Everything’s Up to “Folk” in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri may be better known for jazz, blues, barbecue chefs and the football Chiefs. However, more than 2,000 people are expected to converge on this midwestern U.S. metropolis Feb. 19-23, 2014, for the 26th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference and a new Winter Music Camp that will run concurrently with it.

Ranked among the five largest music conferences in North America, the International Folk Alliance Conference will feature several days of panel discussions and workshops, film screenings, regional and peer group meetings, instrument clinics and popular singer-songwriter critique sessions, nightly open mics, as well as four nights of artist performances — including special feature shows, more than 200 juried music showcases and hundreds of private in-room showcases that extend late into the night and early morning hours. A Wednesday night KC Opening Night Special will feature showcase performances by dozens of artists from the host city and environs — including folk-rock duo Brewer & Shipley of “One Toke Over the Line” fame.

Two-time Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame member Graham Nash, a founding member of Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies, will be the conference’s keynote speaker. Among the many folk music-related films to be screen are the 2013 documentary “Tom Rush: No Regrets,” with the influential folksinger-songwriter and champion of other artists making a very special in-person appearance

Noted folk DJs Sonny Ochs and Rich Warren will co-host Wisdom of the Elders panel discussion featuring Carolyn Hester, Josh White, Jr. and Harry Tuft. Participatory musical tributes will be held for Pete Seeger, the American folk music icon, activist, environmentalist and humanitarian, who died last month at age 94. And, as always, the conference will boast a large exhibit hall with more than 100 exhibitors and plenty of opportunities for networking and jamming.

This year’s conference takes place in the Westin Crown Center, while a new Winter Music Camp (featuring instruction geared towards all styles and levels of roots music and songwriting) will run concurrently at the adjoining Sheraton Crown Center. The hotels are linked by an enclosed above-ground walkway and connected to Hallmark’s boutique shopping mall.

This is the first time that Folk Alliance International is hosting its annual conference in Kansas City. Following a five-year stint in Memphis, Tennessee, the conference took place in Toronto, Canada last year. It is slated to take place each February for the next five years in Kansas City, where the organization is now headquartered and operates a Folk Store offering vintage and new folk instruments, instructional materials, folk art and more, as well as serving as a gathering place for like-minded music people, according to Louis J. Meyers, the organization’s executive director.

Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org) is a 3,000+ member nonprofit organization that fosters and promotes multicultural, traditional and contemporary folk music.

Editors Note: During the conference, I will be formally installed as a member of FAI’s board of directors, having won a contested election last month. I’ll also be doing some mentoring and serving on a folk journalism panel.