Fresh faces at the Folk Festival
Mixing new groups with stalwarts to stay alive.
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Don't phreak out, pholk phans: The Philadelphia Folk Festival has gotten a face-lift.
This weekend, the annual gathering at the Old Pool Farm in Schwenksville will show off the results of a nip, tuck and infusion of new blood that means to put a fresh face on the 47-year-old festival.
Familiar standbys will still be on hand: Judy Collins headlines on the main stage Saturday night, and the likes of Janis Ian, Kathy Mattea and Tom Paxton will precede her.
But this year, there are a whole bunch of intriguing acts on the undercard. The list includes Upstate New York roots renegades the Felice Brothers, Florida sacred-steel band the Lee Boys, Philadelphia acoustic rockers Hoots & Hellmouth, gospel mandolin whiz Jake Shimabukuro, Moldy Peaches and Juno guitar strummer Kimya Dawson, and alt-country rocker Steve Earle and his wife, Allison Moorer.
In addition, Philadelphia freak folk band Espers, led by Greg Weeks, will perform on the main stage on Saturday, and curate a lineup on its own stage that afternoon, building a musical bridge between contemporary trippy acoustic folk and its '60s pastoral antecedents that have long found a home at the venerable fest.
That Espers-sponsored interlude will include Brooklynites Sharon Von Etten and P.G. Six, Philadelphia- and Princeton-based siblings Laura and Meg Baird (who perform as the Baird Sisters), plus Kensington bluesman Jack Rose.
The fresh faces are long overdue. At a news conference in the spring, Gene Shay, longtime fest host and WXPN-FM (88.5) DJ, admitted that the fest's "core audience is atrophying."
In 2002, 40,000 people came during the fest's traditional three-day weekend; last year, hurt by torrential rains, attendance was down to 20,000.
None of this year's new additions are huge names likely to instantly swell the number of fannies plopped down under the stars in Schwenksville. But the festival's new direction signals that its organizers have finally figured out that in order to survive, they need to bring the young folks in, along with the old.