Black Bear Americana Music Fest Set for October 7-9, 2022 in Goshen, Connecticut

More than 50 performing artists/acts and lots of live music fans will converge on the Goshen Fairgrounds in Goshen, Connecticut, October 7-9, 2022 for the fourth annual Black Bear Americana Music Fest. The three-day festival features performances on several stages by Grammy Award-winning national touring artists, local New England-based artists and emerging talents, as well as music and art workshops.

Adam Ezra Group, Shawn Colvin, Vance Gilbert, Martin Sexton, and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams are among the artists slated to appear. Also showcasing their talents will be Allison Leah, John John Brown, Ian Campbell (the festival’s artistic director), Bruce T. Carroll, Scott Cook with Pamela Mae, KJ Denhert, Kala Farnham, Deidre Flint, Abbie Gardner, Goodnight Moonshine, Kyle Hancharick, Phil Henry, Mike Horyczun, The McKrells, The Meadows Brothers, Matt Nakoa, Shanna in a Dress, Victor Wainwright and the Train, Tracy Walton, and more. Artists will also conduct workshops.

Ian Campbell, who curates the festival, said that Black Bear Americana Music Fest was borne out a conversation with his now partner, Beth, who told him that she was thinking of creating a festival and asked if , with his experience in the music business, would he be interest. “She called another friend, Evan Dobos, who mis a whiz at web design and branding – and then I called some old friends who I knew from 1984 when they were a small DJ company,” he said, noting that “the now huge” Powerstation Events partnered with them in producing the festival.

“We have both gone to festivals for a long time and we had an idea of what we would want ours to look like … We have this idea that we can get the community involved so much that they too can feel like this is theirs,” he said. “We bring in nonprofits and local groups. We are all working to create this community… like folks are coming to visit us in our backyards … We are so hopeful that people find a home here and that we continue to create a place that we all have made our community!”

He acknowledged that the festival drew a “pretty scant attendance” its first year. “We tease that all six people who were there had an amazing time,” Campbell said. “Artists like Vance Gilbert and Joe Crookston stood on the stage and told the small crowd: ‘You can say you were here in the beginning of what is going to be a huge festival.’”

From its humble beginnings, the festival has grown each year. Although still relatively small, Campbell and his team keep adding new elements and layers to the festival. “This year will have 50+ acts, all kinds of workshops – from songwriting and studio pre-production to guitar, open tuning, ukulele and hand drums all the way to [making] bourbon-candied bacon and Slambovian jellyfish umbrellas,” he noted. “We have showcase and jam tents, and just all kinds of things going on all the time. There won’t be a dull moment, if you don’t’ want one. Then again, you can kick back at your campsite with a fire and have all the dull moments you want,” Campbell added. Participating artists appear to share his enthusiasm for the festival.

Performing Songwriters Share Their Reflections on the Festival

“Black Bear has quickly become one of my favorite festivals in New England,” said Tracy Walton, a Connecticut-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Walton, who performed as half of the duo Belle of the Fall during the festival’s inaugural year (2018), told AcousticMusicScene.com that “the crowd was small that year, but it was obvious [that] this was going to be a special festival in years to come. Thrilled to be back this year performing a solo set, doing a workshop, and participating in a songwriters’ round, Walton noted that he’ll also be playing bass during Riley Cotton’s set.

A studio owner, as well as performing songwriter, Walton is also pleased to see a number of artists who he is currently recording are part of this year’s festival lineup. “Sierra West is really amazing, and the Meadows Brothers have been favorites of mine for years, so getting to produce them has been special,” he said. “Seeing acts like Shawn Colvin and Martin Sexton headlining this year is super exciting,” he added.

Calling Litchfield County “one of the prettiest places on the planet in the fall,” Walton maintains “it’s the perfect setting for what should be an amazing weekend. It feels like this is going to be the year that Black Bear really arrives as a big player on the festival circuit.”

Kyle Hancharick, an upstate New York-based singer-songwriter, is also “excited” to be returning to the festival. Like Walton, Hancharick performed at the first festival in 2018, while he came as a listener and participated in a few workshops that he called “incredible” last year. “It’s such a supportive environment with incredible talent,” he said. “Ian Campbell and his team have grown this festival in the very best of ways,” he noted, while also expressing appreciate for the audience it draws. “The festival has grown since its beginnings but it still has that intimate feel between performers and listeners. They’re true folk fans,” he added.

Similarly, Shanna in a Dress, a quirky, Nashville, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter, opined: “Since it’s a young festival, it grows a little bit each year and you get to feel like you’re part of something that going to be huge eventually.”

“I love Black Bear Fest – with the exception of the temperature making my stage name a little more difficult to execute,” she said. Besides showcasing her performance and songwriting chops that have earned her accolades as a winner of the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition and the Great River Folk Fest Song Competition in 2020, as well as of the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase in August, Shanna will lead songwriting workshops including Let’s Write a Funny Song.

Connecticut State Troubadour Kala Farnham, who looks forward to playing the gazebo and workshop stages on Friday, recalls playing the inaugural Black Bear Americana Music Fest in 2018. “It took place in a beautiful location with potential and space for growth,” she said. ” “it’s not an easy feat to start up a new music festival, especially when a pandemic hits after the second year. I can see that Ian Campbell is building something special — live music is returning, and Black Bear Music Fest is back stronger than ever,”Farnham continued. “With stages set for bands, solo acoustic acts, and songwriter rounds, there’s a variety of musical options for listeners to choose from.”

Late-Night Song Circles to Take Place Under the Big Orange Tarp

New to the Black Bear Americana Music Fest this year will be unplugged, late-night song circles under the Big Orange Tarp hosted on the campgrounds by Alan Rowoth beginning after the music ends on the main stage on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as a housewarming circle on Thursday night preceding the actual start of the festival.

Inspired by the late-night song circles that he experienced at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country beginning in 1992, Rowoth sought to replicate what he calls “the incredibly intimate nature of this listening experience” at other festivals.” Noting that campground music was virtually unheard of at other folk festivals around the country at the time, Rowoth decided “to try to spread the germ” by taking his Big Orange Tarp to campgrounds at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (which now also takes place at the Goshen Fairgrounds), Planet Bluegrass in Colorado, Sonoma Valley in California, and other spots. “I honed the performer quality and fine-tuned the circle format to maximize the listener experience to try and stimulate interest in the house concert scene that was just beginning to take off. Audience response was incredible. Other festival camps began to emulate us.”

Rowoth observed: “House concerts play on the same intimacy and proximity that make other song circles so compelling. At the same time, I courted small venues and house concert hosts to get them out to see the cream of the crop in rising talent [something that AcousticMusicScene.com has since done at festivals as well through its curated song swaps]. “It was a powerful synergy, and led to a lot of opportunities for both musicians and presenters.’

Having engaged in this labor of love for more than 30 years now as he seeks to create opportunities for musicians by connecting them with listeners and presenters, Rowoth is pleased to bring the Big Orange Tarp to Goshen, CT this year. “Black Bear is a great fit for us,” he said. “Ian Campbell’s love of music and the community festival experience is exactly what the Big Orange Tarp is all about. We could not be more excited about partnering with Ian.”

As at Falcon Ridge, Rowoth plans to start each night with established performers — including some who are part of the official festival lineup and others who are not — and eventually transition to an open circle. “We have no scheduled closing time; it ends when everyone leaves,” he added. Although Rowoth often livestreams performances from the Big Orange Tarp via his Facebook page to create even greater accessibility, he believes that “Nothing feels as good as being there in person.”

For Tickets and More Information on the Festival

Day tickets and multi-day camping tickets for the Black Bear Americana Music Festival may be purchased online at blackbearmusicfest.com, where you will also find more information on the festival – including the complete artist lineup and schedule.