Black Bear Americana Music Fest Set for Oct. 6-8, 2023 in Goshen, Connecticut

The Black Bear Americana Music Festival returns to the Goshen Fairgrounds in Goshen, Connecticut for a fifth year, October 6-8, 2023. Dozens of national touring artists and local New England-based ones will perform on several stages, while music and art workshops are also on the docket.

Adam Ezra Group, Alison Brown, Joe Crookston The Mammals, Mustard’s Retreat, The Nields, Joan Osborne, Shanna in a Dress, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Uprooted Band, and Susan Werner 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), Riley Cotton, The Currys, Nick Depuy & The Big Fly, Deirdre Flint, Girl Blue, Phil Henry, Kirsten Maxwell, The Midnight Anthem, Adelaide Punkin & Something Simple, Tall Travis, Shawn Taylor, Tracy Walton, Sierra West, and more. A number of artists will also conduct workshops.

“I’m excited for this year. We feel like we are just making this space for others to bring their magic,” said Ian Campbell, who has curated the festival since its inception in 2018. “We are so excited to see how many things are growing organically in the festival … jam tents are doing so many great things … “the “art” part of the festival has a life of its own … so many things to do, and people just keep ‘bringing it’ more than the year before … It’s like we have a space where a community is being built, and it’s beautiful.”

The Black Bear Americana Music Festival was initially borne out of a conversation that Campbell had with his now business partner, Beth Murphy, who told him that she was thinking of creating a festival and asked if, with his experience in the music business, would he be interested. Both had been attending music festivals for years and shared a vision of what they wanted theirs to look like. They had this idea of, as Campbell puts it, “getting the community involved so much that they too can feel this is theirs.” The two recruited others to help them realize their vision and brought in nonprofit organizations and local groups as well. “We are all working to create this community … like folks are coming to visit us in our backyards,” Campbell told AcousticMusicScene.com last year.

Although still relatively small, the festival has grown each year – with new elements and layers being added to it. In addition to dozens of musical acts on several stages, hour-long Sunset Song Swaps will take place each evening, while daytime classes and workshops are also on the festival schedule. Workshops will focus on such topics as photography, busking, jamming, ukulele, songwriting, hand-drumming, stories and art, and studio pre-production, guitar maintenance and set-up. “We’ll also have a bunch of art workshops – ranging from painting, to prints and book prints, to “immortal jellyfish umbrella” making (conducted by Tink from The Slambovian Circus of Dreams), to pumpkin carving, and more,” said Campbell. Shanna in a Dress leads a songwriting workshop, while John John Brown hosts one on Stories and Art: Lessons from Strangers, and Joe Crookston leads a special print workshop. “Ace Hardware is creating a very cool lounge, and there will also be games and hula hoops and carnival acts,” Campbell added.

“What is most exciting for me is that people are taking it upon themselves to simply make this event cooler, warmer, nicer, kinder,” he said. “We are all making a beautiful community that we get to live in and enjoy, even if just for a few days.”

Participating artists share his enthusiasm. “It really is a gem of a festival,” said Sierra West, a Connecticut-based singer-songwriter. A passionate performer who conveys messages of truth, compassion and spiritual growth in her songs, West showcased her talents at the festival last fall and told AcousticMusicScene.com “ I’m excited to be back at Black Bear this year. It’s an amazing festival, and I’m most looking forward to performing in-the-round with Riley Cotton and Shawn Taylor,” two other CT-based singer-songwriters. Besides performing, West said that she looks forward to sets by Tracy Walton and Susan Werner, adding “Perhaps some Black Bears will be spotted dancing to the Adam Ezra Group this year.”

For his part, Walton, a multi-instrumentalist who also owns a recording studio near Goshen, told AcousticMusicScene.com last year “Black Bear has quickly become one of my favorite festivals in New England.” He performed as half of the duo Belle of the Fall during the festival’s inaugural year (2018), returned to perform a solo set, participate in a songwriters’ round, and lead a workshop last year. In addition to showcasing his own talents again this year, he looks forward to seeing performances by West and Cotton, two of the artists whom he has recorded and played with.

Festivalgoers who opt to camp at Goshen Fairgrounds can also enjoy late-night musical revelry in the campgrounds.

After coming to the Black Bear Americana Music Fest for the first time last year, Alan Rowoth will again host unplugged, late-night song circles under the Big Orange Tarp beginning after the music ends on the main stage on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as one on Thursday night preceding the annual start of the festival.
Inspired by the late-night song circles that he experienced at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country, Rowoth has sought to replicate what he calls “the incredibly intimate nature of this listening experience” at other festivals. His Big Orange Tarp has been a late-night staple at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (which now also takes place at the Goshen Fairgrounds) and at Planet Bluegrass-sponsored festivals in Colorado.

Stuart Kabak, an upstate New York-based singer-songwriter, who has curated and hosted late-night music at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for years, brings Pirate Camp’s large canopy tent and its esprit de corps to Black Bear for the first time this fall. The less-structured, more informal Jubilee Jam Tent also returns this year, while singer-songwriter Adelaide Punkin hosts a jam area during the festival as well.

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.