As was the case last August, American, Canadian, Irish and Scottish artists will be featured in what Cheryl Prashker, the festival’s artistic director and general manager envisions will be “a magical online experience.” There will be interviews and music from The Bookends, Dave Curley, The Ennis Sisters,Daoirí Farrell, Fàrsan, Emily Flack, The Gilberts, Jane & Kyle, Seán Keane, Mélissandre Tremblay-Bourassa & Alexis Chartrand, Dave Woods, and Ryan Young.

An Emerging Artist Showcase with Acts from Around the World to Debut

For the first time, the festival also will include an emerging artist showcase named for festival founders Eleanor and Warren Robinson and featuring 10 artists/acts from around the world.
Participating in the inaugural Robinson Emerging Artist Showcase are 3 on the Bund (Ireland), Clíodhna Ní Aodáin (Ireland/Switzerland), Daridel (Italy), Harmundi (Brazil), Isla Ratcliff (Scotland), Kinnfolk (USA), Michael Darcy & The Atlantic Tramps (Canada), Miguel Girão (Portugal), Mosquera Celtic Band (Spain), and O’Jizo (Japan). The online audience will help select two who will be invited back to play the festival’s main stage in 2022 and will be mentored monthly throughout the year leading up to it. They will also be invited to participate in virtual artist development workshops and the weeklong Celtic College preceding next year’s festival as they seek to advance their musical careers.

“It has been a dream of mine to bring such a showcase to Goderich since this festival and the college have always been about showcasing young talent,” Prashker told AcousticMusicScene.com. She cited the long-running Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in upstate New York as the inspiration behind it and expressed thanks to Michael Patrick Farrell from Toronto-based Dolmen Entertainment Group “who had a great deal to do with helping put this together.”

In all, nearly eight hours of pre-recorded music made especially for the festival will be viewable via the festival’s website (CelticFestival.ca), as well as its Facebook page (https://facebook.com/goderichceltic).

From its humble beginnings as one-time memorial concert in 1993, the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival is now the oldest pan-Celtic festival in North America. In addition to a three-day outdoor festival showcasing some of the world’s best Celtic musicians, dancers and artists, it has grown/evolved to include a weeklong Celtic College and a Celtic Kids Camp, as well as a series of rural outreach mini-concerts.

A Series of ‘Conversations with ..”-Style Online workshops Precede the Virtual Festival

“During the week prior to the virtual festival, which would have been our Celtic College week, we are offering six different 90-minute workshops, which are more like ‘Conversations with …’,” said Prashker. These ticketed events will take place via Zoom – Monday, Aug. 2 – Thursday, Aug. 5 — and all proceeds will go directly to the artists leading them. With the exception of a knot-work drawing workshop led by David Rankine — which will follow a more hands-on, step-by-step instructional format — instructors will generally spend the first 50 minutes or so sharing music and information about their areas of expertise, while engaging in Q & A and discussion with workshop participants for the last 40 minutes or so.

The Goderich Celtic Roots Festival –- whose physical location is surrounded by the Irish and Scottish heritage reflected in the nearby communities of Belfast, Dublin, Kincardine, Lucknow and Seaforth — was founded on the spirit of community and connecting people with Celtic roots and exploring new Celtic expressions. It generally features more than 60 hours of live musical performances by dozens of artists and acts on five stages, ranging from small intimate ones to a high-powered main stage.

Prashker -– who is also part of the Celtic roots group RUNA and a ‘percussionist to the folkies’ — noted that when she assumed her position with the festival three years ago it was her “secret hope to put the beautiful small town of Goderich on the world map … and now it will again be on the world stage virtually.” As in 2020, she noted that “Although the musicians will have pre-recorded music especially for us, the hosts, will be live all weekend long — and each musician will be Zooming in before their slot happens so we can all interact with the audiences watching.” Prashker, who first taught at the Celtic College and played the festival with RUNA in 2011, expressed hope that the virtual festival experience will give viewers a small glimpse of the spirit and beauty of Goderich that drew her there.

Local, national and international touring artists whose performances are slated to stream @ https://facebook.com/michiganirish over the extended weekend include (in alphabetical order) The Alt, An Dro, Blackthorn, Ruth and Max Bloomquist, Bohola, Daimh, Doolin’, Ian Gould, Shane Hennessey, Seamus Kennedy, The Kreelers, One for the Foxes, Peat in the Creel, RUNA, Scythian, Sharon Shannon, Trout Steak Revival, and Uneven Ground. Singer-Songwriter Ashley Davis will host a songwriters circle featuring Dave Curley, Doolin’, Colin Farrell, and Shane Hennessey, while Shannon Lambert-Ryan, RUNA’s lead vocalist, will host a family-friendly presentation on “Baking with Babies.”

The schedule for the virtual festival appears below. Videos may also be posted on the festival’s Facebook page for replay later if you miss or want to see any of the acts again.

Thursday
5-7 pm Sounds Like Ireland Radio Program
8 pm Runa
9 pm Seamus Kennedy
10 pm An Dro

Friday
6 – 9 am Michael Patrick Shiels The Big Show radio show broadcast live from downtown Muskegon
5 pm Ruth and Max Bloomquist
6 pm Ian Gould
6:30 pm Songwriters Circle with Ashley Davis (featuring Colin Farrell and Dave Curley)
7 pm Dave Curley
7:50 pm Five Farms
8 pm Best of Scythian on Dan’s Wedding Day!
9 pm Shane Hennessy
10 pm The Kreellers

Saturday
12 pm Conklin Ceili Band
1 pm Peat in the Creel
1:30 pm Cathy Jo Smith Storyteller – Seanín the Piper
2 pm Kennedy’s Kitchen
2:30 Bob Harke with Kennedy’s Kitchen
3 pm Baking with Babies
4 pm Songwriters Circle with Ashley Davis (featuring Doolan’)
5 pm the Alt
5:30 pm Cathy Jo Smith – Questions about the Irish Wake
6 pm Friel Sisters
7 pm One for the Foxes
8 pm Daimh
9 pm Doolin’
10 pm CrossBow

Sunday
11 am Uneven Ground
11:30 am Deb O’Carroll’s Irish Magic Show
12 pm Runa featuring Eamonn and Cormac de Barra
1 pm Songwriters Circle with Ashely Davis (featuring Shane Hennessy)
2 pm Trout Steak Revival
3 pm Bohola
4 pm Best of Sharon Shannon
5 pm Blackthorn

Being held in Stamford for the second consecutive year after outgrowing its previous location in the Catskills of upstate New York, the NERFA conference will feature several jam-packed days and nights of music showcases, song swaps, informal jam sessions, panel discussions and workshops, a keynote by singer-songwriter Vance Gilbert, a Wisdom of the Elders session, a children’s concert, short performances by Connecticut State Troubadours, one-on-one mentoring sessions, a large trade show-like exhibit hall, communal meals, a welcoming party and happy hours, and lots of informal conversation and networking.

Booking gigs may be the primary objective of some performers who attend the conference, and many presenters and folk DJs do scout out new artists and those whom they have not previously heard and seen in live performance. However, the conference experience is much more than that; it’s really about forging connections, building community, and attending workshops and seminars to learn about options to further careers, promote the music, and attract audiences and listeners.

Singer-Songwriter Vance Gilbert Keynotes the Event

Gilbert – who embarks on a 22-date eastern Australia tour immediately following the conference — enthralls concert and festival audiences with his moving lyrics and his strong tenor voice that can morph into falsetto when needed, as well as his stand-up riffs on contemporary societal mores. His songwriting and performance clinics at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, NERFA conferences, and the Rocky Mountain Song School also have drawn rave reviews from attendees.

54 Artists/Acts Perform in Juried Showcases on Friday and Saturday Nights

In addition to his keynote, Gilbert will present two performance workshops and showcase his own musical talents during the conference. His “Collision Course” workshops are among some two-dozen featured workshops and panel discussions. Other workshops will focus on such topics as activist artists in tumultuous times, budgeting and business planning for venues, diversifying the community, the DIY artist, engaging the next generation, a guitar master class, teaching while touring, venue marketing, and writing the funny song. The popular “On the Griddle” instant critique session, also returns. Also slated are morning yoga sessions led by singer-songwriter Caroline Cotter, while MusiCares will fit folks for custom earplugs.

After the formal showcases, attendees will shuffle between four conference ballrooms to catch short sets by 40 additional artists who were selected by a different set of judges. Performing in these semi-formal showcases on Friday night are (in alphabetical order) Clint Alphin, Emily Barnes, Bethlehem & Sad Patrick, The Black Feathers, Shawna Caspi, Dave Curley, Friction Farm, Abbie Gardner, Sharon Goldman, Hoot & Holler, Greg Klyma, Abigail Lapell, Paddy Mills, Emily Mure, Musique a bouches, Piedmont Bluz, Poor Man’s Gambit, Katherine Rondeau & The Show, Robinson Treacher, and Josh White Jr. Saturday’s semi-formal Showcase artists include Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches, Lisa Bastoni, Rachel Beck, Sophie Buskin, Meghan Cary, Dunham Shoe Factory, Vance Gilbert, Alice Howe, Rod MacDonald & Mark Dann, Austin MacRae, Mama’s Broke, Mike McKenna Jr, Zoe Mulford, No Good Sister, NUA, Elaine Romanelli, The Small Glories, Christine Sweeney, Ernest Troost, and Brad Yoder.

Following the juried showcases each evening, AcousticMusicScene.com and some three-dozen presenters, performers and others will host guerilla showcases in their hotel rooms that extend through the early morning hours. Community sings, informal jam sessions, thematic song circles and round-robin song swaps round out the musical mix. Musicians are also apt to stake out other areas of the hotel and jam into the early morning hours. Some guerilla showcases also are slated for Friday and Saturday afternoons.

AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot Features Artists and Singing Folk DJs

An overflow crowd will likely descend on the AcousticMusicScene.com suite on Thursday overnight for its popular Midnight Hoot. Extending from 11:30-2:30 a.m., the AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot is a pre-arranged, round robin song swap featuring a few singing folk DJs and some three-dozen artists/acts – each of whom will perform one song. A house band also will be there for anyone who desires accompaniment.

Now in its 11th year, the Midnight Hoot is intended to shine a spotlight on several folk DJs who also enjoy singing, while providing them, presenters and others with an opportunity to get a small sampling of the music of a lot of artists in a short period of time.

As in recent years, the musical festivities in the AcousticMusicScene.com suite will wrap up on Saturday overnight with an extended “O Canada” song swap. Carrying their instruments and the maple leaf, a number of talented Canadian artists will march into the room at 2 a.m. singing their national anthem.

Schedules for the AcousticMusicScene.com showcases appear below:

AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 11:30 p.m. – 2:30 a.m.

(One song per artist and folk DJ, not in order of appearance)

Host: Michael Kornfeld

Folk DJs: Jim Colbert, Graham & Barbara Dean, Wanda Fischer, Jon Stein

Artists: Clint Alphin, Antonio Andrade, Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches, Orly Bendavid & the Mona Dahls, Sophie Buskin, Quentin Callewaert, Susan Cattaneo, Sara Chodak, Greg Cornell, Dave Curley, Alyssa Dann, Nancy Dillon, Freebo, Friction Farm, Tret Fure, Gathering Time, Gina Holsopple, Alice Howe, Jaeger & Reid, Brian Kalinec, Susan Kane, Judy Kass, Mara Levine, Eric Lee, Rob Lytle, Pete Mancini, Kirsten Maxwell, Millpond Moon, Kim Moberg, Annie Moscow, Andrea Nardy, Nico Padden, The Renfrees, Patty Reese, Hank Stone, Taylor Pie, Toby Tobias

House Band: Greg Cornell (guitar), Mark Dann (bass), Jagoda (percussion), Eric Lee (violin), Nick Russo (banjo).

2:00 Long Island Sounds: Bryan Gallo, He-Bird, She-Bird, Hank Stone

2:30 Long Island Sounds: Scott Krokoff, Christine Sweeney, Toby Tobias

3:00 Hudson Valley Songsters: Steve Chizmadia, Susan Kane, Judy Kass

3:30 Voices of Upstate New York: Marc Black, Gina Holsopple, Colleen Kattau

4:00 Jersey Gals: Loretta Hagen, Katherine Rondeau

4:30 Sea Shanty Sing with The Royal Yard (Stuart Markus & Robin Greenstein)

Friday Night, Nov 10, 2017

11:45 Greg Cornell

12:00 STEADY ON: Celebrating Lilith Fair at 20: Sharon Goldman, Amy Soucy, Sloan Wainwright (with Stephen Murphy)

12:30 Harmonic Convergence: Gathering Time, KC Groves, Mara Levine

1:00 Keystone Staters: Antonio Andrade, Meghan Cary, No Good Sister

1:30 Two Trios: The Belle Hollows & The Early Mays

Saturday Night, November 11, 2017

11:45 Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches

12:00 Songswarm: Peter Calo, Brian Kalinec, Taylor Pie

12:30 A Trio of Duos: Friction Farm, The Levins, Miles & Mafale

1:00 Two Gals and a Geezer: Freebo, Alice Howe, Kirsten Maxwell

1:30 Three Guys from New England: Marc Douglas Berardo, Jud Caswell, Rob Lytle

2 :00 O Canada: Rachel Beck, Matthew Byrne, Shawna Caspi, Andrew Collins Trio, Elage Diouf, Gathering Sparks, Martin Kerr, Abigail Lapell, Mama’s Broke, David Newland (guest emcee), Cheryl Prashker (percussion), Benjamin Dakota Rogers

“We hope that all of our attendees will share a meal and/or a song with new friends they don’t yet know, embrace the spirit of community that NERFA represents, and have a great conference experience,” said Michael Kornfeld, president of NERFA’s board of directors and editor and publisher of AcousticMusicScene.com. He expressed thanks to Dianne Tankle, NERFA’s longtime conference director, and her team of volunteers for all of their efforts in arranging the event.

Here’s a link to a video montage that Neale Eckstein created following the 2016 NERFA Conference: https://www.facebook.com/neale.eckstein/videos/10154271098733893/

NERFA (www.nerfa.org) is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, 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.

Editor’s Note: My thanks to Hank Stone for his assistance in setting up the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase room and for guest-hosting Friday afternoon song swaps along with fellow singer-songwriters Stuart Markus and Toby Tobias, and to Amy Blake, Arpie Maros and Sybil Moser for the loan of folding chairs.

In addition to hosting the AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot and other showcases, leading a community meeting with the NERFA board of directors as its president, and assisting a few artist clients who will be showcasing their talents during the conference, I will be doing some mentoring on various public relations and strategic communications topics.

Slated to perform in the hotel’s ballroom on Friday, Sept. 29, from 7:30-10 p.m., are The Whispering Tree, George Ensle, Angela Parrish, Andy Corwin, Cosy Sheridan, Hardened and Tempered, Winona Wilde, and Ordinary Elephant.

Saturday night’s lineup features Heather Pierson Acoustic Trio, Bethel Steele, Daniel Pelletier, Laura Zucker, Warren Hood, Terry Klein, American Dreamer, and Emily Herring & the FM Trio.

Rich Warren, host of the nationally syndicated “The Midnight Special” radio show that emanates from Chicago’s WFMT-FM, emcees both nights. In addition to conference registrants, the official showcases will be open to the public for a $15 cover charge each night.

Following a popular pool party and open mic hosted by singer-songwriter Butch Morgan on Thursday night, Charlie Stewart of Handshake Management will emcee the Official Alternates Showcase in the hotel’s Elm Room. Set to perform short sets beginning at 10:30 p.m. are Jaime Michaels, Kalinec & Kj, The Keller Sisters, Letitita Van Sant, Mia Rose Lynne, The Cowboy Way, Doug Gill, and Ben Shannon.

Besides the official showcases, the SWRFA Conference will feature open mics, in-room showcases extending into the early morning hours, and daytime panel discussions and seminars that address many facets of the music business, according to Dalis Allen, who produces the conference, as well as the annual Kerrville Folk Festival. “We eat meals together, form wonderful new relationships and renew old ones,” she notes. “And we are certain to have fun.”

Conference registration is $195 for Folk Alliance International members and $225 for non-members if paid by Sept. 17 and rises by $30 after then. Included with registration are five meals and a cocktail party.

SWRFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, a nonprofit organization that aims to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community — traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional — through education, advocacy and performance. SWRFA includes the southwestern United States and Mexico. Its 18th annual conference is expected to draw performing artists, presenters, managers, agents and others engaged more than peripherally in the world of folk and acoustic music. For more information, visit www.swfolkalliance.org.

As previously reported on AcousticMusicScene.com, official showcase artists also have been selected for three other regional affiliates of Folk Alliance International that hold their annual conferences in the fall – Folk Alliance Region – West (FAR-West), Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM) and Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA). Here’s a link to that article: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2017/07/23/official-showcase-artists-named-for-2017-far-west-farm-and-nerfa-conferences/

Semi-Formal Showcase Artists Selected for NERFA Conference in November

Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) also recently named 40 artists and acts to perform in its newly renamed Semi-Formal Showcases (formerly tricentrics and quadcentrics) during its 23rd annual conference in Stamford, CT, Nov. 9-12. Listed alphabetically by group or last name, they are Clint Alphin, Lisa Bastoni, The Beck Sisters, Bethlehem and Sad Patrick, The Black Feathers, The Boxcar Lilies, Sophie Buskin, Meghan Cary, Shawna Caspi, Dave Curley, Dunham Shoe Factory, Frances Luke Accord, Friction Farm, Abbie Gardner, Vance Gilbert, Sharon Goldman, Hoot and Holler, Alice Howe, Greg Klyma, Erika Kulnys, Abigail Lapell, Rod MacDonald, Austin MacRae, Mama’s Broke, Mike McKenna Jr., Paddy Mills, Zoe Mulford, Emily Mure, Musique a bouches, No Good Sister, NUA, Piedmont Bluz, Poor Man’s Gambit, Elaine Romanelli, The Small Glories, Christine Sweeney, Robinson Treacher, Ernest Troost, Josh White Jr., and Brad Yoder Duo.

The juried Semi-Formal Showcases immediately follow NERFA’s coveted juried Formal Showcases. Half of these artists will showcase their talents on Friday night, Nov. 10, while the other half will do so on Saturday night, Nov. 11.

Named as Alternates for the Semi-Formal showcases are Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches, Emily Barnes, Meaghan Blanchard, Gabrielle Louise, The Malvinas, Alastair Moock, and Katherine Rondeau and the Show.

Dave Curley, Rod MacDonald (with Mark Dann) and Mama’s Broke were offered Semi-Formal Showcases slots having been selected as alternates for the Formal Showcases that precede them.

Editor’s Note: Although I serve as president of the NERFA board of directors and as a board member of Folk Alliance International, I am not involved in showcase judging for any of the conferences.

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

12 Artists/Acts Selected to Showcase at FAR-West Conference

A dozen artists/acts have been selected to perform in Official Showcases during the 14th annual FAR-West Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bellevue, Washington, on Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7. Six artists/acts will showcase their talents during 20-minute sets each night. Listed alphabetically –not in order of appearance — they are Follow The Stranger, Reggie Garrett, Honey Don’t, Cary Morin, Larry Murante, Radio Stranger, The Singer and The Songwriter, Nathaniel Talbot, The Talbott Brothers, The Wardens, and Dennis Warner. Named as alternates are Alice Howe and Rupert Wates.
The FAR-West Conference opens Oct. 5 with a Venues’ Choice Concert and extends through Sunday afternoon, Oct. 8.

FARM Gathering to Feature 14 Official Showcase Artists/Acts

The 14 artists/acts slated to perform during Official Showcases at the FARM 2017 Gathering on the evenings of Oct. 20 and 21 at the Sheraton and Hotel Vetro in Iowa City, Iowa are (listed alphabetically by last name or group name) Mari Black and her World Fiddle Ensemble, Shawna Caspi, Julie Christensen, Johnny Coull, Mark Dvorak, Escaping Pavement, LGS, The Matchsellers, The OK Factor, Ordinary Elephant, Diane Perry & Todd Dennison, Pushing Chain, Ryanhood, and The Talbott Brothers. Named as alternates are Robin Bienemann, Ambre McLean, Lynn O’Brien, Route 358, and Sky Smeed. The FARM Gathering extends from Oct. 18-22.

NERFA Taps 14 Artists/Acts for Its Formal Showcases

NERFA, which draws the largest number of people to its conferences of any FAI region, has named 14 artists/acts to perform 15-minute Formal Showcases. Half of them will perform on Friday night, Nov. 10, while the other half will do so Saturday night, Nov. 11, during NERFA’s 23rd annual four-day conference, Nov. 9-12, at the Crowne Plaza in Stamford, Connecticut – a location to which the event moved last year after many years in New York’s Catskill Mountains region.

NERFA’s Formal Showcase artists (in alphabetical order) are Bettman & Halpin, Mari Black and The World Fiddle Ensemble, The Andrew Collins Trio, Elage Diouf, The Early Mays, Emma’s Revolution, The End of America, Martin Kerr, Kirsten Maxwell, David Roth, Ryanhood, Sloan Wainwright, Dan Weber, and Beth Wood. Named as alternates are Dave Curley, Rod MacDonald & Mark Dann, and Mama’s Broke.

Immediately following the Formals, conference attendees will shuffle between several rooms to enjoy juried 15-minute Semi-Formal Showcases – 15-20 of which will be scheduled each night. Artists selected by a separate jury for these newly renamed showcases (formerly known as tricentrics and quadcentrics) will be announced in mid-August.

More information on each of these regional conferences may be found on the nonprofit organizations’ respective websites: www.far-west.org, www.farmfolk.org and www.nerfa.org. Artists had until July 15 to apply for Official Showcases during the Southwest Regional Folk Alliance (SWRFA) Conference that is set for Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in Austin, Texas – and the selections have not yet been announced. The Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) holds its annual conference in May at the Montreat Conference Center nestled in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org) — which hosts its 30th annual conference, music camp and fair in February — is a Kansas City-based nonprofit organization that aims to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community – traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional – through education, advocacy and performance.

Editor’s Note: I serve as president of the NERFA board of directors and am also an elected board member of Folk Alliance International. I have been a workshop presenter, moderator and mentor at FAI, FAR-West, NERFA and SERFA conferences. I am not involved is the selection of juried showcase artists, although I host guerilla showcases under the banner of AcousticMusicScene.com at NERFA and SERFA conferences.

A regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, SERFA (www.serfa.org) exists to promote, develop and celebrate the diverse heritage of roots and indigenous music, dance, storytelling and related arts in the Southeastern United States. Its annual conference is a primary means of doing that. This is the sixth 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.

Peggy Seeger is Conference Keynoter

Others to be honored for their contributions to music and culture in the Southeast include Jim Magill. founding director of the Swannanoa Gathering and outgoing SERFA board member, Jennifer Pickering, founding and current executive director of LEAF Community Arts, and Phil Jamison, who has dedicated more than 40 years to calling and researching dance.

Workshops Organized by Tracks; Controversial HB2 Legislation to be Discussed

A number of 75-minute workshops during the conference will be organized by tracks: Business, Dance, Motivational/The Road, Performance/Accompaniment, Promotion/Gigs, Recording and Songwriting. Seeger will lead one entitled Songwriting – Those Controversial Issues.

Controversy has swirled around the state of North Carolina of late with the recent passage and signing into law of the Public Facilities and Private Security Act, HB2, which discriminates against people based on sexual orientation and gender status. The SERFA board of directors recently unanimously adopted a statement that reads in part: “The backroom politics that created and passed HB2 is a blight on the face of North Carolina, and SERFA is proud to stand with the majority of not only North Carolina citizens, but the American people in general, businesses, artists and religious leaders who are advocates of equal rights for all, and against HB2. SERFA will continue to welcome all regardless of sexual preference, identity or gender, without regard to religion, nationality or race. We encourage unity and decry legislation that fosters discrimination, prejudice and fear.” During the conference, activist singer-songwriters Tret Fure and Si Kahn will facilitate discussions on Collaborative Songwriting: Writing a Social Justice Song Against HB2 and Local Voices for Justice: SERFA and HB2.

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be a house concert presenters peer group meeting, yoga sessions led by singer-songwriter Caroline Cotter, communal meals, and, of course, a lot of music.

Official and Guerilla Showcases Abound

A number of artists have been selected by a panel of judges to present official showcases on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 7:15-10:30 p.m. Slated to perform on Thursday are Si Kahn, Sam Gleaves, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Bruce Michael Miller, Tish Hinojosa, Martyn Joseph, Christie Lenee, BettySoo and Victor & Penny. Friday’s official showcase lineup features No Fuss and Feathers, Lipbone Redding, Kirsten Maxwell, Lyal Strickland, Jon Shain & FJ Ventre, The Gather Rounders, Clint Alphin, Letters to Abigail and Rebecca Loebe. Saturday’s showcase artists include Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards, David Roth, Gene and Gayla Mills, Ian Foster, Bob Sinclair and the Big Deals, Lowell Levinger – Banana from the Youngbloods, Dave Curley and Mari Black World Fiddle Ensemble. Persons not registered for the conference can attend these showcases on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for $12 each night or $25 for all three nights.

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 five years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday and Friday, May 19 and 20, overnight. These will take the form of song swaps.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

Thursday Night, May 19:

10:40 Mass. Appeal: Dan & Faith, Rob Lytle, Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards, Steven Pelland

11:30 Women’s Voices: Meg Braun, Caroline Cotter, Judy Kass

12:00 A Trio of Duos: Fraser & Girard, Victor & Penny, The YaYas

12:30 Young Folk: Erika Kulnys, Kirsten Maxwell, Mike Tedesco

1:00 Strings & Songs: Dave Curley, Eric Lee, Kristin Rebecca

1:30 Last Round: Lorraine Conard, Karyn Oliver, Jeff Talmadge

Friday Night, May 20:

10:40 O Canada: Bob Ardern, Shawna Caspi, Ian Foster, Suzie Vinnick (with Cheryl Prashker on percussion)

11:30 NY/NJ Artists: Robin Greenstein, Mara Levine, Dennis McDoNoUgh!

12:00 Carolina Guys: Eric Bannan, Wes Collins, Todd Hoke

12:30 Austin Songwriters: BettySoo, Steve Brooks, Tom Meny

1:15 Nashville Cats: Clint Alphin, Anne E. DeChant, Claudia Nygaard, Becky Warren

Also during the conference, a number of artists will visit a local elementary school to share songs with youngsters and give them a chance to play instruments and learn about the various types of folk instruments and the styles of music they create.

SERFA conference programming is designed to afford participants opportunities to have some downtime, meet other attendees in informal situations such as meals and impromptu jams and even take naps, yet still get a lot out of it, said Estrin. “Last year, many commented on how refreshed and energized they felt leaving SERFA, which was one of our goals.”

Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting an AcousticMusicScene.com showcase, I will be part of two workshop panel discussions in the Promotion/Gigs track: Making Technology Work for You – Creating an Internet Identity, and Music Journalism – What Makes You Interesting. I will also again be a mentor offering advice and counsel on public relations, strategic communications, artist bios and one-sheets, website content and social media, and other topics of interest to performing artists and presenters. I am a Folk Alliance International board member and also serve as vice president of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) board of directors.