AcousticMusicScene.com will host song swaps and mini-showcases during the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, July 22-24, and the Huntington Folk Festival, August 6. Both festivals take place in New York State.

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, July 22-24, in Hillsdale, NY

Tribes Hill-AcousticMusicScene.com tent at Falcon Ridge 2010

For the fourth year in a row, AcousticMusicScene.com joins with Tribes Hill (a nonprofit organization uniting musicians of the Hudson Valley region and their patrons in support of a music community coming together to celebrate human experience through song) to jointly present late-night song swaps during the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

Now in its 23rd year, Falcon Ridge takes place at Dodds Farm on Route 7D in Hillsdale, New York, located in the foothills of the Berkshires, near the tri-state corner of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Among the Northeast’s most popular music festivals, it features dozens of artists performing on several stages, a dance tent, children’s music and activities, and a wide array of crafts, food and other vendors. Artists performing this year include Brother Sun (the new trio featuring Greg Greenway, Joe Jencks and Pat Wictor), Greg Brown, Buskin & Batteau, Mary Chapin Carpenter, CJ Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band, Mary Gauthier, Tracy Grammer, Jay Mankita, Gandalf Murphy & the Slambovian Circus, Dan Navarro, Professor Louie & The Crowmatix, Red Horse (featuring Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky – each of whom also will perform solo), Red Molly, Solas, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Annie Wenz and Susan Werner.

Appearing in this year’s Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill Emerging Artist Showcase are: Brooke Annibale, Blair Bodine, Brittany Ann, Ellen Bukstel, Lori Diamond and Fred Abatelli, Friction Farm, Bulat Gafarov, Sharon Goldman, Jason Myles Goss, ilyAIMY, Layah Jane, Devlin Miles, Louise Mosrie, My Brothers Banned, Occidental Gypsy, Karyn Oliver, Pesky J. Nixon, Grace Pettis, Paul Sachs, Putnam Smith, Split Tongue Crew, Suzie Vinnick, Gail Wade and The Whispering Tree.

The Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill Emerging Artists Showcase is not a contest, and artists won’t be judged per se, although the audience is surveyed as to which ones they’d like to see return the following year to participate in a Most Wanted Song Swap. This year’s Most Wanted Song Swap will feature Barnaby Bright, The Folkadelics, Chris O’Brien and Spuyten Duyvil.

However, the fun doesn’t end there. One of the true highlights of Falcon Ridge — for those who opt to camp on-site and stay up through early morning hours –are the impromptu jams, after-hours song circles and mini- showcases. These late-night sessions — including the Nite Owl Song Swap hosted by singer-songwriter Terry Kitchen, those put on by the folks associated with Budgiedome, and the AcousticMusicScene.com – Tribes Hill Song Swaps — help foster a sense of “folk” community and a different kind of festival experience.

As in past years, the AcousticMusicScene.com-Tribes Hill late-night song swaps will take place under a big white canopy tent. It will be situated in the lower left/northeast section of the 10-acre field (lower meadow), rather than on the hill. Pre-arranged invitational song swaps each evening (or early a.m., depending on your vantage point) will be followed by open song circles to which folks are invited to bring their instruments, voices and ears. Some of the artists who will perform at the AcousticMusicScene.com – Tribes Hill tent also will be performing on the Main Stage and other stages during the festival. These include Brother Sun, Spuyten Duyvil (an eight-member Americana group that performs a lively and eclectic mix of roots music) and The Folkadelics (who, along with Spuyten Duyvil, performed in last year’s Falcon Ridge/Grassy Hill Emerging Artists Showcase and were chosen by festivalgoers to perform in this year’s Most Wanted Song Swap).” Several of the artists slated to perform in this year’s Emerging Artists Showcase also will be featured in the AcousticMusicScene.com-Tribes Hill song swaps, while others are expected to take part in the open song circles.

Spuyten Duyvil (Photo: Jake Jacobson)

The late-night music at the AcousticMusicScene.com-Tribes Hill tent kicks off on Friday overnight, beginning about 15 minutes after the music concludes for the evening on the Main Stage (just after midnight). An hour-long song swap will feature Pesky J. Nixon (who also hosts music on the “Lounge Stage” on Thursday, prior to the official start of the festival), Putnam Smith, Tribes Hill’s own Spuyten Duyvil and The Folkadelics. Swapping songs for 45 minutes on Saturday overnight will be Brother Sun, Friction Farm (the husband & wife duo of Christine Stay and Aidan Quinn), and Tribes Hill’s own The YaYas (Jay Mafale and Catherine Miles). This will be followed by a 15-minute musical tribute to Jack Hardy. A consummate singer-songwriter, co-founder of the Musicians’ Cooperative and Fast Folk Musical Magazine, and host of weekly gatherings for songwriters in his Greenwich Village apartment, Hardy played a pivotal role in the New York folk/songwriting scene for several decades and influenced and inspired many other songwriters. His passing in March at age 63 sent shock waves through the folk community,

Open song circles will follow each night, while informal, spontaneous jams and song circles may also take place under the tent throughout the weekend.

For more information on the festival, visit www.falconridgefolk.com.

Huntington Folk Festival, Aug. 6, at Heckscher Park in Huntington, NY

AcousticMusicScene.com also will have a major presence at the Sixth Annual Huntington Folk Festival that takes place on Saturday, August 6, in-Huntington, New York. Aztec Two-Step headlines the free event that extends from 11 a.m. into the late evening at Heckscher Park, Main Street (Route 25A) and Prime Avenue.

Co-presented by the Folk Music Society of Huntington and the Huntington Arts Council, the Huntington Folk Festival is part of the 46th Annual Huntington Summer Arts Festival presented by the Town of Huntington, produced by the Huntington Arts Council, and sponsored in part by the New York State Council for the Arts and the Suffolk County Executive’s Office.

Aztec Two-Step

“We’re delighted to join with the Huntington Arts Council in presenting what promises to be a wonderful day of music,” said Michael Kornfeld, president of the Folk Music Society of Huntington. “I’m particularly pleased that Aztec Two-Step, whose spirited folk-rock sound and wonderful vocal harmonies I’ve enjoyed since the mid-1970s, will be joining us in the evening, while some very talented independent recording artists from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts will perform during the day.”

Now marking their 40th anniversary as a folk-rock duo, Aztec Two-Step (Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman) will perform two sets on the Chapin Rainbow Stage beginning at 8:30 p.m. An afternoon of unplugged showcases and song swaps featuring artists from the New York metropolitan area and New England will precede the evening concert. Hosting them near canopy tents, between 12 and 6:30 p.m., will be AcousticMusicScene.com and Richard Cuccaro’s monthly listings guide, Acoustic Live! in New York City and Beyond.

In keeping with the tradition of Folk Music Society of Huntington concerts, the festival will open with an hour-long open mic at 11 a.m. Attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs or blankets and to consider bringing a picnic supper or venturing into nearby Huntington Village for dinner.

The AcousticMusicScene.com and Acoustic Live! showcase schedules appear below. More information on the festival, including directions to Heckscher Park, can be found by visiting www.fmshny.org and clicking on the Huntington Folk Festival link.

AcousticMusicScene.com

11:00 Open Mic

12:00 Island Songwriters Showcase: Dave Anthony, Vin Crici, Tim Dillon, Suzanne Ernst,
Cathy Kreger and Denise Romas

1:00 Josh Joffen, Carolann Solebello

1:30 Arlon Bennett, Roger Silverberg, Wool & Grant

2:00 All Keyed-Up: Jeffrey Paul Bobrick, Anna Dagmar and Marci Geller

2:45 Kath Buckell

3:00 Mark Allen Berube, Honor Finnegan

3:30 Jerry DeMeo, Patti DeRosa

4:00 Meg Braun, Jason Myles Goss

4:30 Strike the Bell (Stuart Markus and Judith Zweiman)

4:45 The Whispering Tree

5:00 Mara Levine, Elaine Romanelli, The Folk Goddesses (Hillary Foxsong, Martha
Trachtenberg and Judith Zweiman)

5:45 Old-Time Jam with The Solid Citizens
(featuring members of Spuyten Duyvil and special guests)

6:25: Closing Song: Harry Chapin’s “Circle”

Acoustic Live!

1:00 Chasing June

1:15 Meg Braun

1:30 The Solid Citizens

2:00 Paul Sachs

2:15 Mark Allen Berube

2:30 Carolann Solebello

2:45 Wool & Grant

3:00 Marci Geller

3:15 Anna Dagmar

3:30 The Levins (Ira & Julia)

3:45 Free Thought (Kate and Jen Vanderlyn)

4:00 Kath Buckell

4:15 Patti DeRosa

4:30 Josh Joffen

4:45 My Dad’s Truck

5:00 Robin Greenstein

5:15 Jason Myles Goss

5:30 Cathy Kreger

5:45 Honor Finnegan