Song of the Year honors went to Dan Navarro and Janiva Magness’ recording of “$20 Bill (for George Floyd) by the late singer-songwriter Tom Prasada-Rao. In accepting the award, Navarro (a singer-songwriter and voice actor perhaps best known for co-writing the hit song “We Belong”) noted that more than 100 artists recorded a version of Prasada-Rao’s song in 2020 “but because of the impact and the challenges of the pandemic, it never really had a proper release and we decided we would do something about that.“ Dedicating the award to Prasado-Rao, who died last year, Navarro said: “This is not just the song of the year; it’s the song of the century and the song of a lifetime.”

Here’s a link to view a video of Dan Navarro and Janiva Magness performing “$20 Bill (for George Floyd)”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeHdq817B7Y

Susan Werner’s Halfway to Houston was named Album of the Year. A prolific and versatile singer-songwriter who accompanies herself on both guitar and piano and is known for her sassy wit and classy Midwest charm, Werner was unable to be in Montreal to accept the award and sent a short video, while fellow singer-songwriter Dar Williams picked up the award on her behalf.

In addition to these FAI member-voted awards – which were open to recordings released between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024 – a number of special awards and honors were presented.

The People’s Voice Award recognizing an artist who embraces social and political commentary in his/her songs was presented to Gina Chavez, an Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter who has helped to amplify the voices of the marginalized.

The River Roads Festival received The Clearwater Award, honoring a festival that — like its Pete Seeger-founded namesake –- exhibits sound leadership in environmental stewardship and sustainable event production. A one-day event presented by Dar Williams and held in Easthampton, Massachusetts for the past two years, the next River Roads Festival is set for July 5 at Heuser Park in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Williams said that she was “so excited” to accept the award. She noted that, like Seeger was, she is a resident of New York’s Hudson Valley and recalled being on Conan O’Brien’s late-night TV talk show with him in 1998. Said Williams: “Music is an incredible force … The culture around the music can be a powerful vehicle for justice.”

The Rising tide Award, which is bestowed on an emerging artist/act of an age, went to OKAN, a female-led, Afro-Cuban roots and jazz duo.

Spirit of Folk Awards recognizing people and organizations actively engaged in the promotion and preservation of folk music were presented to Annie Capps, Innu Nikamu festival, Tom Power, and Alice Randall. Capps is a Michigan-based singer-songwriter and a longtime leader with Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM), who has served as both its board president and conference director. Innu Nikamu is a Quebec-based festival of Indigenous music and culture that has taken place for more than 30 years. Power, best known as the host of CBC Radio One’s Q program, is also a musician who performs and records with The Dardanelles, a Canadian folk band. Randall is a hit-making country music songwriter who has been a trailblazer in folk and country music. She’s also a college lecturer and the author of My Black Country, which she describes as both a memoir and a history.

“I owe my sanity to folk music,” said Randall in accepting the award. “In My Black Country, I tell the story of climbing out of the hell of being raped by holding on to the sound of John Prine singing “Angel From Montgomery.” Prine’s label, Oh Boy! Records, also released a collection of songs entitled My Black Country. Randall noted that her book “is about the Black folk, including Black folk musicians, who made country country.”

2025 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients included the folk-rock duo Indigo Girls (whose eponymous debut album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording 35 years ago), the late Black Appalachian musician Lesley Riddle, and the global roots magazine Songlines. During the awards show, singer-songwriters Rose Cousins and Mary Bragg performed “Galileo,” one of the Indigo Girls’ hit songs, in tribute to the duo, while Black indigenous Canadian singer-songwriter Julian Taylor performed “Red River Blues” in tribute to Riddle.

Accepting the Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Riddle, who died in 1980 at age 75, Randall referred to him as a founder of country music and a practitioner of folk who collected and taught the Carter Family a lot of songs. “Tonight, Folk Alliance corrects an almost 100 year-old wrong” by recognizing him.

“We need folk music now more than ever,” said the Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers in a pre-recorded video. “This Folk Alliance is a group that honors diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for all. Folk music is the music of truth telling. Amy [Ray] and I are, especially in this time, particularly honored to accept this award.” Echoing her sentiments, Ray urged folks to “Please stand up with us and make your voices heard in these times … Day by day, song by song, we can make this world a better place.”

Accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Songlines, James Anderson-Hanney, its publisher, said: “I think we’re the last world music magazine on the planet.” The UK-based, glossy bimonthly that comes with CD is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary.Leading Quebecois folk ensemble Le Vent Du Nord, a 2023 Songlines award recipient, performed in honor of the magazine.

Five Inducted Into Folk Radio Hall of Fame

Eight years ago, Folk Alliance International established a Folk Radio Hall of Fame in order to recognize folk DJs and music directors for the vital role that they play by sharing the music with their listeners. Wanda Fischer, Longtime host of The Hudson River Sampler on WAMC Radio in Albany, New York and herself an inductee in the Hall of Fame, recognized this year’s inductees, while a video featuring visuals and information about them was also screened. The 2025 inductees include Taylor Caffery, Matthew Finch, Archie Fisher, MarySue Twohy, and Chuck Wentworth.

Taylor Caffery, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been the host Hootenanny Power of WRKF Public Radio in Baton Rouge, LA since it began airing in 1981. He’s also been recognized with WRKF’s Founder’s Award (2022) and with the Kari Estrin Founding President’s Award during the 2024 Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) Conference.

Matthew Finch, who left our world unexpectedly in July 2024, was a beloved figure in New Mexico’s music scene, who devoted more than 20 years to KUNM in Albuquerque as its music director, and as a tireless advocate for local musicians. Through the programs Ear to the Ground and Studio 55, he created platforms for regional artists to share their music, showcasing live performances and celebrating the diversity of the state’s music community.

Archie Fisher hosted BBC Radio Scotland’s award-winning Traveling Folk program for 27 years – promoting artists and musicians of the folksong revival throughout the British Isles. A talented artist in his own right, he also hosted studio sessions and interviews with such notable American and Canadian artists as Joan Baez, Judy Collins, David Francey, and James Keelaghan. Queen Elizabeth II presented him with a MBE in 2006 for his services to music.

MarySue Twohy is a program director at SiriusXM, who currently manages The Village, its folk channel, among others. She conducts artist interviews and produces a wide array of radio programs. Formerly an artist herself, she moved into broadcasting by hosting a two-hour program 20 years ago and quickly rose to PD. She also served on the FAI board of directors for seven years and continues to serve on national music committees, and to participate in conference panels and as a songwriting contest judge.

Chuck Wentworth, who passed away last year, was a revered figure on the New England music scene – best known for his long-standing contributions as both a radio show host and a festival producer. He began hosting a folk radio show on WRIU-FM, the college radio station at the University of Rhode Island, while he was a student and Traditions aired for 38 years. He also served as the station’s folk and roots music director and expanded its folk programming from one show to five nights a week. Wentworth was also the founder and producer of the Rhythm & Roots Festival, a three-day music and dance festival in Rhode Island.

[Here’s a link to view the International Folk Music Awards Show, which also was livestreamed via YouTube and was available for viewing via Folk Alley and NPR Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVE29BZ6fBg

The International Folk Music Awards was just one part, albeit an important one, of the 37th annual Folk Alliance International Conference that extended from February 19-23 and drew nearly 2,500 attendees. In addition to more than 2,700 showcases featuring more than 700 acts (including 183 juried official showcases plus many more showcases extending into the early morning hours), the conference included a keynote conversation with Allison Russell and Ann Powers [see below], Black American Music and International Indigenous Music Summits, a one-day legal summit, 45 panel discussions and workshops, a number of affinity and peer group sessions, six film screenings and discussions, lobby jams, meetings of FAI’s regional affiliates, a town hall meeting on P2 Visas – Working Through Parity at the Canada/US Border, a popular Meet the Folk DJs session, morning yoga, an exhibit hall, agent-presenter speed networking sessions, and lots of other networking opportunities.

Artist & Activist Allison Russell Engages in Keynote Conversation with Music Journalist Anne Powers

Allison Russell — a widely acclaimed singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and activist –- returned to her hometown to engage in an hour-long keynote conversation with Anne Powers, a critic and correspondent for NPR Music. A soulful, Nashville, Tennessee-based, Montreal-born Scottish Grenadian Canadian, Russell is the recipient of more than a dozen awards. These include a Grammy Award for Best American Roots Music Performance for Eve Was Black,” a single off of her sophomore solo recording, Returner released in September 2023), Juno Awards for Contemporary Album of the Year (for her solo debut, Outside Child – 2022) and Music Video of the Year (for “Demons,” 2024), six UK Americana Music Awards, four Canadian Folk Music Awards, and two Americana Music Honors & Awards. In 2022, Folk Alliance International members voted Russell’s solo debut as Album of the Year and her as Artist of the Year. Outside Child was also named Contemporary album of the Year in the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards, while she was named Songwriter of the Year and New/Emerging Artist of the Year in recognition of the emotion-laden album featuring 11 original songs “about resilience and survival, transcendence and the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family.”

Russell has previously spoken of the abuse and trauma that she faced in her youth and the major role that music has played in helping her to overcome it .In her conversation with Powers, she recalled how, at age 15, while unhoused, she slept in the pews at a church just a few blocks from Le Sheraton Centre.

Asked about her latest album, 2023’s The Returner, she noted how she had been a challenged, broken yet brave girl. “”We come from long, broken lines of survivors. We’re all miracles. We’re all returners. We are all overcoming things.”

Much of her on-stage conversation with Powers focused on her recent portrayal of Persephone in Anais Mitchell’s award-winning Broadway musical, Hadestown. Russell noted that it was her first professional acting role and that she had not acted since performing in a Shakespearean play while in high school.

Sharing her reflections on Hadestown just days after she concluded her 50-week run as Persephone and in keeping with the “Illuminate” theme of the conference, she said: Persephone is Hades’ only source of light, of illumination in the underworld. She was the light in his life.”

Playing a mythic goddess in this time took on new connotations, she acknowledged, citing “the current fear-mongering administration in Washington” and “the bigotry and bias that can really harm communities.”

Referring to herself as “a geriatric millennial,” Russell said: “When I came up 24 years ago, there weren’t too many others who looked liked me.” Acknowledging that “our [folk] community is growing more diverse,” she spoke of being a curator during the 2021 Newport Folk Festival tasked with featuring Black and Black & queer women and their allies in the center of a 90-minute set focused on roots and revolution. ”What could be more beautiful than to be conscious, to be mindful [woke],” said Russell, noting that she’s “a queer woman who somehow married a white man with a guitar.”

Prior to embarking on her solo career, Russell was a co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago and was part of Po’ Girl.

[Here’s a link to view a video recording of the keynote conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ne2-baY8g.]

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

As previously reported on AcousticMusicScene.com (click here), winners in the 2022 Americana Honors & Awards were recognized during an awards show in Nashville, Tennessee on September 14 that is a highlight of AMERICANAFEST, a six-day festival and conference celebrating American roots-inspired music that is hosted by the Americana Music Association. Outside Child by Allison Russell was named Album of the Year, while “Right On Time” performed by Brandi Carlile (and written by her, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth) won Song of the Year. Billy Strings was named Artist of the Year, while The War And Treaty was tapped as Duo/Group of the Year. Sierra Ferrell took home Emerging Act of the Year honors, while Larissa Maestro was named Instrumentalist of the Year.

In addition to the six awards that were voted on by members of the Americana Music Association, several lifetime achievement and other special awards were presented. Fairfield Four were the recipients of the Legacy of Americana Award, while lifetime achievement awards for performance and executive went to Chris Isaak and Al Bell, respectively. The folk-rocking Indigo Girls received the Spirit of Americana/ Free Speech in Music award, while the President’s Award went to the late country music great Don Williams.

Circle Network is included in many U.S. cable providers’ channel line-ups or via your TV’s digital antenna. Circle is also available on such streaming platforms as Peacock, the Roku Channel and XUMO. In addition, ACL Presents: The 21st Annual Americana Honors, a special episode of Austin City Limits featuring performance highlights, will air on PBS stations in early 2023. Check your local listings for dates and times.

AMERICANAFEST annually draws thousands of artists, fans and music industry professionals to Nashville. It features daytime panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of showcases throughout the Music City. The Americana Music Association (americanamusic.org), which produces the event, is a professional not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world.

Outside Child by Allison Russell was named Album of the Year, while “Right On Time” performed by Brandi Carlile (and written by her, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth) won Song of the Year. Billy Strings was named Artist of the Year, while The War And Treaty was tapped as Duo/Group of the Year. Sierra Ferrell took home Emerging Act of the Year honors, while Larissa Maestro was named Instrumentalist of the Year.

The award for Album of the Year continued an impressive winning streak for Russell, a soulful Nashville-based, Montreal-born Scottish Grenadian Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, multi-instrumentalist, producer and activist who is also a co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago and was part of Po Girl. Outside Child, her solo debut album, was named Album of the Year in the International Folk Music Awards presented by Folk Alliance International and Contemporary Roots Album of the Year during Canada’s 2022 JUNO Awards ceremonies in May and Contemporary Album of the Year in the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards earlier in the year. Russell also accepted the award for Artist of the Year in the International Folk Music Awards and was named English Songwriter of the Year and New/Emerging Artist in the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Wrought with emotion, Outside Child features 11 original songs “about resilience and survival, transcendence and the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family,” says Russell, who faced abuse and trauma during her youth that music has helped her to overcome.

Having her song “Right On Time” awarded Song of the Year was yet another in a string of Americana Honors and Awards for Carlile. A folk-rock and Americana singer-songwriter who was named Artist of the Year in 2019 and also is part of The Highwomen, an all-female group that was the big winner in the 2020 Americana Honors & Awards. Its self-titled debut release won Album of the Year, while one of its tracks (“Crowded Table”) took Song of the Year honors that year and The Highwomen was also named Duo/Group of the Year. Carlile herself was the big winner in the American Roots Music Field during the 61st annual Grammy Awards presented by the Recording Academy in 2020 at which her album By The Way, I Forgive You, was named “Best Americana Album, while one of its tracks (“The Joke”) was named both Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song.

[Here’s a link to view the official video for Brandi Carlile’s “Right On Time.”]

Artist of the Year Billy Strings has been forging a reputation in recent years as one of the standout emerging artists across all musical genres. The genre-bending, bluegrass- and acoustic music-inspired artist — whose latest album, Renewal, also incorporates elements of classic rock, heavy metal, jam band and psychedelic music –- previously received a Grammy Award for his album Home, was named Pollstar’s Breakthrough Artist of the pandemic and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s New Artist of the Year and Guitar Player of the Year.

The War and Treaty, this year’s Duo/Group of the Year, is the husband and wife team of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter. The two have been performing together since 2014. Their musical repertoire features a mix of Americana, blues, country, folk, rock, and soul. The duo, who signed to Universal Music Group in Nashville earlier this year, was named Artist of the Year in the 2020 International Folk Music Awards and Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2019 Americana Honors and Awards.

Emerging Act of the Year Sierra Ferrell is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music is an eclectic blend of bluegrass, country, folk, gypsy jazz, and Latin stylings. Ferrell, who records for Rounder, is a West Virginia native who now calls Nashville home.

Instrumentalist of the Year Larissa Maestro is a Filipinx multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, producer, recording artist, and Star Trek-related podcast co-host. Born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Ithaca, New York, she is now based in Nashville.

In addition to the six awards that were voted on by members of the Americana Music Association, several lifetime achievement and other special awards were presented. Fairfield Four were the recipients of the Legacy of Americana Award, while lifetime achievement awards for performance and executive went to Chris Isaak and Al Bell, respectively. The folk-rocking Indigo Girls received the Spirit of Americana/ Free Speech in Music award, while the President’s Award went to the late country music great Don Williams.

For those who missed or want to view the Americana Honors & Awards show again, it will air on Circle Network on Wednesday, November 23 at 9 p.m. CT. In addition, ACL Presents: The 21st Annual Americana Honors, a special episode of Austin City Limits featuring performance highlights, will air on PBS stations in early 2023. Check your local listings for dates and times.

AMERICANAFEST annually draws thousands of artists, fans and music industry professionals to Nashville. Besides the annual honors and awards show, it features daytime panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of showcases throughout the Music City. The Americana Music Association (americanamusic.org), which produces the event, is a professional not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world.

NITO’s founding members and the more than 50 others who have since joined the organization “need and want to be assured that our voices are heard in Washington.” Its 14 founding small independent businesses (Entourage Talent, Ground Control Touring, High Road Touring, Leave Home Booking, Madison House, Mongrel Music, New Frontier Touring, Panache Booking, Partisan Arts, Pinnacle Entertainment, Sound Talent Group, Skyline Artists Agency, TKO, and The Kurland Agency) alone currently represent approximately 2,000 artists, according to the news release. “In 2019, collectively, more than 40,000 concerts were booked by NITO’s members across the U.S. with over 12.5 million tickets sold, generating in excess of half-a-billion dollars in gross ticket sales annually. The additional financial impact of these performances on surrounding communities is over $1 billion.”

“As owners of our individual entertainment businesses, we have given our all and more to our firms,” says Nadia Prescher, co-founder of Madison House, an artist management and booking agency. “Our small businesses are self-funded and independent, but nonetheless have a significant economic impact on the many who rely on our work. My fellow NITO co-founders and members are calling on the independent human spirit that all like-minded self-starters can get behind. We are focused on government support and reform during this economic crisis, while building an environment where entertainment entrepreneurs can discuss their common goals and stand together in unity.”

Among the artists on Madison House’s roster are 10,000 Maniacs, The Alternate Routes, Matt Andersen, Brooke Annibale, Chris Barron, Carbon Leaf, Jesse Cook, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards, Alan Doyle, The East Pointers, Eddie From Ohio, Dom Flemons, Freddy & Francine, Katie Herzig, Lucy Kaplansky, Stephen Kellogg, Terra Lightfoot, Ryan Montbleau, Willie Nile, Glen Phillips, Steve Poltz, Willy Porter, Rainbow Girls, Rising Appalachia, Richard Shindell, and Vienna Teng.

Talent agents who represent artists and negotiate the live performance aspect of their careers are NITO’s primary focus. However, the organization “welcomes a broader coalition of the live music ecosystem beyond independent talent agencies — including U.S.-based small businesses and majority owner-operated independent management companies,’ according to its news release. U.S.-based artists, crew, and others engaged in live touring also are welcome to join as non-dues-paying associate members.

“NITO stands with the artists and all of those who make up the world of live performances,” says Frank Riley, founder of High Road Touring. “It’s a fully integrated world, that is reliant on and supportive of one another, as no one can productively and successfully navigate this environment on their own. When all things come together in the best way, these shows and this music bring joy and happiness in an otherwise troublesome and dangerous world.”

High Road Touring books such artists as Alabama Shakes, Sam Amidon, Joan Baez, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, Hayes Carll, Cowboy Junkies, The Deep Dark Woods, Jerry Douglas, The Earls of Leicester, Tommy Emmanuel, Jay Farrar, Mary Gauthier, Patty Griffin, The Handsome Family, Emmylou Harris, Joe Henry, Indigo Girls, Pokey LaFarge, The Low Anthem, Aimee Mann, James McMurtry, Tift Merritt, Michaela Anne, Buddy Miller, Parker Millsap, John Moreland, Shawn Mullins, Graham Nash, Over The Rhine, Nathaniel Rateliff, Shovels & Rope, They Might Be Giants, Richard Thompson, Jeff Tweedy, Suzanne Vega, Violent Femmes, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, and George Winston.

“Artists were among the first to suffer from the results of the pandemic and will be among the last to recover,” maintains Harvey Mason, Jr., chairman and interim president/CEO of The Recording Academy. “As citizens turn to music during these troubled times, it demonstrates that music makers must survive and thrive. We look forward to working with NITO as partners in improving the lives of artists.”

South Florida Folk Festival Features a Singer-Songwriter Competition

Since its inception 20 years ago, the festival has been a combination of music fest, family reunion, community gathering, and weekend musical retreat. In addition to the festival’s headliners, a number of Florida-based musicians and other national touring acts are slated to perform. These include Ellen Bukstel, Kate Callahan (Connecticut State Troubadour), Caroline Cotter & Michael Thomas Howard, Jerry DeMeo, Jacob Johnson, Tom Lyman (all the way from Budapest, Hungary), Rod MacDonald, Laurie McClain, Danielle Miraglia, New Middle Class, Angela Parrish, Bill & Eli Perras, Roy Schneider & Kim Mayfield, Doug Spears, Twangtown Paramours, Mare Wakefield & Nomad, and Laura Zucker, among others. Some of the performing artists also will lead workshops, while there also will be a jam area for those who enjoy playing traditional folk and other acoustic styles of music.

Kicking-off the weekend’s musical festivities on Saturday, Jan. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will be the 12 finalists in the festival’s singer-songwriter competition, each of whom will perform two songs. They are Bear & Robert (Jacksonville, FL), Randy Brown (Mineola, TX), Nigel Egg (Minneapolis, MN), Lauren Heintz (Winter Park, FL), Sonya Heller (Calicoon Center, NY), Judy Kass (Tarrytown, NY), Leah Kaufman (Raleigh, NC), Claudia Nygaard (Nashville, TN), Cecilia St. King (Delray Beach, FL), Kray Van Kirk (Arcata, CA), Joe Virga (Cape Coral, FL), and Joel Zoss (West Palm Beach, FL).

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 2019 festival – as will 2017 winners Jane Fallon (Brookline, NH), Amber Ikeman (Bozeman, MT) and Austin MacRae (Ithaca, NY) at this event. In addition, all winners and finalists may be afforded the opportunity to perform ‘in-the-round’ during the festival’s second day, on Sunday, Jan. 14.

The annual 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 has been known for decades for their generous financial backing of folk festivals and artists. They formerly ran a concert series in Rockville, Maryland known as Vic’s Music Corner, have established a scholarship fund for artists, and served on the boards of several music festivals.

For more information on the festival, which is co-sponsored by Sea Turtle Oversight Protection (STOP), and to order tickets in advance, visit www.southfloridafolkfest.com.

30A Songwriters Festival Features More Than 175 Performing Artists

Now in its ninth year, the 30A Songwriters Festival is set for Friday-Monday, Jan. 12-15. More than 175 artists are slated to perform at two-dozen venues and locations along the Florida Gulf Coast’s scenic Highway 30A in Walton County.

These artists and more will perform at amphitheaters, town halls, restaurants, theaters, bars and covered patios — with capacities ranging from intimate indoor venues that can seat 75 people to outdoor settings that can accommodate a few thousand.

“The 30A Songwriters Festival is one of the most diverse songwriters festivals I’ve ever been to,” says Shawn Mullins, who also will showcase his talents. “The wide range of songwriters performing, the great crowds, the unique venues, and the beautiful location all make for an incredible experience.”

Festival weekend passes, beginning at $280, can be purchased online at www.30asongwritersfestival.com, where you’ll also find more information on the festival, its performers and venues – including a complete schedule when it’s available. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Cultural Arts Alliance’s office in Santa Rosa Beach, The Foster Gallery in Grand Boulevard, and at Central Square Records in Seaside.

NPR’s Folk Alley, a multimedia music service produced by WKSU in Ohio, will be on site throughout the weekend, interviewing artists and filming and recording performances. The Sessions from the 30A Songwriters Festival will later air on the syndicated Folk Alley radio show and also will be archived at www.folkalley.com.

Produced by the Cultural Arts Association of Walton County and now in its second year, the 30A Songwriters Festival takes places at various venues on Scenic Highway 30A along Northwest Florida’s Panhandle Gulf Coast over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, Jan. 14-16.

A mix of established touring artists, talented local songwriters and emerging talents are included in the festival’s line-up. Among the dozens of artists slated to perform are such notable singer-songwriters as Randall Bramblett, Susan Cowsill, Rodney Crowell, Ashleigh Flynn, Jen Foster, Mary Gauthier, Madison Violet, Michelle Malone, Laurie McClain (who was among my favorite new discoveries during the 2010 NERFA Conference), Carmel Mikol, Louise Mosrie, Shawn Mullins, David Olney, Gretchen Peters, Vicki Peterson of The Bangles, Suzi Ragsdale, Kim Richardson, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls, Vienna Teng, Reed Waddle and Dar Williams. Tickets, priced at $75, can be purchased online at wwww.30aSongwritersFestival.com or at Central Square Records in Seaside, FL.

The Broward Folk Club, a nonprofit organization created more than 20 years ago to promote folk and acoustic music and provide a community for people who share a love for it, hosts the South Florida Folk Fest on Jan. 22. It is slated to run from noon to 6 p.m. in the grand ballroom of the Sunrise Civic Center on West Oakland Park Blvd. in Sunrise, FL. A two-hour open mic will precede the fest.

A variety of factors, ranging from weather to finances, prompted organizers two years ago to scale back what had been a multi-stage festival to a one-day “Round-Up” featuring a number of singer-songwriters who had not previously played South Florida. For 2011, the club is seeking to bring back much of the tradition and essence of the old festival by featuring artists who have been either headliners or singer-songwriter contest winners from 1999 forward. Featured artists, each of whom will perform 40-minute sets, are Nick Annis, Ellen Bukstel, Greg Greenway, Rod MacDonald, Dave Nachmanoff, Carla Ulbrich and Bill Ward. Admission is $35 at the door; $25 for club members, and $5 less in advance. Children 16 and under will be admitted free. More information appears online at www.southfloridafolkfest.net.

I’m a big fan of an amazing three-part harmony folk-pop trio called Girlyman, who are now based in Atlanta but started out in Brooklyn. Its members — Ty Greenstein, Doris Muramatsu and Nate Borofsky — used to play in the same kind of small local NYC clubs and coffeehouses as I played before starting to tour and getting a deal to re-release their first album with Amy Ray’s (of the Indigo Girls) label, Daemon Records. Back on the indie scene, they’ve put out a couple of new records, including the recent Everything’s Easy — they tour all the time, so check them out in your town!

The first song I ever wrote was for an assignment in my ninth grade English class. We had just read Of Mice and Men and had to do some kind of creative project about it. I just gave it a shot, not having any idea what I was doing. The song I came up with, with hindsight, was actually not bad — it had a real structure, three verses, and three choruses, but the choruses had different words each time. (I think I still tend to write choruses with parts that change each time through.) Doris sang harmony (we grew up together) and we recorded it onto a cassette tape using my little boom box and just me playing acoustic guitar. My teacher went nuts and said it was the best project she had ever received, and so from that point on I completely froze and couldn’t write another song for four years!

What is your typical songwriting routine?

The one constant has been a short period first thing in the morning for what I call “blurts” – little free-writes that I record onto my iPod. Basically I pick up the guitar, put the capo somewhere or change the tuning somehow, hit record, and start singing a song. Whatever happens, happens. Sometimes I’ll explore an idea for a minute, and sometimes I’ll keep going for 15 minutes or more. I have probably thousands of these little blurts lying around, and there among all the boring melodies, crappy chord progressions, and weird lyrics, occasionally something rises to the surface that has a ring of truth or a feeling that moves me in some way. That’s the material I come back to and try to craft into songs, which I do on my computer. The more often I sit down to write, the lower the stakes are – if nothing happens today, so what? I know there’s tomorrow and the next day.

What are your biggest songwriting inspirations these days?

My biggest songwriting inspirations have always been my peers – the other musicians I play shows with or hear at festivals. In particular, right now I’m really inspired by our new friend, Lucy Wainwright Roche – she has an original style, unexpected rhyme schemes, and a quality of truthfulness about her writing. Brian Gundersdorf from We’re About 9 always blows me away with his ability to go deeply into wildly original subject matter. Antje Duvekot’s songs also have that deep feeling of truth about them. {Editor’s note, Sharon’s Q & A with with Antje Duvekot was posted here on Aug. 5 and is archived in the Features section]. I think all the writers I love share the quality of writing songs that are channeled more than thought out – songs that are written from a place deeper than thinking. Dar Williams is another example – her songs have a wildness and a free association that is hard to achieve by trying. You get the feeling she really lets go. Of course all these people are masters of craft as well and have internalized form to the point that their brilliance seems effortless. Recently we’ve been touring with the Canadian band Po’ Girl and I’ve been really inspired by their originality, especially in their arrangements. There are so many examples!

Do you get competitive (in a good way) with Doris and Nate about songwriting?

I think when Doris and Nate start writing batches of songs, it motivates me to get going on mine. My fatal flaw has definitely been leaving songs in the oven FOREVER, whereas those two tend to write quickly and be done with it. I can be a big editor, sometimes to a fault. Sometimes I’ll write a billion verses before I’ll realize what’s essential. I think this is actually part of what makes co-writing with Nate or Doris so great – they are good at getting down that first draft with a lot of energy and I’m good at pinpointing an exact word or phrase. I think in the past we’ve been more competitive or threatened if one person’s writing a lot more than the others, whereas now we just use it as motivation, or else we jump right in and co-write.

How do you keep songwriting on your plate when you are touring/recording? Seems like it would be so hard to keep writing front and center.

I find it hard to write on the road because we usually share hotel rooms and there’s just no privacy. So my home time is really the only time I get and often we have rehearsals or recording sessions going on, too. I just do the best I can. Even an hour in my studio is better than nothing, and it’s hard to find a valid excuse not to put in an hour in the morning. Sometimes I’ll get a lot of lyrics while I’m driving and then I try to remember them and write them down at the next rest stop. Several of the songs on our latest album were written in hotel rooms or in the van, which goes to show that writing can happen anywhere.

Do you have any goals these days when it comes to your songwriting?

I’d like to finish more of the songs that I start, and I’d like to finish them faster so that they contain more of the original energy of the idea. Beyond that, I’m interested in co-writing with other people, writing on other instruments besides the guitar and in exploring different tunings and song structures. And I’d like to maybe take a songwriting workshop or go to Rocky Mountain Song School or something like that. I’ve never taken any kind of songwriting workshop for fear it would just add more voices to the chorus of editors already in my head, but I think it might be a good experience.

How has being in Girlyman changed (or not changed) your songwriting?

I pretty much write what I want to write, although not all of it is suitable for the band. There have been songs that I’ve been really excited about that just didn’t work with the three of us. That’s happened for all of us at various times, and it’s always a real bummer! But the fact is, not every song is appropriate for three voices or for the instruments we happen to play. Someday I’d love to release a solo album to give those songs a home, but I can’t say when I’ll have the time. I actually included one such song on our last album (Hudson), and just sang it by myself with one guitar. I thought it was actually nice to have a break from our vocal blend for one song out of fifteen. Sometimes I think my songs are too weird for Girlyman, but then I included one of the so-called weird ones (“Easy Bake Ovens”) on the new album and that’s the song everyone keeps talking to me about now. So I’m letting myself write a little weirder, because it’s interesting to me when my ideas of what images or what chords belong together gets played with a little. I like not knowing what’s gonna happen next.

How do you feel about the songs on your newest album, Everything’s Easy? Similar? Different? Better? And what was it like recording at Nate’s instead of in a big studio?

I really love the new album. It was a totally grassroots project that felt incredibly natural even when the learning curve was steep and we had no idea what we were doing. Recording it at Nate’s house made a huge difference because we could really take our time developing it, slowly layering sound, adding exactly what we wanted to hear. In the past, we booked two weeks of studio time and whatever happened in that time, that was it – we had one or two days for overdubs, total. On “Everything’s Easy” we had time to sit with the songs and develop a vision for them. We had time to experiment, to bring in drummers and cello players, to have friends drop by and sing a harmony part. We had time to change lyrics and to re-do vocal takes that we knew we could sing better. We played most of the instruments ourselves and we played things that weren’t even instruments, like a colander I hit in lieu of a hi hat. We even had the freedom to change our minds about what was going on the album – for example, one of my songs wasn’t even 100% written until the very last day of recording. I remember I called Nate early that morning and said “I know what the second verse should be, and I’ll die if I don’t get to change it!” It was great to be able to do that.

Who were your biggest songwriting influences growing up?

My biggest hero from age thirteen until I first heard the Indigo Girls was Paul Simon. Back then Doris and I learned every single Simon and Garfunkel song on guitar and every single harmony part and we’d sing late into the night in her parents’ kitchen – I guess that probably served us well, actually! I remember the first time I heard “Closer To Fine” on the radio I was stunned. I was really amazed, in particular, by Emily Saliers’ writing back then – she and Amy both wrote these raw songs and sang with such intensity, and especially in 1989 in suburban New Jersey it was just so different from anything else I had heard. In college I listened to The Story a lot – Jonatha wrote these songs that kind of hurt, with oblique lyrics and dissonant harmonies and strange time signatures. Then Ani DiFranco came to campus. There were maybe 30 people at the show and she blew us all away by just saying things as they were. I had never heard that before, either.

To hear a few of Girlyman’s songs, visit www.myspace.com/girlymanband.

Sharon Goldman is a New York-based singer-songwriter and member of Sweet Bitters, a female folk pop duo. She recently launched Songwriting Scene, a blog for songwriters about songwriting, from which this column is republished with permission.