[WGH]

As we all know, Tucson has a free folk festival the first weekend in May. Two full days of amazing music around El Presidio Park downtown. What you may not know is that KXCI broadcasts/streams the entire main stage performances all day both Saturday and Sunday. The shows are digitally recorded and played back with a 1 to 1-1/2 hour delay, so if you can't make it downtown then listen on your radio or computer. Note: AZ does not observe daily light savings time so we have the same time as California until Nov. 7th.
http://kxci.org/

The 25th Annual Tucson Folk Festival will feature approximately 115 acts on four stages, Workshops, a New Artists’ Stage, an Acoustic Showcase, and food and craft vendors, in addition to our headliners. With two days of continuous live music, this volunteer-produced event is one of the largest free festivals in the country. This year we will feature Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band) and Herb Pedersen as headliners on Saturday night, and nationally-known Tucsonan John Coinman on Sunday night.

Performers, schedules and stage locations are on the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association website:
http://www.tkma.org/

See you there!

Wayne 

[rpf]

Thanks for the notice!   

[Ruby Mae]

The 25th Annual Tucson Folk Festival will feature approximately 115 acts on four stages, Workshops, a New Artists’ Stage, an Acoustic Showcase, and food and craft vendors, in addition to our headliners. With two days of continuous live music, this volunteer-produced event is one of the largest free festivals in the country. This year we will feature Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band) and Herb Pedersen as headliners on Saturday night, and nationally-known Tucsonan John Coinman on Sunday night.

See you there!

Wayne

who knew ??? i would have definitely gone to this 

[WGH]

who knew ??? i would have definitely gone to this 

See you next year? The first week in May is magical in Tucson.

[Ruby Mae]

See you next year? The first week in May is magical in Tucson.

i have a friend in tucson and she got an email lashing for the omission 
even tho i am jelly  , i hope you post in "latest live shows you've been to" and tell us all about it.    see u next year!!!

[WGH]

Day 1 - Saturday

The Tucson Folk Festival has four stages, the main plaza stage, the courtyard stage, the museum stage, and the Old Town Artisans stage across the street, a person can only see 1/4 of all the performers, a good reason to return every year to catch artists you missed. Here are the artists I saw on Saturday on the various stages:

Mandophilia! http://www.mandophilia.com/ - two mandolins playing original compositions, a fairly new band that sounded great, they had fun on the Museum stage.




Klezmerkaba




Titan Valley Warheads - performing in and around Arizona for nearly 25 years, the Warheads won the Best Bluegrass Band award at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.




Namoli Brennet http://www.namolibrennet.com/fr_home.cfm - I love her songs and voice.




Leila Lopez http://www.leilalopezsongs.com/fr_home.cfm - Leila is amazing and is slowly gathering a very enthusiastic fan base. She has been compared with Ani DiFranco and Fiona Apple. Her original finger-picking style and poetic lyrics have captivated listeners both locally and nationally.  Leila started playing guitar when she was 8 and eventually moved on to learn bass guitar, piano, cello, drums, banjo, and mandolin. She records in her basement and plays most of the instruments on her CD's.






Batucaxe (pronounced bah-too-cah-SHEH) http://www.batucaxe.org/ - Featuring music of many traditions from Brazil and all over the world their high-energy performances had everyone dancing.






Stefan George and Lavinia White http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/StefanGeorge1 - Stefan and Lavinia have been playing and singing the blues for 30 years. Excellent performers with great depth, Stefan is known as one of the best song writers in the Southwest.




Shaun Cromwell http://www.shauncromwell.com/beta/ - quiet, introspective music, he was OK.




Crystal Ridge Bluegrass Band http://www.crystalridgeband.com/ - toe tapping bluegrass, they were finalists in the 2008 Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest.




Andrew Dahl-Bredine http://www.andrewdahlbredine.com/fr_home.cfm - he was OK too.




Chris Hillman http://www.chrishillman.com/ and Herb Pederson http://www.herbpedersen.com/home.html - one of the best performances I have seen at the folk festival. Playing a mix of old and new songs they held the audience in rapt attention for over an hour. Catch them if you can.






 

[WGH]

Day 2 - Sunday

It was a very blustery day with intermittent rain but nobody gave up.

The Determined Luddites http://www.determinedluddites.com/ - The Luddites have been called “the Molly Hatchet of acoustic music.” They prefer to think of themselves as the Twisted Sister of acoustic music.




Ice9




The Ned Sutton Folk Band Experience - good ol' boys playing traditional country and western in three part harmony, they were a little rough around the edges and the crowd loved them.




Nancy McCallion and Catherine Zavala with Grams and Krieger http://www.nancymccallion.com/ - a class act with excellent singing and song writing.




Diane Van Deurzen and Lisa Otey http://www.owlsnestmusic.com/lisaotey/ http://www.dianevandeurzen.com/ - these desert divas perform hot jazz, sultry blues, and cabaret. Lisa is also a killer piano player.




John Coinman http://www.johncoinman.com/ - The folk festival ended with a energetic set of acoustic rock. John lives in Tucson but rarely has time to perform here. He was the Music Supervisor of Dances With Wolves and is currently recording and touring with Kevin Costner and Modern West. A good time was had by all.

[Ruby Mae]

Wow Wayne...what a great post!

Love the pics and I can't wait to get home and check out all the links you provided 

Thanks for sharing so thoroughly 

See you next year 

[vinyl_guy]

who knew ??? i would have definitely gone to this 

I arrived today and missed it After seeing these pics, if I had known in time I would have arranged my trip to come down on Saturday am. Wayne, you may see VLI & VLII next year for the folk festival Thanks for a great evening of listening to music on your system, good Mexican food and 24 on the big screen.

[Ruby Mae]

I arrived today and missed it If I had known in time I would have arranged my trip to come down on Saturday am. Next year

maybe i will join u there 

[vinyl_guy]

maybe i will join u there 

that would be fun. I am so jelly over missing Chris Hillman

[Ruby Mae]

that would be fun. I am so jelly over missing Chris Hillman

   and yeah it would be a blast!

[jimdgoulding]

Tucson, small setting outdoors, wish I had of been there.  Fabulous coverage, Wayne.  One question, tho, where are the brothers?

[WGH]

Thanks for a great evening of listening to music on your system, good Mexican food and 24 on the big screen.

The pleasure was all mine.

I'll be looking forward to seeing both you ladies next year.

[WGH]

One question, tho, where are the brothers?

You lost me big guy. Give me a hint.

[Ruby Mae]

The pleasure was all mine.

I'll be looking forward to seeing both you ladies next year.

brace yourself 
and i am jelly i missed out on the fun with VLI 

[jimdgoulding]

Ya'll were havin so much fun out there I couldn't resist funnin you.  Sarah Palley there?  Ok, ok, I'll bugger off.