Several Long Island-based acoustic musicians marked important milestones in January. Phil Minissale, the Long Island Blues Boy, turned 21. Denise Romas, who has been part of the local acoustic music scene for years, released her debut album. And Gathering Time – an acoustic trio featuring Glen Roethel, Stuart Markus and Hillary Foxsong – performed live in the studio at WFDU in Teaneck, New Jersey. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

Arlo Guthrie and Jean Ritchie are among the two dozen individual musicians, groups and organizations with connections to Long Island slated to be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame during gala ceremonies October 21 at Queens College’s Kupferberg Center for the Arts on Kissena Boulevard in Flushing. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

Little Toby Walker, who called Huntington home until moving to New Jersey recently, continues to garner fans and well-deserved buzz beyond the New York metropolitan area and on both sides of the Atlantic for his fine Delta blues and ragtime guitar playing. But until this month, he had not played one of America’s oldest and most legendary folk festivals. Wearing his trademark hat, a colorful short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, he made his Philadelphia Folk Festival debut earlier this month. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

It’s been more than 25 years since Harry Chapin left us. But many Long Islanders (and others across the country and the world) are still “Wild About Harry.” On Monday night, August 27, at Eisenhower Park’s Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater, many talented Long Island artists will come together to pay tribute to the late singer-songwriter and humanitarian for whom the theater is named. Chapin, who resided in Huntington Bay, was on his way to perform a free concert at the theater one summer night in 1981 when he died in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. His music and his giving, community spirit live on. [To read the entire article, click on the headline]....

Steve Robinson will represent the Long Island Blues Society in the solo/duo category at the 2008 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee next January. The 58 year-old Massapequa Park-based singer-songwriter and fingerstyle guitarist bested several other talented Long Islanders (Bob Westcott, Phil Minissale, Dan Freedman, and Josh Allen & Junior Allen) for this coveted honor during a competition held in Patchogue on Sunday afternoon, August 5. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

The 2nd Annual Huntington Folk Festival is slated for Saturday, August 11, 2007, beginning at 5 p.m., on the Chapin Rainbow Stage at Heckscher Park, Prime Avenue and Route 25A in Huntington Village. Steve Forbert, a folk-rock singer-songwriter best known for his 1979 album Jackrabbit Slim and its sprightly hit single “Romeo’s Tune,” headlines the free festival that is jointly presented by the Folk Music Society of Huntington and the Huntington Arts Council. Beaucoup Blue, a Philadelphia-based father & son acoustic blues & roots duo, opens for Forbert. Preceding them will be three on-stage song swaps, featuring artists from New York and New England. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

There will be plenty of good, free acoustic music in Islip this summer thanks to the Islip Arts Council and its artistic director, Amy Tuttle. This summer’s series of free Sunday afternoon concerts at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River will feature several LI-based acoustic artists and Red Molly, the rootsy female Americana trio that’s been drawing a lot of buzz here and elsewhere, while a series of Tuesday Brown Bag Concerts at the Bay Shore Bandshell on Main Street will include noted German guitarist Peter Finger, as well as several more local performers. Both series have taken on more of an acoustic bent since Tuttle (who also serves as an officer of both the Folk Music Society of Huntington...

Acoustic artists from near and far will be performing at a number of festivals on Long Island this summer. These include the 2nd Annual Acoustic Long Island Summer Festival in St. James (June 29), a new Great South Bay Music Festival in Patchogue (July 13-15), Babylon Village Bayfest (July 25), the 2nd Annual Huntington Folk Festival (August 11), and the 5th Annual Long Island Bluegrass Festival in Copiague (August 18). [To see the entire article, click on the headline].

The growing popularity of Acoustic Long Island, Dave and Rob Dircks’ wonderful weekly coffeehouse series in St. James, that also ranks as the top acoustic music podcast on iTunes, has prompted the brothers to expand their live venue to hold about 100 people comfortably. After percolating for more than 18 months at Cool Beanz, a cozy coffeehouse in a strip shopping center, the series has moved just a bit further down Route 25A to a larger space within the historic Deepwells Mansion (circa 1845), a Suffolk County-owned treasure situated just west of Moriches Road. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

Little Toby Walker, Tom Griffith and Bob Koenig have new CDs out this month... NYC CD release party slated for Johnny Cuomo... Former LIer Arlon Bennett to make Acoustic Long Island appearance in May... Glen Roethel is a finalist in Susquehanna Songwriting Contest... and LI artists offer quality music for children, too. [To read the entire article, click on the title in red above].