WORLD MUSIC ACTS ADDED TO FOLK FESTIVAL, WHICH HAS SOLD OUT EVERY YEAR
Celebrating folk music from near and far, the Brooklyn Folk Festival showcases 30 bands, workshops, film screenings and contests. Daptone gospel group Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, country blues and songster multi-instrumentalist Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, folk legend and songwriter Michael Hurley, old-time fiddle and banjo player Bruce Molsky, fiddle player Frank Fairfield, and intergenerational anti-folk collaborators Peter Stampfel & Jeffrey Lewis are among the performers at this year's Festival, held from April 17-19th.
The seventh annual festival has sold out every year, its attendance growing each time, and has moved to its largest venue to date, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, in Brooklyn Heights. Its world-famous stained-glass windows will frame the stage. The Festival is a co-production of The Jalopy Theatre and Down Home Radio. The three-day event has grown each year. This year's partnership with St. Ann's allows for a main stage inside the church, and a second stage for workshops, film screenings and vendors.
Adding to the festivities, the Festival features the famous banjo toss contest, a family-friendly square dance, family concert and open jam session.
FULL SCHEDULE
Friday
8:00PM Jackson Lynch - Blues guitar, old time fiddle and banjo breakdowns
8:45PM Horse Eyed Men - Original folk/country outer-space music
9:30PM Michael Hurley - Legendary folk musician, needs no introduction!
10:15PM Jerron "Blindboy" Paxton - Country blues, fiddle and banjo
11:00PM Terry Waldo's Rum House Band - Legendary early Jazz and Ragtime pianist with his band
11:45PM Feral Foster and His Band - Excellent songwriting based solidly in Blues, Folk, Gospel and Balkan music
Saturday Afternoon
1:30PM Wyndham Baird - Folksongs, blues, and more!
2:15PM King Isto’s Tropical String Band - Hawaiian/tropical stringband music
3:00PM Ryan Spearman - Banjo and fiddle music, old and new
3:45PM Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues - Raucous jug band music! Traditional and original
4:30PM Frank Fairfield and Zac Sokolow - American stringband music from the great state of California!
5:15PM Suzy & Eric Thompson - Folk, Blues and Bluegrass music, from the great state of California!
6:00PM Tom Marion with Frank Fairfield - Italian and American string music featuring polkas, waltzes, mazurkas!
6:45PM Ozark Highballers - Amazing old time string band from the great state of Arkansas!
WORKSHOPS AND ACTIVITIES:
1:00PM Old Time Jam Session
2:30PM Songs of Freedom with Matt Callahan and Yvonne Moore - Discovering the Irish Revolutionary songs of James Connolly!
3:15PM Folk City! A presentation about the history of folk music in New York by Stephen Petrus from the Museum of the City of New York
4-5:30pm "Singing in Harmony", Vocal Harmony Workshop with Don Friedman and Phyllis Elkind
"We'll pick a few songs from the world of old-time, early country, bluegrass and gospel, teach the melody and harmony parts, and before you know it, you'll be singing in two and three part harmony! We'll do each song as a group and then give you a chance to try it out as a duet or trio. All levels of singers welcome!"
Saturday Evening
8pm Pat Conte - Direct from the Secret Museum
8:45PM Cactus Blossoms - Original and Traditional country songs, sung in harmony
9:30PM TBA
10:30PM Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens
11:15PM Souren Baronian and band - Middle and Near Eastern Music
Sunday Afternoon
2:00PM Uncle Shlomo's Brooklyn Kids Concert!
2:45PM Hoodoo Honeydrippers - Country Blues duet
3:30PM Art Rosenbaum - Grammy Award winning musician and folklorist
4:15PM "Treasure from the Archive Roadshow" - Live performance of music from the collections of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
5:00PM Famoro Dioubate - Djeli playing Mande Balafon music from Guinea
5:45PM Bruce Molsky - Old time fiddle, banjo and guitar
6:30PM Four o’clock Flowers - Blues and Folk duet
WORKSHOPS AND ACTIVITIES:
1:00PM Banjo Toss – The famous banjo throwing competition. Win a free banjo!
- Assemble at 1pm in front of the venue for the parade to the banjo tossing arena!
2:30PM A Selections of Films by Alan Lomax - Nathan Salsburg, curator of the Lomax Archive will screen several folkloric films
3:30PM Fiddle Workshop with Bruce Molsky
5:00PM Old Time Banjo Workshop with Art Rosenbaum (Grammy award winning musician and folklorist)
6:30pm Square Dance!
Sunday Evening
7:30PM Down Hill Strugglers with John Cohen - old time string band
8:15PM Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel (of the Holy Modal Rounders)
9:00PM The Whiskey Spitters - Old, Blues, and Jug Band Music
9:45PM Litvakus - Klezmer/Jewish music of Belarus, beautiful newly researched and rediscovered music
“The folk music of any place always has more heart and soul than corporate, mass produced music,” said Paxton. “The Brooklyn Folk Festival will make 'the peoples music' (folk music) more accessible to the people of New York. I enjoy playing the Brooklyn Folk Festival for the good music, good times, good people with whom I get to make music and the good people that I make music for.”
As an international city, New York is home to legendary musicians from around the world. Famoro Dioubate of Guinea will play the balafon – similar to an American xylophone. The Litvakus klezmer collective will bring to life the soaring music of Belarus and traditional Litvak Jewish music. Also featured is Souren Baronian, Armenian-American reedman extrodinaire.
"This 7th annual Brooklyn Folk Festival promises to be a truly special event as we move to a new home at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn Heights," Eli Smith, founder and co-host of the Festival, said. "This amazing space will only heighten the effect of the incredible sounds that will be made at this year's event, with music from a huge diversity of genres including gospel, blues, old time music, klezmer, trad jazz, song writers, Italian string music, jug band music and more! This year's festival will also feature the "Treasures from the Archive Roadshow," an outreach program of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. This great program will feature live performances of materials learned from the incredible collections at the Library of Congress and will honor the work of famed folklorist Alan Lomax who would have been 100 years old in 2015. A selection of rare film footage taken by Lomax will also be screened."
St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church is a National Historic Landmark, built in 1844. An important example of Gothic Revival architecture in America, the richly ornamented church is notable for its elaborately vaulted roof and window tracery. Before it was removed in 1906, its spire was the most visible landmark in Brooklyn and was used by ship captains to navigate the harbor. The Festival will take place in the main hall of the church, with workshops, film screenings and the square dance in the side hall. Food, drink and retail vendors will be on site.
The performances are separated into daytime and evening shows, day passes and a full-festival three-day pass. All workshops, film screenings, and the square dance are included in the price of admission.
Passes and Tickets are available at http://www.brooklynfolkfest.com/
3-day passes are $80.
Friday Ticket: $25
Saturday All-Day Pass: $35
Saturday Afternoon passes are $20
Saturday Night passes are $25
Sunday All-Day Pass: $35
Sunday Afternoon passes $20
Sunday Night passes $20
Kids 5 and under are FREE.
Photos and Videos available upon request.
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