Thirty-two songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2019 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among more than 500 submissions from around the world, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted at the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 25 and 26, as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival.
Scheduled to perform (in order of performance) at the Threadgill Theater on the Quiet Valley Ranch Campgrounds in the Texas Hill Country on Saturday, May 25, from 1-4 p.m., are Scott Sean White (Terrell, TX), Lynne Hanson (Ottawa, Ont, Canada), Lisa Bastoni (Northampton, MA), John Louis (Minneapolis, MN), Cari Ray (Nashville, TN), Angela Parish (Los Angeles, CA), Jordi Baizan (Houston, TX), Lyndy Butler (Hurricane, UT), Nancy Beaudette (Shirley, MA), Aaron Smith (Harrison, AR), Tia McGraff (Port Rowan, Ont, Canada), Scott Mulvahill (Nashville, TN), Liv Greene (Washington, DC), D.B. Rielly (New York, NY), Katy Vanderwood (Minneapolis, MN), and Eric Kilburn (Acton, MA).
New Folk Finalists slated to perform on Sunday afternoon, May 26, include Michael Braunfeld (Philadelphia, PA), Avery Hill (Portland, OR), Amanda Pascali (Houston, TX), Claudia Gibson (Wimberley, TX), Daniel Neihoff (Paducah, KY), Rick Frydman (Lawrence, KS), Hope Dunbar (Utica, NE), Karen Dahlstrom (Brooklyn, NY), Beth Snapp (Kingsport, TN), Sophie Buskin (Brooklyn, NY), James Wyatt Martin (Austin, TX), Clementine Volker (Holland), Gordon & Christy McLeod (Garland, TX), Alice Howe (Newton, MA), Kyle Donovan (Boulder, CO), and Sarah Jane Nelson (Star City, AR).
Named as alternates were Joanna Howeron & Mike Cross (Austin, TX), Leah Gams Johnson (Nashville, TN), Arlon Bennett (Tappan, NY), and Lisa Nicole Grace (Edmonton, Alb, Canada).
After performing, six songwriters will be selected as 2019 New Folk Winners by songwriters Joe Crookston, Ellis Delaney and Rebecca Loebe who are serving as judges. The six, to be announced during the evening concert on May 26, will receive cash honorariums and other prizes, as well as the opportunity to return the following weekend to each perform 20-minute sets during a Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Award Winners concert at the festival on Sunday, June 2.
Established in 1972 at the urging of Peter Yarrow, the Kerrville New Folk Concerts have become a highlight of the annual festival that is geared towards singer-songwriters of various musical styles and is the longest continuously running festival of its kind in North America. In addition to receiving cash awards and additional performance opportunities, being named as a New Folk Award Winner is regarded as a very prestigious honor.
‘New Folk is our way of finding new, exciting, excellent songwriters from around the world,” said Dalis Allen, producer of the Kerrville Folk Festival. “Our line-up every year is full of artists who have remained a part of the festival long after their first introduction in the competition.”
Besides concerts each evening, Kerrville features “Ballad Tree” song-sharing sessions, campfire jam sessions, concerts and activities for children, organized canoe and kayak trips on the Guadelupe River and Hill Country bike rides, yoga, beer and wine seminars, a Young Artists Performance Incubator, a professional development program for teachers, as well as a three-day songwriters school and instrumental workshops. The festival runs for 18 straight days – Thursday, May 23– Sunday, June 9.
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