The Milk Carton Kids helped Los Angeles cement its place on the festival circuit with their inaugural LA Folk Festival held at Ford Theater. On Saturday, Sierra Ferrell, Valerie June, David Garza & Freaklorico and Tre Burt were featured. On Sunday Haley Heynderickx Gabe Witcher and John C. Reilly performed as well.
Big Sur Folk Festival
This six-day festival was filmed and released for public release in 1971, though its film version doesn’t compare to Woodstock itself. Although less spectacular, it still captures an impression of its time and place with musicians in sync and powerful performances; Joan Baez singing “Song for David” and “Sweet Sir Galahad”, Joni Mitchell performing “Woodstock”, Crosby Stills Nash & Young performing “4 + 20”, among many other hits by these acts can all be seen here.
Esalen’s music was enhanced by its breathtaking natural surroundings and spiritual environment, creating a truly captivating environment for concerts to take place against. Crowds were polite, unlike some of the rowdiness seen at other festivals during that era; Highway 1 served as an idyllic stage to showcase performances, leading many camp out overnight in order to see them.
One of the more iconic bootlegs from Big Sur Folk Festival is Kris Kristofferson’s 1970 performance, recorded the weekend he learned of Janis Joplin’s death.
Other highlights included performances by The Incredible String Band, a gospel group; Dave Mason of Traffic with CSNY backing him; as well as Nancy Carlen’s commitment to keeping audience sizes small while paying performers their union wages, using only organic foods and sustainable practices in her festival organization.
Joni Mitchell wrote her unforgettable lyrical and haunting song about Woodstock not long after it took place at Esalen a month later, because she wanted to attend an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show upstate New York. However, her experience inspired her to pen this enduring and iconic work about it.
Celebration at Big Sur was also documented for documentary purposes and provides a rare look into 1960s folk rock; several cameramen who would become widely-renowned later went on to work on it, including Gary Weis himself at an early stage. Watching it now on DVD provides a fascinating window into its glory days!
Los Angeles Folk Festival
Two recent events highlighted California music’s vibrant roots and Americana scene. BeachLife Ranch Festival took place Sept 22-24 in Redondo Beach while Los Angeles Folk Festival made its inaugural run Oct 8-9 in Eagle Rock neighborhood. Both featured a wide range of acts but differed in how their showcases were organized; BeachLife used multistage festival format while LA Folk Fest staged evening-only showcases at The Ford Amphitheatre – two examples of events designed to highlight roots music’s diverse flavors in California.
Following in the footsteps of Newport Folk Festival organizers, LA Folk Fest organizers packed their lineup with talented musicians who appeal to an audience beyond fans primarily interested in folk or roots music. Genre-crossing artists such as Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Julianna Raye and Jimmie Dale Gilmore as well as veteran folk and roots performers like Peter Case and Richie Havens made up part of this diverse talent pool.
Curating the LA Folk Festival proved much simpler for duo members Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale than expected, possibly due to today’s vibrant folk-music landscape. While artists in the 1940s and ’50s looked backward for inspiration, contemporary artists on this year’s LA Folk Fest bill use traditional styles as springboards to write songs that speak directly about contemporary life.
The Milk Carton Kids co-produced this two-day event in conjunction with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and will perform on both days alongside Sierra Ferrell, Valerie June, David Garza & Freaklorico, Haley Heynderickx, Tre Burt as well as Mae Martin and Nick Thune from comedy troupe TMC!
Concertgoers may bring food and drinks (but no glass containers) inside the theater, picnic on its grounds (using coolers no larger than carry-on size), smoke outside (no umbrellas allowed) and purchase alcohol for sale at this event. For more information about Los Angeles Folk Festival visit their website; tickets are on sale now via TicketSmarter using multiple payment methods including PayPal; plus exclusive presale opportunities can help get tickets before public on sale at guaranteed best prices!
San Francisco State College Folk Festival
SF State has an established tradition of supporting emerging and established composers through its Festival. Over its history, notable composers like John Adams, Samuel Adler, William Bolcom, John Luther Adams, John Corigliano, John Harbison Lou Harrison Jennifer Higdon Aaron Jay Kernis Charles Ives David Mackey Pauline Oliveros Shulamit Ran have all graced its stage over time. Furthermore, its Commissioning and Residency Program showcases amazing new projects by established playwrights composers and choreographers as well.
The Festival aims to showcase local artists in various venues throughout Napa Valley and San Francisco, providing audiences with opportunities to experience and appreciate diverse music, arts, culture and traditions of both communities while encouraging creativity and collaboration between participants. As a non-profit and volunteer run event it embodies all these goals perfectly!
Alongside the festival, several events are scheduled throughout the year to complement it and contribute to local economies, including summer chamber orchestra concert series, master classes, and workshops. Over time, it has attracted thousands of visitors. Beyond concerts alone, it offers other cultural programs like art exhibits and film screenings.
This collection contains approximately one hundred sound recordings and related documentation from Fort Valley State College (now Fort Valley State University), Fort Valley, Georgia’s folk festival during 1941 and 1942. These include songs recorded by John Wesley Work III, Lewis Jones, Willis Laurence James as well as transcriptions, song lists, correspondence with the Library of Congress Archive of American Folk Song, special issues of The Peachite: Festival Number; etc.
The Sacramento State Festival of New American Music is an annual festival showcasing contemporary classical and folk music that serves students of the Sacramento State School of Music, University community members and wider Sacramento area. The Festival presents high-quality performances by some of America’s premier musicians from a broad selection of recently composed/improvised compositions/improvisations from some of America’s premier artists.
Berkeley Folk Festival
The Berkeley Folk Music Festival held on the University of California campus from 1958-1970 was an iconic place that showcased American folk revivalism, providing crucial post-World War II American cultural history lessons. Today its vibrant sounds have faded into historical silence, leaving its story untold and its tale mostly untold.
The Berkeley Folk Music Festival Archive, a multimodal public history project directed by Michael J. Kramer of the Department of History at Berkeley is designed to change that. Led by Assistant Professor Kramer and supported by student researchers from his team, this endeavor investigates an often understudied facet of post-World War II US culture history through coursework completed by students as well as research conducted and written about by Kramer as well as digitizing and cataloguing over 33,500 artifacts into its digital repository.
These materials, including never-before-seen photographs of musicians and festival attendees, are now easily accessible online to anyone with an Internet connection. Users can explore the archive via its website to gain an understanding of its themes and issues; beginning with an Introduction that poses key historical questions as well as providing instructions on how to navigate the exhibit itself – it even links back to its full online archive!
Later years saw the festival broaden its focus to cover an eclectic range of musical styles and cultures, featuring traditionalists such as Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Bessie Jones alongside modern composers and performers like Rabbi Carlebach (rabbi-musician) or rock bands The Youngbloods; but modern newcomers also appeared such as Rabbi Carlebach or rock band The Youngbloods. Berkeley folk scene also fostered an active community of songwriters; this festival provided an invaluable launchpad for influential lyrical composer Elliott Smith who became an influential voice of his generation.
In addition to archival material, this exhibition also includes interviews with musicians and audience members as well as excerpts from a documentary film of the 1969 festival. Furthermore, there will be a playlist with songs performed at live performances at Berkeley Folk Festival; both video footage of and audio clips from live performances can be found within. Overall it offers an invaluable resource for folk music fans and researchers, hopefully sparking renewed enthusiasm about Berkeley Folk Festival.