AcousticMusicScene.com will host a multi-CD release party and international wine tasting during this weekend’s Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) conference at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, New York.  Some 600 folk music aficionados – including performers, presenters and promoters – are expected to gather for three jam-packed days and nights of music, informative panel discussions and workshops, a large trade show-like exhibit hall, and lots of informal conversation and networking, Nov. 13-16.

Slated for Saturday, Nov. 15, from 2:30-4 p.m. and open only to those registered for the conference, the AcousticMusicScene.com event will feature performances by New York-based folk harmony trio Gathering Time, folk rock singer-songwriter Joe Iadanza, inventive world musicians the Guy Mendilow Band, and singer-songwriter and AcousticMusicScene.com co-creator Glen Roethel.  The artists plan to accompany each other on a few songs for the very first time, making for a very special and unique event. 

In addition to this and our previously announced Midnight Hoot on Thursday (see “Folk DJs to Sing During NERFA Conference,” Nov. 3), an extended song swap featuring more than 40 independent recording artists from throughout the U.S. and Canada, AcousticMusicScene.com also will host a series of late-night guerilla showcases on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14 and 15.  Hundreds of these take place in hotel rooms until the wee hours of the morning, following a series of formal and tricentric showcases — in which dozens of pre-selected artists are afforded 15-minute performance slots each evening.

Friday night’s Formal Showcase artists include Inkas Wasi, Miche Fambro, Carla Ulbrich, John Flynn, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, Lindsay Mack, Nathan Rogers.  Showcasing on Saturday night will be The Folk Brothers (Jack Hardy and David Massengill), Roy Zimmerman, Chuck Brodsky, Shannon Lambert-Ryan and RUNA, Chuck & Albert, John Wort Hannam and Anthony da Costa.

Performing in Tricentric Showcases on Friday night will be Grandsons, Jenee Halstead, Zach Stevenson, Creeking Tree String Quartet, Raymond Gonzalez, Susan Levine, Blue Moose & the Unbuttoned Zippers, Dala, Ryan Fitzsimmons, Andrew McKnight, Phil Minissale, Lisa Taylor, Magpie, Amy Speace and Jacob Johnson.  Saturday night’s Tricentric Showcase choices include Guy Mendilow Band, Betty Soo, Angelo M, Molly’s Revenge, David Llewellyn, Danielle Miraglia, Kim Beggs, Kelleigh McKenzie, David Roth, Barefoot Boys, Larry Zarella, Tena Moyer, Sharon Katz, Abi Tapia and Danny Schmidt.

The AcousticMusicScene.com Showcase schedule appears below.

Friday Night, Nov. 14

11:45               Good Folk: The Folk Brothers (David Massengill and Jack Hardy),

                         Anthony da Costa, Steve Kirkman, Greg Klyma

12:30               Fun Folk: Gathering Time, Randall Williams

  1:00               SummerSongs Swap: Freebo, David Roth, Penny Nichols, Glen

                         Roethel

  1:45               Folk You Should Know: Jenny Goodspeed, Joe Iadanza, Good

                        Lovelies          

  2:15               Two Duos and a Trio: Friction Farm, Rhythm Angels, The YaYas

Saturday Night, Nov. 15

11:40               Women of Note: Eve Goldberg, Lara Herscovitch, Susan Kane

12:10               Guys of Note: Marc Douglas Berardo, Glen Roethel

12:30               Austin Artists: Danny Schmidt, Betty Soo, Abi Tapia

  1:00               Jaime Michaels, James O’Malley, James Lee Stanley

  1:30               Blues & Roots Jam featuring Beaucoup Blue, Kim Beggs,

                         Miche Fambro, John Wort Hannam, Jacob Johnson, Phil

                         Minissale, Danielle Miraglia, Angelo M and Lauren Sheehan

Wine has been graciously donated by singer-songwriter Tim Dillon, while healthy snacks are being provided by Whole Foods Market.

AcousticMusicScene.com’s Co-Creators Also Participate in Workshops

In addition to co-hosting the AcousticMusicScene.com Showcases, Glen Roethel — whose sophomore release, Smaller Things, will be officially released during the conference — will join Hillary Foxsong and Stuart Markus, his partners in the trio Gathering Time, in conducting a vocal harmony workshop entitled “You Take the High Note and I’ll Take the Low,” along with New York-based singer-songwriter Judith Zweiman.  Roethel also will share his insights during an interactive panel discussion on “Creating, Maintaining and Promoting Your Online Presence and PR” that will be co-moderated by editor and publisher Michael Kornfeld and Lisa Schwartz, president of the Philadelphia Folksong Society. 

As a board member of NERFA, Kornfeld also will be urging his colleagues during the conference to revamp the organization’s website and take concrete steps to enhance the value of NERFA through putting in place mechanisms to encourage ongoing dialogue, networking and information-sharing.  Maintaining that this can be accomplished, at least in part, through more effective and extensive use of the Internet and electronic communications, he is advocating for the creation of a NERFA Group on LinkedIn, the professionally-oriented online social network on which an AcousticMusicScene.com Group also has just been launched.

As part of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance (Folk Alliance), NERFA (www.nerfa.org) aims to foster and promote multicultural, traditional and contemporary folk music, while strengthening and advancing organizational and individual initiatives in folk music and dance through education, networking, advocacy, and professional and field development.