Twenty-four songwriters who were named as finalists in the 2020 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters will perform the two songs they submitted during Virtual New Folk Finalists Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10 and 11, beginning at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
Chosen from among more than 700 submissions from around the world, the finalists were announced earlier this year. The New Folk Concerts – established in 1972 at the urging of Peter Yarrow — are usually a highlight of the annual 18-day-long singer-songwriter-focused Kerrville Folk Festival in late May-June on the Quiet Valley Ranch Campgrounds in the Texas Hill Country. However, this year’s festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place, festival organizers hosted an online festival featuring virtual concerts and campfire song circles that were streamed online on three successive Saturdays in late May-early June. Although the festival was tentatively rescheduled for Oct. 8-18, those plans also had to be scrapped due to the ongoing health crisis.
In its place, a Virtual Celebration will take place online via the festival’s website, Facebook page and YouTube channel over the weekends of Oct. 10-11 and Oct. 17-18. Hillary Adamson will serve as emcee of the 2020 New Folk Concerts that will feature videos submitted by each of the 24 finalists. Featured performing songwriters on Saturday, Oct. 10 (in order of appearance) are Eliza Edens (Williamstown, MA), T Buckley (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Aubryn (Nashville, TN), Andy Baker (Gobles, MI), Sadie Gustafson-Zook (Boston, MA), Ryan Davenport (Taylor, TX), China Kent (Denver, CO), Nick Depuy (New Canaan, CT), Louise Mosrie Coombe (Williamsburg, MA), Chad Elliott (Lamont, IA), Justina Shandler (Roanoke, VA), and Russ Parrish (Burnsville, MN). The Oct. 11 lineup features John John Brown (Pawling, NY), Claire Kelly (Nashville, TN), Michael Prysock (Dallas, TX), Shanna in a Dress (Boulder, CO), Daniel Elixir (Brixey, MO), Nancy Beaudette (Cornwall, Ontario, Canada), Clint Alphin (Nashville, TN), Anne E. DeChant (Avon Lake, OH), Susan Cattaneo (Medford, MA), Jeremy Facknitz (Colorado Springs, CO), and Abigail Lapell (Toronto, Ontario, Canada).
Following the virtual New Folk Concerts, six songwriters will be selected as 2o020 New Folk Winners by a panel of judges comprised of Stuart Adamson, Bernice Lewis and Tom Prasada-Rao. The six, to be announced during the virtual Sunday evening concert on Oct. 11, will receive cash honorariums and other prizes, as well as the opportunity to return the following weekend to each perform 15-minute sets during a n online New Folk Winners Concert the following Saturday afternoon, Oct. 17, beginning at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
For more information of the Kerrville New Folk Competition and to view a full schedule of the festival’s 2020 October Virtual Celebration – including evening concerts and virtual campfires – visit https://www.kerrvillefolkfestival.org/oct2020-virtual-lineup.
Like/Follow Us!