New Jersey based Rock/R&B/Funk duo Jonah Tolchin & Kevin Clifford, otherwise known as Dharmasoul, have confirmed the release of their debut album Lightning Kid, due June 1, 2018 via their own label, Dharmasoul Records.

The compelling 10-song set finds Tolchin (guitar/vocals) and Clifford (drums/vocals) exploring sonic spaces originally revealed by The Meters, D’Angelo, The Staples Singers, Stevie Wonder, Medeski Martin & Wood, John Scofield and more. The album features foot stompers “Chosen One” and “Taste So Sweet,” sitting astride the funky pleas of “Bless Your Children” and instrumentals such as “Vulgar.” Produced by Dharmasoul, Lightning Kid was recorded live, with minimal overdubs in August 2017 at Verdant Studios in Athens, VT by Pete Weiss.

Meeting as teenagers (Clifford remembers first seeing a barefoot Tolchin in denim overalls, a straw hat and carrying a cigar box full of harmonicas) the pair parted ways for a time as Tolchin hit the road for a solo career soon after graduating high school, eventually signing to Yep Roc Records where he released two albums, Clover Lane (2014) and Thousand Mile Night (2016). In that time Tolchin has shared stages with Gregg Allman, Tony Joe White, Dave & Phil Alvin, Justin Townes Earle, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Paxton and others. He’s also produced albums for Julie Rhodes and Bill Scorzari. Tolchin. Since 2014 he has had success in the streaming world, racking up over 10 million plays on Spotify.

“Jonah’s experience and skill as a songwriter gives me added confidence to express myself,” says Clifford. “We united on a vision. The personal faith and love of one other enhances the feeling of this record. It’s rooted in our friendship.”

Clifford went on to graduate from Loyola University New Orleans with majors in Jazz Percussion and English. Experiencing music in New Orleans opened him to the worlds of hip-hop, neo-soul, traditional/modern jazz, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban styles. He became in an in-demand multi-stylist drummer playing with gypsy jazz groups, electronic/hip-hop, indie-folk, and singer/songwriter acts, performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with the Loyola Jazz Band and later with Mikayla Braun.

“This project feels like something that’s been waiting for ten years,” comments Tolchin. “Yet it couldn’t have happened any sooner than it did.  Lightning Kid represents a culmination of our collective influences throughout our years as music appreciators and players, ranging from folk and world music to funk, jazz, blues, rock, hip-hop, R&B, and gospel.  Adds Clifford “We don’t think about fitting into specific genres. That’s what makes our partnership so special.  We have an openness and a clarity that respects and honors freedom of musical expression.”

Music Maker Relief Foundation – the non-profit organization that helps traditional, southern musicians who live in poverty and has been featured on PBS News Hour, CBS News, and NPR – will release a compilation celebrating its 25th anniversary entitled ‘Blue Muse’ on February 1. The album features contributions from Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and 17-time GRAMMY winner Eric Clapton (in a previously unreleased track), Blues Hall of Famer, two-time GRAMMY winner, and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner Taj Mahal, “more than convincing” (NY Times) soul man and Dan Auerbach favorite Robert Finley, and GRAMMY-winner founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops Dom Flemons. In keeping with Music Maker’s mission to preserve the musical traditional of the south by supporting the musicians who make it, the album spans a range of living southern music culture and fans will hear blues, folk, songster, jump blues, soul, Appalachian, garage blues, and gospel musics here. The 21-track set features liner notes by Vogue and Guardian writer Rebecca Bengal.

Big Legal Mess Records has signed several Music Maker artists such as Finley, Willie Farmer, Ironing Board Sam, Sam Frazier, Jr., and Theotis Taylor. Other highlights include top 20 Billboard hit “Route 66,” performed here by Atlanta’s pianist and World War II veteran Eddie Tigner. Sam is a veteran of several performances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in the 1970s and 2010s and at Lincoln Center. John Dee Holeman is a National Heritage Fellowship award winner. Boot Hanks has performed at Newport Folk Festival.

‘Blue Muse’ accompanies a photography book of the same name by Tim Duffy coming out February 25 on UNC press in association with the New Orleans Museum of Art; and an exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art premiering April 25.

Notable session musicians include guitar great Cool John Ferguson on Captain Luke’s “Old Black Buck,” Producer/artist Jimbo Mathus and former Al Green drummer Howard Grimes on “Age Don’t Mean a Thing” by Finley, GRAMMY-nominated bluesman Guy Davis on Flemons’ “Polly Put the Kettle On,” Mahal joining John Dee Holeman for “Hambone,” Will Sexton accompanying Farmer on “I Am The Lightnin,” and garage legend Jack Oblivian lends his guitar to Ironing Board Sam’s “Loose Diamonds.”

Music Maker has supported over 400 artists over the course of its 25-year history.

La Collegiale – The Grotto Sessions (featuring Guitar Gabriel, Ironing Board Sam, Etta Baker, Captain Luke, Alabama Slim, Neal Pattman)

Spike Driver Blues – Taj Mahal

Old Black Buck – Captain Luke

Route 66 – Eddie Tigner

I Got The Blues – Alabama Slim

Age Don’t Mean A Thing – Robert Finley

Polly Put The Kettle On – Dom Flemons

Hambone – John Dee Holeman

Snap Your Fingers – Algia Mae Hinton

I am the Lightning – Willie Farmer

D.O.C. Man – Dave McGrew

Sweet Valentine – Martha Spencer & Kelley Breiding

I Wanna Boogie – Boot Hanks w/ Dom Flemons

Mississippi Blues – Eric Clapton w/ Tim Duffy

Landlord Blues – Guitar Gabriel

Widow Woman – Drink Small

Cabbage Man – Sam Frazier, Jr.

Sing It Louder – Cary Morin

Loose Diamonds – Ironing Board Sam

I Know I’ve Been Changed – The Branchettes

Something Within Me – Theotis Taylor

Three-time Newport Folk Festival performers Spirit Family Reunion will release their new album ‘Ride Free’ August 9, their first album in four years. First single “One Way Ticket” is out today.

 “One Way Ticket” on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/trac /3Chpm9YpKgP0lrAeLAMnfY?si=JJeB2P77Tumj2pAGUq8rjg

Fans will notice a wider variety of instrumentation on a number of songs, from electric guitar to a horn section on “Gradual Power,” though their signature harmonies, Maggie Carson’s banjo, and Stephen Weinheimer’s washboard are alive and well.

Banjo player Maggie Carson contributes lead vocals to the rousing old-time tune “When I Get Home” while washboard man Stephen Weinheimer sings vulnerably about a moment of self-doubt in “Moon In The Mirror.” The insightful “Gradual Power” finds the band exploring the cyclical nature of things. Nick Panken wrote “Come Our Way” towards the end of 2016, exploring the balance between individual action and acceptance on the course of events. The band continues its commitment to traditional folk music with a rousing interpretation of the cowboy classic “Whoopie Ti Yi To.”

Of the single, Panken says, “This is a song about self empowerment, solidarity among outcasts, a thirst for trespassing borders that uphold convention. Being alive is the only permission you need to be here. That is your one way ticket, and it’s as valid as the rest. Though our societies invent criteria that inflict very real suffering upon a multitude of beings, we are all entitled to claim dignified lives simply because we are here. Ultimately this is more real than any fabricated rule or restriction, and this song suggests that the validation you need is contained within you.”

Spirit Family Reunion has played Austin City Limits and headlined the Brooklyn Folk Fest; performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert; joined tours with Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Alabama Shakes, and Levon Helm; and been streamed well over two million times on Spotify.

One Way Ticket

Ease My Mind

Whoopie Ti Yi Yo

Come Our Way

When I Get Home

Midnight Train

Would you Would or Would You Won’t

Moon In The Mirror

Gradual Power

 Stay tuned for upcoming concert announcements.

Duke Performances partners with the Music Maker Relief Foundation to present Music Maker 25 at The Fruit, a 15,000 square foot community art space in Durham, NC, from December 4th – 8th.

Works from significant visual artists such as Lonnie Holley (The Met, MASS MoCA), Sam “The Dot Man” McMillan (SECCA), Freeman Vines, and Music Maker founder Timothy Duffy (NOMA, the Morris Museum of Art) will be on display alongside informational panels, listening stations and other interactive components telling the stories of Music Maker Relief Foundation and the blues, gospel, folk, and Native American musicians with which it has partnered in its 25-year history. Attendees will be able to walk through the exhibition before and after each thematic performance.

The stories of these musicians are uniquely shaped by the American experience, through song and immersive visual art experience, Music Maker 25: Honoring Our Musical Traditions will tell the story of these often-overlooked purveyors of our musical traditions.

“To experience a performance from any of the musicians set to play Music Maker 25 is powerful, to also have the physical experience of seeing their art and interacting with it will be transformative.” – Timothy Duffy (Founder, Music Maker Relief Foundation)

“Music Maker 25: Honoring Our Musical Traditions spotlights the powerful lineage of American roots music and a group of Southern artists who, against great odds, uphold these musical traditions and help preserve our cultural heritage. This exhibition introduces visitors to twenty-five years of Music Maker Relief Foundation and to some of the artists who have made the organization what it is today. Visitors will have a chance to listen to music passed down to and reinterpreted by artists who receive sustenance and professional opportunities through Music Maker programs. They will be able to explore some of these artists’ visual work, as well as meaningful artifacts connected to Music Maker history. An immersive storytelling experience, this exhibition will invite visitors to spend time in a curated lounge to enjoy a cocktail and learn more about how they can join the Music Maker community.” – Kimber Heinz & Joel Johnson (Exhibition Co-Curators)

In addition to the seven concerts and exhibitions, a film screening of Lonnie Holley’s Sundance selected short film I Snuck Off the Slave Ship will be hosted at Power Plant Gallery. A roundtable discussion will also take place at The Fruit, moderated by renowned folklorist, author, and former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities William R. Ferris. Panelists will include Music Maker founder Timothy Duffy, Fat Possum Records owner Bruce Watson; guitarist Alabama Slim, vocalist Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen, and singer-songwriter Pura Fé. Both the screening and roundtable discussions are free and open to the public.

“Not every root sprouts a straight stem, and these Memphis mofos tangle it all up on Mem Mods. Burrowing toward a sound somewhere between Al Green’s backing vocalists and a John Cassavetes soundtrack, the boys get downright funky, showing how far from the tree the vine can bloom.” –Robert Gordon, author of It Came From Memphis

“Masterful.” –Andria Lisle, author of Waking Up In Memphis

Steve Selvidge (The Hold Steady band member) is set to revive the famed Peabody Records label, home to Alex Chilton’s seminal Like Flies on Sherbet album as well as Memphis folk/blues legend Sid Selvidge. The label’s first release in its second life will be the vinyl/digital album MEM_MODS, Vol. 1 an instrumental trio of Memphis music consisting of:

* Selvidge (Big Ass Truck band member, credits with Bash & Pop, Jimbo Mathus, Cory Branan, Harlan T. Bobo) on guitar, bass, Rhodes, and drum machine; * Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars, credits with The Replacements, The Black Crowes, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, RL Boyce, Bash & Pop), who has been nominated for three GRAMMYs for his solo albums on bass and various keyboards; * and, “Memphis favorite multi-instrumentalist” per the Memphis Flyer and MEM_MODS secret weapon Paul Taylor (leader of New Memphis Colorways, who has graced stages with Eric Gales, Ann Peebles, Kirk Whalum) contributes drums, percussion, omnichord, bass, fretless bass, washtub bass, synth pedals, and soundscapes.

The trio’s debut album MEM_MODS, Vol. 1 comes out February 24 with first single/video “Capricorn Catastrophe,” which takes classic Memphis soul to outer space, out today.

Despite the group having two bona fide guitar heroes, MEM_MODS choose a different path. This is groove music, funky, soulful, futuristic, fusion-adjacent, partly electronic, slightly psychedelic, and 100% Memphis. Vol. 1 is the work of three incredibly creative figures coming together on a collaboration thirty-plus years in the making, with all three growing up playing music together in Memphis, TN, all with legendary fathers: Paul reared by Pat Taylor and his stepfather a member of ‘70s cult band Zuider Zee; Steve with his folk-blues artist father Sid Selvidge; and Luther, of course, kin of the legendary Jim Dickinson. Luther and Steve are also both members of the Sons of Mudboy, which performs the music of Sid Selvidge and Jim Dickinson’s band Mudboy & The Neutrons; Paul and Steve have played with Luther in North Mississippi Allstars; and Steve and Luther have both played with Bash & Pop; Paul has played in Steve’s former band Big Ass Truck. Add in stints with Tommy Stinson, the Black Crowes, and Seasick Steve, and the branches grow heavier.

The three had discussed an album together for years but in 2020, with these booked-solid musicians suddenly facing empty calendars, it became apparent that the time had come. The problem? They were all sheltering in place, just like the rest of the world. No problem: the music was made long-distance, with tracks sent via email and thoughts sent via video messages on the app Marco Polo. That approach allowed each musician more of a clean slate to stretch out and follow off-kilter artistic impulses than they might have jamming together in person.

An utterly freeform survey of instrumental music, and a clarion call for the future of recording, MEM_MODS, Vol. 1 unfurls from the speakers like a reimagined Quincy Jones score screwed and chopped with Isaac Hayes’ landmark Shaft soundtrack. That is, if the core Stax unit was backed up by Sly Stone and the Beastie Boys, and John Shaft had been plucked from the streets of Harlem and dropped into the animation panels for Fantastic Planet.

The album’s opener, “Capricorn Catastrophe,” draws on equal parts Jean Michel Jarre and Booker T. & the MGs. Like Jarre’s breakthrough album Oxygene, surreal sounds bounce and bubble. However, the horn work and propulsive, emotive guitar hooks are innately Memphis. This is music for now – a buoyantly imaginative refutation of the reality of life as we know it, perhaps a film score to a long-lost retro-futuristic psychedelic cult classic that doesn’t exist. ”Harmolodica,” to be released December 6, joyously conjures up a mental image of Money Mark, Charles Stepney, and Augustus Pablo staggering and stuttering through outer space. The final single, midtempo, feel-good, Hi Records-influenced “Knotty Pine Kitchen,” lands January 17.

Memphis horn mainstays Marc Franklin (Don Bryant, The Bo-Keys, Robert Cray, Rev. Sekou, Wu-Tang Clan, Solomon Burke) contributes trumpet while Art Edmaiston (Amanda Shires, The Greyhounds, Cut Worms, Don Bryant, The Bo-Keys) adds saxophone. Selvidge mixed the record himself. Jeff Powell (Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Big Star, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Lucinda Williams, Al Green) cut the vinyl, which is being manufactured at Memphis Record Pressing in Memphis.

Selvidge has performed at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and on late-night shows with The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Jools Holland. As a session musician, he’s played guitar on more than sixty albums.

Folk Alliance International (FAI), the foremost global nonprofit for folk music and the producers of the International Folk Music Awards (IFMAs), announced this year’s upcoming recipients and Best of 2022 nominees.

The live awards show will be held February 1 in Kansas City, MO, USA on the opening night of FAI’s 35th annual conference, and will be broadcast online. Appearances are confirmed by GRAMMY nominee and Folk Alliance International Conference keynote speaker Valerie June; “really cool” (NPR Music) duo The Milk Carton Kids; Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist Leyla McCalla (who will also be honored at the IFMAs with the People’s Voice Award); and Mercury Prize nominee Sam Lee.

The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year to honor the cultural impact of legendary folk music figures: one Living, one Legacy, and one Business/Academic. This year’s honorees are ten-time GRAMMY nominee Janis Ian, whose fives decades in music are “marked by literary lyrics, social activism and major hits” (NY Times); the “master” (NY Times) Josh White; and John Prine-founded Oh Boy Records, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary last year.

The following are the finalists for the 2022 Album, Artist, and Song of the Year, including beloved songwriter Brandi Carlile; Hadestown visionary Anaïs Mitchell; 2023 GRAMMY nominee Molly Tuttle; Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, each of whom has won an Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award; five-time GRAMMY-winner Angélique Kidjo; Newport Folk Fest alum Aoife O'Donovan; Jake Blount, whose album was named one of the best of the year by The Guardian, NPR Music, and Rolling Stone; Marcus Mumford of the platinum-selling group Mumford & Sons; Prateek Kuhad, who has been “headlining festivals attended by tens of thousands" (Billboard) and compiled over 240 million streams; and more.

Album of the Year (sponsored by Rounder Records)

Marchita by Silvana Estrada

Queen Of Sheba by Angélique Kidjo and Ibrahim Maalouf

Get on Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee by Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder

Anaïs Mitchell by Anaïs Mitchell

Crooked Tree by Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

Artist of the Year

Jake Blount

Janis Ian

Prateek Kuhad

Leyla McCalla

Aoife O'Donovan

Song of the Year (sponsored by Sound Royalties)

“Udhero Na” written by Arooj Aftab, performed by Arooj Aftab featuring Anoushka Shankar

“Vini Wè” written and performed by Leyla McCalla

“Bright Star” written and performed by Anaïs Mitchell

“How” written by Marcus Mumford and Brandi Carlile, performed by Marcus Mumford featuring Brandi Carlile

“B61” written and performed by Aoife O'Donovan

Final choices (nominees) for Album, Artist, and Song of the Year are compiled from US, Canadian, and international “best of” annual industry and media lists in addition to the year-end Folk DJ Charts. Award winners are determined by FAI’s voting membership with the ballot open until January 17, 2023. Winners will be announced at the International Folk Music Awards.

The People’s Voice Award is presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers. Past recipients include Jason Mraz (2022), Jackson Browne (2021), Ani DiFranco (2020), and more. As an artist, People's Voice Award recipient Leyla McCalla has always traveled through time and space, opening the channels between lost or hidden touchstones of roots music and the present day. As a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters and in her solo work, the multi-instrumentalist and composer bring immediacy to long lost stories and shows how they survive and adapt through the flexible agents of rhythm, language, and intimate human connection. Her work is political and warmly welcoming, cerebral, and highly danceable. Based in New Orleans, LA after growing up in a Haitian family in New York, NY, McCalla makes music that adds detail to music's maps and gives voice to people whose struggles and triumphs define its diasporic evolution. In 2022 she released the album Breaking the Thermometer, the culmination of her most complex project yet — a multimedia performance telling the story of the first independent radio station in Haiti. Breaking the Thermometer made best of 2022 lists at NPR Music, PopMatters, and Mojo, in addition to former President Barack Obama's list of favorite music for 2022.

The Rising Tide Award was launched 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. Award recipient Alisa Amador points folk music toward its future — a future that's cosmopolitan, multifaceted, and multilingual; qualities that have in fact been at the community's heart all along. Amador, who comes from a folk music family, grew up in Boston, MA, Maine, Puerto Rico, and Argentina, and her songs show the influence of all of those places. A native Spanish speaker who's spent most of her life in the States, Amador moves easefully between the two languages in her songwriting. As a high schooler, she studied jazz, and is known for sometimes scatting during performances. Amador's ability to blend all of these influences within sharply rendered yet gently flowing songs helped her win NPR Music's prestigious Tiny Desk Contest; and Folk Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards.

Shambala Festival will receive the Clearwater Award, which is sponsored by the Levitt Foundation. The Clearwater Award is presented to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production. Shambala Festival is a four-day contemporary performing arts festival in Northamptonshire, England, UK. The festival is completely and utterly committed to being sustainable, circular, regenerative, net positive, earth- and life-respecting, and future-thinking. They have reduced the festival’s carbon footprint by over 90%; achieved 100% renewable electricity; became meat, fish, and dairy-milk free; and eradicated single-use plastics. They’ve received many awards for their sustainability work, including the Innovation Award at the 2018 UK Festival Awards, the International A Greener Festival Award, the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Creative Green Awards in 2017, and more. The festival is Creative Green Certified and has committed to measuring and transparently reporting all of its impacts to provide an honest evaluation of its efforts. They work with independent third parties like Julie’s Bicycle to assess their performance and carbon footprint.

The Spirit of Folk Awards are presented to honor and celebrate people and organizations actively involved in the promotion and preservation of folk music through their creative work, their community building, and their demonstrated leadership. The following are 2023 recipients:

Steve Edge has been presenting folk music in Vancouver as a DJ on CITR since 1985, and concerts and festivals throughout the city since 1986, initially independently, and then as a co-founder of The Rogue Folk Club in 1987 where he continues to present Celtic, folk, and roots music as its artistic director. Steve was an inaugural member of FAI in 1989, is an inductee into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Unsung Hero award from the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Amy Reitnouer Jacobs is the co-founder and executive director of The Bluegrass Situation, an online music magazine and promoter of roots, folk, and Americana music and culture. She joined the board of FAI in 2015 and was instrumental in refining and codifying the recruitment process for board elections as chair of the Nominations Committee. Amy served as board president through the pandemic, and supported FAI’s recent strategic plan and executive director transition.

Marcy Marxer is the creator of All Wigged Out, a poignant and witty musical theatre production (and now film) recounting her harrowing triumph over breast cancer. Painfully funny, it is an example of the power of music and humor to inform and heal. Marxer, along with her partner Cathy Fink, is a two-time GRAMMY Award winner and eleven-time nominee, and together they have been recognized with over 60 Washington Area Music Association Awards for their folk, bluegrass, and children’s music recordings.

Adrian Sabogal is an acclaimed musician, producer, and researcher who founded Marimbea, an organization dedicated to the well-being of the Afro-Colombian communities from the country’s South Pacific coast. By arranging music-centered cultural tourism excursions, Marimbea strives to generate alternative sources of income, knowledge exchanges, and support networks for artists in marginalized and remote communities. Adrian’s work has had an impact on the economic development in the region, and the preservation of a vibrant and unique musical tradition.

Pat Mitchell Worley is the President and CEO of the Memphis-based Soulsville Foundation, which oversees the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Stax Music Academy, and The Soulsville Charter School, all with a mission to perpetuate the soul of Stax Records. She is the long-time co-host of Beale Street Caravan, a syndicated roots radio show broadcast, and she regularly hosts artist Q&As for the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi and Oxford American. She is a former development director for the Memphis Music Foundation, and a past employee of the Blues Foundation.

The Folk DJ Hall of Fame was established to recognize radio DJs who have made an outstanding contribution to the preservation, promotion, and presentation of folk music, and who have demonstrated and inspired leadership in the broadcast field. Inducted DJs include the following:

Robert Resnik has been the host of All the Traditions, Vermont Public Radio's folk and world music program, since 1996. Hooked on music since the 1960s, Robert previously spent many years on-air at WRUV at the University of Vermont. All the Traditions is as eclectic as Robert's musical taste, but is dedicated to promoting music created by people living in the VPR broadcast area, which includes all of Vermont and parts of New Hampshire, New York, and Quebec. Robert also plays more than 25 instruments, and has performed and recorded CDs with a variety of musical combos for kids and adults.

Marilyn Rea Beyer hosted her first concert in junior high as the school band emcee. She got on board The Midnight Special listening to WFMT as a Chicago teenager. She has had careers in education, PR, and high tech. In 1995, Marilyn became on-air host and music director at Boston’s premiere folk station, WUMB-FM, and served on the board of the legendary Club Passim. Returning to Chicago, Marilyn joined WFMT in 2020, hosting The Midnight Special and now Folkstage. The Midnight Special launched in 1953 and maintained legendary status under Rich Warren's stewardship. She says that judicious risk-taking, nurturing artists, and falling in love with new music make the job fun.

John Platt has hosted the Sunday Supper (formerly Sunday Breakfast) for 25 years at WFUV New York, NY and has curated On Your Radar, a monthly showcase for emerging artists at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC for 17 years. He has founded the not-for-profit New Folk Initiative, which has extensive resources for the folk community at newfolk.org. He began his career at WMMR Philadelphia in 1969, programmed WXRT Chicago and WRVR New York, worked at WNEW-FM and WNYC, and produced national radio programs.

Harry B. Soria Jr. was known as a radio personality and walking encyclopedia of Hawaiian music history. The musicologist, award-winning liner notes writer, and record producer was the son of prominent local broadcaster and songwriter Harry B. Soria Sr. Ironically, Harry B.'s interest in Hawaiian music was sparked by hearing "cool" old records far from Hawaiian shores while at college in San Francisco. Upon returning to Hawai'i, he bonded with his dad over his vintage Hawaiian records. Harry B.'s passion for music from this period led to guest spots on KCCN in 1976 and his weekly "Territorial Airwaves" radio show of recordings from his personal collection. In 2019, Territorial Airwaves became the longest running Hawaiian music show in radio history. Soria's record collection and archives are being donated to the Hawaii State Archives.

Presenters at the ceremony will include acclaimed author and NPR Music critic Ann Powers and NPR Alt.Latino’s Catalina Maria Johnson as well as Ashley Shabankareh, Chris Porter, Sara Leishman, Ayappa Biddanda, Reid Wick, Michael Kornfeld, Laura Thomas, and Brandi Waller Pace, all Folk Alliance International Board of Directors members.

The Awards will take place at the Westin Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center in Kansas City, MO, USA. Folk Alliance International had previously announced the lineup of Official Showcase performances at the conference: www.folk.org/programs/conference/2023-official-showcase-artists

About Folk Alliance International

Folk Alliance International (FAI) was founded in 1989 to connect folk music leaders aiming to sustain the community and genre. Today FAI is the leading international voice for folk music with a network of more than 3,000 members: a worldwide community of artists, agents, managers, labels, publicists, arts administrators, venues, festivals, and concert series presenters.

From its U.S. headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, FAI produces the world’s largest conference for the folk music industry, the International Folk Music Awards (IFMAs), an Artist in Residence program, the Folk ExChange market development program, the Ethno USA gathering (on behalf of JM International), community outreach, and a Finest Folk concert series.

FAI values diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, strives to ensure gender parity in all its programming, celebrates multiple languages and cultures, and actively welcomes participation from marginalized, disenfranchised, and underrepresented communities.

FAI defines folk broadly as “the music of the people” (reflective of any community they are from), and programs a diverse array of sub genres including, but not limited to, Appalachian, Americana, Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Cajun, Global Roots, Hip-Hop, Old-Time, Singer-Songwriter, Spoken Word, Traditional, Zydeco, and various fusions.

Nora Brown—the Brooklyn, NY soon-to-be-eighteen-year-old banjoist/vocalist who has appeared at Newport Folk Festival, The Kennedy Center, Trans-Pecos Festival, globalFEST, and more—has teamed up with award-winning fiddle player and fellow Brooklynite Stephanie Coleman for a new EP Lady of the Lake, out July 28 on Jalopy Records. It’ll be released just three days before the duo tapes an NPR Tiny Desk Concert,

The chemistry and richness of Brown and Coleman’s musical partnership belies their twenty-year age difference and reflects the six years the duo has performed live together. The EP comes amidst more activity this year, two sold-out shows in London; festivals set for Canada, England, and Denmark; a spring Japanese tour; a recent appearance on WNYC’s tastemaker Soundcheck show; and the duo’s forthcoming west coast debut with concerts in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.

Coleman learned the instrumental title track from a performance by Eric Merrill at the fiddle competition in West Virginia’s Appalachian String Band Music Festival, aka “Clifftop.” The song originated with Galax, VA fiddler Parley Parsons via the great fiddle and banjo player Paul Brown. It was released today as the first single from the EP.

Brown performed “Copper Kettle” at the Lincoln Center event Voices of a People’s History of the United States: Celebrating the Centenary of Howard Zinn alongside Claire Danes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and others. Here, Nora plays archtop acoustic guitar and Stephanie’s plaintive fiddle sets the scene.

Over the past two decades, fellow Brooklynite Stephanie has established herself as a highly respected and sought-after practitioner of traditional Appalachian and Midwestern style old-time fiddle. She holds the record for most ribbons won in the renowned fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, WV—where she first heard and learned the title track of the EP. Stephanie has recorded and toured internationally with artists such as trailblazing all-women stringband Uncle Earl, Watchhouse’s Andrew Marlin, GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan, and clawhammer banjo virtuoso Adam Hurt.

The EP was produced, recorded, and mixed by the legendary Peter K. Siegel, who recorded Neil Young, Joseph Spence, and Doc Watson; recorded concerts that were later released by Mississippi John Hurt, Roscoe Holcomb, and Dock Boggs; taped an iconic Bob Dylan bootleg in the basement of Gerde’s Folk City; and has made vital field recordings on musicians from Indonesia, India, China, and Sweden.

Of the duo, Siegel said, “I was a big fan of both Nora and Steph when they were performing separately. Their new collaboration is more than the sum of its parts. They make their virtuosity so much fun to listen to. Their music is deeply rooted in American tradition, but the excitement of their performances is all theirs.”

Other upcoming releases on Jalopy Records include Cuatro Vidas by acclaimed New Mexican string band Lone Piñon and Secret Museum of Mankind: Atlas of Instruments – Fiddles, vol. 1 (various artists).

Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman Tour Dates

June 30 - Green Note - London, England (sold out)
July 2 - The Harrison - London, England (sold out)
July 3-7 - Fiddle Tunes - Port Townsend, WA
July 7-9 - Winnipeg Folk Festival, Canada
July 11 - Alberta Abbey – Portland, OR
July 12 - Ballard Homestead – Seattle, WA
July 13 - Boundary Bay Series Bellingham, WA
July 14-16 - Vancouver Island Music Festival, Canada
July 20 - Stone Church – Brattleboro, VT (Nora solo)
July 21 - Portsmouth Music Hall Lounge - Portsmouth, NH (Nora solo)
July 22 -  House Concert - Portland, ME (Nora solo)
July 23 - Crabtree Sessions - North Haven Island, ME (Nora solo)
Aug 11-13 - Edmonton Folk Music Festival - Alberta, Canada
Nov 11 - Brooklyn Folk Fest - Brooklyn, NY

Acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist Jonah Tolchin, whose songs have been streamed over 25 million times and have a current monthly listenership of 85,000-plus, released single “Save Me (From Myself)” today.

Tolchin joined forces with co-producer Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) to record his forthcoming album Dockside at the legendary Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana, a favorite studio of artists including Dr. John, B.B. King, Levon Helm, Taj Mahal, Derek Trucks, Ani Difranco, and Mavis Staples. Its October 20 release date marks the first album to come out on Clover Music Group, Tolchin's newly established label, which will include other artists.

Of the single, Tolchin says, “"This is a song about being your own worst enemy... I struggle with intrusive thoughts and having my inner-dialogue cranked up to 11. I hope that others can get some catharsis from this rocker.”
 
First single “Searching For My Soul” was added by tastemaker stations WMOT (Nashville, TN) and KCSN (Los Angeles, CA). American Songwriter called the song “skillful blues-rock.”
 
“When Jonah told me he wanted New Orleans flavor with a destination studio,” says Dickinson, “Terence Higgins (drummer) and Dockside Studio were the obvious choices. The location and the chemistry was perfect for Jonah to rise up and fly! Recorded live in two days, the session was joyful and effortless.”
 
New Yorkers: heads up that Tolchin will perform with his band August 24 at Mercury Lounge.

As a blues-inspired album, Dockside brings Tolchin full-circle. Many know him as a powerful fingerpicking acoustic guitar troubadour but his first appreciation for roots music came via his father, who owned a record shop in the Mississippi Delta and exposed Jonah to blues early on. Jonah’s first stage appearance came in a guest spot as a teenager with four-time Blues Music Award-winning guitarist Ronnie Earl.
 
The first single from Dockside the Muscle Shoals-flavored "Searching For My Soul," is set to release this Friday, creating anticipation for the album's upcoming release on Oct 20, and demonstrating the album’s amalgam of roots musics: blues, soul, rock, folk, Americana, rhythm & blues, all forged together in the Louisiana heat. Dockside, recorded live with minimal overdubs, will be available on all major streaming platforms as well as limited pressing of LP’s and CD’s. Tolchin and Dickinson find new ways to explore blues and soul-based songs, with funky rhythms and new ideas on guitar. Fans of Ben Harper and Derek Trucks will find plenty to love in these grooves.

Along with original songs written or co-written by Tolchin, Dockside takes "Blues With A Feeling" by Little Walter//Rabon Tarrant (who was born in Louisiana) and carries it into North Mississippi.

Dockside showcases Tolchin's exceptional talent on lead guitar, harmonica, and vocals, with Dickinson on rhythm guitar. Joining them are Terence Higgins on drums (Warren Haynes) and Nic Coolidge on bass. The album also features guest appearances by Chris Joyner on keyboards (Ben Harper), Carey Frank on piano (Tedeschi Trucks Band), and Chavonne Stewart (Jackson Browne) guest starring on lead vocal for R&B/soul gut puncher, “Too Far Down”.
 
In the near decade since his recorded debut Clover Lane in 2014, Tolchin's music has been praised by press outlets such as NPR, Mojo, and No Depression; he has collaborated with renowned artists such as Jackson Browne, Rickie Lee Jones, and Sara Watkins; and has shared the stage with bold-faced names like Tony Joe White, Dave Alvin, Gregg Allman, and Richard Thompson.
 
Tolchin’s previous album Thousand Mile Night has garnered over 12 million streams on Spotify alone. His music has also been featured on various editorial playlists and digital platforms including Spotify's Acoustic Grit, Blues & Roots Rock, New Retro, Apple's New Music Daily, and Amazon's Fresh Folk & Americana, among others.
 
The album was engineered by Justin Tockett with overdubs by Sheldon Gomberg (Ben Harper/Charlie Musselwhite) and Kevin Smith (Neil Young/Jackson Browne), mixed by Nic Coolidge in Providence, RI, and mastered by Pete Lyman (Brandi Carlile/Jason Isbell) in Nashville, TN.
 
For more information, please visit Jonah Tolchin's website at www.jonahtolchin.com.

Nora Brown—the Brooklyn, NY soon-to-be-eighteen-year-old banjoist/vocalist who has appeared at Newport Folk Festival, The Kennedy Center, Trans-Pecos Festival, globalFEST, and more—has teamed up with award-winning fiddle player and fellow Brooklynite Stephanie Coleman for a new EP Lady of the Lake, out today on Jalopy Records.
 
Songlines Magazine said, "Despite their twenty-year age difference, the chemistry and richness of Brown and Coleman’s musical partnership cannot be overstated, and it reflects the six years the duo have performed live together."
 
Oregon's Willamette Week said that the duo work at "returning the music instead to its roots as a source for social uplift and spiritual connection."
 
Folk Radio UK says that the EP "leaves you wanting more," continuing, "There is a shrewd exuberance in the way Nora and Stephanie play together on this EP, taking turns to lead and leaving plenty of space for each other to shine. They play with consistent flair and an audible mastery of their instruments."
 
World Music Central called Nora "a banjo prodigy."

Coleman learned the instrumental title track from a performance by Eric Merrill at the fiddle competition in West Virginia’s Appalachian String Band Music Festival, aka “Clifftop.” The song originated with Galax, VA fiddler Parley Parsons via the great fiddle and banjo player Paul Brown. It was released today as the first single from the EP (OK to share).
 
Brown performed “Copper Kettle” at the Lincoln Center event Voices of a People’s History of the United States: Celebrating the Centenary of Howard Zinn alongside Claire Danes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and others. Here, Nora plays archtop acoustic guitar and Stephanie’s plaintive fiddle sets the scene.
 
Over the past two decades, fellow Brooklynite Stephanie has established herself as a highly respected and sought-after practitioner of traditional Appalachian and Midwestern style old-time fiddle. She holds the record for most ribbons won in the renowned fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, WV—where she first heard and learned the title track of the EP. Stephanie has recorded and toured internationally with artists such as trailblazing all-women stringband Uncle Earl, Watchhouse’s Andrew Marlin, GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan, and clawhammer banjo virtuoso Adam Hurt.
 
The EP was produced, recorded, and mixed by the legendary Peter K. Siegel, who recorded Neil Young, Joseph Spence, and Doc Watson; recorded concerts that were later released by Mississippi John Hurt, Roscoe Holcomb, and Dock Boggs; taped an iconic Bob Dylan bootleg in the basement of Gerde’s Folk City; and has made vital field recordings on musicians from Indonesia, India, China, and Sweden.
 
Of the duo, Siegel said, “I was a big fan of both Nora and Steph when they were performing separately. Their new collaboration is more than the sum of its parts. They make their virtuosity so much fun to listen to. Their music is deeply rooted in American tradition, but the excitement of their performances is all theirs.”
 
The EP comes amidst more activity this year, having played two sold-out shows in London; performed festivals in Canada, England, and Denmark; completed a spring, 2023 Japanese tour; a recent appearance on WNYC’s tastemaker Soundcheck show; and the duo’s west coast debuts with concerts in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.
 
Other upcoming releases on Jalopy Records include Cuatro Vidas by acclaimed New Mexican string band Lone Piñon and Secret Museum of Mankind: Atlas of Instruments – Fiddles, vol. 1 (various artists).
 
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman Tour Dates
 
August 4 - Cafe Wha - New York, NY (with Sarah Kate Morgan)
Aug 11-13 - Edmonton Folk Music Festival - Alberta, Canada
Nov 11 - Brooklyn Folk Fest - Brooklyn, NY

New Orleans-via-Belgium garage-blues artist/rock and roller Ghalia Volt made a pilgrimage to Joshua Tree, CA to make new album Shout Sister Shout! (out October 6 via Ruf Records). Producer and Queens of the Stone Age collaborator David Catching welcomed her to Rancho De La Luna, also the site of recordings by Iggy Pop, Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, and PJ Harvey.
 
First single and music video for the title track are out today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGmzJErnmNY

Volt brought her own vibe and impressive credentials to Joshua Tree—and a batch of great songs that she wrote on her eighteen-state One Woman Band tour, done via Amtrak, for which she carried guitars, amps, and foot-drums herself. Her sound on Shout Sister Shout! has been likened to those of garage-rockers and psych-rockers such as Deap Vally, Mr. Airplane Man, Larkin Poe, Holly Golightly, and early music by The Kills. She has taped a video session with tastemaker series Jam In the Van. American Songwriter praised her “skill and savvy” and Guitar World agreed, saying that her music comes from a “scrappy background in punk, garage rock and psychobilly.”
 
Album opener “Every Cloud” kicks off like a road movie soundtrack, its jutting lick and battle cry vocal interrupted by a woozy organ freakout worthy of The Doors’ Ray Manzarek. “Can’t Afford To Die” pairs its propulsive rockabilly rattle with a sobering lyric about cost-of-living.
 
With its addictive beat and ghostly alt-gospel vocals, centerpiece “Shout Sister Shout!” demands to be heard. “It’s a song encouraging women to speak loud for what they deserve,” says Volt. “Fight back, stare back, scream back! It takes courage, but it's rewarding and we need this for future generations.”
 
“Insomnia” is a trip, its slow-burn psychedelia swirling from the speakers. The seething “Hell Is Not Gonna Deal With You” finds Volt spitting venom onto the mic, while “Po’ Boy John” is a cathouse rave-up.
 
The sounds of Shout Sister Shout! are bolstered by Lou Reed’s long-serving drummer Danny Frankel, who has also recorded with She & Him, Marianne Faithfull, Joan Jett, Social Distortion, Jim White, and Fiona Apple; Dr. John keys man Ben Alleman; and Catching himself grabbing a guitar on some tracks.
 
As for Volt, her unstoppable motion is palpable on the North Mississippi-flavored “No Happy Home,” which addresses the rambling, unrooted but rewarding life of a musician, and “Hop On A Ride,” co-written with Eddie 9V. The latter subtly name-checks the US music cities and record labels that have touched her musical journey. “It's really my story of young adulthood,” she says, “I visited all those cities, dug all those vinyls from those labels – and definitely hopped on a lot of trains.”
 
It's a journey that started in Brussels, Belgium, where she began her career as a street performer before moving to the States without a drivers license, traveling by train, bus, and even hitchhiking at times, ultimately settling in New Orleans some six years ago.
 
Her adopted hometown music mag OffBeat has raved about her “intriguing… charismatic... rebellious energy,” continuing, “When it came time to let her demons out, she made sure there was nothing left for an exorcism [via] Ghalia’s ability to move from an indie rasp to a keening howl in the space of a single phrase.” They characterized her sound by saying, “Ghalia’s secret weapon may be her love of pure rockabilly… Ghalia may have taught herself the blues, but there’s no reason to believe it’ll pin her down.”
 
Volt’s One Woman Band album placed in the Billboard Blues Chart top ten; collaborated on record with Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), GRAMMY-winner Boo Mitchell (Bruno Mars, Valerie June, John Mayer), and Cedric Burnside; become a favorite at festivals like Mississippi’s Juke Joint Fest and New Orleans’ French Quarter Fest; and opened shows for Burnside, Dragon Smoke (consisting of Ian Neville, Eric Lindell, Stanton Moore), Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, and soon, Eric Gales.
 
Shout Sister Shout! will be released via Ruf Records, home to albums by Spin Doctors, Luther Allison, his son Bernard Allison, Samantha Fish, Bette Smith, and Canned Heat.

Ghalia Volt Tour Dates:
 
Oct. 7 - Violet, LA - Blues, Brews & BBQ Festival
Oct. 12 - Biloxi, MS - Ground Zero
Oct. 13 - New Orleans, LA - Chickie Wah Wah
Oct. 14 - New Orleans, LA - Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival
Oct. 21- Nov. 6 - European tour
Nov. 14 - St. Louis, MO - BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
Nov. 17 - Memphis, TN - Lafayette's
Dec. 6 - Boise, ID - The Sapphire Room

Shout Sister Shout! Track Listing:
 
1. Every Cloud
2. Changes
3. Can't Afford To Die
4. Insomnia
5. Shout Sister Shout
6. No Happy Home
7. She's Holdin' Back
8. Can't Have It All
9. Hell Is Not Gonna Deal With You
10. Hop on a Ride
11. Dog Ya Around
12. Po' Boy John

Folk Alliance International (FAI), a 501(c)3 and the foremost global nonprofit for folk music, will present a convening of some of the music industry's leading authorities and creators to address the ability of folk music to galvanize and catalyze movements to advance our world, at its 36th Annual Conference February 21-25, 2024 in Kansas City, MO. FAI has confirmed the International Folk Music Award (which are part of the conference) upcoming recipients and Best of 2023 nominees as well as the conference keynote presenters. In addition to the IFMAs and presentations, over 2,000 artist showcases will also take place under one roof.

Lifetime Achievement Awards will be granted to four-time GRAMMY Award-winner, thirteen-time GRAMMY nominee, and writer of a #1 Billboard Hot Country Song chart hit, Tracy Chapman; Chilean songwriter and activist Victor Jara; and McCabe’s Guitar Shop, which has been hosting concerts in Southern California for over 50 years. (The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year to honor the cultural impact of legendary folk music figures: one Living, one Legacy, and one Business/Academic.)
 
The People’s Voice Award is presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers. This year’s recipient is Alynda Segarra (of Hurray For the Riff Raff, which has released nine albums).
 
The following are the finalists for the 2023 Album, Artist, and Song of the Year:
 
Album of the Year
Amatssou - Tinariwen (Wedge Records)
City Of Gold - Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (Nonesuch)
False Lankum - Lankum (Rough Trade)
Stand in the Joy - William Prince (Six Shooter Records)
Welcome to Whatever - Rainbow Girls (self-release)
 
Artist of the Year (sponsored by the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame)
Billy Strings
Digging Roots
Gaby Moreno
Nickel Creek
Madi Diaz
 
Song of the Year
"Changes" written by Joy Oladokun & Dan Wilson, performed by Joy Oladokun
"Keep It On A Burner" written and performed by Margo Cilker
"Tears Run Dry" written by Abraham Alexander, Ian Barter, Leo Stannard, performed by Abraham Alexander
"The Returner" written by Allison Russell, Drew Lindsay, & JT Nero, performed by Allison Russell
"Workin' On A World" written and performed by Iris Dement

Among the Album of the Year nominees are 40+ year Tuareg group Tinariwen, whose album Amatssou was named the #1 Global Music album of the year by MOJO Magazine; 2023 GRAMMY Best New Artist nominee Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway; The Guardian’s #1 album of 2023, False Lankum, by the Dublin, Ireland band; William Prince, who has opened concerts for Neil Young and did an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2023; and Bodega, CA trio Rainbow Girls.
 
Artist of the Year nominees are Billy Strings, whose most recent album Me/And/Dad hit #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, #1 on the Billboard Emerging Chart, and #37 on the Billboard Top 200; Turtle Island, Canada’s Digging Roots, an electrifying husband-and-wife duo of the Anishinabe Onkwehonwe nation and two-time JUNO Award winners; Guatemalan singer-song Gaby Moreno, who has earned four GRAMMY nominations and is based in Los Angeles; Madi Diaz, who has opened concerts for Harry Styles and about whom Rolling Stone said, “Get ready for the year of Madi”; and beloved trio Nickel Creek, consisting of Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins.
 
Song of the Year Nominations come for Joy Oladokun, who was profiled by CBS This Morning last year; “subtly spectacular” (Stereogum) Margo Cilker; son of Nigerian immigrants in Greece then America, Abraham Alexander, subject of an interview on NPR All Things Considered last year; the legendary Iris Dement; and longtime collaborators JT Nero and 2022 IFMA Artist of the Year Allison Russell with Drew Lindsy.

NPR’s World Café will exclusively live-stream the International Folk Music Awards tomorrow night at 7:30pm Central: HERE

Folk Alliance International (FAI), a 501(c)3 and the foremost global nonprofit for folk music, is presenting a convening of some of the music industry's leading authorities and creators to address the ability of folk music to galvanize and catalyze movements to advance our world, at its 36th Annual Conference February 21-25, 2024 in Kansas City, MO, of which the Awards are a part. FAI has confirmed the following performances at the awards: The Steel Wheels (also the house band); “star in the making” (Folk Alley) Kaia Kater; Joy Clark, whose music is “pure magic to watch and hear” (Tracy Chapman tribute); Latin GRAMMY winner Mireya Ramos (Victor Jara tribute); and founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show, Willie Watson and Malena Cadiz, who “has a voice that grabs you within seconds” (NPR), (McCabe’s tribute).

FAI has confirmed the International Folk Music Award (which are part of the conference) upcoming recipients and Best of 2023 nominees as well as the conference keynote presenters. In addition to the IFMAs and presentations, over 2,000 artist showcases will also take place under one roof.

Lifetime Achievement Awards will be granted to four-time GRAMMY Award-winner, thirteen-time GRAMMY nominee, and writer of a #1 Billboard Hot Country Song chart hit, Tracy Chapman; Chilean songwriter and activist Victor Jara; and McCabe’s Guitar Shop, which has been hosting concerts in Southern California for over 50 years. (The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year to honor the cultural impact of legendary folk music figures: one Living, one Legacy, and one Business/Academic.)

The People’s Voice Award is presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers. This year’s recipient is Alynda Segarra (of Hurray For the Riff Raff, which has released nine albums).

The following are the finalists for the 2023 Album, Artist, and Song of the Year:
 
Album of the Year
Amatssou - Tinariwen (Wedge Records)
City Of Gold - Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (Nonesuch)
False Lankum - Lankum (Rough Trade)
Stand in the Joy - William Prince (Six Shooter Records)
Welcome to Whatever - Rainbow Girls (self-release)
 
Artist of the Year (sponsored by the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame)
Billy Strings
Digging Roots
Gaby Moreno
Nickel Creek
Madi Diaz
 
Song of the Year
"Changes" written by Joy Oladokun & Dan Wilson, performed by Joy Oladokun
"Keep It On A Burner" written and performed by Margo Cilker
"Tears Run Dry" written by Abraham Alexander, Ian Barter, Leo Stannard, performed by Abraham Alexander
"The Returner" written by Allison Russell, Drew Lindsay, & JT Nero, performed by Allison Russell
"Workin' On A World" written and performed by Iris Dement
 
Among the Album of the Year nominees are 40+ year Tuareg group Tinariwen, whose album Amatssou was named the #1 Global Music album of the year by MOJO Magazine; 2023 GRAMMY Best New Artist nominee Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway; The Guardian’s #1 album of 2023, False Lankum, by the Dublin, Ireland band; William Prince, who has opened concerts for Neil Young and did an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2023; and Bodega, CA trio Rainbow Girls.
 
Artist of the Year nominees are Billy Strings, whose most recent album Me/And/Dad hit #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, #1 on the Billboard Emerging Chart, and #37 on the Billboard Top 200; Turtle Island, Canada’s Digging Roots, an electrifying husband-and-wife duo of the Anishinabe and Onkwehonwe nations and two-time JUNO Award winners; Guatemalan singer-song Gaby Moreno, who has earned four GRAMMY nominations and is based in Los Angeles; Madi Diaz, who has opened concerts for Harry Styles and about whom Rolling Stone said, “Get ready for the year of Madi”; and beloved trio Nickel Creek, consisting of Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins.
 
Song of the Year Nominations come for Joy Oladokun, who was profiled by CBS This Morning last year; “subtly spectacular” (Stereogum) Margo Cilker; son of Nigerian immigrants in Greece then America, Abraham Alexander, subject of an interview on NPR All Things Considered last year; the legendary Iris Dement; and longtime collaborators JT Nero and 2022 IFMA Artist of the Year Allison Russell with Drew Lindsy.
 
(Final nominees for Album, Artist, and Song of the Year are compiled from US, Canadian, and international “best of” annual industry and media lists in addition to the year-end Folk DJ Charts. Award winners are determined by FAI’s voting membership. Winners will be announced at the International Folk Music Awards on February 21, 2024.)
 
The IFMA house band will be Virginia’s The Steel Wheels, founders of the Red Wing Roots Music Festival.
 
All conference attendees will have access to attend the IFMAs.
 
For The Rising Tide Award (sponsored by Levitt Foundation), FAI will tap Guatemalan songwriter, vocalist, and activist in defense of women's and indigenous people's rights, Sara Curruchich, who is the first musician to use Kaqchikel language of her people in popular music for an international audience. The Rising Tide Award was launched 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.
 
FAI has also announced the recipient of the Clearwater Award, Spirit of Folk Awards, and inductees to the Folk Radio Hall of Fame. The Clearwater Award is presented to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production and this year will go to LEAF Global Arts Festival. The Spirit of Folk Awards will go to Lead Belly Estate’s Terika Dean; artist from the Métis Nation of Ontario, Amanda Rheaume; Jim Fleming, founder of the booking agency Fleming Artists; and FAI’s own Jerod Rivers, who has served in the organization for eleven years in a number of roles, presently as Conference Director. The Spirit of Folk Awards are presented to honor and celebrate people and organizations actively involved in the promotion and preservation of folk music through their creative work, their community building, and their demonstrated leadership.
 
Newly minted Folk Radio Hall of Famers include Folk Alley’s Linda Fahey; forty-plus year veteran Jan Vanderhorst; Mountain Stage founder Larry Groce; Bob Sherman, whose “Woody’s Children” show graced NYC’s airwaves for nearly 55 years; and Celtic music ambassador Brian O’Donovan. The Folk Radio Hall of Fame was established to recognize radio DJs who have made an outstanding contribution to the preservation, promotion, and presentation of folk music, and who have demonstrated and inspired leadership in the broadcast field.

The International Folk Music Awards – presented by Folk Alliance International (FAI), a 501(c)3 and the foremost global nonprofit for folk music— took place last night as part of the opening of the conference and Best of 2023 awards were won by Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (Album of the Year); Billy Strings (Artist of the Year); and Iris Dement (Song of the Year). NPR Music and World Cafe live-streamed the awards show.

The following have won awards at the ceremony (with the nominees listed), in addition to the below:
 
Album of the Year
Amatssou - Tinariwen (Wedge Records)
City Of Gold - Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (Nonesuch)
False Lankum - Lankum (Rough Trade)
Stand in the Joy - William Prince (Six Shooter Records)
Welcome to Whatever - Rainbow Girls (self-release)
 
Artist of the Year (sponsored by the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame)
Billy Strings
Digging Roots
Gaby Moreno
Nickel Creek
Madi Diaz
 
Song of the Year
"Changes" written by Joy Oladokun & Dan Wilson, performed by Joy Oladokun
"Keep It On A Burner" written and performed by Margo Cilker
"Tears Run Dry" written by Abraham Alexander, Ian Barter, Leo Stannard, performed by Abraham Alexander
"The Returner" written by Allison Russell, Drew Lindsay, & JT Nero, performed by Allison Russell
"Workin' On A World" written and performed by Iris Dement
 
Strings said, “I’m incredibly honored... The fact that my name even comes up in conversation with the other nominees just blows my mind. I made so many great friends at FAI in 2013-14 when I was ripping showcases and pickin' all up and down them hallways and hotel rooms. I'd like to say thanks to Folk Alliance for giving us artists a place to come together and make lifelong friends, showcase our music, bump elbows, meet the right people, and start to grow our careers in an organic and natural way."
 
Tuttle said, “I feel so lucky to be part of this folk music community. I draw so much inspiration from the folk tradition when I was writing this album, I imagined these songs being played by folks around the campfire. Music really is my City of Gold. I wish I was there with you all in Kansas City. I know we’d have a great time.”
 
The People’s Voice Award is presented to an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers. This year’s recipient is Alynda Segarra (of Hurray For the Riff Raff, which has released nine albums).

Segarra said, “I started writing songs as a way to have power in this world. I started a band to create a family. Since my first days playing music on the street in New Orleans, I’ve turned to the mysteries of songwriting to document, honor, and defend the people on the outskirts of society. Folk music drew me in because it tells the truth, it disgraces the warmongers, and it defends the innocent. It’s been enlivening to watch folk music become more visibly queer and radical.”
 
She then added, “I want to use this platform for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation in Palestine.”
 
Lifetime Achievement Awards were granted to four-time GRAMMY Award-winner, thirteen-time GRAMMY nominee, and writer of a #1 Billboard Hot Country Song chart hit, Tracy Chapman; Chilean songwriter and activist Victor Jara; and McCabe’s Guitar Shop, which has been hosting concerts in southern California for over 50 years. (The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year to honor the cultural impact of legendary folk music figures: one Living, one Legacy, and one Business/Academic.)
 
Walt McGraw of McCabe’s called for adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment.

In Rutherford County’s Forest City, NC growing up, a young Wyndham Baird heard his mother and grandmother sing old Baptist hymns like “Abide With Me,” arranged in four-part harmony in church. But his life changed when he saw Doc Watson in concert at MerleFest at twelve years old. At that moment, he saw a world of folk and blues music before him. That path, which took him around the US playing on the streets for years, has now led him to Brooklyn, NY’s fertile roots music scene; he’s become a favorite at the Brooklyn Folk Fest and Washington Square Folk Fest and a pillar of the Jalopy Theater scene.

Baird’s beautiful debut album After the Morning was recorded at Jalopy Theater in Red Hook, Brooklyn, as well as in producer Eli Smith’s kitchen upstairs, bridging folk and blues songs; tunes by the likes of Randy Newman and Merle Haggard; and songs from the repertoires of Eric Von Schmidt, The Dubliners, Jimmie Rodgers, and the Carter Family. With a repertoire numbering deep in the hundreds, Baird would play whatever came to him during the sessions. First single “Meet Me In the Moonlight, Alone,” featuring harmonies by Samoa Wilson and autoharp by Smith, is out today. The New York Times has called her singing “sweet, effortless.”
 
Baird’s journey between North Carolina and Brooklyn was a circuitous one. Having started college during the financial crisis and observing singers playing for tips in Asheville, NC while his own student loans piled up, he made a decision. “I wasn’t happy doing that. Trying to conform to the way society was set up, I just wasn’t buying into it. I quit school,” he recalls, continuing, “I knew that I would be happy playing music and was otherwise struggling to feel alright.”
 
Inspired by Bob Dylan and the beat writers, bought a bus ticket to a city in Georgia where Dylan was playing. Baird set up his guitar and opened his case in the parking lot, then started singing, scoring a ticket to the show and a place to sleep that night. “I realized that I could at least survive,” he says. “I would busk and travel around. They’d drop money in your case and you’d go and get a sandwich. That was a real, palpable thing.” This went on for about three years.
 
While busking in Cambridge, MA, he heard about the Jalopy Theater community in Brooklyn. “It’s been my home away from home. The currency is songs. People accept you based on the songs you know. Whenever I heard stories about people arriving in the Village in the ‘60s and not having any money and not having a place to stay, there was a sense of community. One can get up on stage at Jalopy and sing a song and ask if anyone has a place to stay. There, that was acceptable, that question.”
 
Some of the songs he’s absorbed via the Jalopy community, via recordings, and in his travel have made their way to After the Morning. “I need to catalog my repertoire. There’s so many songs. They’re all there somewhere. You don’t even remember that you know them,” he says.
 
Baird first heard “Joshua Gone Barbados” on a Bob Dylan bootleg while “Girl From the Greenbriar Shore” comes from the Carter Family. He first learned the tender album opener, Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December,” at his mother’s request. The song comes out as the second single April 30.
 
After the Morning producer and Brooklyn Folk Fest founder and producer Eli Smith called Baird, “A rare musician and first class folk singer. Wyndham imbues the old songs with all the emotive power to which they are due.”
 
Baird first learned fingerpicking via learning “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” Doc Watson’s “Deep River Blues,” and Dave Van Ronk’s version of “Hesitation Blues.” He plays a Blue Ridge BR143 and a Martin 00015M.
 
Preorder: https://wyndhambaird.bandcamp.com/album/after-the-morning

Fans have heard Fred Thomas on James Brown & The J.B.s’ “Pass the Peas,” “Hot Pants,” “Doing it to Death (Funky Good Time),” “Get on the Good Foot,” and other hits from the origins of funk. From 1971 to 2006, Fred Thomas of the J.B.’s was the primary bassist for the Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown. This spring, he will release his first singles as a bandleader, starting with the powerhouse “Living In New York City” May 3, continuing with the soul ballad “Nothing’s Gonna Change (My Love For You)” May 17; and followed by the funk workout “For a Lick and a Promise” May 31.

"Living in New York City": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjExQzz2sys

After 1976, Fred took extended breaks from Mr. Brown, going back to his own roots as a bandleader and vocalist. It was during this time he wrote “Living in New York City.” “I wrote the song back in the late 80's before I rejoined James Brown in 1992. I was just rolling along doing what was necessary and available to me to keep on doing my best. Some time down and out but I had to keep on moving and never was in doubt,” recalls Thomas, who first moved to New York City in 1965. The song sounds like a soundtrack to a long-lost NYC film.

Longtime guitarist and collaborator, Gabriel Caplan had demoed “Living In New York City” with Fred after Fred first showed him the chorus riff in a dressing room at Millennial Park backing up Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens. They started production at the top of 2023, featuring drums by Clyde Stubblefield available from Yurt Rock.

Caplan said, “Fred’s tenure with Mr. Brown lined up mostly with drum greats Jabo and Morgan. Fred and Clyde didn’t actually record together in their respective eras. When hearing the multitracks of Clyde, I knew this would be a beautiful way to kick off Fred’s first recording as a solo artist, reconnecting two legends.”

Thomas has an awe-inspiring and tight band in Brooklyn these days, consisting of both young players and veterans he’s known for decades. They tracked the song at their home base, Sisserou Sounds in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Fred’s tenor player, Kaori Kiki Nakajima, was brought in to arrange Fred’s horn part with her and Tyrone Cox (founding member of Crown Heights Affair, touring musician with Wilson Pickett, Ben E. King, The Isley Brothers) on trumpet, and supplemented with regulars Jackie Coleman, trumpet, and Alex Asher, trombone.

Gabriel had Bruce Cox in the studio, home from tour as drummer for Fred Wesley. While there for the other songs, Bruce laid down conga for the track.

Fred and Gabriel brought “Living in New York City” for mixing with their production partner and touring drummer, Andy Bauer (Kendra Morris, Say She She, Twin Shadow, West Division), at his studio in the heart of the creative scenes in Bushwick, Brooklyn,

The song was mastered by Kevin Blackler (Antibalas, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Dreams Girls Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Toots & The Maytals).

In recent years, in addition to leading his own band in NYC, Thomas has toured Europe, played the prestigious Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, played Carrboro, will play NC’s Freight Train Blues series on May 19, and has been recording with the Music Maker Blues Revue (with fellow J.B.’s alum Robert Lee Coleman).

Upcoming performances including the Montana Folk Festival can be found on his website: https://fredthomasofthejbs.com/

James Brown's bassist for over 35 years, Fred Thomas occupies a very special niche in the history of R&B. As James Brown’s principal bassist since 1971 (the “Make if Funky” era), he participated in one the most prolific periods in the Godfather of Soul’s incredible career as a member of Brown’s band, the J.B.'s.

Fred can be heard on hits such as: “Hot Pants”, “Papa Don’t Take No Mess,” “Make it Funky,” "Get on the Good Foot," "Doing it to Death," "I'm a Greedy Man," "I Got Ants in My Pants," "There it Is," "Stoned to the Bone," and instrumental classics like “Pass the Peas” and “Gimme Some More.” His lines heard on songs like Bobby Byrd's "I Know You Got Soul", Lyn Collin's "Think" have been sampled numerous times.

He's on the seminal "Live at the Apollo Vol. 3 Revolution of the Mind" and can be seen in "Soul Power" (2008) documentary of James Brown's 1974 concert in Zaire, and in the many James Brown "Soul Train" appearances.

In his band, Fred Thomas is front and center singing, playing bass and tearing into a mix of blues and soul classics and the JB hits he recorded on.

Today, London-based producer and singer-songwriter Liza Lo has shared a new single titled “Confiarme.” The single follows her recent track "A Messenger", which marked her debut for independent analogue specialist label, Gearbox Records (home to Abdullah Ibrahim, Binker & Moses, Thiago Nassif, Levitation Orchestra, Graham Costello, and more).

Having recently completed a sold-out EU / UK tour with Australian indie-folk songwriter Harrison Storm, Liza has been on a rapid word-of-mouth ascent with shows across both London and her hometown of Amsterdam. The new single follows her self-released “Flourish” EP, which saw her earn widespread playlist support and early plaudits at both press and radio, for her tender and meditative take on indie-folk.

Drawing inspiration from the likes of Daughter, Maro, and Billie Marten, Liza Lo’s sound meets an intersection where gentle folk-inspired instrumentation meets indie-pop. Recorded live at her guitarist's studio with additional production from Chris Hyson (Jordan Rakei) and Jon Kelly (Paul McCartney, Kate Bush), the new single sees Liza singing reposeful vocals in Spanish over soft fingerpicking. Fragile and crystalline piano lines flitter underneath the arrangement with ethereal backing vocals lifting the track as it ebbs and flows with intensity.

Speaking on the single, Liza says: "I wrote ‘Confiarme’ after I spent a week with my dear friends Andry Kiddos, Dwara, Khotton Palm and Oddliquor in the North of Spain. They reminded me what trust in self and each other truly means. We were all taking a small break from creating music and spending time together was a needed check-in on ourselves and a reminder that believing in ourselves is fueled when you take a break with the right people. They showed me pure friendship and trust after a time in which I really doubted myself and had recently ended a relationship. It’s easy to fall into a loop of second guessing yourself and feeling like you did the wrong thing, trusting yourself and your decisions is something that doesn’t come naturally to me, this song is my own pure reminder for that. ‘Confiarme’ translating to trust in oneself. It’s easy to believe you’re unworthy in life, friendship can make life truly meaningful and help you buckle up for this ride we’re on.. Friendship that grew from unapologetic laughter, tears of happiness and pure understanding of each other’s habits, differences and similarities. ‘Confiarme’ is my written reminder that to trust yourself in life is to truly feel free."

Liza Lo will also play a short run of dates across the EU and UK over the next two months.

Liza Lo Tour Dates

7/3 - Gloucester Guildhall - Gloucester, UK
8/10 - Sofar Sounds - London, UK
8//27 - Dalston Curve Garden - London, UK
9/20 - Hellevoetsluis, NL

Vanessa Collier – the twelve-time Blues Music Award nominee (including for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year this year) and four-time winner, including for the monumental Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, and award-winning songwriter, with recognition by The John Lennon Songwriting Competition and the International Songwriting Competition – today shared “Take Me Back,” the first single from her sixth album Do It My Own Way, out September 13 via Phenix Fire Records. Her prior studio album, Heart On The Line, spent nine weeks in the Billboard Blues Album Chart top 15 and the songwriter/bandleader made her Chicago Blues Festival debut this year, in front of tens of thousands.
 
Today, she shared the minor key Americana/noir, single “Take Me Back.” She seems at first to be singing about wanting to be taken back by an ex-lover, but that’s a feint. She’s wanting to go back to a time before she knew them.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgR7Vs0QDXw

Three of her chief influences are James Brown, Bonnie Raitt, and the Wood Brothers and one can hear the impression they’ve left on her in the three singles.

Coming soon from the new album are the anthemic third single “Do It My Own Way” which artfully addressed the sexism she’s encountered in the music industry. She dives into deep soul territory with her second single “Wild As a Rainstorm,” with advice to ignore the naysayers and “Be a tapestry of dreams.” The groove and horns would make Willie Mitchell proud.
Collier takes on multiple roles, writing the songs, producing, arranging horns and all instrumental and vocal parts, playing acoustic and electric guitars and alto, soprano, and tenor saxophones, as well as singing the lead and background vocals.
 
Blues Blast Mag said, “Vanessa is an important part of the future of the blues.” Born in Texas, growing up in Maryland, launching her career in Philadelphia, and now residing in South Carolina, Collier grew up listening to an eclectic variety of music. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, she joined blues legend Joe Louis Walker’s band, going solo at his urging, and has become a notable artist “whose rise to the top is nothing short of meteoric” (Making a Scene).
 
Collier is booked by Concerted Efforts, home to Rhiannon Giddens, Kaia Kater, Kyshona, and others.

Vanessa Collier Tour Dates

June 28 – Winston, OR – Riverbend Live
July 12 – Portsmouth, NH – Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club
July 13 – Rockland, ME – North Atlantic Blues Festival
July 19 – Megeve, France – Megeve Blues Festival
July 27 - Pittsburgh, PA - Pittsburgh Blues & Roots Festival
July 29 – Reno, NV – Artown
August 1 & 2 – Notodden, Norway – Notodden Blues Festival
August 3 – Haapsalu, Estonia – Augustibluus
August 9 – Athens, NY – Athens Summer Concert Series
August 10 – Duluth, MN – Bayfront Festival Park
August 16 – Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Blues Festival
August 18 – Thornton, NH – White Mountain Boogie ‘N Blues Festival
August 24 – Fall River, MA – Take Me To The River
September 6 – Bethlehem, PA – Musikfest Café
September 7 – Phoenixville, PA – Phoenixville Blues Festival
September 8 - Annapolis, MD - Rams Head Onstage
September 9-10 - Lima, NY – Fanatics Pub
September 11 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
September 13 – Westland, MI – Token Lounge
September 14 - Oaktoberfest - Oak Park, IL
September 15 – Forest Park, IL – Robert’s Westside
October 9 – Washington, D.C. – The Hamilton
October 10 - Caffe Lena - Saratoga Springs, NY
October 12 - Natick Arts Center - Natick, MA
October 13 – North Haven, CT – Small Batch Cellars
October 15-18 - Syracuse, NY - 443 Social Club & Lounge
October 19 - Hagerstown, MD - Hub City Vinyl
October 20 – Durham, NC – The Blue Note Grill
October 22 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
October 23 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
October 26 - November 2 – Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise
November 16 - Bonita Springs - Bonita Performing Arts Center
November 17 – Boca Raton, FL – Boca Blues Festival
November 21 - Richmond, VA - Tin Pan
November 22 - Reading, PA - Reading Blues Fest
December 7 – Lakewood Ranch, FL – Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival
February 15 – Vero Beach Blues Festival – Vero Beach, FL

“‘Let the Rich Go Bust’ was written in the summer of 2020,” says writer and singer of the song Eli Smith, continuing, “The song reflects a part of my experience of living through the pandemic, the Trump presidency, participating in the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City that summer, and some general observations on recent history and extreme wealth inequality. ’Let the Rich Go Bust’ was inspired by a song called ‘Poor Man, Rich Man,’ recorded by North Carolina musician and cotton mill worker Dave McCarn in the 1930, responding to the early days of the Great Depression. Our song has different words, mostly, and a different tune, but a similar spirit. Hopefully it's pretty funny.”

The Down Hill Strugglers – the Appalachian-style folk trio that’s had music in the soundtracks to films Inside Llewyn Davis (starring Oscar Isaac) and Dreamland (with Margot Robbie); two of whose members have had music in the over sixty-one-million-selling video game Red Dead Redemption 2; and who have played The Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Fest, The Library of Congress, Brooklyn Folk Fest, NPR Mountain Stage – have recorded its first album of all originals, Old Juniper. It’s the band’s first album in seven years and first since the passing of band member John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers).

Formerly on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (under the band name the Dust Busters), The Down Hill Strugglers carry forward the sounds of the old, rural America. Eli Smith, Jackson Lynch, and Shepard harmonize in the high, lonesome style and the band plays an array of instruments, including fiddle, banjo and guitar, as well as harmonica, banjo-mandolin and old fashioned pump organ.

Old Juniper is the first new album from the Down Hill Strugglers since 2017 and is its first album of original music. The band wrote songs that are true to the deep and diverse roots of the old time string band style where they feel most at home but that also reflect the experiences and feelings of the band members living modern lives.

“Whistle Won’t Blow,” reflecting a sound that the Carter Family would’ve recognized, glides atop a lap steel guitar. The instrumental title track takes some unlikely turns via a distinctive chord progression partway through.

A beautiful rendition of the traditional “The Girl I Left Behind Me” is a bonus track that appears on the LP and will be released at a later date as a single. Instead of using the traditional tune, they paired the words with a fiddle tune from Zambia that they heard from an old 78rpm record reissued on the Secret Museum of Mankind series.
 
The album was recorded live to tape with the band playing around one microphone.
 
The title track was recorded on a summer night in band member Walker Shepard’s sister's barn in upstate New York. Astute listeners can hear the sound of crickets in the background.
 
The band formed while hanging out at the home of their mutual friend Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders, where they also met bandmate and mentor John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers. Lynch and Smith are based in Brooklyn.
 
Band members Eli Smith and Walker Shepard spent two and a half years working on in-game music for the new hit video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games), on which Smith served as Traditional Music Consultant. Smith plays banjo, guitar, jaw harp, mandolin and whistling while Walker Shepard plays the fiddle. Players find Smith in the game, in the role of a cowboy, sitting at a campfire playing guitar. He also appears on the official soundtrack playing the banjo. A reviewer for Forbes.com said, “If there is anything here in this game that feels actually, genuinely perfect, it's the music.
 
Down Hill Struggler Tour Dates
 
September 5 – Kingston, NY – house concert
September 6-7 – Hillsdale, NY – Oldtone Roots Music Festival
September 12 – Thomas, WV – Purple Fiddle
September 14 – Baltimore, MD – The Red Room
September 21 – Brooklyn, NY – Jalopy Theater

For the first time, gospel icons Blind Boys of Alabama and Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush have collaborated on a recording, out today. The historical collaboration of the sacred soul classic “99 ½ Won’t Do” between artists with legendary six-decade careers in American music with proceeds to support the Mid-South Food Bank in Memphis, TN.

HEAR/SHARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4lKjPb3rhE

Both Rush and the Blind Boys won GRAMMY Awards this year; the Blind Boys appeared on the Today Show in April, sat in recently with Tom Jones, and are set to receive an Americana Music Award Lifetime Achievement Award this fall. A video of Blind Boys of Alabama rehearsing went viral recently, with over eight million views (across platforms).

Also joining the recording are “one of the most accomplished American Folk Artists” (MOJO) Dom Flemons; and beloved folk-rock band the Dustbowl Revival. The artists and producers who performed on this new version have won a combined eleven GRAMMY Awards. The release celebrates the ten-year anniversary of DeLia’s 72 Music Management.
 
The song was co-produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Colin Linden (Bob Dylan, Keb’ Mo’, T-Bone Burnett, and others, and music director for ABC’s Nashville) and manager Jeff DeLia. The artists’ unique voices blend seamlessly together in this call-and-response arrangement with Bobby Rush as the call and the chorus of artists responding.
 
“99 and 1/2 Won’t Do” is a traditional song that has been recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mavis Staples with Ry Cooder, Steve Cropper, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hezekiah Walker, Wilson Pickett, and Eddie Floyd.

“We wanted to choose songs that connected to each of the artists currently and historically,” writes co-producer DeLia in his liner notes to the 45, continuing, “This project is a celebration of the artists, the music, and their legacies. This is the first time these artists have been on record together. This is a conversation of artists with nearly a century of history within roots music genres especially blues and gospel, and with an impact that reaches globally.
 
“99 and a ½ Won’t Do” was recorded throughout the United States in 2023 with initial tracking in Nashville with Linden on guitar, Dominic Davis on bass (Jack White, Beck), and Bryan Owings on drums (Tony Joe White, Shelby Lynne). The Blind Boys session was recorded in Minneapolis, Dom Flemons in Chicago, and Dustbowl Revival in Los Angeles. The single was first released as a randomly-colored 45rpm record on Record Store Day in the US and Europe and physical copies have sold out.

Blind Boys of Alabama are six-time GRAMMY winners, Gospel Hall of Fame inductees and a part of the rich gospel quartet history that stretches back to the late 1930s.
 
Bobby Rush is a three-time GRAMMY winner, Blues Hall of Famer, and bluesman with over 70 years of history in the blues and as an entertainer.
 
Dustbowl Revival are a folk-funk band that formed from a Craigslist Ad in Venice, California 15-years ago and have reached as far as China and Norway together.
 
DeLia also announced that five-time GRAMMY Award nominees North Mississippi Allstars has joined 72 Music Management. The group is made up of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson who have recorded and toured together as North Mississippi Allstars since their seminal debut album Shake Hands with Shorty in 2000 earning them their first Grammy nomination. North Mississippi Allstars have performed or collaborated with Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, John Hiatt, Robert Plant, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos, and the Black Crowes. NMAs’ latest recordings Up and Rolling and Set Sail came out via New West Records. Cody's debut solo album Homemade was just released on Strong Place Music and Luther has new songs rolling out in collaboration with JD Simo in advance of their September release Do The Rump! on Forty Below Records.
 
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Jeff DeLia’s 72 Music Management earned its decade-long reputation with a wide range of in-demand touring and recording artists consistently impacting the music landscape in multiple genres and platforms. This year alone, 72MM had three artists nominated for five total GRAMMY Awards, with Blind Boys of Alabama and Bobby Reach each winning one apiece.

The Down Hill Strugglers – the folk trio whose first all-original album and first album in seven years, Old Juniper comes out August 16 on Jalopy Records – have confirmed tour dates.

Meanwhile, legendary artists like Alice Gerrard (Smithsonian Folkways artist), Bruce Molsky, and Tony Garnier (decades-long Bob Dylan bassist); and up-and-coming musicians like Nora Brown (two-time NPR Tiny Desk alum) and Jake Xerxes Fussell (whose new album is coming out Fat Possum) have weighed in on Down Hill Strugglers’ forthcoming album.
 
Hear/Share "Let The Rich Go Bust" single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVI7lS5hlN4

"From the first track “I’m Gettin’ Ready to Go” to the last “Let the Rich Go Bust", this is a wonderful collection of original songs and tunes by The Down Hill Strugglers (Walker Shepard, Jackson Lynch and Eli Smith).
 
They have been playing and recording together for fifteen-plus years—this is their first in seven years and it’s a doozy. Old and new, evocative, current—all original. And I, as one who’s always had one foot in ‘old weird America’ and the other in new weird America, love this recording.
 
The Down Hill Strugglers have, as Nathan Salsburg put it in his notes, 'an exquisite sensitivity to [the] seam where collective tradition and individual artistry meet….' I couldn’t agree more."
- Alice Gerrard
 
"Throughout the record, the musical texture of Old Juniper shifts and blooms. Eli, Jackson, and Walker exchange roles freely— the banjo, fiddle, and guitar change hands almost every track. No matter their instrument, the three fall into place with the tune their guide. As these dynamics build and transform, a sound raw and beautifully sincere appears.
 
This album of new old-time tunes and songs will surely be a welcome addition to the well loved canon of American traditional music."
- Nora Brown
 
These guys are a first rate string band! Walker, Jackson and Eli have absorbed the old tradition, and the songs and tunes they wrote for this album are outstanding."
- Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan, Asleep at the Wheel)
 
"How wonderful is it that The Down Hill Strugglers are releasing a new album? I’ve been a fan of theirs from the beginning and will happily spend time with anything they put out!
 
I see The Down Hill Strugglers as the primary successors of the great and longstanding tradition of urban interpreter-performers of American vernacular string band music - They pick up where the New Lost City Ramblers left off, with [John] Cohen’s considerable creative guidance ever in their hearts and minds. Old Juniper is a testament to the vibrancy of this legacy."
- Jake Xerxes Fussell

"If it’s possible to be at the forefront of something old, The Down Hill Strugglers are right there with this new recording! Imaginative arrangements of interesting tunes played with soul, all while reaching back to the best of the old mountain sounds."
- Bruce Molsky
 
Meanwhile, the band confirmed tour dates:
 
September 5 – Kingston, NY – house concert
September 6-7 – Hillsdale, NY – Oldtone Music Festival
September 8 – Putnam Valley, NY - Tompkins Corners Cultural Center
September 10 – Durham, NC – house concert
September 11 – Floyd, VA – Floyd Country Store
September 12 – Thomas, WV – The Purple Fiddle
September 14 – Baltimore, MD – The Red Room (at Normals Books and Records)
September 15 – Takoma Park, MD – School of Musical Traditions
September 18 – Louisville, KY – B-Side
September 20 – New York, NY – house concert
September 21 – Brooklyn, NY – Jalopy Theater (with Jerron Paxton)
November 8-10 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Folk Fest
 
First single “Valley by the Stream” was added to two Apple Music official playlists: Americana Best New Songs and Americana Coming Soon.
 
The Down Hill Strugglers – the Appalachian-style folk trio that’s had music in the soundtracks to films Inside Llewyn Davis (starring Oscar Isaac) and Dreamland (with Margot Robbie); two of whose members have had music in the over sixty-one-million-selling video game Red Dead Redemption 2; and who have played The Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Fest, The Library of Congress, Brooklyn Folk Fest, NPR Mountain Stage – have recorded its first album of all originals, Old Juniper. It’s the band’s first album in seven years and first since the passing of band member John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers).
 
Formerly on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (under the band name the Dust Busters), The Down Hill Strugglers carry forward the sounds of the old, rural America. Eli Smith, Jackson Lynch, and Shepard harmonize in the high, lonesome style and the band plays an array of instruments, including fiddle, banjo and guitar, as well as harmonica, banjo-mandolin and old fashioned pump organ.
 
Old Juniper is the first new album from the Down Hill Strugglers since 2017 and is its first album of original music. The band wrote songs that are true to the deep and diverse roots of the old time string band style where they feel most at home but that also reflect the experiences and feelings of the band members living modern lives.
 
“Whistle Won’t Blow,” reflecting a sound that the Carter Family would’ve recognized, glides atop a lap steel guitar. The instrumental title track takes some unlikely turns via a distinctive chord progression partway through.
 
A beautiful rendition of the traditional “The Girl I Left Behind Me” is a bonus track that appears on the LP and will be released at a later date as a single. Instead of using the traditional tune, they paired the words with a fiddle tune from Zambia that they heard from an old 78rpm record reissued on the Secret Museum of Mankind series.
 
The album was recorded live to tape with the band playing around one microphone.
 
The title track was recorded on a summer night in band member Walker Shepard’s sister's barn in upstate New York. Astute listeners can hear the sound of crickets in the background.
 
The band formed while hanging out at the home of their mutual friend Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders, where they also met bandmate and mentor John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers. Lynch and Smith are based in Brooklyn.
 
Band members Eli Smith and Walker Shepard spent two and a half years working on in-game music for the new hit video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games), on which Smith served as Traditional Music Consultant. Smith plays banjo, guitar, jaw harp, mandolin and whistling while Walker Shepard plays the fiddle. Players find Smith in the game, in the role of a cowboy, sitting at a campfire playing guitar. He also appears on the official soundtrack playing the banjo. A reviewer for Forbes.com said, “If there is anything here in this game that feels actually, genuinely perfect, it's the music.

Folk Alliance International (FAI), a 501(c)3 and the foremost global nonprofit for folk music, has laid out a new process whereby its members can submit recordings for the 2025 International Folk Music Awards (IFMAs) in the Best-of-the-year categories (Song, Album, and Artist). The IFMAs will be held February 19, 2025 in Montreal, QC, on the first night of the 37th Annual Conference (the FAI Conference). Learn more about the conference: https://www.folk.org/conference
 
IFMA submissions will open to members on September 3 and run through September 30. New recordings released between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024 are eligible. Any FAI member can submit a recording. It is free for members to submit and there is no limit to the number of submissions. Only one submission will be considered for a given album or song. Nominations will be announced December 3.
 
This new procedure allows for a more democratic, community-led approach to the IFMAs. FAI released a video explaining what’s to come: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Nn_bRJc3U
 
FAI also announced the theme for its 37th Annual Conference #FAI2025: Illuminate:
 
The Northern Lights serve as a powerful symbol of the interconnectedness between humans, the natural world, and the spiritual realm within Indigenous cultures across Northern Canada.
 
Drawing inspiration from this tradition, we invite our folk community to approach their work with a renewed sense of wonder and awe. By reigniting these fundamental emotions, we can find the passion and purpose to fuel artistic expression and positive social change.
 
Learn more about the conference theme: https://www.folk.org/news/fai-2025-conference-theme-reveal
 
The FAI Conference will take place February 19-23, 2025, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at the Queens Elizabeth Hotel, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded “Give Peace a Chance.”
 
About Folk Alliance International
 
Founded in 1989, and governed by a 21-member board of directors, Folk Alliance International (FAI) is the world’s largest membership organization for the folk music industry and community. Its mission is to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation, and promotion.
 
FAI values diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, is committed to gender parity in all its programming, celebrates multiple languages and cultures, and actively welcomes participation from marginalized, disenfranchised, and underrepresented communities.
 
FAI defines folk broadly as “the music of the people” (reflective of any community they are from), and programs a diverse array of sub-genres including, but not limited to Appalachian, Americana, Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Cajun, Global Roots, Hip-Hop, Old-Time, Singer-Songwriter, Spoken Word, Traditional, Zydeco, and various fusions.
 
FAI produces the International Folk Music Awards (IFMAs), an Artist in Residence (AIR) program, the Folk ExChange global market development program, the Ethno USA gathering in partnership with Belgium based organization JM International, and the world’s largest annual folk music conference and showcase performances drawing over 3,000 delegates from 40+ countries.
 
Past Artist in Residence partnerships include UNESCO, the International Rescue Committee, the WWI Museum, Kansas City Ballet, the Kansas City Police Department, the Topeka Women’s Correctional Facility, UMKC’s Mathematics Dept., the Kansas City Art Institute, and Friends of the Kaw River.
 
Additionally, FAI provides information, advocacy, education, and professional development for over 19,000 in its community and oversees an IRS Group Exemption program in support of over 50 US non-profits.

Today, Folk Alliance International (FAI), the world’s leading nonprofit dedicated to serving, strengthening, and engaging the global folk music community, unveiled the lineup of Official Showcases for its thirty-seventh annual conference, scheduled for February 19-23, 2025, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Featuring over 175 artists from 38 countries, 19 U.S. states, and all 13 Canadian provinces, the 2025 showcase slate is among the largest in the conference’s history.

The theme for the 2025 conference, Illuminate, is inspired by the awe-inspiring beauty of the Northern Lights, which symbolize interconnectedness and the natural world’s spiritual significance.

The full list of artists performing Official Showcases is available here. Featured artists include:

• Ron Sexsmith, JUNO Award-winner and critically acclaimed singer-songwriter
• Mimi O'bonsawin, Indigenous music Award-winner, Odanak First-Nation member
• Connie Kaldor, legendary Canadian folk singer and Order of Canada honoree
• Tania Elizabeth, fiddle player formerly with The Avett Brothers
• Mama's Broke, Halifax folk duo who appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
• Kaïa Kater, lauded as a “star in the making” by Folk Alley
• Vienna Teng, Chinese-American pianist/vocalist featured on NPR
• Amy Speace, personally signed by folk icon Judy Collins
• Sara Curruchich, pioneering Guatemalan singer-songwriter
• Steve Poltz, platinum-selling, internationally renowned solo performer
• SaulPaul, GRAMMY-nominated rapper and singer-songwriter
• ISMAY, praised for their “rich colors and hazy atmospherics” by the AP
• Basia Bulat, Polaris Music Prize short-listed autoharpist and JUNO Award nominee
• Flamy Grant, winner of the 2023 Kerrville New Folk Competition
• Angelique Francis, 2023 JUNO Award-winning blues artist
• Wesli, one of Haiti’s most celebrated musical ambassadors

"We are thrilled to present this incredible lineup from around the world," said Jennifer Roe, Executive Director of Folk Alliance International. "The Illuminate theme will guide our programming as we return to Montreal to celebrate the diversity and richness of folk music traditions across the globe."

A playlist of Official Showcase artists is forthcoming.

More About the Theme: Illuminate

Each year, FAI’s conference centers on a theme to inspire conversations within the folk music industry. The 2025 theme, Illuminate, draws from the wonder of the Northern Lights, reminding us of our connection to the universe and to each other. Folk artists are invited to rekindle their creativity, fueling artistic expression and social change.

About the Conference

The Folk Alliance International Conference is the largest gathering of folk musicians and music industry professionals in the world. It provides five days of professional development, networking, and performances, with Official Showcases highlighting the best in folk music.

In addition to performances, the conference offers panels, the International Folk Music Awards (IFMAs), and late-night Private Showcases.

About Folk Alliance International

Founded in 1989, Folk Alliance International is the world’s largest membership organization for the folk music industry. FAI is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, welcoming marginalized and underrepresented communities to participate in its programming. FAI defines folk broadly, encompassing sub-genres from Appalachian to Zydeco, and programs in multiple languages and cultural traditions.

For more information, visit www.folk.org.

Singer/songwriter Vanessa Collier shared her sixth album, Do It My Own Way, last week, out via Phenix Fire Records. Recorded on analog gear with the musicians largely in one room, Do It My Own Way is sonically inspired by the classic Memphis soul sound of Stax and Hi Records, particularly that of the Staples Singers.

The album's closer, “Warrior,” begins with resonator guitar before the full band joins in, painting the picture of a powerful woman. It serves as both a universal message about the strength and resilience of women and a tribute to Collier’s mother (LISTEN/SHARE):.

Speaking about the album, Collier says, “It’s a warmer and darker sounding record, intentionally crafted to reflect a throwback to old-school soul, R&B, blues, and the days of great songs and songwriters, tube amps, and analog gear.”

Do It My Own Way transports listeners back to the heyday of music with Memphis soul-inspired horn arrangements, layered vocals for depth, and poignant, powerful saxophone solos that provide a quietly compelling undercurrent to each song and the album as a whole. The minor-key Americana/noir track “Take Me Back” served as the first single, while the album kicks off with the funky workout “Elbow Grease.” Among the many incredible grooves, “Shoulda Known Better” stands out, while “Just One More” sways to a rhumba beat. The gospel-tinged “Rosetta” pays tribute to one of Collier’s heroes, electric guitar pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Collier sings, “She’s carried the torch so I can see a little bit better… There’d be no Elvis or Chuck Berry. Sometimes the women do it best. She tackled all the inequities and fought with strength and audacity.” The anthemic, slinky title track artfully comments on the sexism she’s encountered in life and the music industry. Despite calls from industry figures to dress in sexy clothes and avoid rocking the boat, Collier has successfully taken control of her own career.

The second single, “Wild As a Rainstorm,” delves deep into soul territory, offering empowering advice to women and people who feel marginalized, encouraging them to ignore naysayers and “be a tapestry of dreams.” The track has been added to Spotify’s official Retro Soul playlist. The groove and horns, reminiscent of Willie Mitchell, feature legendary Hi Records organist Rev. Charles Hodges. Collier’s vocals are powerful, awe-inspiring, and undeniably soulful. She explains, “‘Wild As A Rainstorm’ is a love letter to the next generation — particularly my little sisters — who feel out of place in today’s world. I hope this song and my journey toward recognizing my own power will inspire someone else to take their own path when faced with choices.”

Collier takes on multiple roles in the creation of the album: she wrote the songs, produced the album, arranged the horns and all instrumental and vocal parts, and played acoustic and electric guitars, alto and tenor saxophones, and flute, in addition to singing both lead and background vocals. Featured on the album are legendary Hi Records organ player Rev. Charles Hodges (Al Green, Bettye LaVette, Ann Peebles, Alex Chilton, Robert Cray) and frequent Collier collaborators, including Blues Music Award-winning guitarist Laura Chavez (Sue Foley, Mike Ledbetter & Monster Mike Welch), bassist Scott Sutherland (Elvin Bishop), and drummer Byron Cage (Otis Taylor).

The songwriter and bandleader made her debut at the Chicago Blues Festival this year, performing in front of tens of thousands. Known primarily in the blues world — she’s a twelve-time Blues Music Award nominee and four-time winner, including this year’s monumental wins for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, Horn Player of the Year, and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year — Do It My Own Way also shows her strong influence from soul artists like Mavis Staples, Sharon Jones, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin.

Blues Blast Magazine has praised Collier as “an important part of the future of the blues.” Born in Texas, raised in Maryland, and having launched her career in Philadelphia, Collier now resides in South Carolina. She grew up listening to an eclectic variety of music, and after graduating from Berklee College of Music, she joined blues legend Joe Louis Walker’s band. Encouraged by Walker to go solo, Collier has risen quickly in the industry, with Making a Scene describing her rise as “nothing short of meteoric.” She has also opened for Blues Traveler, and her previous studio album, Heart On The Line, spent nine weeks in the top 15 of the Billboard Blues Album Chart. Collier is booked by Concerted Efforts, which represents Rhiannon Giddens, Kaia Kater, Kyshona, and others.

Folk Alliance International (FAI), the premier global nonprofit dedicated to folk music, is thrilled to announce GRAMMY Award-winner and eight-time nominee Allison Russell as the Keynote Speaker for its 37th annual conference. Russell, who recently made her Broadway debut as Persephone in Hadestown, will be interviewed by acclaimed author and NPR Music journalist Ann Powers.

The conference, set to take place February 19-23, 2025, at the Sheraton Hotel in Montréal, QC, will feature a dynamic lineup of over 300 panels, roundtables, discussions, film screenings, Official Showcase performances, meet-ups, and more. With over 175 Official Showcases and 125 additional events, the 2025 conference promises to be one of the most robust and diverse gatherings in FAI’s history.

Programming Highlights

Key events and sessions include:

• International Folk Music Awards
• Black American Music Summit, featuring panelists like Lady A, Kaïa Kater, and Shakura S’Aida, with a welcome message from Dom Flemons
• Special programming with the International Indigenous Music Summit
• Featured interview with Michelle Chawla, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts
• Panels on pivotal topics such as Music in Times of War, Caretaking in the Music Industry, WILD FOLK: Nature, Folk Arts, and Climate Chaos, and Building Your Dream Team
• A Legal Summit in partnership with the American Bar Association
• Film screenings, including Walking Through the Fire, The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane, and the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame Inaugural Induction Ceremony
• A Country Focus: Portugal, showcasing Portuguese artists and culture
• A tribute to traditional French Canadian fiddler Gilles Losier, recipient of the Mike Seeger Traditional Fellowship

Official Showcase Artists

The conference will highlight over 175 artists from 38 countries, representing diverse voices and traditions. Among the performers:

• Ron Sexsmith, JUNO Award-winning singer-songwriter celebrated by The New York Times for his soulful melodies
• Kaïa Kater, a Canadian-Grenadian artist recognized by Folk Alley as a "star in the making"
• Steve Poltz, the platinum-selling songwriter praised by NPR as "quite possibly the most talented solo performer on this planet"
• Mimi O’Bonsawin, an Indigenous music award-winning artist from the Odanak First Nation
• Vienna Teng, a Chinese-American pianist/vocalist featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered
• Bella’s Bartok, a passionate fusion of Americana and folk music

For a complete list of artists, visit folk.org.

Allison Russell: A Transformative Voice in Folk Music

Allison Russell’s artistry transcends music, blending poetry, activism, and multi-instrumental virtuosity. From her groundbreaking debut Outside Child to her GRAMMY-winning The Returner, Russell’s work celebrates Black liberation, resilience, and community. With accolades including the Juno Award, Americana Music Awards, and International Folk Music Awards, Russell continues to use her platform to inspire and uplift through music.

Folk Alliance International (FAI), the world’s largest membership organization for the folk music community, is excited to unveil future conference locations, keynote speaker details, the official showcase lineup for its 37th annual conference, and the announcement of a $50,000 award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Future Conference Locations Announced

FAI confirmed its annual conference locations for the next decade, highlighting its return to iconic folk hubs and international collaborations:

• 2026: January 21-25, New Orleans, LA
• 2027: January 27-31, Chicago, IL
• 2028: January 26-30, Kansas City, MO
• 2029: TBD
• 2030: January 23-27, New Orleans, LA
• 2031: Canada (city TBD)
• 2032: January 21-25, New Orleans, LA

“We are thrilled to return to New Orleans, travel to Chicago, and revisit Kansas City while continuing our commitment to spotlighting Canada in 2031,” said Jennifer Roe, FAI Executive Director. “New Orleans’ rich folklife and vibrant culture make it an ideal host city for multiple conferences in the years to come.”

$50,000 NEA Award

FAI has been awarded $50,000 as part of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grants for Arts Projects program. This funding supports FAI’s ongoing mission to serve and strengthen the global folk music community.

“The NEA is proud to support Folk Alliance International as part of our mission to celebrate and uplift the arts across all communities,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, NEA Chair.

Keynote Speaker & Programming

FAI’s 37th annual conference, set for February 19-23, 2025, in Montréal, QC, will feature GRAMMY-winning artist Allison Russell as the keynote speaker. She will be interviewed by celebrated author and NPR journalist Ann Powers.

With over 175 official showcases, 300+ panels and events, and programming running 21 hours a day, this year’s conference promises an unparalleled experience. Highlights include:

• Black American Music Summit
• International Folk Music Awards
• Film Screenings: Walking Through the Fire, The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane, and Man in the Sand
• Panels on Music in Times of War, Building Musical Museums, and Artist Advocacy

Official Showcase Artists

This year’s showcases feature a diverse lineup of globally renowned artists, including:

• Ron Sexsmith (Canada)
• Mimi O’Bonsawin (French Canadian & Abénaki, Canada)
• Connie Kaldor (Canada)
• Kaïa Kater (Canada-Grenada)
• Vienna Teng (USA-China)
• Sara Curruchich (Guatemala)
• Steve Poltz (Canada-USA)
• Angelique Francis (Canada)
• Wesli (Haiti)

For the full list, visit folk.org.

About FAI

Founded in 1989, Folk Alliance International connects artists, industry professionals, and fans from diverse cultural and musical backgrounds. FAI champions inclusivity, equity, and access across all its programs.