As I mentioned in my previous post, I had the privilege to attend this year’s Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City last week. There are all kinds of industry panels and how-to seminars, but for me the highlight is always the music. There are Official showcases, held in the various hotel ballrooms, and Unofficial showcases held in individual hotel rooms on 3 floors designated for the activity. When you can literally go from one room to the next and see music until about 3 am, it’s not hard to catch a dozen or 15 artists in a single night. With sleep deprivation finally overcome, here are my recollections for the best of what I heard.
Tried And True: There are a number of artists you can always count on to give a solid performance, with a mix of new and old. Several of those performers played a set or two this year in the House Of Songs room. In many ways, House Of Songs is very complementary to Folk Alliance. They operate in multiple locations and focus on connecting songwriters with different backgrounds to generate new material and share experience. You can now count several HOS alumni among the headliners in the folk and singer-songwriter genres. The highlights for me this year were BettySoo, Tim Easton, and a fabulous duet with besties Graham Weber and Jaimee Harris.
Minus the Band: Another characteristic of the conference is that you get a chance to see stripped down performances from artists that frequently travel with a band. Adrian + Meredith are always entertaining on their own, but also gave a stellar performance in an Official showcase with addition of bass and drums. Beth Bombara had been polishing her material with a full band, but noted it was nice to be playing solo. The last time I saw Afton Wolfe he had about a dozen players on stage; horns, backup singers, the works. Last week it was just him and his guitar and I gained a new appreciation for the songs.
New To Me: One of the best things about Folk Alliance is how easy it is to discover new, wonderful talent. Sometimes you literally are just passing by a room when something great comes wafting into the hall and you step inside and are amazed. Or you’re just sitting there after one performance when the next musician takes the stage and wows you more than who you were there to see. The trio South For Winter blew me away with their harmonies and resonator/cello jam. Wood Willow and Opal Canyon were acts I discovered recently and was thrilled to hear they were as good or better in person as on tape. One of those waiting-on-another-artist finds was Nat Myers. His good-old-boy demeanor shatters when he channels the Delta blues greats of the 20’s and 30’s on his own original material. For sheer fun you can’t beat Shanna In A Dress with her slight neurotic, but infinitely charming observations on life.
Attendance was down this year, for all the reasons you can imagine. Having said that, the atmosphere and experience really didn’t suffer. The Folk Alliance International conference is always a highlight of my year, and this season’s offering continued to hold that distinction.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.