Grammy Award-winning folk/country singer Kathy Mattea will be the Saturday night headliner during the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo that’s set for Sept. 10-12 in New Haven’s Edgerton Park.

Photo by James Minchin

Although best known for such country music chart-topping hits as “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses” and “Where You’ve Been,” Mattea also made major waves in folk circles with her most recent album, Coal. “Kathy’s warm and resonant voice is sure to charm our audience, and her recent project of songs about Appalachian coal mining culture resonates with the environmental message of our Festival and Green Expo,” says Alice-Anne Harwood, CT Folk’s director.

Joining Mattea in the Saturday evening program, starting at 5 p.m., will be witty and versatile singer-songwriter Susan Werner, Irish balladeers The Kerry Boys, Connecticut State Troubadour Lara Herscovitch, and the rousing Hudson Valley-based roots-jam band Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams.

The festival and expo kicks off on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. with the Grassy Hill Song Circle featuring four indie-Americana artists — Trina Hamlin, Reed Waddle, Seth Glier, and Mark Von Em. They will perform their own songs and accompany each other in a jam-session. Vance Gilbert, a consummate entertainer and one of the funniest men on the folk circuit, emcees.

On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., CT Folk’s fifth annual Green Expo will feature 75 exhibitors, demonstrations, workshops and activities to promote sustainable lifestyles, as well as a free family concert and activities for children (including a solar cell workshop and a recycling-oriented magic show). The female roots- Americana trio Red Molly, whose newest member is New Haven native Molly Venter, will present a free family concert during the afternoon. Also slated to perform are The Professors of Bluegrass, local favorite Rob Messore, and the five top finalists in CT Folk’s 2010 songwriting contest (Brian Dolzani, Sam Chase, Rebecca Pronsky, Walter Rodriguez and Allison Tartalia) – one of whom will be selected to perform his/her winning song on the Main Stage later in the evening.

Former Connecticut State Troubadour Pierce Campbell hosts the Dava Hoot, an informal community sing-along, that closes out the festival on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 13

The Connecticut Folk Festival & Green Expo is now in its second decade and is run under the auspices of CT Folk, a nonprofit organization dedicated to traditional and contemporary roots music and to caring for the earth. Grassy Hill Entertainment and Southern Connecticut State University (whose Lyman Hall serves as the rain location) also are co-sponsors. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.ctfolk.com.