The maddening crowds of summer won’t be there yet, but several hundred performing artists and others engaged in the music business are expected to converge on the historic Victorian-lined New Jersey seaside resort community of Cape May, March 29-30, 2019 for the 12th annual Singer-Songwriter Cape May conference. [To continue reading this article and view videos by featured artists Jesse Terry and Erin McKeown, click on the headline.]
March 31 is the deadline for singer-songwriters to enter the 2019 Grassy Hill Songwriting Competition that is held in conjunction with the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo. Five finalists will be invited to perform two of their submitted songs during the annual free outdoor event that takes place in New Haven’s Edgerton Park on Saturday, September 7, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. [To continue reading this article, click o he headline.]
Applications are being accepted through March 31 in the 2019 Songwriter Serenade competition. From among all entries received, 15 songwriters will be invited to showcase their original songs and compete for prize money at The Parish Hall in Moravia, Texas on Saturday, May 4. [To continue reading this short article, click on the headline.]
Mara Levine and John McCutcheon had the top albums on folk radio during January 2019 (Facets of Folk and To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger, respectively) and a number of the month’s most-played songs. So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums, songs and artists charts are posed on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission.
Brandi Carlile was the big winner in the American Roots Music Field during the 61st annual Grammy Awards presented by the Recording Academy, February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. [To continue reading this article and see the list of winners in the American Roots Music Field, click on the headline.]
Dozens of performers from the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities showcased their talents during the annual conference of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) that took place January 4-8. The global multidisciplinary performing arts marketplace and conference drew several thousand arts professionals from throughout the U.S. and many other countries to New York City. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
John Prine had both the most-played album (The Tree of Forgiveness) and song (“Knockin’ On Your Screen Door”) on folk radio during 2018, according to charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. John McCutcheon was the year’s most-played artist, as he was in 2017. [To continue reading this article and view abbreviated charts denoting the top 25 folk albums, songs and artists of 2018, click on the headline. The charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com with permission.]
There will be lots of singing of socially relevant songs, communal meals, mentoring, socializing, and a wide array of workshops during the People’s Music Network’s 39th annual Winter Gathering that takes place in New York City, January 25-27, 2019. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Entries are now being sought in the 2019 Al Johnson Performing Songwriter Contest that is held in conjunction with the annual Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival, May 17-19, in Richardson, Texas, just a few minutes north of Dallas. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
The Longest Night of the Year, Vol. 1 by Various Artists (Hudson Harding Music) was the top album on folk radio during December 2018, while Noel Paul Stookey’s “Christmas Dinner” and John McCutcheon’s classic “Christmas in the Trenches” were the month’s most-played songs. So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in folk-based music on the radio. [To view the monthly top albums and songs charts, which are posted here with permission, click on the headline.]
The Caroline Aiken Band, Ronny Cox Trio, The Kennedys, David Olney, and Tom Prasada-Rao co-headline the 2019 South Florida Folk Festival, Presented by the nonprofit Broward Folk Club, the festival takes place on Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 26-27. Nearly 50 artists/acts will perform on two stages at Fort Lauderdale’s Hugh Taylor Birch State Park (3109 E. Sunrise Boulevard, just west of A1A) over the weekend. [To continue reading this article -- including information on the festival's singer-songwriter competition -- click on the headline.]
Michael Kornfeld, editor and publisher of AcousticMusicScene.com, was re-elected to a third term as president of the board of directors of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) during its annual conference in Stamford, CT, in November 2018. Serving a region that extends from the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC to Canada’s eastern provinces, NERFA is the largest regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, a Kansas City-based nonprofit organization (on whose board Kornfeld also serves) that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
