31st Annual Anchorage Folk Festival - Weekend 1 Recap

As the year turns to 2020 and a new decade begins, it is also a new decade for one of the cornerstones of music in Southcentral Alaska. This past weekend marked the first or two weekends of the 31st Annual Anchorage Folk Festival. Here’s a brief summary of some of what you might have missed:

While the Folk Festival officially started on Wednesday night (Jan. 15), with a shindig at 49th State Brewing, the festivities really started to get underway the next night as Jontavious Willis, Francesca Erni, and Ava Earl took the stage at UAA’s Wendy Williamson Auditorium, for Parlor in the Round.

A night of soulful songwriters, big energy, and a song about cats so catchy that had it been on the soundtrack, might have saved the recent cinema-release of a musical about said felines, Parlor in the Round kicked off the main stage festivities as only it can. Friday came and with it more local musicians began to take the stage, from bluegrass to blues, family bands to solo acts. In a way, Friday felt like a foretaste of the feast to come. The night wrapped up with the first of the festival’s featured guest musicians taking the stage. Jontavious Willis sang and played the local crowd from a cold night in Alaska to a warm one on the streets of Greenville, Georgia.

Here’s a question for you all: What do Russian folk dancing, a 17-year old from Girdwood, half a dozen accordions, and twenty ukuleles have in common? They were all on the main stage of the Folk Festival on Saturday. And that is just a small sample size of what one might see at any given time during either weekend of main stage events for the Folk Festival in any year. As Kevin Worrell (host of Parlor in the Round) put it, on Thursday night, “Alaska is a bit like the Galapagos Islands of music. Where else do a 17 year old, a nationally-touring musician, and a former opera-singer, turned accordion player take the stage together?”

The Anchorage Folk Festival, that’s where. From Green Day parodies to fishing ballads, the hurdy-gurdy to the mountain dulcimer, bluegrass to Beauty and the Beast, the main stage of the Anchorage Folk Festival has something for everyone. As one emcee put it, “[Many of] these musicians play all over town, on a regular basis, but it takes an event like Folk Festival to bring them all together into this place to play for all of us.”

Together they come. Sunday started off with another 15-member group, and rolled right along as praise-bands, bluegrass musicians, and a six-year old (along with so many more) took to the stage of the Wendy, proving that while Alaska may be off of the musical map for so many touring artists, we Alaskans are truly blessed with a plethora of local talent. Everywhere from Seward to Fairbanks, Juneau to Nome, whether its 70 degrees above or 30-degrees-below-zero, Alaskan music is being made and shared and appreciated.

As it cannot be contained, the music doesn’t just stay on the main stage. If you find yourself in a workshop, backstage, jamming in the lobby, or at an event around town, you are bound to realize that music is pervasive during the Anchorage Folk Festival. The best is that the Anchorage Folk Festival is not anywhere close to over. Folk Week is only just getting started, and Wednesday night starts the festivities again on the main stage at the Wendy Williamson. Whether you’re a musician, a music lover, or just curious what’s going on, come on up (bring your instrument if you have one!), and enjoy all the festivities.

Did I mention that coming to the Main Stage events is free? See you there!

Anchorage Folk Festival, Weekend 2 Schedule

Thursday Evening, January 23, 7 — 9 PM

emcee: Andy King

7:00 PM – Guido’s Paddleboat Jam

7:15 PM – We Might Panik

7:30 PM – Lauren Somers Heyano

7:45 PM – Meg and Her Married Men

8:15 PM – Keil and Brown

8:30 PM – The Hoppers

8:45 PM – Chris Thompson & Friends

9:00 PM – YK Delta Yupiks

9:00 PM – Robbie Beebe & Friends

Friday Evening, January 24, 7 — 10 PM

emcee: Patty Hamre

7:00 PM – Faded Jeans

7:15 PM – Mary Schallert & The New York City Boys

7:30 PM – Jubilee

7:45 PM – Red Cap and the Cyser Boys

8:00 PM – Bayou Glacee

8:15 PM – Wings To Fly

8:30 PM – The Nuther Brothers

8:45 PM – Guest Artists Feufollet

Saturday Afternoon, January 25, 1 PM

emcee: Jayson Owens

1:00 PM – Ms Miriah’s Band

1:15 PM – Cannon Family

1:30 PM – db pedersen

1:45 PM – The Violinist Brothers

2:00 PM – Dale Funk

2:15 PM – Midnight Starlight

2:30 PM – Sadie Paulson

2:45 PM – Free Gratis

3:00 PM – Folk Medicine

3:15 PM – Juicy Harps

3:30 PM – Zen Trembles

3:45 PM – Ken Baehr

4:00 PM – Moccasin Stompers

4:15 PM – Tim & Natalie Tucker

4:30 PM – Nick the Dream Weaver

4:45 PM – Alaska City Folk Arts

Saturday Evening, January 25, 7 — 10 PM

emcee: Wade Hampton Miller

7:00 PM – Turnagain Blues

7:15 PM – Uncle Jim — The East-Side Balladeer

7:30 PM – Hurricane Dave

7:45 PM – John Cook

8:00 PM – Chad Koker

8:15 PM – Brubaker Family Band

8:30 PM – Fiona Rose and Tristan Doyle

8:45 PM – Not Quite Wright

9:00 PM – The Snogos

9:15 PM – Roland Roberts Trio

9:30 PM – Steve Schoonmaker

9:45 PM – Ten Dollar Bet

Sunday Afternoon, January 26, 1 PM

emcees: Rose & Danny Consenstein

1:00 PM – Don’t Pet the Merry Monsters

1:15 PM – Grin and Baehr It

1:30 PM – Mary Anne Green

1:45 PM – Kirk Ceol

2:00 PM – Bass St. Noise

2:15 PM – Whitney Youngman

2:30 PM – Rousted By Bulls

2:45 PM – Terry Kelly

3:00 PM – The Gospel Sound

3:15 PM – Steve Waldron

3:30 PM – Apple & The Tree — Corral Family Band

3:45 PM – That Ukulele Lady

4:00 PM – Roger Fuson

4:15 PM – Rebecca Wolverton and Karl Wilhelmi

4:30 PM – The Wexford Rambler

4:45 PM – The Newlybirds

Sunday Evening, January 26, 7 — 10 PM

emcee: Robin Hopper

7:00 PM – Marty Raney

7:15 PM – Harrison Sturm

7:30 PM – Anchorage Mandolin Orchestra

7:45 PM – Irish Dance Academy of Alaska

8:00 PM – Midnight Sun Zombies

8:15 PM – String of Lights

8:30 PM – Guest Artists Feufollet