From gold-plated toilets in the White House to $5000 burgers, society’s pendulum is clearly swinging well into the conspicuous consumption range. For a respite from all that money can buy, I heartily recommend the annual Folk Alliance International conference. Held a couple of weeks ago in the downtown Sheraton in New Orleans, it’s a haven for the DIY acoustic music crowd, and a sanctuary from privilege and entitlement. There’s no red carpet, no VIP seating, no dress code. What it does have is over 1000 artists performing at some point in the 4-day event. And veteran musicians with no limit to their patience for beginning musicians and newcomers to their catalog.
The event essentially kicks off on Wednesday night with the Awards ceremony (this year’s winners listed below). For the next three days, mornings and afternoons are scheduled with the kinds of things you expect at a conference; how-to seminars on various aspects of the business, panels offering different perspectives on industry norms, and organized meet-ups of like-minded individuals from indigenous singers to folk music festival organizers. Early evening is filled with the Public Showcases, amplified sets from performers chosen by a jury of music industry professionals. Then late night entertainment kicks in with Private Showcases featuring up to 100 “stages” simultaneously.
It’s maybe worthwhile going one level deeper into the differences between the Public and Private showcases. The Public events are held in the hotel ballrooms. The musicians are up on stage, attended to by professional sound people, and have seating for one to several hundred. There are 8 more-or-less simultaneous sets, but with staggered start times and the proximity of the ballrooms you can get a taste for the sound of maybe 20 different artists per night. Your ADHD can thrive.
The Private events are another thing entirely. The hotel takes the beds out of 5 floors of rooms, which are then sponsored, managed, and staffed by various companies and individuals who want to curate 3-4 nights of 8-10 acts/night. As noted earlier, I counted over 100 of those rooms, where you can see a performer that would normally fill a 500 seat theatre play a short set with, at most, 20 other people. The Private Showcases start at 10:30 and go until 2 or 3 in the morning, with jam sessions sometimes following until near dawn. Don’t bother with the math. Just know that there’s more music than you can imagine.
With that, here are this year’s Award winners.
Artist of the Year: (tie) Carsie Blanton, I’m With Her
Song of the Year: Sleeves Up by Crys Matthews
Album of the Year: Wild and Clear and Blue by I’m With Her
Clearwater Award: Edmonton Folk Festival
Rising Tide Award: Yasmin Williams
People’s Voice Award: Kyshona
Lifetime Achievement Awards: Living – Taj Mahal; Legacy – Clifton Chenier; Business Academic – Louisiana Folk Roots
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.