The 43rd Ann Arbor Folk Festival took place at Hill Auditorium last Friday and Saturday night. The two-day event was a benefit for legendary local music venue The Ark and featured national and local artists from Iron & Wine + Calexico to Molly Tuttle, Cold Tone Harvest, Bettye Lavette, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Willie Porter emceed the festival. A recap from Saturday:

Nathaniel Rateliff

WinterWonderGrass 2020 is on the horizon and the festival is excited to share the official daily schedule for their Vermont edition, taking place April 10 & 11 at Stratton Resort in Manchester, VT. The placement of this year’s festival coincides with the end of the ski and snowboard season at the resort, and WinterWonderGrass plans to bring one heck of party to the mountain’s base to close out the year.

Molly Tuttle began her musical journey as a kid growing up in the Bay Area of California. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, she is transforming the roots of Americana into a sound uniquely her own. IMBA named her guitarist of the year 2017 and in 2018. The Americana Music Association named her Instrumentalist of the Year 2018.  With her first solo album release, When You’re Ready, she is poised to contribute new and fresh thoughts into a genre that can desperately use it.

DelFest, the festival brainchild of Del McCoury and his extended McCoury family now in its 13th year, in partnership with High Sierra Music, announced additions to an already star-studded lineup today. Held at the Allegany County Fairgrounds in beautiful Cumberland, MD, DelFest originated from the desire to create a family-friendly music festival celebrating the rich legacy of McCoury music while creating a forum for world-class musical collaborations and to showcase fresh new talent.

Indie folk band The Head and the Heart and soul octet St. Paul & The Broken Bones will headline the 2020 Old Settler’s Music Festival. Friday night will also feature country music icon Tanya Tucker ahead of St. Paul & The Broken Bones.  Tucker’s latest album, While I’m Living, received four Grammy nominations last month and was produced by last year’s Old Settler’s headliner, Brandi Carlile, and Shooter Jennings.  A partial lineup by day is included below.

As February’s kick-off of WinterWonderGrass 2020 grows closer, the festival is excited to share the official daily schedule for their Colorado edition, taking place February 21st - 23rd in Steamboat Springs, CO. One of the biggest delights includes the announcement of a second headlining performance by Billy Strings, who will now play the main stage on both Friday and Sunday nights.

Having just finished a global tour (including sold-out shows in the UK) with dates supporting Jason Isbell, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Hiss Golden Messenger, as well as sharing the stage with Dolly Parton at Newport Folk Festival, Molly Tuttle has released an intimate new video for her song "Sleepwalking." The noirish clip was written by Tuttle, directed by Dylan Reyes and filmed at the Dive Motel & Swim Club in Nashville, TN, with Lillie Mae and Ivalee on strings.

Today, the WinterWonderGrass Music & Brew Festival shares the 2020 lineup across all three of their flagship events. Taking place in Colorado from February 21st - 23rd, California from March 27th - 29th and Vermont from April 10th - 11th, the traveling music festival will welcome performances from some of the hottest names currently thriving in today’s Bluegrass and Americana music scenes. 

With just a few weeks until the gates open at the Newport Folk Festival, I find myself thinking about little else, at least musically. I go to a number of festivals and see a lot of shows, but it’s rare that a musical event can rob my attention well before it happens. It’s difficult to describe the festival to those who haven’t been; like anything magical, you really need to experience it for yourself to fully understand why it sells out instantly, without the fanfare of announcements and advertisements. In fact, the last ticket is sold long before the first artist is announced.