Many talented folk music groups are touring New York State in 2019. Below, find a sampling of upcoming performances, and get your tickets before they’re gone!
Picker’s Paradise: From Balkans to Bluegrass | featuring Tamburaški Sastav Ponoć (Pittsburgh, PA) and Danny Knicely’s Next Generation (Virginia)
5/10/2019, 7:30 pm and 5/11/2019, 7:30 pm at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY
6/22/2019 and 6/23/2019 at Lake Placid Center for the Performing Arts, Lake Placid, NY
General Admission: $15
Student Tickets: $5
Check with performance venue to confirm dates and times.
Dust off your best dancing shoes and join us, in partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, for a fun-filled evening of dance and music that celebrates two virtuosic string music traditions—bluegrass and old-time from the mountains of Virginia, and Balkan music known as tamburitza from the urban community halls of Pittsburgh. Whether you are a beginning-level dancer eager to learn, active in the local contra scene, or a Balkan dance enthusiast, this special evening presents an exciting opportunity to learn traditional dances from master dance teachers and try the steps you learn to the playing of two great bands.
Country Blues and Dance | featuring Phil Wiggins Blues House Party (Takoma Park, MD) and The Harris Brothers (Lenoir, NC)
5/31/2019 and 6/1/2019 at Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
Check with performance venue to confirm dates and times.
Throughout the Piedmont and Appalachians, shared musical traditions have existed for centuries that were equally popular among rural blacks and whites. This program explores the roots and connections of these regional rural music and dance traditions as expressed in the artistry of contemporary masters of tradition. Phil Wiggins, the nation’s foremost player of acoustic blues harmonica, leads an ensemble featuring Piedmont blues sounds that were once a staple of rural dance parties. With master dancer Junious Brickhouse, they “reconnect the dance with the dance music,” now most often experienced in concert (without dance). North Carolina songsters extraordinaire, The Harris Brothers, a delightful two-man band with a suitcase drum, draw from the many currents of vernacular music, including old-time, bluegrass, country, and mountain blues, that they were exposed to growing up in the North Carolina foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a hotbed of traditional music.