SALISBURY, Md.- The first five performers for this year's Maryland Folk Festival in downtown Salisbury have been announced.
The Blue and Gold, Daryl Davis Band, The High & Wides, Ken & Brad Kolodner, and Tifane will take the stage for the event in September. After more than five years as the host of the National Folk Festival, produced in collaboration with the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA), this year’s Folk Fest will mark the inaugural year of the Maryland Folk Festival, which is set for Sept. 22-24.
"The incredible caliber of artists coming to Salisbury this fall is amazing,” said Caroline O’Hare, events, and culture manager for the City of Salisbury. “We are honored to have these world class musicians, dancers, and tradition bearers launch our inaugural festival.”
About 300 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the Maryland Folk Festival, with more than 30 different musical groups performing on four outdoor stages throughout downtown Salisbury.
The Maryland Folk Festival works to present the nation’s finest traditional artists. Music and dance traditions from every part of the country are represented—authentic blues, western swing, jazz, polka, hip hop, bluegrass, klezmer, old-time, go-go, honky-tonk, and zydeco, as well as traditional music and dance from Native American, Celtic, Acadian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, Asian, Appalachian, Latino, Eastern European, African, and Pacific Island cultures, among others.
The five artists announced today include:
The Blue and Gold (British Columbia, Canada) – blues / country: The Blue and Gold is a musical collaboration between Juno-nominated and WCMA Blues’ Artist Of The Year Ndidi O and folk-roots guitarist / banjo player Trish Klein (The Be Good Tanyas, Frazey Ford, Po’ Girl) which celebrates the musical artistry and legacy of pioneering female blues musicians.
Daryl Davis Band (Silver Spring, Maryland) – boogie-woogie piano: This boogie-woogie piano master who learned at the feet of his musical heroes breaks boundaries by tapping into the shared roots of blues, R&B, and early rock and roll.
The High & Wides (Baltimore, Maryland & the rural Delmarva peninsula) – bluegrass: The High & Wides draw on their backgrounds in bluegrass to take the music to a place of their own with inspiration from the days when old-time, rockabilly, western swing, and proto-rock'n'roll mingled in a murky soup of hillbilly string band music.
Ken & Brad Kolodner (Baltimore, Maryland) – old-time / hammered dulcimer: The dynamic father-son team Ken & Brad Kolodner weave together a captivating soundscape on hammered dulcimer and clawhammer banjo, blurring the lines of Old-Time, Bluegrass and American Roots music.
Tifane (Douglasville, GA and Port-au-Prince, Haiti) – Afro-Caribbean: Award-winning artist Tifane is one of Haiti's top female ambassadors of its music and inspiring culture. Since releasing her first album, “Anprent,” known for its record-selling single “Se Kòm Si,” she has collaborated with some of the biggest names in Haitian music and has performed for audiences around the world.