The Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) invites the public to attend a 75-minute, hootenanny-style Musical Tribute to Woody Guthrie and a series of 15-minute artist showcases on Saturday, June 2, from 3-7 p.m., at the Lipke Auditorium on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. These special events, for which $10 tickets will be available at the door, are part of a day-long mini-conference featuring workshops and panel discussions that the nonprofit organization is hosting to give artists, presenters, DJs, agents and others engaged in the folk music scene a small taste of what takes place during its annual conference in The Catskills each fall. Proceeds from the events will be shared with WUMB, Boston’s NPR Music Station, with which NERFA is collaborating to open them to the public.

Woody Guthrie (photo from the Woody Guthrie Archives)

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birth this summer, NERFA has invited Hope Machine and Alastair Moock to perform his songs in a high-spirited, hootenanny-style with special guests Ethan Baird (of the up-and-coming Boston area folk and Americana group Pesky J. Nixon) and Boston mandolin master Jimmy Ryan, as well as audience participation.

Hope Machine is a group of coal-holders; keepers of the flame; messengers; foot-stompin’, guitar-bangin’, drum-beatin’, song-leadin’, harp-blowin’, hand-clappin’, human hoping machines. Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Fred Gillen, Jr., Steve Kirkman, Carolann Solebello (formerly of Red Molly) and Scott Urgola perform passionate, spirited versions of both Woody’s well-known and more obscure songs. The group, whose Woody Guthrie program is officially recognized by the Woody Guthrie Foundation, carries the message of human unity, hope, and spiritual freedom handed down to them by their elders. They often invite other musicians to join them and encourage people to sing along, dance, yell, yodel, jump up and down, or whatever else their spirits move them to do.

Alastair Moock is an award-winning, Boston-based singer-songwriter whom The Boston Globeard, Phil Henry, Loretta Hagen, Honor Finnegan, has described as “one of the town’s best and most adventurous.” Like the members of Hope Machine, Alastair is drawn to music that addresses progressive issues. Like his boyhood hero, Woody Guthrie, he believes in the power of music to touch all people. He also performs school assembly programs on the life and times of Woody Guthrie and recently launched a broader program on music and social change. Alastair has also organized and hosted a hootenanny-like Pastures of Plenty series (that takes its name from a popular Woody Guthrie tune) at various venues throughout New England — bringing songwriters and musicians together to celebrate the roots of American music.

Following the Guthrie tribute, 10 artists and acts, who were selected by a panel of judges from among 70 applicants, will showcase their talents from 4:30-7 p.m. They include singer-songwriters Richard Berman (Amherst, MA), Karin Blaine (Seattle, WA), Sam Chase (South Shore, MA), Beth DeSombre (Wellesley, MA), Honor Finnegan (New York, NY), Sharon Goldman (Metuchen, NJ), Loretta Hagen (West Milford, NJ), Phil Henry (Rutland, VT) and Claudia Nygaard, (Nashville, TN) as well as the Boston-based female quartet Long Time Courting.

“We’re delighted to be able to open these events up to the public and expose more people to some of the wonderful folk music being made and played by artists today, as well as to the music of Woody Guthrie in this centennial year of his birth,” said Michael Kornfeld and Kathy Sands-Boehmer, the conference’s co-coordinators. “We are particularly grateful to WUMB, Boston’s NPR Music Station, for partnering with us to make this happen.”

NERFA is part of the larger Folk Alliance International, an association that aims to foster and promote multicultural, traditional and contemporary folk music, while strengthening and advancing organizational and individual initiatives in folk music and dance through education, networking, advocacy, and professional and field development.

Editor’s Note: Besides co-coordinating the one-day mini-conference in Boston with my friend and NERFA board colleague Kathy Sands-Boehmer, I’ll be moderating a panel discussion on “Building Community” and participating on another panel entitled “Marketing and Promotion for Artists and Venues.” On Thursday, May 31, I’ll be speaking about NERFA during the final hour of “The Folk Revival” hosted by Nick Noble on WICN 90.5 FM in central Massachusetts and streaming live online at wicn.org from 7-11 p.m.