News Capsules for and about the Acoustic Community in the Northeastern U.S.
Lehigh Valley Music Awards for Best Live Acoustic Performance and Best Acoustic Song were won by folksinger Dave Fry and singer, guitarist and upright bass player Peter Scapegrace during a competition hosted by Listen Live! Music in Zionsville, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 6, 2010. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Grammy Award-winning folk/country singer Kathy Mattea will be the Saturday night headliner during the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo that’s set for Sept. 10-12 in New Haven’s Edgerton Park. [To view the entire article, click on the headline.]
The Philadelphia Folk Festival features an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary music that stretches the boundaries of folk, helping to broaden its appeal and reach a new generation of listeners. Now in its 49th year, the festival takes place at the Old Pool Farm near Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, Aug. 20-22. A special concert, exclusively for all-festival camping ticket holders, is set for Thursday night, Aug. 19. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
AcousticMusicScene.com will have a major presence at the Fifth Annual Huntington Folk Festival that takes place on Saturday, August 7, in Huntington, New York. Singer-Songwriters Susan Werner and Vance Gilbert co-headline the free event that extends from 1 p.m. into the late evening at Heckscher Park, Main Street (Route 25A) and Prime Avenue. Prior to the 8:30 p.m. concert by Werner and Gilbert on the Chapin Rainbow Stage, unplugged showcases and song swaps will take place from 1-6:30 p.m. under or near canopy tents hosted by AcousticMusicScene.com and Richard Cuccaro’s monthly listings guide Acoustic Live! in NYC & Beyond. The Green Palate Open Mic also will have a presence. [To read the article and view the festival schedule, click on the headline.]
On Monday evening, August 9, many talented Long Island musical artists will gather at East Meadow, New York’s Eisenhower Park to present a concert and food drive in tribute to the late singer-songwriter and anti-hunger activist Harry Chapin -- playing his songs for the cause to which he dedicated himself. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
AcousticMusicScene.com will host pre-arranged song swaps during the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, July 22-25. The festival takes place at Dodds Farm on Route 7D in Hillsdale, New York, located in the foothills of the Berkshires, near the tri-state corner of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. For the third year in a row, AcousticMusicScene.com joins with Tribes Hill (a nonprofit organization uniting musicians of the Hudson Valley region and their patrons in support of a music community coming together to celebrate human experience through song) to jointly present late-night song swaps during Falcon Ridge. Dinner-break sing-alongs & jams and an informal Thursday afternoon session on PR for independent recording artists also are slated. [To read the entire article, including a schedule of activities, click on the headline.]
Artists interested in applying for formal and/or tricentric showcases during the 16th annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference have until Aug. 1 and Aug. 31, respectively, to do so. The annual conference, which drew nearly 700 people last year, is slated for Nov. 11-14 at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, NY. [To view the entire article, click on the headline.]
A couple of music festivals of note take place in Massachusetts next month: The Greater New Bedford Summerfest, July 3-4, along the cobblestoned streets of the old whaling city, and the Green River Festival featuring music, hot air balloons and more at the community college campus in Greenfield, July 17-18. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Twenty-four solo artists and bands have been selected from among hundreds of applicants to perform in the Emerging Artists Showcase during the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival on Friday afternoon, July 23, 2010. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Two events on two successive weekends in June help mark the beginning of the summer outdoor festival season in New York State -- Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival and the 30th annual Old Songs Festival. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Larry Murante is the winner of the 2010 Rose Garden Performing Songwriter Contest. A Pennsylvania native who has been living in the Seattle, Washington area for many years, Murante was named the winner over fellow contest finalists Jim Colbert (Bellefonte, PA) and Chris Elliott (Leverett, MA) after performing two of his original songs on May 15 prior to an April Verch Band concert at the Rose Garden Coffeehouse in Mansfield, Massachusetts. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
The Boston Bluegrass Union hosts the 25th annual Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, February 12-14, at the Sheraton Framingham in Framingham, Massachusetts. The indoor festival, located 18 miles west of Boston, will feature regional and nationally touring bands, more than 40 master classes and workshops (for which pre-registration is required), directed slow jams and plenty of picking opportunities throughout the weekend. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
