Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac, Joe Crookston and Randall Williams have been invited to participate in the Most  Wanted Song Swap and workshops at next year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, as well as in the festival’s 11th annual preview tour of select venues in the Northeast next May.

Anthony da CostaA 16-year-old singer-songwriter from Pleasantville, New York, da Costa was the overwhelming audience favorite during the festival’s Emerging Artists Showcase at Dodds Farm in the New York foothills of the Berkshires this summer.  Da Costa, who also was a winner in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk competition earlier this year, garnered votes from more than 40% of the FRFF audience members who completed surveys in which they named their three favorite emerging artists. 

Mac, a classically trained New England-based cellist and singer-songwriter, captured votes from 20% of the voting audience members, while Crookston, a gifted and engaging singer-songwriter from central New York, and Williams, a very talented traveling singer-songwriter and guitarist, who also conducts workshops on the use of the partial capo, followed closely behind in the tabulations.

“I’m really honored to be playing in the “Most Wanted” song swap next year – on the same stage where I stood in the rain watching Dan Bern in 2006, and where Gandalf [Murphy] blew everybody away with ‘Peace Train’ in 2007,” said da Costa.  “Next year, I’ll be there, probably wearing my new, vintage ‘Red Molly’ shirt on stage, and camping out with Tribes Hill.”  He expressed thanks to Anne Saunders “and all the Falcon Ridge folks who make this festival feel like home,” as well to everyone who voted for him – “plus everyone who voted, period, and came out to listen to the ‘Emerging Artists.’  That means a lot to all of us.”