Nationally acclaimed band Brother Sun fits well with the Shawano Folk Festival and the vibe that festival organizers hope to accomplish.
So organizers want to give Brother Sun a big role at this year’s festival.
The Shawano Folk Music Festival Committee has selected Brother Sun to be the honorary co-directors of the festival that runs from Friday to Sunday.
“They were really fun and collaborative,” festival co-director Nicole Henquist said. “They really got what we were trying to do.”
Brother Sun, which consists of Pat Wictor, Joe Jencks and Greg Greenway, was humbled by the distinction.
“It is a great honor. It is nice to know that the people at the festival liked us as much as we liked it,” Wictor said.
Brother Sun was formed in 2009 by three men from different parts of the country: Wictor from New York, Greenway from Boston, and Jencks from Chicago. They all were having successful solo careers and often times played as pairs. But at a festival in Virginia, Greenway and Jencks offered to sing harmony during Wictor’s piece, leading to something special.
Their audience loved them and quickly told them to join forces because what had happened up on stage was a “magical moment,” Jencks said.
The greatness that the audience experienced soon spread across the nation.
After taking a year to sync their schedules, the trio released its first album, aptly called “Brother Sun.” The album was named the eighth best album in folk music for 2011 by Folk-DJ.
In 2013, they released another album called “Some Part of the Truth,” and these songs will be performed at the festival. The album received the most radio airtime of any folk album in the country. The opening song on the album, “Lady of the Harbor,” was the most played song that year.
They were just as big of a hit with the Shawano crowd.
“The audience fell in love with them,” volunteer and former festival director Dori Jerger said.
“They’re a great add,” co-director Becky Van Buren said. “They were running around all weekend with smiles on their faces.”
Brother Sun loved the audience just as much.
“They were one of the warmest music-loving audiences that we have ever played for,” said Jencks.
“They are incredibly attentive,” Wictor said. “They listen with their hearts.”
Before being invited by last year’s honorary co-director, Joe Crookston, the band had never heard of the Shawano Folk Music Festival.
“The closest I had been was Madison,” said Greenway. “If it wasn’t for the co-director’s (invite), we wouldn’t know anything about the festival.”
Every year, the honorary co-directors bring a guest to play with them at the festival. Last year, Brother Sun was that guest. This year, Brother Sun will bring Tom Prasada-Rao.
“This guy is just fantastic,” Greenway said of Prasada-Rao. “It’s like we’ve got a special secret.”
The band is looking forward to the festival, having one year already under its belt.
“Instead of meeting friendly strangers,” Wictor said, “we’ll be seeing something closer to old friends.”
