BROOKLYN FOLK FEST SET FOR NOV. 8-10

The annual Brooklyn Folk Festival is set for Nov. 8-10 at St. Ann’s Church on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. Presented by the Jalopy Theater, this year’s event is quite diverse, crossing over into other genres such as country, jazz, ragtime, Tex-Mex, Cajun and R&B. Here is a sampling of just some of what’s in store.

David Amram and Willie Nelson / photo by Ebet Roberts

Among the biggest names this year are jazz legends David Amram and Bill Frisell, and poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, winner of myriad literary and societal awards including the first Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award. Flashing back to the 1960s, there’s the Unholy Modal Rounders Reunion, Greenwich Village folk-rockers who, among other distinctions, were featured on the Easy Rider soundtrack.

Nora Guthrie / photo by Tina Tschirch

In addition to local favorites such as Jan Bell, Feral Foster, Tamar Korn, and Beareather Reddy (Brooklyn Roads’ February 2022 “Artist On Our Radar”), the festival shines a spotlight on artists from Trinidad (Shiva Lakhan), Ghana (Wazumbians); Latin America (Guachinangos, Miriam & Yva); New Orleans (Sabine McCalla); Minnesota (Cactus Blossoms); and L.A. (Sunny War), among other distant realms.

For families with children, there’s Suzi Shelton with a Saturday afternoon Jalopy Records release party and, on Sunday, Hop Along Andrew plays kid-friendly country-and-western music.

Workshops include Nora Guthrie presenting “My Name Is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town”; and a Banjo Workshop with Brooklyn’s own Nora Brown (who will also play a half-hour set that evening). Then there’s the traditional Sunday afternoon Banjo Toss to see who can throw a tethered banjo the farthest across the Gowanus Canal.