Organizers of the 36th annual Shawano Folk Music Festival promise it will be a weekend full of music, dance and crafts for the entire family.
The festival runs from Aug. 8-10 at Mielke Park in Shawano.
This year’s lineup includes performers from around the country, continuing the festival’s tradition of presenting a diverse array of musical styles.
Here’s a glimpse of some of the performers:
• Joe Crookston returns this year as the festival’s honorary co-director. From Ithaca, New York, he is an artist, singer and songwriter. His story songs are full of amber eyes, rattlesnake tails, Grandmother Moons, Galway heather, meter maids, silver crowns, ruby red dresses and drunken roosters.
• Crookston’s Director’s Choice selection for the festival is a trio of solo performers who join voices as Brother Sun. Greg Greenway, Pat Wictor and Joe Jencks fuse folk, Americana, blues, pop, jazz, rock and a cappella singing. On stage, they’re an explosion of harmony over a foundation of guitar, slide guitar, piano, ukulele and bouzouki.
• Tracy Grammer, one of folk music’s most beloved performers, will make her first visit to the festival. She’s got a springwater-clear alto, perfectly intoned violin, and guitar playing that is by turns percussive and delicate. She joins masterful storytelling with a riotous sense of humor.
• Macyn Taylor started playing guitar when she was 7 and quickly earned the nickname Sidewalk Superstar. She was named the 2013 WAMI Folk/Celtic Artist of the Year. Guitar, mandolin, banjo, traditional country, blues and bluegrass, she does it all.
• Anna Lee Scully needs little introduction to anyone who has attended the festival. Coming from Virginia Beach, Virginia, she is dreamer, poet, teacher and singe. Jean Ritchie said of Anna Lee, “Now there’s a voice!”
• The Chris Aaron Band, with special guest Jim Schwall, is familiar to blues lovers across the country. Aaron grew up in a musical home (his mother is Anna Lee Scully), and has melded influences from many genres into his blues performance. He is joined by Hank Guaglianone (drums), Steve Smith (bass) and Schwall, who rose to fame in the 1960s as part of the Siegel Schwall Blues Band. He’s acclaimed as one of the finest blues guitarists anywhere.
• If you’re a bluegrass lover, you’ll enjoy The Goodtime Specials. Coming from the Fox Cities, James Block, Greg Kautz, Penny Kurkiewicz and Jay Vosters play traditional bluegrass music with barn burning instrumentals and three-part harmonies.
• Ken Lonnquist is a funny, thoughtful and prolific songwriter, performing for both adults and children. Schools across the country look forward to songs and stories from Kenland, and he’s been recognized by Audubon, Parents Choice, American Library Association, Booklist, Children’s Music Web, Parents Guide To Children’s Media and many other groups.
• Peter Roller is a guitarist who wears many musical hats. Starting with rock and surf music, he picked up country blues, bluegrass, Hawaiian slack key and steel guitar, Bossa Nova and Indian lap slide, French chansons, ragtime, country swing, and back to the rock and the indie music of garage bands. He’s been recognized as one of America’s 100 most influential guitarists. He recently published “Milwaukee Garage Bands: Generations of Grassroots Rock.”
• Robin Pluer is a commanding, diverse and powerful performer. Her credits include singing as an original member of the John Sieger’s R&B Cadets. She was the sole diva of Paul Cebar’s Milwaukeeans. With Mrs. Fun and Julie Wood, she formed The Rhythm Club, a night club act, and she’s toured throughout the U.S. and Europe singing a vintage French repertoire. She’s won 6 WAMI awards and been named Milwaukee’s Best Female Vocalist for three years running.
• If you’re a lover of gentle fun, you’ll enjoy seeing Pinolio the Silent Clown (John Guarrine) strolling the grounds during the weekend.
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