More than 250 people will converge on Black Mountain, North Carolina, May 4-7, 2023 for the annual Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) Conference. An extended weekend of contemporary and traditional folk music, networking and learning opportunities, the conference will be keynoted by Jeff Place and features 16 juried official showcases, along with a number of late-night private showcases.
The official showcases take place Friday and Saturday evenings, with each artist/act performing a 15-minute set. Unplugged private showcases follow from 10:40 p.m. to 2 a.m. Also on the agenda are daytime panel discussions and workshops, a Wisdom of the Elders session, several thematic song circles, open mics, mentoring sessions, an awards presentation, an exhibit hall, communal meals, and plenty of other opportunities to learn, share and network –- including during built-in afternoon breaks in the programming. Informal jams and song circles also are apt to break out in the lobby and outside (weather permitting).
SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. SERFA (serfa.org) exists to promote, develop and celebrate the diverse heritage of roots and indigenous music, dance, storytelling and related arts in the southeastern United States. It has produced an annual conference since 2008. This is SERFA’s second consecutive year at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.
Jeff Place, Archivist and Curator for the Smithsonian Folklife Center, to Deliver Keynote Address
Keynoting this year’s conference is Jeff Place, a Grammy Award-winning archivist and curator, who has been with the Smithsonian Folklife Center’s Ralph Rinzler Folkilfe Archives and Collections in Washington, DC since 1988. He was among the producers and writers of the acclaimed 1997 edition of the Anthology of American Folk Music (about which he’ll also lead a workshop), as well as The Best of Broadside, 1962-1988 (2000). Place oversees the cataloging of the Center’s collections and has been engaged in the compilation of more than 60 CDs of American music for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Among them are the LeadBelly Legacy Series, Lead Belly Sings for Children, the Pete Seeger American Favorite Ballads series; and The Asch Recordings (Woody Guthrie). He produced and co-authored (with Robert Santelli) the acclaimed publication and CD box set Woody at 100 and helped to curate the traveling Woody Guthrie exhibition This Land is Your Land, among others.
Afternoon Programming Includes Workshops and Panel Discussions, Song Circles and Mentoring
An array of workshops and panel discussions will include “Adversity, Art and Heart: Songwriting in a Changing World,” “Ask the Radio Promoters,” “Beyond High Lonesome: What Can Bluegrass Teach Us,” “Booking from the Ground Up,” “Building Your Indie National Team,” “Crowd Funding and the Art of Asking,” “Folk Music in the Southern West Virginia Coalfields,” “The Folk Music Legacy of Black Mountain and Swannanoa,” “Mailbox Money: Adventures in Licensing,” “New Options for Remote Recording,” “Setting Up for an Album Release,” Vocal Techniques for Performers,” “A Workshop for Women & Men About Women in the Guitar World,” and “Yoga to Energize Your Stage Presence & Strengthen Your Voice.”
Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be “think tanks” on Growing and Nurturing Your Venue and A Post-CD World, a Wisdom of the Elders session, several thematic song circles, and one-on-one mentoring sessions during the daytime hours.
Evenings to Feature Dozens of Artists in Official and Private Showcases
Slated to present official showcases on Friday evening, May 5 are (in order of appearance) Javier Jara, Rod Abernethy, Sheila Kay Adams and Susan Pepper, The Rough and Tumble, Greg Greenway, Clare Cunningham, Abigail Dowd, and Scott Cook and Pamela Mae. Saturday’s official showcase lineup features Wyatt Easterling, Deidre McCalla, Ben Gage, Flagship Romance, Grace Morrison, Daniel Neihoff, Blue Cactus, and Bob Sinclair and the Big Deals.
Following the official showcases on Friday and Saturday, as well as an open mic on Thursday, late-night private showcases will take place in various meeting rooms for several hours. Although AcousticMusicScene.com has had a presence at SERFA conferences since 2011, it will not be hosting late-night song swaps this year.
Editor’s Note: An active participant in SERFA conference since 2011, I will again be a mentor offering advice and counsel on various aspects of PR, social media and strategic communications. I served on the board of directors of Folk Alliance International from 2014 until earlier this year and am also a past president and former longtime board member of Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA).
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