Dozens of emerging artists from New England and beyond will showcase their talents over the Labor Day Weekend during the annual Campfire. Festival at Club Passim, the legendary Harvard Square listening room in Cambridge, MA. Now marking its 20th year, the event also will be live streamed via Concert Window beginning Friday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m. and extending through Monday, Sept. 3, at 10:30p.m.
“What began as a way to fill a tough booking weekend in 1998 has become the single–biggest way that we help develop new talent and celebrate the Boston-Cambridge area’s amazing music scene,” said Matt Smith, managing director of Club Passim and founder of the semi-annual Campfire Festival. Another edition takes place over the Memorial Day Weekend.
Originally called the Cutting Edge of the Campfire, the festival combined the idea of artists sitting around the campfire playing music with our commitment to bringing new talent to Club Passim’s attentive listening audience, according to Smith. Among the artists who played the festival prior to becoming more established in folk and roots music circles are Lake Street Dive, Anais Mitchell, Ryan Montbleu, Josh Ritter, and Regina Spektor.
“Today, Campfire. is as much about the community as it is about the music,” said Smith, noting the communitarian spirit that the event has helped to foster among artists and audiences alike. Although solo and band sets are sprinkled throughout the course of each day and night of the festival, in-the-round performances featuring several songwriters swapping tunes have become a highlight of the event. These songwriter rounds can lead to spontaneous collaborations, friendships and gig-sharing among artists who previously didn’t know each other, while also providing unique musical moments for audiences and exposing them to a few different artists in a short span of time. Smith also noted that singer-songwriters Deb Talan and Steve Tannen of The Weepies met at a Campfire.
Among the notable artists who will be performing during he 2018 Labor Day Weekend edition of Campfire. Festival, for which tickets are $10/day or $25 for a weekend pass, are Lisa Bastoni, Daniel Champagne, Yann Falquet (from the Quebecois trad folk group Genticorum), Ian Fitzgerald, Jefferson Hamer, Alice Howe, Jim Infantino, Kate Klim, Rose Polenzani, Hayley Sabella, Ashley Storrow, Dietrich Strause, Lloyd Thayer, and Jim Trick. Closing out the musical festivities on Monday night will be The Singer and The Songwriter, an indie jazz-folk duo from Los Angeles.
The full line-up appears below and also can be found, along with links to artist pages, online at
https://www.passim.org/live-music/club-passim/campfire-festival/. To watch the musical festivities at Campfire online, visit https://www.concertwindow.com/clubpassim.
Although it didn’t adopt its current name until incorporating as a nonprofit in 1994, Club Passim has its roots in what was then Club 47, a folk club that opened its doors at another Cambridge location in 1958 before moving to its current location on Palmer Street five years later and changing its name to Club Passim in 1969. It has been a cornerstone of the arts community of New England for more than half a century. Club Passim is one of the few “listening rooms” in the greater Boston-Cambridge area. It’s a place where audiences and artists can interact with one another in an intimate setting. More than 400 shows are presented each year, featuring artists from a broad range of musical genres. A musical Mecca for the folk and singer-songwriter scene since its early days, Club Passim retains a folk aesthetic. Among the folk luminaries who have graced its stage are Joan Baez, Shawn Colvin, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, and Suzanne Vega.
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