-Boehmer works with Stephen Bach of The Digital Docs, who engineers all of Harbortown Music’s virtual shows and lends his technical expertise to the participating artists as well.

Rogers, who lives on a horse farm in Ontario, began his career just after completing high school, working with and arranging music for his late brother, Stan. Influenced by a wide array of musical styles, Garnet has taken a much more contemporary approach to his own music than his older brother did. His songs are literate, sensitive and often cinematic in detail — presenting slices of life infused with humor and social commentary. Among his best known compositions are “All That Is,” “Frankie & Johnny,” “Night Drive,” “Small Victories” “Summer Lightning” and “The Outside Track.”

Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to Rogers recently.

Garnet Rogers asked me to edit this to make him more human and likable. Whoa! This man is one of the most human and likable musician I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, and I told him that there was no need for editing.

Garnet Rogers is a presence. He’s a skyscraper of a man; his baritone voice is a mighty instrument, and his guitar playing is impeccably pure. He sings and plays with conviction. It’s impossible not to be moved by his music. Give it a listen. Click here to see and hear Garnet perform “The Lost Ones,” the first song he ever wrote.

We understand that you’re writing a book about your life as a musician. Can we assume that there’s a large portion of your book that is devoted to “on the road” tales of you and your brother, Stan?

Yeah, the book is largely about life as we knew it on the road back in the 70s and 80s . . . how naive and stupid we were, trying to play folk music — as we understood the term — in places where it was never played and for people who didn’t want to hear it . . . the only thing that saved us was the fact that we were both large and were able to beat up on members of the audience who objected. We were young and scared and foolish . . . bad business model.

Are there any similarities between writing non-fiction narrative and songwriting?

There are differences and similarities between the two forms of writing. All writing needs to have a rhythm which is part of the reason I have been reading bits of the book out loud. It helps with the editing process and allows me to determine if the thing has what an Irish friend of mine calls “skip and flit.”

As Mark Twain said, the only difference between fiction and history is that fiction has to be believable. My memoir, I think, is hard to believe sometimes, but it is all true.

Stan’s songs were more traditional Canadian Maritime type songs. Did you make a deliberate attempt not to copy his style? Or did you just naturally gravitate to a more soulful bluesy rock and roll style?

I basically just write whatever comes along. I listened to a lot more varied music than Stan did, I think. He was not a big fan of electric music, but the Maritime traditional sound we developed was a response to partly the market and partly simply due to the commissions we were given by the CBC. We did a lot of soundtrack work for radio dramas and a lot of it was in Halifax. It just got out of control.

After the first record came out, we were largely pigeonholed into being Maritime artists, and that was not what we sounded like before the first album. We were a lot closer to Elton John and Dan Fogelberg, if you can believe it. . . .Stan really wanted to explore different styles. Had he lived, I think he would have gone in a very different direction with his writing.

Is it true that after Stan’s passing, that you were unable to come to the United State to tour and that Odetta came to your aid? Tell us how that all came about.

Yeah, Odetta did help. Bless her. She was approached by Widdie Hall at the Folkway when my visa was turned down, and she stepped in to add gravitas to the petition. God help the State Department official who tried to say no to Odetta. She was a force of nature.

Do you have any favorite new musicians you’ve discovered lately?

I haven’t heard much lately that made me sit up and take notice and swoon. I find, within the folk world, that a lot of stuff gets recycled every six to ten years, and I have been around a long time. I have kind of heard it all before.

I’m always impressed by anything that sounds like it would exist whether people are listening or not and not being made with an eye to the market. Some stuff sounds a wee bit on the calculated side to me sometimes . . . but that’s just me There are lots of people whose music just kills me, but they have largely been around for at least a couple years. Susan Werner consistently makes me swoon. I love Natalia Zukerman, Chris Smither, Greg Brown, Ani Difranco. There is a lovely trio from Newfoundland called The Once. I like them a lot — beautiful harmonies and arrangements. I like Dave Gunning a lot — both musically and personally. He is the real deal on every level.

Any plans for a new recording any time soon?

No plans for a new record beyond perhaps a book CD interspersed with music. I have been getting requests for that. But that is a long way away . . . maybe 2014. I continue to write songs but time has been in short supply of late. The last two years have been largely taken up with helping my parents. It’s only been in the last couple of months that things have loosened up, and I am exhausted. I hope to get back to it on a more regular basis soon.

Formerly known as the Boston Folk Festival and held in the early fall, the festival has adopted a new moniker bearing the name of its radio station presenter, and now, in its 13th year, will be held at a new location on the UMass Boston Campus.

The WUMB Music Fest, running from noon to 7 p.m., will feature performances on three stages: a covered outdoor stage and two indoor ones, including a Coffeehouse Stage produced by the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA).

Crafts and food vendors will be on the premises throughout the day, and children’s activities also are planned.

Ticket prices rise on June 1. They can be ordered online by logging-on to www.wumbmusicfest.org or by calling (617) 287-6911.