Welcome to the 16th Annual Brooklyn Folk Festival!
Hello and welcome to the 16th Annual Brooklyn Folk Festival!—the biggest yearly production of the non-profit Jalopy Theatre and School of Music.
The Brooklyn Folk Festival strives to present the best in American and world folk and traditional music, bringing together artists from around the country to showcase diverse genres and cultures.
We have a wonderful festival prepared for you, featuring Bill Frisell, Sunny War, Michael Hurley, David Amram, Nora Brown, Jerron Paxton and so much more! Our offerings this weekend include beautiful, intricate traditional music from the United States, Mexico, South America, Ghana, the West Indies, Ethiopia and the Arabic Peninsula. A whole contingent of New Orleans musicians will have you dancing all weekend!
We believe that shared music tradition creates and maintains community and understanding between people. In planning a festival so close to a national election, we hope you will enjoy programs meant to connect and inspire you. Please join us for workshops - Raise your voices together in Emily Eagen’s vocal workshop, join a story circle, learn protest songs in a conversation with Resistance Revival Chorus. Come together to see NYC through Woody Guthrie’s eyes.
If you like what you see and hear, and we hope that you do, please visit the Jalopy Theatre & School of Music for traditional folk and roots music all year long. We showcase this music at our venue, the Jalopy Theatre, our music festivals, and through our record label, Jalopy Records. Please visit the Jalopy Records table in the Parish Hall. We also offer music classes and performing ensembles for youth, outreach in local schools, and group classes and workshops for adults.
Please consider becoming a “Friend of the Brooklyn Folk Fest” and help pay a living wage to performing artists. To make a fully tax-deductible donation and become a “Friend,” visit our table in the Parish Hall, or at brooklynfolkfest.com/donate.
Please tell your friends that the festival is being live streamed, and they can tune in from wherever they may be.
Special thanks to our volunteers, funders, local business advertisers and partners – this festival could not happen without your generosity, work and support.
Sincerely, Lynette Wiley, Executive Director
If you are posting on social media, please tag us!
@jalopybrooklyn
@brooklynfolkfest
Program Guide
Friday, November 8th | Evening Concerts
Main Stage
7:00pm | Royce Martin - ragtime pianist and composer
7:50pm | Shiva Lakhan - West Indian Classical and Chutney Singer from Trinidad
8:40pm | Guachinangos - Mexican son jarocho with Colombian cumbia and other Latin American rhythms
9:30pm | The Cactus Blossoms - an American alternative country and indie folk band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota
10:20pm | Wazumbians - Afrofusion music group from Ghana
Parish Hall Stage
7:00pm |Terri Thal Book Signing
7:00pm | Christian & Cole - A dynamic duo specializing in captivating duets and brotherly harmonies
7:50pm | Wilson & Walsh - sad song specialists, old country and new
8:40pm | Beareather Reddy - Blues vocalist/songwriter/actress/producer
9:30pm | La Banda Chuska - merges the sounds of vintage Peruvian cumbia and psychedelic chicha with 1960s Latin American and Middle Eastern surf rock
Saturday, November 9th | Afternoon Concerts
Main Stage
12:00pm - Suzi Shelton - children’s music out on Jalopy Records - Release Party!
12:50pm - Isto - original folk songs
2:30pm - Cole Quest & The City Pickers - bluegrass with a fresh and innovative sound to the traditional genre
3:20pm - Suzy & Eric Thompson - powerhouse duo of traditional music powers with a repertoire of Cajun, Blues and Old-Time songs and instrumentals.
4:10pm - Feral Foster - author/vocalist presenting originals imbued with the terror of America's closeted skeletons
5:00pm - Los Texmaniacs - conjunto band created by Max Baca in 1997
5:50pm - Miriam & Yva - Venezuelan vocal and guitar duets
Parish Hall Stage
12:00pm - Ken Schatz Sea Shanty Sing
12:50pm - Jalopy Harmony Singing Method with Emily Eagen
2:10pm - Jan Bell - folk music
3:00pm - Riyae Park - folk and bluegrass
3:15pm - Jalopy School of Music Showcase
4:10pm - Dirdy Birdies - The World's Most Dangerous Jug Band
5:00pm - Boxcutter Collective - Jalopy’s resident puppet troupe
5:50pm - The Pine Leaf Boys - American Cajun and Creole music from South Louisiana
Workshop Room
12pm-2pm - My Name Is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town presented by Nora Guthrie
2:15pm-3:15pm - Tex-Mex Workshop with Max Baca
3:25pm-4:25pm - Banjo Workshop with Nora Brown
4:35pm-5:45pm - Democracy Story Circle - Join Arts & Democracy to share stories about the election and beyond
5:50pm - Gina Leslie - spellbinding voice and tender insightful songwriting floating between country and jazz
Saturday, November 9th | Evening Concerts
Main Stage
7:00pm - David Amram - legendary jazz composer and pianist
7:50pm - Nora Brown - traditional music with a focus on Southern Appalachian banjo and guitar playing
8:40pm - Lone Piñon - New Mexican string band
9:30pm - Sunny War - Folk-Punk musician and songwriter based in Los Angeles.
10:20pm - Jerron Paxton - old-time and traditional music
Parish Hall Stage
7:00pm - The Slide Stops with Dance Lessons from Sargent Seedoo - country music and dance!
8:00pm - Sabine McCalla - New Orleans soul and R&B
9:00pm - The Deslondes - “It’s a gumbo of all different genres and time periods”
10:00pm - Jackson & The Janks - rock and roll and rhythm and blues garage gospel band
Workshop Room
7pm - Can-jo Workshop with Perfessor Zeke Leonard - Build your own one string banjo out of a can!
Sunday, November 10th | Afternoon Concerts
Main Stage
1:00pm - Banjo Toss! Banjo Throwing Contest in Gowanus
Details can be found here
2:00pm - Hop Along Andrew - country music for children and adults
2:50pm - Vaianos Paisanos - stringband playing antiquated dance hits and melodies of the 20th century with a repertoire of music first recorded by New York’s immigrant communities
3:40pm - Roochie Toochie & The Ragtime Shepherd Kings - performing the weirdest songs from the early days of Tin Pan Alley
4:30pm - Down Hill Strugglers - old-time string band playing traditionals and originals
5:20pm - Michael Hurley - legendary freak-folk musician
Parish Hall
2:00pm - Open Mic Showcase with Wolf van Elfmand
2:50pm - Square Dance with Ginny’s Kitchen
3:40pm - Peter Stampfel & The Atomic Meta Pagans - esoteric, thoroughly unique folk
4:30pm - Trail Papa - original folk music
5:20pm - Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones - traditional and original folk music
Workshop Room
2:00pm - Workshop with Mat & Yvonne - folk and protest songs
2:50pm - Eric Isaacson from Mississippi Records presents ‘A People’s History of American Music’
4:30pm - A Conversation with Resistance Revival Chorus and Nick Panken (Freedom Highway, Spirit Family Reunion)
Sunday, November 10th | Evening Concerts
Main Stage
6:40pm - Resistance Revival Chorus - a collective of more than 60 women, and non-binary singers, who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices.
7:30pm - Bill Frisell - legendary American Jazz guitarist and composer
8:20pm - Zahra Alzubaidi - A musical group that pays homage to Iraqi southern music and rhythms from the Arabian peninsula.
9:10pm - Thomas Feng plays The Music of Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru - Emahoy was an Ethiopian composer, pianist and nun who passed away in 2023 at the age of 100, her music will be played by pianist and composer Thomas Feng
Parish Hall
6:30 - Martha Spencer - singer-songwriter, mountain musician and dancer from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
7:30pm - Tamar Korn & Kyle Morgan - close harmonies, country classics, and originals.
