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.

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, several 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).

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 second consecutive year at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.

Jeff Place, Archivist and Curator for the Smithsonian Folklife Center, to Deliver Keynote Address

Keynoting this year’s conference is Jeff Place, a Grammy Award-winning archivist and curator, who has been with the Smithsonian Folklife Center’s Ralph Rinzler Folkilfe Archives and Collections in Washington, DC since 1988. He was among the producers and writers of the acclaimed 1997 edition of the Anthology of American Folk Music (about which he’ll also lead a workshop), as well as The Best of Broadside, 1962-1988 (2000). Place oversees the cataloging of the Center’s collections and has been engaged in the compilation of more than 60 CDs of American music for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Among them are the LeadBelly Legacy Series, Lead Belly Sings for Children, the Pete Seeger American Favorite Ballads series; and The Asch Recordings (Woody Guthrie). He produced and co-authored (with Robert Santelli) the acclaimed publication and CD box set Woody at 100 and helped to curate the traveling Woody Guthrie exhibition This Land is Your Land, among others.

Afternoon Programming Includes Workshops and Panel Discussions, Song Circles and Mentoring

An array of workshops and panel discussions will include “Adversity, Art and Heart: Songwriting in a Changing World,” “Ask the Radio Promoters,” “Beyond High Lonesome: What Can Bluegrass Teach Us,” “Booking from the Ground Up,” “Building Your Indie National Team,” “Crowd Funding and the Art of Asking,” “Folk Music in the Southern West Virginia Coalfields,” “The Folk Music Legacy of Black Mountain and Swannanoa,” “Mailbox Money: Adventures in Licensing,” “New Options for Remote Recording,” “Setting Up for an Album Release,” Vocal Techniques for Performers,” “A Workshop for Women & Men About Women in the Guitar World,” and “Yoga to Energize Your Stage Presence & Strengthen Your Voice.”

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be “think tanks” on Growing and Nurturing Your Venue and A Post-CD World, a Wisdom of the Elders session, several thematic song circles, and one-on-one mentoring sessions during the daytime hours.

Evenings to Feature Dozens of Artists in Official and Private Showcases

Slated to present official showcases on Friday evening, May 5 are (in order of appearance) Javier Jara, Rod Abernethy, Sheila Kay Adams and Susan Pepper, The Rough and Tumble, Greg Greenway, Clare Cunningham, Abigail Dowd, and Scott Cook and Pamela Mae. Saturday’s official showcase lineup features Wyatt Easterling, Deidre McCalla, Ben Gage, Flagship Romance, Grace Morrison, Daniel Neihoff, Blue Cactus, and Bob Sinclair and the Big Deals.

Following the official showcases on Friday and Saturday, as well as an open mic on Thursday, late-night private showcases will take place in various meeting rooms for several hours. Although AcousticMusicScene.com has had a presence at SERFA conferences since 2011, it will not be hosting late-night song swaps this year.

Editor’s Note: An active participant in SERFA conference since 2011, I will again be a mentor offering advice and counsel on various aspects of PR, social media and strategic communications. I served on the board of directors of Folk Alliance International from 2014 until earlier this year and am also a past president and former longtime board member of Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA).

2021 Artist, album, and Song of the Year winners were selected by FAI’s voting membership from among groups of finalists based on U.S., Canadian, and international industry year-end lists, as well as folk radio airplay. As previously reported on AcousticMusicScene.com and recounted below, Lifetime Achievement and Spirit of Folk Awards were also presented, as were several other awards.

A co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago, and formerly part of Po’ Girl, Russell was recognized for her debut solo album, Outside Child. The album was also recently named Contemporary Roots Album of the Year in the Juno Awards and Contemporary Album of the Year in 2022 Canadian Folk Music wards, while she was named English Songwriter of the Year and New/Emerging Artist of the Year in recognition of it. Outside Child also was nominated for a Grammy for Best Americana album and is among the Americana Honors & Awards nominees for album of the year. Wrought with emotion, its 11 original songs are “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.

Here’s a link to view the official video for “Nightflyer, one of the tracks on Russell’s award-winning debut album Outside Child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJgwj8d9eo.

Social Justice Songwriter Crys Matthews’ “Changemakers” Named “Song of the Year” for 2021

“Changemakers,” the title track of Crys Matthews’ 2021 release, the fourth most-played album of the year on folk radio according to the FAI Folk Charts, was named Song of the Year.

Frequently described as a social justice songwriter, Matthews is a prolific lyricist, composer and multi-instrumentalist whose music blends Americana, blues, bluegrass, folk, funk, and jazz, along with socially conscious themes. Joined by Heather Mae on harmony vocals, she performed “Changemakers” during the International Folk Music Awards Show. Here’s a link to view that performance: https://youtu.be/zVSvYScUtnU?t=6856. And here’s one to view a World One Video recording of the song by JB Nuttle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZbJk-WXaSw.

As the daughter of an A.M.E. preacher, in a small town in southeastern North Carolina, Matthews, who is now based in Nashville, grew up singing in her family’s church and witnessed the power of music from an early age. She won the 2017 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition and also was named the winner of the People’s Music Network’s Social Justice Songs Showcase during that year’s Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference.

“Thank you all so much for all of your love and support in helping to make “Changemakers” the International Folk Music Awards’ Song of the Year,” said Matthews. I could not be more humbled, pleased and overjoyed in having such an important song recognized in that way and that would have never happened if it were not for you – and that’s everyone from the fans who fell in love with that album and listened to it nonstop to, especially, the folk DJs who made sure that that song was in their rotation from the moment it came out well into now and just never let up and just kept showing the album in general so much love, especially “Changemakers,” the title track. I’m so grateful to all of you… This little Aries right here is humbled and in an absolute puddle of love and joy because of all of you.I am so filled with gratitude.”

Jason Mraz, Planet Bluegrass and Mali Obomsawin Honored

Jason Mraz, a multi-platinum Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter known for his positivity and commitment to conservation, ending world hunger, human rights, and LGBTQIA+ issues, received The People’s Voice Award, which is presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in his/her/their creative work and public careers. Mraz took part in a nonprofit rescue mission in Ghana to liberate children sold into slavery, performed in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking, participated in Farm Aid, visited Antartica to help raise awareness about the environment and climate change, and was present at Standing Rock. His own foundation supports multiple organizations addressing issues to which he is committed and, in 2020, Mraz donated all profits from his Look for the Good album to Black Lives Matter and other groups working toward equality and justice.

Mraz could not be in Kansas City and expressed thanks for the honor via a pre-recorded video. “I was a little shy at first, thinking I’m too young for this award, that I haven’t done or said enough,” he stated. “Then I realized those thoughts and feelings never go away, that nagging thought that I haven’t done enough. But it’s that nagging thought that is indication that we still have energy to give and want to and will,” Mraz continued. “In my few years lapping the planet, I found solace in seeing political and geographic borders dissolve when the lights go down and a concert begins – a clear reminder that we are all just humans connected by stories and/or the energy and vibe of a song… It’s always good to inspire in a song because you never know who’s listening… Thank you for this acknowledgement. It really means a lot.”

Steve Szymanski, vice president and co-founder of Lyons, Colorado-based Planet Bluegrass accepted the Clearwater Award, which is presented to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production. For more than 30 years, the organization that produces Telluride Bluegrass, Rockygrass Festivals, and Rocky MTN Folks Festival has embraced a “Leave No Trace” ethic and demonstrated environmental leadership by engaging in strategic community-level plans and programs to center the idea of stewardship. Planet Bluegrass is a certified public benefit corporation— a legal entity recognized formally as committed to business practices that are sustainable and beneficial to society and the environment. At each of its respective festivals, Planet Bluegrass incentivizes reuse over recycling. This includes a reusable plate program, annually monitoring and reporting on waste diversion of more than 60% (twice that of the U.S. national average), employing solar power to offset more than 10 tons of CO2 emissions annually, providing composting and compostable bottles, offering free filtered water on site, and donating leftover festival food to local community organizations.

Mali Obomsawin accepted the Rising Tide Award via a pre-recorded video. The award was established in 2021 to celebrate a new generation (under 30) artist who inspires others by embodying the values and ideals of the folk community through their creative work, community role, and public voice. An award-winning Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist from Odanak Wabanaki First Nation, Obamsawin is a member of the band Lula Wiles, as well as a journalist and the founder and executive director of the Bomazeen Land Trust.

Flaco Jiménez, Nanci Griffith and Swallow Hill Music Recognized for Lifetime Achievement

The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented annually to honor the cultural impact of legendary folk music figures: one Living, one Legacy, and one Business/Academic. This year’s honorees are Conjunto accordionist Flaco Jiménez; the late singer-songwriter and interpreter Nanci Griffith; and folk music organization Swallow Hill Music.

Nanci Griffith, whose music straddled the line between folk and country, a style that she affectionately called “folkabilly,” died on August 13, 2021 at age 68. She was best known for her colorful, narrative tales of small town life that she sang in her warm, crystalline pure voice with a Texas twang. Many of her songs were covered and recorded by other notable artists. An early Kerrville New Folk Winner and a 1995 inductee into the Austin Music Hall of Fame, Griffith was honored by the Americana Music Association with its Lifetime Americana Trailblazer Award in 2008 and received a BBC Radio 2 Folk Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. She released her 18th and last studio album, Intersection, in 2012. Griffith’s1993 Elektra release Other Voices, Other Rooms – featuring interpretations of 17 songs by other songwriters who had inspired her – won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

[Here’s a link to listen to Griffith’s poignant recording of “Love at the Five and Dime”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgGG61nQX0w.]

Swallow Hill Music is a Denver, Colorado-based nonprofit music organization that provides music education, outreach, programming, and concerts for more than 138,000 people annually. Focused on diverse music traditions on stage and in the classroom, Swallow Hill’s organizational values promote inclusiveness. Its school offers music education to all ages, while Swallow Hill also hosts open stages and jams that are open to members and non-members alike. Its community and school outreach programs (including assemblies, field trips and in-school and after-school enrichment activities) have reached thousands of students in the Denver metro area.

Six Individuals Receive Spirit of Folk Awards

Spirit of Folk Awards honor and celebrate people and organizations actively involved in the promotion and preservation of folk music through their creative work, community building, and demonstrated leadership. Recipients included Eugene Rodriguez (musician, educator, documentary producer, and founder of Los Cenzontles — both as a band and as a nonprofit music academy and community space for Latinx artists, youth, and families in the San Francisco Bay area); Lilli Lewis (composer, producer, performing artist, and vice president & head of A &R for Louisiana Red Hot Records); Gaelyn Lea (musician, disability rights activist, co-founder and vice president of RAMPD – Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, 2016 NPR Tiny Desk Contest winner, and an in-demand speaker); Erin Benjamin (president & CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association, and formerly a singer-songwriter, label owner, and the first executive director of Folk Music Ontario); Amado Espinoza (Bolivian-American multi-instrumentalist, composer and instrument maker, and co-founder of Resonation Music and Arts — using educational programming to inspire curiosity and respect for world cultures through music, dance, and storytelling); and Shain Shapiro (Sound Diplomacy founder and CEO, whose work has influenced more than 75 cities and countries to invest in music and culture).

In addition to the awards, Angela Page (host of Folk Plus on hydro-powered WJFF 90.5 FM Radio Catskill in Jeffersonville, New York since the early 1990s) and Dr. Jonathan Overby (a DJ and Wisconsin Public Radio host who is also an internationally recognized ethnomusicologist and scholar) were inducted into the Folk DJ Hall of Fame.

Folk Alliance International (folk.org) is a Kansas City, Missouri-based nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. Founded in 1989 to connect folk music leaders aiming to sustain the community and genre, it is currently led by Aengus Finnan, who steps down as its executive director next month. “It’s been the personal and professional honor of my life to serve this community and this organization,” he said during the awards show. Finnan, himself, was honored the previous week with the SERFA Founders’ Award during the annual Southeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Editor’s Note: As a Folk Alliance International board member, it was my pleasure to join my friend and board colleague Rosalyn Dennett, executive director of Folk Music Ontario, in presenting the Spirit of Folk Awards to Amado Espinoza and Gaelynn Lea.

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.

Designed “to accommodate the need to engage, promote and entertain,” the online event kicks off on Thursday night, May 20 with a Roots of the Southeast Show & Tell Party, followed by a Wisdom of the Elders panel discussion moderated by Art Menius and the first of two open mics hosted by Grady Ormsby.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier keynotes the online event on Saturday night, May 22. Initially slated to keynote last year’s conference that was cancelled due to the pandemic, she is expected to share her experiences connecting with front-line doctors and nurses who worked in COVID units over the past year and to talk about the forthcoming publication of her new book, Saved By a Song. A question and answer session will follow.

Louisa Branscomb (a songwriter and pioneering female bluegrass musician), William Ferris (a folklorist, filmmaker and current chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities), Barry Poss (founder of Sugar Hill Records), and Eddie Lynn Snodderly (a songwriter and presenter) will engage in conversation during the Wisdom of the Elders session moderated by Art Menius.

SERFA Conversations will afford folks an opportunity to discuss what the folk community and music business professionals are thinking and planning for moving forward after the ongoing pandemic subsides. Topics include Venues are Reopening – Will You Go and Post-COVID, What Do You Want Back In Your Life? What Are the New Options?

The annual SERFA Awards — established by Kari Estrin (the organization’s founding president) to recognize people, organizations and businesses that have made extraordinary contributions to folk music and the folk community in the Southeast –will be presented to Ferris, David (a musician and public television show host), Poss, and Snodderly.

And, of course, there will be plenty of music. In addition to the two virtual open mics, for which people may sign up in advance, virtual guerilla showcases will provide artists who register for the conference opportunities to perform live on the streaming platform of their choice for a $15 per- session fee.

SERFA In Session also will feature participatory Roots of the Southeast Show & Tell Party and a virtual exhibit hall. Abby Parks, a folk DJ and SERFA’s board president, will lead the organization’s short annual general business meeting that precedes the keynote.

Registration for the conference, which provides full access to all of the online activities, is available on a tiered fee scale. Visit https://serfa.org to register and for more information on the conference (including a schedule).

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. Prior to the pandemic, SERFA had hosted an annual weekend of contemporary and traditional folk music, networking and learning opportunities for 13 consecutive years.

Editor’s Note: An elected board member of Folk Alliance International and immediate past president of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance board of directors, I have been an active participant at SERFA conferences since 2011 –- hosting guerilla showcases, mentoring, and serving as a panelist.

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.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

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.

The official showcases take place Thursday-Saturday evenings from 7:15-10:30 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 mentoring, The SERFA Awards, two-dozen exhibitors, and plenty of opportunities to learn, share and network.

Conference attendees also can enjoy strolling around the beautiful grounds and hiking along the trails at Montreat. Indeed, Don Baker, president of SERFA’s board of directors expresses hope that attendees “will also get outside to relax and rejuvenate in the bucolic surroundings.” Built-in mid-afternoon breaks in the programming afford conference-goers opportunities to do just that.

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org), 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. 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 eighth 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.

Here’s a link to a short video that provides an introduction to SERFA and its annual conference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOjr5I0TkM“>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOjr5I0TkM

Jim Rooney to Deliver Keynote Address

Jim Rooney will deliver a keynote on Friday afternoon, May 18. A musician, club and festival presenter, recording producer and engineer, author, music publisher, and songwriter, Rooney traces his love for bluegrass back to Massachusetts in the 1950s – when he heard a band called the Confederate Mountaineers on radio station WCOP. Before long, he was on WCOP himself and hooked on performing. While at Amherst, Rooney met Bill Keith, who would be a friend and musical partner for much of the next 60 years. In 1962, they recorded “Devil’s Dream” and “Sailor’s Hornpipe, the first documentation of Bill’s chromatic style shortly before he joined the Blue Grass Boys. Over the years, Rooney and Keith collaborated frequently – including with the Blue Velvet Band, Mud Acres, and in concert tours with many others. Rooney also helped to bring such bluegrass luminaries as Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs to the attention of northern, urban audiences when he managed the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. He also helped program the Newport Folk Festival, launched the event that evolved into New Orleans’ Jazz & Heritage Festival, and helped build Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Studio. As an author, Rooney penned the first biography of both Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters (Bossman), the first history of the Boston folk scene (Baby Let Me Follow You down, with Erik von Schmidt), and a memoir (In It For the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey). As a producer and studio engineer, he’s worked on projects with Iris DeMent, Don Edwards, Nanci Griffith, Hal Ketchum, Carl Perkins, Peter Rowan, and Ian Tyson, among others. He also helped to build a successful artist-oriented publishing house (Forerunner) with songwriters like Pat Alger, Shawn Camp, Tim O’Brien, and Barry & Holly Tashian turning out a number of country radio chart-hits. Camp and O’Brien also occasionally perform with Rooney at Nashville’s Station Inn as Rooney’s Irregulars.

Rooney, Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz, and Michael Stock to Receive Awards

An Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award and IBMA Distinguished Service Award recipient, Rooney 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 traditional folk artists Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz and longtime folk DJ Michael Stock.

Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz are longtime West Virginia residents who have performed traditional folk music separately and together. Since meeting 30 years ago at Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp in upstate New York, they have wrapped their songs in stories of the people and places of the music – transporting audiences to another time when life was simpler and families were held close. They have appeared in concert and at festivals throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom and also teach southern traditional singing a several music camps during the summer. Hawker & Schwarz have released two albums together. Hawker, who grew up in rural Virginia as part of large extended family of singers and musicians, has recorded six albums — four of them with Kay Justice. Schwarz, who was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey and New England, has more than 30 album credits. A multi-instrumentalist and singer, he was part of the New Lost City Ramblers, a vocal and instrumental folk group that helped popularize traditional string band music and introduce urban audiences to southern rural music during the 1960s and 1970s. Schwarz also joined with bandmate Mike Seeger, Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens and Lamar Grier – all of whom had been friends since the mid-1950s — to form the Strange Creek Singers in the late 1960s. Named after Strange Creek, WV, the group performed a mix of traditional and original songs in old-time and bluegrass styles.

Michael Stock, one of the 120 people who gathered in Malibu, California in 1989 to form what would become Folk Alliance International, has produced and hosted “Folk & Acoustic Music” every Sunday afternoon since 1981 on public radio station WLRN 91.3 FM in Miami, Florida. The show features a wide range of folk music — from bluegrass, blues and old-time to contemporary singer-songwriter and Americana — along with local and touring artist interviews and in-studio performances. Videos of more than 500 of these may be found on his YouTube channel. Stock also has been a concert promoter, operated a folk nightclub, and hosted folk music programs on cable television.

Workshops and Panel Discussions Organized by Tracks

Some three-dozen 75-minute workshops during the conference will be organized by tracks: Activism, Business for Musicians Media, Performing and Recording, Presenting, Songwriting, and Roots and Sources. Workshops and panel discussions will delve into such topics as the art of community jams and song swaps, the art of record-making, backwoods Appalachian songs and new generations, DIY touring, the folk music community and social responsibility, how to grow your audience, learning from the old songs, music in healing environments, promoting to radio, sharpening the tools in your promotional tool kit, social media, Texas country blues-style guitar, and using music for tourism development. Several workshops will focus on house concerts, while there also will be forums for presenters.

A Wisdom of the Elders session will feature Rooney, Hawker & Schwarz, and award-winning songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler. A West Virginia native, Wheeler has lived in North Carolina since 1963 — apart from a short stint in Nashville managing United Artists Music Group. His songs have been recorded by nearly 100 artists – including Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Bobby Darin, Elvis, The Kingston Trio, Kenny Rogers, and Neil Young. Among his songs are “Coal Tattoo,” “Coward of the Country,” “Jackson,” “Ode to the Little Brown shack Out Back,” “The Coming of the Roads,” and “The Rev. Mr. Black.” Wheeler also has written a dozen plays (including four outdoor dramas) and penned or co-authored several books of humor – including Laughter in Appalachia, which is now in its 13th printing. He was recently inducted into both the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Hall of Fame and is a recipient of Distinguished Alumnus awards from Warren Wilson College and Berea College.

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be one-on-one mentoring sessions, yoga, two-dozen exhibit tables, communal meals, and, of course, a lot of music. Grady Ormsby of Down East Folk Arts will host several open mics that are being dedicated to the memory of singer-songwriter Robert Bobby (Joe Milsom), a frequent conference attendee, who died earlier this year after a battle with brain cancer.

Official and Guerilla Showcases Abound

Slated to present official showcases on Thursday, May 17, are ilyAIMY, James Lee Stanley, Sarah Peacock, Rough & Tumble, The Belle Hollows, Jacob Johnson, Ernest Troost, and Suzie Vinnick. Friday’s official showcase lineup features Alan Barnosky, Jon Byrd, Beth Snapp, Escaping Pavement, Ed Snodderly, Tret Fure, Matthew Sabatella, and Piper Hayes. Saturday’s showcase artists include Louisa Branscomb with Jeanette & Johnny Williams, Rupert Wates, Brian Ashley Jones, Bill and the Belles, Edgar Loudermilk Band (featuring Jeff Autry), Jane Kramer, Greg Klyma, and David Jacobs-Strain and Bob Beach.

To listen to a sampler featuring songs from each of the 24 official showcase artists, click on the following link:

https://noisetrade.com/serfaartists/serfa-showcase-artists-2018

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 seven years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday and Friday, May 17 and 18, overnight. These will primarily take the form of song swaps.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

Thursday Night, May 17:

10:40: Friction Farm

11:00: Tennessee: Claudia Nygaard, Erin O’ Dowd and Taylor Pie

11:30: O Canada: Linda McRae, Suzie Vinnick and Noah Zacharin

12:00: Guys of Note: Alan Barnosky, Paul Helou and Chuck McDermott

12:30: Women’s Voices: Kala Farnham, Jane Kramer and Tret Fure

1:00: A Pair of Duos: Dan & Faith and Jubilant Bridge

1:30: Tunes by Todds: Todd Burge and Todd Hoke

10:40:The Belle Hollows

11:00: Marylanders: Domenic Cicala and Teghan Devon (with Emily Matteson)

11:30: Mara Levine, Dennis McDonough and Susan Shann

12:00: Guys of Note: Jacob Johnson and James Lee Stanley

12:30: Women’s Voices: Gina Holsopple, Beth Snapp and Heather Styka

1:00: Keystone Staters: Antonio Andrade and Meghan Cary

1:30: Acoustic Blues: David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach, Jon Shain & FJ Ventre and Ruth Wyland

Editor’s Note: Besides hosting AcousticMusicScene.com showcases, I will facilitate and participate in a panel discussion on social media. 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.

The official showcases take place Thursday-Saturday evenings from 7-10 p.m., with each artist/act performing a 15-minute set. In addition, the conference will feature a keynote address by Jim Rooney, late-night guerilla showcases from 10:40 p.m. to 2 a.m., daytime informational seminars and workshops, a Wisdom of the Elders session, one-on-one mentoring, The SERFA Awards, exhibit space, and plenty of opportunities to learn, share and network. Conference attendees also can enjoy strolling around the beautiful grounds and hiking along the trails at Montreat.

There is a $35 showcase application fee, and all applicants will be notified of the selections by March 15. Specific information on applying for official showcases may be found at www.serfa.org.

Early-bird registration for the conference, priced at $100 for FAI members and $125 for non-members (not including lodging and meals) extends through Jan. 31; there are deeper discounts for presenters and folk DJs. A rate equivalent to the early-bird discount will be available to official showcase applicants after March 15 so those applying for showcases by the Feb. 28 deadline should not yet register for the conference.

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org), a Kansas City, MO-based 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. SERFA serves the southeastern U.S. plus the Caribbean.

Here’s a link to a short video that provides an introduction to SERFA and its annual conference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOjr5I0TkM

Editor’s Note: An elected board member of Folk Alliance International and president of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance board of directors, I have been an active participant at SERFA conferences since 2011 – hosting guerilla showcases, mentoring and serving as a panelist.

Alberta, Canada-based singer-songwriter John Wort Hannam was the top winner (Gold) in the Folk-Acoustic category for his song “Ain’t Enough,” while Herndon, Virginia’s Crys Matthews took second place (Silver) for “We Must Be Free,” an adaptation of Roberta Slavit’s “Freedom is a Constant Struggle,” which appears on Matthews’ EP of social justice songs entitled Battle Hymn for an Army of Lovers.

Wort Hannam’s “Ain’t Enough” also captured honorable mention in the contest’s Adult Contemporary category. The acclaimed Canadian folk and roots artist also has been a winner in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition (2007), received a 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year, and is a three-time grand prize-winner in the Calgary Folk Festival Songwriting Competition.

Here’s a link to view a video of John Wort Hannam performing “Ain’t Enough”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMiLtLTn9tI

Matthews, the grand prize-winner in the 2017 NewSong Music Performance and Songwriting Competition, also was recognized for several other songs in the contest. The title track of her EP was named a finalist in the contest’s open category, while she also received honorable mention in the Adult Contemporary, Country/Bluegrass, Folk-Acoustic and Folk-Rock/Americana/Roots Rock categories for “Shatterproof,” “Fall All The Way,” “By My Side,” and “The Imagineers,” respectively. The latter is the title track of her recently-released full-length album and also was the winning song in the People’s Music Network’s Social Justice Songs Showcase during the 2017 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference in Stamford, CT.

Here’s a link to a lyric video for “We Must Be Free”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js_hRr-XBTQ

A list of winners, finalists and those receiving honorable mention for songs entered in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest’s folk/acoustic category follows:

Gold: John Wort Hannam (“Ain’t Enough”)
Silver: Crys Matthews, Roberta Slavit (“We Must Be Free”)
Finalists: David A. Alberding (“Dominion”), Gwen Levey (“Final Vow”), and Heather Aubrey Lloyd (“Only Baby Now”)
Honorable Mention: Lauren Spring and Scott Feldman (“Anywhere Will Do”), Crys Matthews (“By My Side”), Jim Green, Jerry Getz and Tim Crouch (“Call Anita”), Mike P. Ryan (“Darkness Falls”), Ben Eppard (“Georgia”), Tony Denikos (“Joseph Thacker’s Blues”), Susan Rowe (“Lessons in Love”), Lisa Bastoni (“Rabbit Hole”), and Heather Kenney (“Whole Life of You”).

Gold: Michael Dasher, Chip Johnson and Ryan Minton (“Pick Me Up”)
Silver: Kay Miracle (“Eight Ball”)
Finalists: Frank Hogans (“Long Hard Road to You”), James Greene (“Rock A Bye Sin”), and Abe Loomis (“Walking Down the Street in America”)
Honorable Mention: Graham McCune Stoll (“Canyonlands” and “Free and Homeward”), Laura Baron (“Catch You”), Matt Wolpe (“Come Back”), Mike P. Ryan (“Darkness Falls”), Seth Kibel (“Diversity”), Christopher Sia (“Falling is Good”), Travis Puntarelli (“Hail the Coming Day”), and Crys Matthews (“The Imagineers”)