Twenty-four songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2023 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among hundreds of 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 27 and 28, as part of the 51st annual Kerrville Folk Festival.
The finalists (in alphabetical order, by last name) are Alright Alright (Denver, CO), Rita Beyer & Byron James (Lawrence, KS), Katie Boeck (Nashville, TN), Aleksi Campagne (Montreal, QC, Canada), Christina Cavazos (Nashville, TN), Charlie Chamberlain (Nashville, TN), Sienna Christie (Portland, OR), Jackson Emmer (Carbondale, CO), Flamy Grant (San Diego, CA), Connor Ryan Hennessy (Salem, MA), William Jack (Adelaide, South Australia), Barbara Jarrell (Shreveport, LA), Corey Laitman (Turners Falls, MA), Olivia Ellen Lloyd (Shepherdstown, WV), Halley Neal (Nashville, TN), Rai Omri (Carbondale, CO), Georgia Parker (Kent, England), Hope Schneir (Lander, WY), Belle-Skinner (Albany, NY), Spectator Bird ( Harrisonburg, VA), Randy Steele (Chattanooga, TN), Jack Summers (Kansas City, MO), Andy Sydow (Denver, CO), and Brad Yoder (Pittsburgh, PA). They will showcase their talents and songwriting skills at the Threadgill Theater on the Quiet Valley Ranch Campgrounds in the Texas Hill Country near Austin and San Antonio, from 1:30-4:30 p.m. CT. The New Folk Concerts will also be livestreamed on the Kerrville Folk Festival’s website and Facebook page, as well as on the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation’s YouTube channel.
After performing the two songs that they submitted during the New Folk Concerts, six songwriters will be selected as 2023 New Folk Winners by a panel of judges. As in the first round, the finalists’ songs will be evaluated based on originality, lyrics, melody, harmonic structure, and other elements of song-craft. Each of the six performing songwriters chosen as 2023 New Folk Award Winners, to be announced during the evening concert on May 28, will receive a $750 cash prize, a mentoring session with a professional songwriter, some Kerrville Folk Festival swag, two complimentary full festival access passes to the KFF Foundation’s fall festival event, and will be invited to perform a 20-minute set on stage the following Saturday, June 3, and to take part in a 2023 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk House Concert Tour in Texas, as well as to play the 2024 spring or fall festival.
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.
Extending for 18 days, the Kerrville Folk Festival is set for May 25-June 11. Besides concerts each evening, it 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, guided nature walks, yoga, beer and wine seminars, a Young Artists’ Performance Incubator, a professional development program for teachers, as well as a songwriters school and instrumental workshops.
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