10TH ANNUAL BROOKLYN FOLK FEST PLANNING NUMEROUS FAMILY EVENTS

FEST HOSTS ELIZABETH MITCHELL & SUNI PAZ'S NYC RELEASE SHOW FOR NEW SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS ALBUM!

Kids 5 & UNDER GET FREE TICKETS

12 & UNDER ARE ½ PRICE

The 10th annual Brooklyn Folk Festival features great events for the whole family, including a
series of Sunday afternoon programs. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artists Elizabeth Mitchell
and Suni Paz will perform together Sunday April 8th at 2:45pm, marking the release of 'Tú Eres
Mi Flor,' their new children’s album on the label.

Elizabeth Mitchell is celebrating her 20th anniversary as a children’s music favorite. Based in
the Catskill Mountains, she has appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show, NPR All Things
Considered, and HBO Family’s A Family Is A Family Is A Family. The LA Times called
Mitchell’s songs “children’s music that adults – or at least parents – can enjoy.”

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Suni Paz has been charming audiences for fifty years
with songs in English and Spanish. She has performed at Madison Square Garden and Suni
was awarded the Magic Penny Award by the Children's Music Network and a Parents Choice Award.

For more information on Elizabeth Mitchell and Suni Paz, please go to: https://shorefire.com/releases/entry/elizabeth-mitchell-suni-paz-tu-eres-mi-flor or http://www.mayersconsulting.com/clients/#/elizabeth-mitchell-suni-paz/

Here are press photos of Elizabeth and Suni: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vvvteifrk8ycwj3/AACFxbPg3ctA2XdZ0YV4uZmda?dl=0

There will be two family friendly square dances, Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 4:45pm,
both in the Parish Hall.  Sunday afternoon will also feature performances by the Jalopy Jr.
Folk Stringband and Jalopy Jr. Folk Intermediate Ensemble.  Both groups of children have
been learning at the Jalopy Theatre's Jalopy Jr. Folk School program.  Sunday also features
a parade, led by a jug band, to the "Banjo Toss" banjo throwing competition arena! which
children are encouraged to join.

The festival’s vendor area features homemade ice cream and chocolate treats as well as
healthy snacks and sandwiches.

The Brooklyn Folk Festival has made children's tickets accessible. Children age 5 and under
get in free and ages 6-12 are 1/2 price. More information on tickets is at:
http://brooklynfolkfest.com/tickets/

The complete festival schedule and more information can be found at www.BrooklynFolkFest.com

POKEY LAFARGE JOINS BROOKLYN FOLK FESTIVAL LINEUP FOR APRIL 8 PERFORMANCE

10TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL TO LAUNCH APRIL 6 AT ST. ANN’S CHURCH IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

Pokey LaFarge will join the Brooklyn Folk Festival’s 10th annual iteration, performing April 8 at St. Ann’s Church. He joins a lineup that features The East River String Band with R. Crumb, Spirit Family Reunion, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, Innov Gnawa, Radio Jarocho, and Elizabeth Mitchell & Suni Paz. A St. Louisian, LaFarge has performed on PBS’ American Epic, TBS’ Conan, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, The Late Show with David Letterman, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, and RFD’s Marty Stuart Show. Pokey has played with the likes of Jack White, The Raconteurs, Wanda Jackson, and Old Crow Medicine Show. He has performed at Newport Folk Festival, Red Rocks, Radio City Music Hall, Third Man Records, and Stagecoach. He is a Rounder Records recording artist.

Nick Loss-Eaton Media January Spotify Playlist

Brooklyn Folk Fest '18 poster

10 YEARS OF THE BROOKLYN FOLK FESTIVAL! PRESENTED BY THE JALOPY THEATRE, MOST AMBITIOUS FESTIVAL YET FEATURES 60+ DIFFERENT PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS, CONTESTS, JAM SESSIONS, FILM PREMIERS, RECORD RELEASES & EVENTS!

January 10, 2018

LINEUP INCLUDES R. CRUMB, JERRON “BLIND BOY” PAXTON, SPIRIT FAMILY REUNION, WOMEN’S RAGA MASSIVE, BRUCE MOLSKY’S MOUNTAIN DRIFTERS, ELIZABETH MITCHELL AND SUNI PAZ, INNOV GNAWA, AND MORE! 40+ BANDS.

FESTIVAL WHICH HAS SOLD OUT EVERY YEAR INCLUDES BLUES, JUG BAND, OLD TIME, BLUEGRASS, SONGWRITERS, MOROCCAN, PERUVIAN, PUERTO RICAN, IRISH, INDIAN, TURKISH, SPANISH, BALKAN, ITALIAN, MEXICAN, DOMINICAN MUSIC, KIDS MUSIC, AND MORE!

BROOKLYN FOLK FESTIVAL BECOMES NON-PROFIT, ENTERS 2ND DECADE

April 6^th -8^th, 2018

St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church

157 Montague St. Brooklyn, NY

http://www.BrooklynFolkFest.com

Presented by the Jalopy Theatre & School of Music

“Diverse, spontaneous, counter-cultural, and trenchant… One of the most vital and spiritually sound folk-music events in the country.”

- The New Yorker

The 10^th annual Brooklyn Folk Festival will feature festival favorites Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton (Brooklynite and mainstay of the festival), R. Crumb with The East River String Band, NPR Tiny Desk alums Spirit Family Reunion, and folk music legend John Cohen with the Down Hill Strugglers. The festival also includes Indian Classical Music from the Women’s Raga Massive, old time string band music from Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, a performance for children by Elizabeth Mitchell and Suni Paz, celebrating the release of their new Smithsonian Folkways album, Grammy-nominated Moroccan band Innov Gnawa (who have performed at Coachella and Lincoln Center), and much more!

Photos, poster, more information, Spotify playlist, etc., click here.

This year the festival brings home many favorite performers from its decade long history, along with exciting new underground-grassroots folk and traditional groups from New York City and around the nation. Celebrating folk music from near and far, the Brooklyn Folk Festival will showcase over forty musical acts as well as workshops, film screenings, dances and contests in its most ambitious iteration to date.

In addition to musical performances, the festival will also feature the NYC premiere of the documentary “Linefork,” about living legend Kentucky banjo player Lee Sexton, “How They Got Over” about the golden age of Black gospel quartets and a 50^th anniversary screening of counter-cultural cult classic film “Gold” with rare Q&A with the director. It also marks the release of the new album on the Smithsonian Folkways label from Elizabeth Mitchell and Suni Paz.

Performers at the 10^th Annual Brooklyn Folk Festival include:

Jerron Paxton

Spirit Family Reunion

Elizabeth Mitchell & Suni Paz

East River String Band with R. Crumb

Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters

Innov Gnawa

Women’s Raga Massive

Thomas McCarthy

Bulla en el Barrio

Radio Jarocho 

Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues

Clifton Hicks

The Birdman of Rome

Feral Foster

Suzy & Eric Thompson

The Down Hill Strugglers with John Cohen

Mamie Minch & Tamar Korn

Steel City Jug Slammers

Piedmont Bluz

The HickHoppers

The Horse-Eyed Men

Eva Salina & Peter Stan

The Hayrollers

The Crimson Ragdolls

Wyndham Baird

Pat Conte

Little Nora Brown

The 10th annual festival has sold out every year and will remain at its home, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, in Brooklyn Heights, where its world-famous stained-glass windows will frame the stage. The Festival is produced by the newly non-profit Jalopy Theatre & School of Music, located in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The three-day event has grown in attendance and scope each year. The festival’s partnership with St. Ann's allows for a main stage inside the church, room for food, drink and vendors, plus a second stage and additional rooms for workshops and film screenings.

Adding to the festivities, the Festival features the World Famous Banjo Toss, banjo throwing contest (as featured in Associated Press), a family-friendly square dance, a Saturday night Salsa dance, a Sunday kid’s concert with Elizabeth Mitchell & Suni Paz and several open jam sessions. There will also be group singing sessions and workshops in blues guitar, old time banjo playing, fiddle and more, along with jam sessions.

"This 10th annual Brooklyn Folk Festival promises to be a truly special event as we expand the scope of the programming and welcome home favorite performers from the history of the festival," Eli Smith, founder and host of the Festival, said. "This year we expect a powerful array of sounds, with music from a huge diversity of genres including blues, old time music, traditional music from Morocco, Mexico, the Balkans, Ireland, Puerto Rico, India and elsewhere, trad jazz, song writers, jug band music and more!”

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 and upstairs rooms. Food, drink and retail vendors will be on site.

The performances are separated into day passes, evening shows, and a full-festival three-day pass.

Tickets went on sale this morning at www.brooklynfolkfest.com/tickets

* The venue has seating for everyone.  Seating assignments are on a first come first serve basis.

* These prices do not include service fees.

* All events including workshops and film screenings are included in ticket price.

* St. Ann's Church and Parish Hall are wheelchair accessible.  If you are in a wheelchair and would like to take a workshop please email Lynette Wiley.

Brooklyn Folk Festival performer Spotify playlist

Brooklyn Folk 2018 photos

 Above: Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton

  Above: Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton

 Above: Innov Gnawa

Above: Spirit Family Reunion

Above: Radio Jarocho

 Pokey LaFarge, credit: Nate Burrell

  Pokey LaFarge, credit: Nate Burrell

  Pokey LaFarge, credit: Nate Burrell

 Pokey LaFarge, credit: Nate Burrell

Above: Elizabeth Mitchell & Suni Paz

Brooklyn Folk Fest 2018 clips

Brooklyn Vegan item (January 10, 2018)

JALOPY THEATRE AND SCHOOL OF MUSIC GO NON-PROFIT

Statement from Jalopy Theatre's Geoffrey & Lynnette Wiley:

Since we founded Jalopy in 2006, technically, we have been a for-profit business, but that model has never truly reflected our priorities (in fact, many people assume we already are a nonprofit organization because of our commitment to our community of artists and students). Our main concern has always been supporting artists and making folk music accessible to a wide audience, not focusing on the bottom line.

So we are thrilled to share the news that we are joining forces with Living Traditions, a nonprofit organization founded in 1994 with the mission of preserving, promoting and perpetuating traditional folk music. For thirty years, Living Traditions produced the wildly successful KlezKamp, a beloved annual Yiddish folk arts gathering in the Catskills. Living Traditions’ own programming ended in 2014, and we are proud to be taking up their mission as our own while holding on to our own location, staff, programs, and name.

Over Jalopy’s first decade, our music and educational programming has become increasingly rich, and the relationships we have developed with artists, audiences, and students have deepened. And we have seen an opportunity to build a broader community of support for our work, realizing our communal values even more fully.

We’ve always considered Jalopy a place that belongs to the people. Officially offering our activities and programs through a nonprofit (in more than just spirit!) will provide new ways to connect with our community, strengthen our organization, and continue to evolve as we begin our second decade.

Jalopy Records Releases Newly Discovered Live Show by Old Time Country Music Legend Clarence Ashley; Recorded in Greenwich Village in 1963

‘Live and In Person’ Out April 28
 

(Click for high res)

On April 28, 2017, Jalopy Records, the record label of Red Hook's Jalopy Theatre, is releasing Clarence Ashley: Live and In Person, the first all-new album in over 50 years by the legendary singer and banjo player who helped introduce old time country music to audiences throughout the nation. April 28 also marks the kickoff of the Brooklyn Folk Festival.

Clarence Ashley (1895-1967) recorded for Columbia Records in 1929, was featured on Harry Smith's “Anthology of American Folk Music” in 1952, and toured the US in the 1960s. The title was gleaned from Bob Dylan, who told Rolling Stone in 2001, "You could hear the actual people singing those ballads. You could hear Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, Dock Boggs, the Memphis Jug Band, Furry Lewis. You could see those people live and in person." Dylan recorded a number of songs associated with Ashley, including “Corrina, Corrina,” "The House Carpenter," "The Coo Coo Bird" and “Little Sadie.” Dylan also played Ashley’s version of "Little Sadie" on his Theme Time Radio Hour on SIRIUS XM.

Jalopy's vinyl-only release was produced in 2016 by Peter K. Siegel, from tapes he personally recorded in 1963 at the Greenwich Village folk club Gerdes Folk City.

John Cohen, founding member of The New Lost City Ramblers, wrote the liner notes and provided never-before-seen photographs of Ashley in Greenwich Village. A 16-page illustrated booklet includes additional notes by Siegel and Eli Smith.

Ashley, born in Bristol, Virginia in 1895, toured the medicine show circuit and recorded extensively in the 1920s and ‘30s until his career was curtailed by the Great Depression. He was rediscovered during the folk boom of the 1960s, and went on to tour the country and record for Folkways Records. The IBMA Hall of Famer and seven-time GRAMMY Award winner Doc Watson began his career as Ashley's accompanist. Ashley performed at Carnegie Hall, NYC’s Town Hall, and Newport Folk Festival and is featured on Harry Smith’s ‘Anthology of American Folk Music’ (Folkways). He passed away in 1967.

Live and In Person is Clarence Ashley's first and only live album. He is accompanied on the album by guitarist Tex Isley, a member of Charlie Monroe's Kentucky Partners.

Jalopy albums are distributed by Mississippi Records, Portland Oregon.

A celebration of the album's release will be held at the Brooklyn Folk Festival in April 2017. The event will include performances of Ashley's songs by a number of prominent folk and country artists.


Clarence Ashley 'Live And In Person' Track Listing:

SIDE A:

1 Dark Holler Blues
2 The Wreck of the Old 97
3 Omie Wise
4 Bully of the Town
5 Wild Bill Jones
6 Rude and Rambling Man
7 I'm the Man that Rode the Mule Around the World

SIDE B:

1 The Coo Coo Bird
2 I Had But Fifty Cents
3 The House Carpenter
4 Shout Little Lulu
5 May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister?
6 Ain't No Use to High Hat Me
7 The Little Hillside

(Click for high res)

The Last Poets bio

Revolutionary rap pioneers

“The Last Poets were the first real hardcore rappers.”

--Ice Cube

Those who believe that there are no second acts in American lives ought to consider the career of post-apocalyptic urban griots The Last Poets.  Hailed for the fiery intensity of their politics and their poetry from the moment they emerged in the late Sixties, The Last Poets spit forth a series of brilliant albums in the Seventies, split up and nearly guttered out in the Eighties, and have re-emerged in the Nineties into the embrace of a new generation of word-intoxicated rappers who recognize that the Poets’ fire and intelligence are more necessary than ever.  For the first time in over twenty years, original members Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole (aka Dune) reunited under The Last Poets banner and released HOLY TERROR, an album as vital and relevant today as any work by the Poets in the 70’s.  Produced by Bill Laswell, HOLY TERROR features additional lyrics and vocals by Grandmaster Melle Mel, and fat, funky grooves from Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell.  The album also features a bonus remix track with guest vocals by George Clinton.

Born on Malcolm X Day in 1968, The Last Poets took their name from a poem by South African poet Willie Kgositsile, who posited the necessity of putting aside poetry in the face of looming revolution.  “When the moment hatches in time’s womb there will be no art talk.  The only poem you will hear will be the spearpoint pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain,” he wrote.  “Therefore we are the last poets of the world.”  They established their reputation with their first two albums, THE LAST POETS (1970) (which included “Niggers are Scared of Revolution”) and THIS IS MADNESS (1971), both of which are recognized today as classics.

The personal history of the group comprises “a tangled story,” as the Washington Post’s David Mills has noted.  “Seven men in all have recorded as The Last Poets, though never at the same moment.  They have feuded among themselves almost from the beginning.”  After feuds splintered the original group in the mid-seventies, both Umar and Dune turned to the streets.  Dune traveled to the South where he took Willie Kgositsile’s message to heart.  He put down the pen and picked up a gun, and soon found himself convicted for armed robbery.  “I thought being a Last Poet was being a fake revolutionary,” he said of his motivation at the time.  “I wanted to be a real revolutionary.”  He served four years in a North Carolina prison, eventually returning to New York where he has spent the last fifteen years as a creative writing consultant to the New York City school system.  Umar, meanwhile, spent years battling crack cocaine addiction in cities up and down the East Coast.  Responding to the current generation of rappers’ renewed regard for the spoken word, Umar and Dune reunited for the first time under Umar’s name to make BE BOP OR BE DEAD for Laswell’s Axiom label in 1993.

HOLY TERROR is a worthy addition to The Last Poets’ canon.  The Poets tackle everything from the reality and the legacy of slavery (“Homesick” and “Pelourinho”) to the horrors of cocaine (“Men-tality”) to a sympathetic but chilling portrait of today’s young black men (“Black Rage”) to a self-help chant (“If We Only Knew What We Could DO”) and a celebration of funk (“Funk”) that manages to expand the definition of the term to include virtually every enjoyable human activity.  Grandmaster Melle Mel lends his powerful writing and rapping to three tracks (“Homesick”, “men-tality” and “Funk”), while driving rhythms are provided courtesy of Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell, in partnership with Senegalese drummer Aiyb Dieng and bassist Laswell.  After hearing the finished album, George Clinton offered to add his inimitable vocals to the fray, and Laswell immediately organized a remix session of the song “Homesick.”  The resulting bonus track, “Black and Strong (Homesick),” features Melle Mel and percussionist Don “Babatunde” Eaton (who joins the Poets in live performance).

The re-emergence of The Last Poets has not only helped today’s young scholars to put the contributions of the Poets into historical perspective, it has allowed young rappers, poets, and movie makers to work with these living masters, who may indeed be (as Motorbooty’s  Mike Rubin put it) “older than Old School [but who] still have a timely message to impart to the new-jack generation.”  They performed in John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice” (1993), and played 13 dates on the Lollapalooza tour during the summer of 1994.  They updated and re-recorded “This Is Madness” with Pharoah Sanders, a track featured on STOLEN MOMENTS (RED, HOT & COOL), and AIDS-awareness album aimed at the black community, which was named 1994 Album of the Year by Time magazine.

Now in their fifties, Umar and Dune feel on top of their form.  “I’m older, wiser and a little sharper,” says Umar.  “I’ve learned a lot of things about human nature and about myself.  Day by day I love a little more and I have a little more to say.”  For his part, Dune says: “We’re no more ‘godfathers of spoken word’ than the man on the moon; it comes in a package from the motherland.  But we accept there is work out there that we can do.  People need to see a focal point, a beacon, and we don’t have no problem with shining.  We don’t walk away from the fight.”

Asked recently whether he thought there is more madness today than when The Last Poets started, Umar said, “Much more.  ‘Niggers Are Scared of Revolution’ is more relevant now than it was in 1969.”  Gesturing with his arm as if to encompass the entire landscape of contemporary American society, he concluded, “If this ain’t madness, what is?”

2017 Brooklyn Folk Fest preview video

JALOPY RECORDS TO RELEASE ITS FIRST LP BY THE DOWN HILL STRUGGLERS APRIL 28

TDHS HAVE PLAYED AT THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL, KENNEDY CENTER, AND MORE

Jalopy Records, the record label of Red Hook's Jalopy Theatre, is proud to announce the release of Lone Prairie, the first LP from The Down Hill Strugglers on April 28.

The Down Hill Strugglers is a string band composed of Eli Smith, Walker Shepard and Jackson Lynch, who play at various times; fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and harmonica.  They have been playing together for five years and have performed at the Newport Folk Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Folk Festival and many other places.  In 2013 they were featured on the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film, "Inside Llewyn Davis" produced by T-Bone Burnett. The Down Hill Strugglers band formed while hanging out at the home of their mutual friend Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders, where they also met friend and mentor John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers.

The album features 13 all new recordings from the band and liner notes by Amanda Petrusich, contributing writer for The New Yorker, Pitchfork and a contributing editor at The Oxford American.  Her music and culture writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Spin, BuzzFeed, and she is the author of “Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records”.  Petrusich has written that “The Down Hill Strugglers are, to my ears, the very best interpreters of traditional material presently going.”

From the liner notes:
“Lone Prairie was recorded in the spring of 2016 at the Jalopy Theatre in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  The band used two microphones, and played directly into a mono Nagra one-quarter-inch tape machine. They either ducked away from or leaned toward the mic to get their sound levels right. Then they stopped monkeying with the recording altogether, which is surely part of why it feels so pure and urgent. It is energizing in the way that looking at a river is energizing.”

“So what does it mean for a young band to make music like this right now? Our cultural moment certainly allows for (if not encourages) gratuitous elevation of the Self above all – but the Down Hill Strugglers think about their work differently. Each of these tracks takes inspiration from the rural visionaries of the early twentieth century, from the melodies and expressions that once guided and sustained whole communities in the Mountain South, the Deep South, and Way Out West. Lone Prairie is an earnest monument to the rural artists and songs this band loves: the Mississippi Possum Hunters, the Skillet Lickers, Bill Shepherd and Dock Boggs, the Carolina Tar Heels, Frank Blevins, George Pegram, Wilmer Watts, and many others. Using lovingly excavated 78 r.p.m. discs as source material – Walker, Jackson, and Eli disappear inside these tunes. In this way, the Strugglers become part of a continuum. Their performance is less about ardent self-expression and more about empathy, of finding a way in to other people’s anguish and elation: understanding it, bodying it anew, respecting it, and carrying it on. They pay homage to and remake in equal measure, as artists have been doing for centuries. This, I believe, is the best and most useful work a folk musician can hope to do.”

Lone Prairie will be released in conjunction with the Down Hill Strugglers April 30th appearance at the Brooklyn Folk Festival.  The album will be released as an LP, as well as on CD and via digital download.

The band will be touring in support of the album in May, June and September of 2017. Tour dates at http://www.DownHillStrugglers.com

More Quotes About The Down Hill Strugglers:

"Many string bands have the tunes but not the chops. Some have chops and tunes, but can't achieve lift-off, marching along politely like so many historical reenactors. But the Down Hill Strugglers hit the trifecta, pulling their bows deftly across the best numbers in the old-time songbook with more grit and style than just about any group fiddling away today."
- Nathan Salsburg, Curator, Alan Lomax Archive.

 “The Down Hill Strugglers bring back the true spirit of Old Time Music, where every singer invented his own performance. Besides being excellent musicians on fiddle, banjo and guitar, pump organ, harmonica, etc., they sing with the high voices that echo the sounds of young artists heard on the old 78s, evoking the spirit of the “Golden Era” of recording, and the mystery of their own identity.

They have built their repertoire from some of the best music of the past and they keep it alive and lively. They have found resonance with the intensity of rural music, while delighting in the nuances that preserve the individual uniqueness of the genre. This is music that will keep your mind dancing.

The Down Hill Strugglers are reaching for new musical highs, and they play the kind of music I want to hear.”
- John Cohen, New Lost City Ramblers.

Brooklyn Folk Fest poster

Brooklyn Folk Festival Preview Concert and Barn Dance To Benefit St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church

Saturday, March 11, 7:30 pm.

Parish Hall, 157 Montague St., Brooklyn Heights

 

The Brooklyn Folk Festival will preview its ninth year with a Concert and Barn Dance at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church on Saturday, March 11, 7:30 pm.  The event is a fundraiser to benefit St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church by helping to cover some of the costs of ongoing repairs in the historic sanctuary.

 

 

The evening will feature musical performances by folk singer Eli Smith, and renowned Balkan music duo Eva Salina & Peter Stan. Square dancing with caller Dave Harvey and NYC Barn Dance will follow.

 

The Brooklyn Folk Festival will take place in the church Friday through Sunday, April 28-30, 2017.

 

“The Brooklyn Folk Festival wishes to express our gratitude for the continued hospitality of St. Ann’s Church and its people. All the proceeds of this event will go to the church to help them preserve the folk festival’s home for the past three years. We are thankful and delighted that they have been able to complete work in the sanctuary in time for us to continue our tradition there uninterrupted,” said Smith, a Festival organizer with Lynette and Geoff Wiley.

 

St. Ann’s rector, the Rev. John Denaro, said, “The Brooklyn Folk Festival brings joy to so many people, including us at St. Ann’s. We thank the Festival for its generous offer of the Concert and Barn Dance to help restore our building. This model of partnership helps to support the growing use of our unique space for music, arts and community forums.”

 

April marks the 170^th anniversary of the landmark church building. First opened in 1847 in the heart of the growing City of Brooklyn, the structure is an architectural treasure that was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

 

Music, art and civic discourse are at the center of the parish’s community outreach through the The Forum @ St. Ann’s, which was launched in 2013 and has presented numerous timely exhibitions and performances to great acclaim. 

St. Ann’s has commenced a long-needed maintenance and repair program for the sanctuary and church tower. The fundraising goal in 2017 is $350,000 to cover outstanding and continuing costs, which will be followed by a long-term capital program and renewed fundraising beginning next year.

Festival Preview Concert Pricing

$20 - basic admission to the benefit Concert and Barn Dance
$50 - admission to the show + ticket to Sunday of the Brooklyn Folk Festival
$100 - admission to the show + tickets to Saturday and Sunday of the Brooklyn Folk Festival

2017 Brooklyn Folk Fest clips

John Cohen on WNYC Leonard Lopate (January 26, 2017)

WNYC Soundcheck blog post (January 23, 2017)

Paste Magazine session with Jim Kweskin (April 19, 2017)

The Bluegrass Situation Q&A with John Cohen (April 14, 2017)

9TH ANNUAL BROOKLYN FOLK FESTIVAL GOES ALL OUT WITH BIGGEST ARRAY OF BANDS, WORKSHOPS, CONTESTS, JAM SESSIONS, FILM PREMIERES, RECORD RELEASES, & ART INSTALLATIONS TO DATE

FESTIVAL PLANS AMBITIOUS PROGRAM INCLUDING THE LAST POETS, JERRON “BLIND BOY” PAXTON, WILLIE WATSON, JIM KWESKIN, ANNA & ELIZABETH, REV. BILLY AND THE STOP SHOPPING CHOIR, PETER STAMPFEL, THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS, ETC.

FESTIVAL, WHICH HAS SOLD OUT EVERY YEAR, INCLUDES PUERTO RICAN, IRISH, INDIAN, FRENCH, TURKISH, BALKAN, NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC, BLUES, JUG BAND, OLD TIME, SONGWRITERS, AND MORE!

SPECIAL EVENTS:
+ 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PUBLICATION OF “HARD HITTING SONGS FOR HARD HIT PEOPLE” BY WOODY GUTHRIE, ALAN LOMAX & PETE SEEGER W/ PANEL & PERFORMANCE
+ CLARENCE ASHLEY LIVE IN GREENWICH VILLAGE LP RELEASE (JALOPY RECORDS) & ONE ADDITIONAL RELEASE TBA
+ DOCUMENTARY FILM NYC PREMIERE: “SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN” ABOUT BLUES LEGEND FRED MCDOWELL
+ BALLAD SINGING ART INSTALLATION
+ RETURN OF THE FAMOUS BANJO TOSS CONTEST!

TWO FULL STAGES ALLOWING FOR 40+ DIFFERENT PERFORMANCES

APRIL 28TH -30TH, 2017
@ ST. ANN’S CHURCH
157 MONTAGUE ST. BROOKLYN, NY
http://www.BrooklynFolkFest.com

Performer photos: http://nicklosseaton.blogspot.com/2017/01/2017-brooklyn-folk-fest-performer-photos.html

Spotify playlist of 2017 performers: https://open.spotify.com/user/129284346/playlist/58bK8Cg1qHI5GJkczN9cXa

Celebrating folk music from near and far, the ninth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival showcases over forty musical acts as well as workshops, film screenings, dances, contests, and, for the first time, a performance art installation. Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton (Brooklynite and mainstay of the festival) returns along with NPR Tiny Desk Concert alums Anna & Elizabeth, folk music legends Jim Kweskin (of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, veteran of the Newport Folk Fest from in 1963-‘68) and Peter Stampfel (of the Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs), Willie Watson (founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show), and hip hop progenitors The Last Poets.

This year the Brooklyn Folk Festival seeks to highlight the role of culture in social and political activist movements. Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir will deliver an activist sermon and post-religious, anti-consumerist gospel show.  Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore will discuss and perform selections from the book “Hard Hitting Songs For Hard Hit People,” by Woody Guthrie, Alan Lomax and Pete Seeger, celebrating 50 years since its first publication.  The festival will also feature a “Topical Songs” performance with a number of performers addressing social issues. New York’s oldest Native American ensemble, the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, will also perform traditional Mohawk, Hopi and Winnebago songs and dances.

The festival will also feature the NYC premiere of the documentary “Shake ‘Em On Down,” about Blues Hall of Famer Mississippi Fred McDowell. It also marks the release of ‘Live in Greenwich Village’ by Clarence Ashley on Jalopy Records with another release pegged to the festival to be announced.

The festival has sold out every year and will remain at its home, St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity Church, in Brooklyn Heights, where its world-famous stained-glass windows will frame the stage. The Festival is produced by The Jalopy Theatre & School of Music, located in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  The three-day event has grown in attendance and scope each year, with 2016 marking the largest number of tickets sold to date as well as largest scope of performers. The festival’s partnership with St. Ann's allows for a main stage inside the church, room for food, drink and vendors, a second full stage, and additional rooms for workshops and film screenings.

Adding to the special events, the Festival features the World Famous Banjo Toss Contest (as featured in the Associated Press), a family-friendly square dance, a new Saturday night Salsa dance, a Sunday kid’s concert and several open jam sessions.  There will also be workshops in blues guitar, fiddle, and building instruments from found objects, among others.

Tickets went on sale yesterday while the full schedule is announced today:

Friday April 28th

Main Stage
8pm – Anne Waldman – Acclaimed poet will open the festival.
8:25pm – Ukrainian Village Voices – Rural Ukrainian vocal music
9pm – Jim Kweskin – Jug band, blues and folk songs
9:45pm – Thunderbird American Indian Dancers – Songs and dances from the Mohawk, Hopi, Winnebago and other traditions.
10:20pm – Anna & Elizabeth – Old time songs and ballads
11pm – Feral Foster – Original and folk songs
11:45pm – Tennessee Stiff Legs – Western swing band, from Tennessee! First time in NY!
Parish Hall Stage
8:45pm – Ethan Leinwand – Barrelhouse blues piano from St. Louis, MO
9:30pm – Cole Quest & the City Pickers – Bluegrass songs and tunes
10:15pm – The Freakniks – Original and traditional music, from LA, CA!
11pm – Skalopy – Jalopy’s in-house ska band!
Workshop Room
TBA

Saturday April 29th

Afternoon Concerts

Main Stage
Noon – Jalopy Jr. Recital
12:45pm – Fada – Traditional French music from the Occitan region
1:30pm – Martha Burns – Old time songs and ballads, from the mountains and range!
2:15pm – Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues – Original and traditional jug band music!
3pm – Spitzer Space Telescope – original and traditional old-time fiddle tunes, English/Irish ballads and sea shanties.
3:45pm – Peter Stampfel & the Ether Frolic Mob – “Paleo Hillbilly Rock meets Great American Songbook and does dirty things together”
4:30 – Clarence Ashley: Jalopy Records Album Release & Tribute with Various Artists
5:15pm – Bill & the Belles – Oldtime, early Country and popular songs and tunes!
6pm – Amythyst Kiah – Traditional and original blues and folk songs from Johnson City, TN, first NY appearance!
Parish Hall Stage
Noon – Old Time Slow Jam
1:30pm – Ethan Leinwand – Barrelhouse blues piano from St. Louis, MO
2:15pm – The Hayrollers – Bluegrass songs and tunes!
3pm – Little Nora Brown and Friends (Highlighting the work of The Shlomo Foundation)
3:45 – Poorboy Krill – Blues and folk singer
4:45 – “Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People” with Mat Callahan & Yvonne Moore – Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication or Lomax, Seeger and Guthrie influential and classic book!
5:30 – Ethan Leinwand – Barrelhouse blues piano from St. Louis, MO
6pm – Harmonica Contest – Who is the best harp player in NYC!?!? – Trip Henderson – Judge!
Workshop Room
1pm – Book Reading & Discussion: I Got A Song: A History of The Newport Folk Festival – The first-ever history of the Newport Folk Festival, the book documents the trajectory of an American musical cornerstone over its 58 years – with author Rick Massimo.
2pm – DIY Instrument building with Zeke Leonard.  Build your own homemade instruments!  Kid friendly.
3pm –  Book Reading & Discussion: The Explosion of Deferred Dreams: Musical Renaissance and Social Revolution in San Francisco, 1965–1975, a critical re-examination of the interwoven political and musical happenings in the Sixties –  with author Mat Callahan.
4pm – FILM: The Mountain Music Project – Exploring similarities between Southern Appalachians music and that of the Nepali musician caste in the Himalayas, includes Q&A with filmmaker Tara Linhart.
5:30pm – Old time banjo workshop with Hilary Hawke – teaching the banjo music on the seminal album “High Atmosphere.”
6:30pm – Puppet show! with The Boxcutter Collective… presenting: “The Revolt of the Beavers,” a work-in-progress puppet show which received a 2017 Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant.

Evening Concerts

Main Stage
7:15pm – The Calamity Janes – Old time string band!
8pm – Jerron “Blindboy” Paxton – Blues, old time and folk songs on guitar, banjo and fiddle
8:45pm – Willie Watson – Folk songs and ballads on guitar and banjo
9:30pm – Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir – Wild anti-consumerist gospel choir and Earth loving evangelist sermonizing!
10:45pm – The Big Dixie Swingers – Western Swing, all the way from New Orleans! First NYC performance!
11:30 – Jackson Lynch – Blues, old time songs and fiddle music!
Parish Hall Stage
7pm – Main Squeeze Orchestra – All female accordion orchestra!
10:15pm – Salsa Dance with Willie Martinez and the NYC Salsa All Stars

Sunday April 30th

Afternoon Concerts

Main Stage
1:45pm –  The Jalopy Family Sing-A-Long with Emily Eagen and Friends
2:30pm – Deedle Deedle Dees – Fun kids music, with themes from history!!
3:15pm – Preachin’ in the Wilderness – Blues and folk songs
4pm – The Down Hill Strugglers with John Cohen – Old time string band
4:45pm – Meredith Axelrod – Blues and folk songs
5:30pm – Queen Esther – Traditional and original songs
6:15pm – Locust Honey String Band – String band, all the way from Tennessee!
Parish Hall Stage
2pm – Old Time Jam Session with Hilary Hawke
3:15pm – Gotham Jazzmen – Traditional Jazz
4:45pm – The Jalopy Choir – Singing Balkan vocal music!
5:30pm – Square Dance with the 5-Mile String Band – Alex Kramer calling!
6:30pm – TBA
Workshop Room
2pm – “Sing Like the Carter Family” – Learn to sing songs in 3-part harmony the way the original Carter Family did.  Taught by Martha Burns.
3pm – Topical and Protest Songs performance and workshop with Jan Bell
4pm – FILM: Shake ‘Em On Down – Documentary film about legendary blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell, includes Q&A with filmmaker Scott Baretta.
5:30pm – 10pm – Special art installation and performance with Anna Roberts-Gevalt, Elizabeth LaPrelle and Tim Eriksen.

1PM SPECIAL EVENT: THE BANJO TOSS – Banjo Throwing Contest!

This event is held off-site.
Please assemble at the corner of Smith and 9th Street at 1pm, we will then have a parade to the banjo tossing arena!

Evening Concerts

Main Stage
7:15pm – Jay Gandhi – Indian classical and folk music
8pm – The Last Poets – Radical poetry with music, the roots of rap from NYC
8:45pm – Eva Salina & Peter Stan – Balkan music
9:30pm – Pat Conte – Blues, gospel and old time songs and tunes
10:15pm – Papa Vega’s Dream Shadows Orchestra
Parish Hall Stage
7:15pm – The Cat’s Meow – Irish fiddle and accordion music
8pm – The Horse-Eyed Men – Original and traditional songs
Workshop Room
5:30pm – 10pm – Special art installation and performance with Anna Roberts-Gevalt, Elizabeth LaPrelle and Tim Eriksen.

2017 Brooklyn Folk Fest performer photos

Click for high res

 Above: Anna & Elizabeth

Above: Downhill Strugglers with John Cohen

Above: Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton

Above: Rev. Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir

Above: The Last Poets

Above: Peter Stampfel & Friends

Above: Thunderbird American Indian Dancers

Above: Willie Watson

JALOPY RECORDS PARTNERS WITH MISSISSIPPI RECORDS TO RELEASE 'LOST TRAIN BLUES' – COMPILED FOR ALAN LOMAX’S 100TH BIRTHDAY WITH 12 NEVER-BEFORE-ISSUED FIELD RECORDINGS

APRIL 8 RELEASE TO COINCIDE WITH BROOKLYN FOLK FEST

Brooklyn’s Jalopy Records has rebooted its homegrown folk music record label with a brand new release, 'Lost Train Blues: John & Alan Lomax and the Early Folk Music Collections at the Library of Congress.' This collection, curated by Brooklyn Folk Festival producer Eli Smith, was compiled for the centennial of famed folklorist Alan Lomax’s birth. It will be released on vinyl and via digital download on April 8, coinciding with opening night of the Brooklyn Folk Festival. Twelve of the songs are never-before-released.

The record features 22 selections from the vast holdings of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, most of them have never been issued before. The record includes work songs, ballads, blues, political and union songs, guitar, banjo and fiddle music and Native American vocal music.  These recordings were made between 1933 and 1950 and represent the birth of the folk music collections at the Library of Congress, now the largest repository of folk and enthographic holdings in the world. The record demonstrates the groundbreaking work of Alan Lomax and his father John Lomax, but also places them with the context of other important early field workers.

The deluxe record includes liner notes by Alan Lomax archive curator Nathan Salsburg, as well as a 14 page booklet with photographs and original research about each song, artist and folklorist. The cover features an original lithograph by artist Jeff Tocci.  Each selection has been retransferred from original discs and tapes at the Library of Congress and has been carefully remastered by sound engineer Don Fierro for the best possible audio fidelity.

Jalopy Records has partnered with well known Oregon based vinyl label Mississippi Records to manufacture and distribute this and future releases.  Jalopy Records is the record label of the Jalopy Theatre and School of Music, a grass roots cultural center for traditional music, located in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Side A:

1. WPA Song by Clyde “Kingfish” Smith. Recorded by Herbert Halpert, NYC, 29 November 1939.

2. Longest Train I Ever Saw by Jesse Wadley, with John Wadley, Will Jones, and Felix Davenport. Recorded by John Lomax with Lead Belly acting as First Assistant (Alan sick with influenza), Bellwood Prison Camp, Atlanta, GA,11-12 December 1934.

3. The Moonshiner by Dawson Henson. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Elizabeth Lyttleton Harold, Botto on Billy’s Branch, KY, 11 October 1937.

4. Stavin’ Chain by Wilson “Stavin’ Chain” Jones, Charles Gobert and Octave Amos. Recorded by John and Alan Lomax, Lafayette, LA, June 1934.

5. Unfortunate Dog or Stony Point by Jess Morris. Recorded by John Lomax, Dallas, TX, May 1942

6. Leather Breeches by Carl Lathrop. Recorded by Alan Lomax, St. Louis, MI, 22 August 1938.

7. Lost Train Blues by Fred Perry and Glenn Carver. Recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, Florida State Farm (Raiford Penitentiary), Raiford, FL, 4 June 1939.

8. The Hard-Working Miner (Only a Miner) by James “Blind Jim” Howard. Recorded by John and Alan Lomax, Harlan County, KY, August 1933.

9. St. James Infirmary by Jesse Wadley. Recorded by John Lomax, Bellwood Prison Camp, Atlanta, GA, 11-12 December 1934.

10. Lamp Lighting Time in the Valley by Ruby and Oliver Hughes. Recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell, Crossville, TN, 23 November 1936.

11. Cherokee Christian Hymn by Helen, Luella and Juanita Hallmark. Recorded by Willard Rhodes, Eufala Boarding School, Eufala, OK, 1952.

12. My One-Eyed Ford by Boys Chorus of the Santa Fe Indian School. Recorded by Willard Rhodes, Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe, NM, 1940.

Side B:

1. Captain Haney Blues by Camp Morris and Group. Recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, Cherokee County, GA near Canton, November 1940.

2. Southern Rag by James Sneed, J.F. Duffey and Alvin Sanders. Recorded by Lewis Wade Jones and Willis James, Fort Valley State College, Fort Valley, GA, 5-7 March 1943

3. Turkey in the Straw by Elmo and Bill Newcomer. Recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, Bandera County, TX near Pipe Creek, 3 May 1939.

4. Rye Whiskey by Elmo Newcomer. Recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, Bandera County, TX near Pipe Creek, 3 May 1939.

5. Desert Blues by Hattie Ellis and (“Cowboy”) Jack Ramsey. Recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, The Goree State Farm for Women, Walker County, TX near Huntsville, 14 May 1939.

6. Hard Times by Rowena Knight, Mary Anne Knight, Thelma Hawthorne and Jerusha Hawthorne (Liberty High School Quartet). Recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, Newtown, TX, 16 May 1939.

7. I Don’t Want Your Millions Mister by Tillman Cadle. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Elizabeth Lyttleton Harold, Middlesboro, KY, 4 September 1937.

8. Battle in the Horseshoe by J.W. Russell. Recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell, Marion, VA, 14 November 1936.

9. Travelin’ To That New Buryin’ Ground by Hammer Clarence Banks, Bob Bentley, Charlie Blake, Harold Vosburg. Recorded by John Lomax, Alan Lomax and Lead Belly, Reid State Farm, Boykin, SC, 19 December 1934.

10. Roosevelt and Hitler by Buster “Buzz” Ezell. Recorded by Lewis Wade Jones and Willis James, Fort Valley State College, Fort Valley, GA, 1 August 1943