Falcon Ridge Preview Tour Plays 23 Northeast Venues in May

Performing songwriters Joe Crookston, Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac and Randall Williams – emerging artists who were voted “most wanted to return” by 2007 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival attendees – help the festival inaugurate its 20th anniversary year during a 23-show preview tour in May. The tour, which kicks off May 1 at the venerable Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, makes stops at notable coffee houses, theaters, clubs and house concert series across the East Coast. [To read the entire article and see the tour schedule, click on the headline.]

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2007 International Songwriting Competition Winners Announced

Winners in 19 categories were named this month from among more than 15,000 entries in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition (ISC). For the first time in its history, a majority of winners -- including all three in the Americana category, two of three in the folk/singer-songwriter category, and one of three in the AAA category -- came from outside the U.S. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Music and More for Mothers and Others, May 9-11

As in years past, this Mother's Day weekend will be filled with lots of good music. The Susquehanna Music & Arts Festival (SMAF) in Maryland, the Folk Project's Backstage Festival in New Jersey, and the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) in North Carolina all take place May 9-11. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Winners Named in 9th Annual Great American Song Contest

Dave Murphy, an Americana singer-songwriter, captured first place in the contemporary acoustic/folk category of the ninth annual Great American Song Contest for his song "Chesapeake." Winners in nine categories were named earlier this month. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Partial Capo Techniques Workshop Set for May 3 in Centerport

The Folk Music Society of Huntington will host a Partial Capo Techniques Workshop for guitarists with Randall Williams on Saturday, May 3, from 4-6 p.m., at the Congregational Church of Huntington, 30 Washington Drive (off Route 25A), Centerport. Open to guitarists of all skill levels, the two-hour workshop costs $25 (if pre-registered) and $30 at the door, if space is available. Checks payable to the Folk Music Society of Huntington may be sent to P.O. Box 290, Huntington Station, NY 11746. The workshop precedes the society’s Falcon Ridge Preview Tour concert at 7:30 p.m. that evening featuring Joe Crookston, Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac and Williams – all of whom were voted as audience favorites among emerging artists “most wanted” to return during the 2007 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. (More information on that appears in the AcoustiCalendar.) [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Long Island AcoustiCalendar for April Through Mid-May 2008

Spring has sprung. Crocuses are blooming. But it’s not just the birds that are singing. Throughout Long Island – from Brooklyn to the Hamptons and many places in between –a growing number of singer-songwriters, song stylists and other acoustic musicians are strutting their stuff in concerts, jams and open mics. In addition to a lot of homegrown talent, notable touring artists like Greg Brown, Tom Chapin, Jerry Douglas, Arlo Guthrie, Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen, Colin Hay, Garnet Rogers, The Roches, SONiA & Disappear Fear, Cheryl Wheeler, Dar Williams, and Jack Williams visit during April and May. So too do such emerging talents as Joe Crookston, Anthony da Costa, Lindsay Mac and Randall Williams (together as part of the Falcon Ridge Preview Tour in Centerport on May 3), as well as Marc Douglas Berardo, Lara Herscovitch and Karyn Oliver. [For information on more than 100 acoustic music events taking place on LI through mid-May, click on the headline.]

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Songwriters Sought for SolarFest Showcase in Vermont

SolarFest, which bills itself as the New England Renewable Energy Festival, is seeking songwriters to perform in its annual Songwriter Showcase this July. Ten singer-songwriters, who write and perform original music and are not currently signed to a major recording label or publishing deal, will be selected to perform two songs and compete to be among the three winners of cash prizes and studio time. The first-place winner also will be invited back to perform as a featured artist during next year’s SolarFest. All finalists will receive two complimentary passes for SolarFest, which takes place July 11-13 at the Forget-Me-Not Farm in Tinmouth, Vermont. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Clearwater Short Film Competition Focuses On Power of Song To Change the Environment

Video entries are now being sought for a new environmental short film competition, whose theme is the power of song to change the environment. Launched by Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., a member-supported nonprofit organization created by Pete Seeger and others more than 40 years ago to help restore and protect the Hudson River, The Clearwater Environmental Short Film Competition is one way in which the organization is seeking to inspire people to use music and song as instruments for environmental change. Much as Pete Seeger has educated people about important issues and causes through his music, the folks at Clearwater are looking for videos that use music and song to heighten interest in and concern for the environment. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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‘Absolutely Irish’ Concert Film Airs on Public TV Stations

With the St. Patrick's Day season upon us, public television stations across the U.S. are airing Absolutely Irish this month. The 90-minute concert film and documentary features some of the world's leading traditional Irish musicians. Filmed live last April during a concert at the Irish Arts Center in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood by Academy and Emmy Award-winning director Paul Wagner, Absolutely Irish is replete with jigs, reels, airs, ballads, contemporary versions of familiar old tunes, and instrumental jams featuring some fine players -- young and old alike. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Americana, Bluegrass & Roots Festivals Spring Up in TX & NC

Many fans of bluegrass, roots and Americana music will be heading to Driftwood, Texas and Wilkesboro, North Carolina in April for major festivals. Early-bird tickets are now on sale for the Old Settler’s Music Festival and Merlefest. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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NSAI Hosts Songwriters Festival & Symposium in Nashville

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) stages its 16th annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival, April 1-5, in Nashville. The songwriters’ festival, which takes place at nine venues throughout Music City USA, also coincides with NSAI’s Spring Symposium, a two-day intensive seminar for writers of all genres and experience levels, that takes place at Nashville’s Millennium Maxwell House. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Long Island AcoustiCalendar for March 2008

You don’t have to be Irish to enjoy Irish music. And there will certainly be a lot of opportunities to hear some “reel” good tunes and ballads this month in the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day. In addition to some fine music being performed by local artists, a number of talented touring artists visit our Isle this month. Of particular note are the performers on the bill for the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s Phil Ochs Song Night that kicks off the month on March 1; Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers at Bay Shore’s Boulton Center for the Performing Arts and Cathie Ryan, the former lead singer of Cherish the Ladies, at Port Washington’s Landmark on Main Street, both on March 7; the blues & roots music pairing of former LIer Toby Walker and Pat Wictor at the Garden Stage in Garden City that same night (Walker also has two solo gigs on LI in March, while Wictor pays homage to Phil Ochs in Centerport); a free program of Andean music performed by Hinantillan at the West Hempstead Public Library on March 9 and a visit by young Canadian singer-songwriter Nathan Rogers (son of the late Stan) to Stony Brook’s University Café the same day; an anticipated capacity crowd for a March 15 homecoming engagement by Port Washington native Richard Shindell at The Landmark on Main Street; the LI debut of Ellis, a sparkling and thoroughly engaging singer-songwriter from Minnesota, at Garden City’s Our Times Coffeehouse on March 21; a not-to-be-missed duo performance by 17-year-old singer-songwriter & Falcon Ridge Folk Festival fave Anthony da Costa and Red Molly’s Abbie Gardner at Acoustic Long Island in St. James on March 26; an intimate house concert in Babylon featuring the talented Canadian husband & wife duo The Laws, with gifted guitarist and conservatory-trained singer-songwriter Randall Williams opening on March 28. For more information on these and other acoustic music happenings on Long Island in March, click on the headline. – Michael Kornfeld

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