Kerrville Folk Festival
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The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The event has run on a yearly basis since 1972. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired by the Texas Folk Music Foundation, a 501(c)3 Texas Non-profit Corporation. The “Kerrville Folk Festival,” accepts tax-free donations to support and promote songwriters, songwriting, folk music education and live performances of traditional folk, bluegrass, acoustic rock, blues, country, jazz and Americana music.
The event draws around 30,000 people per year. The festival places a strong emphasis on songwriting, though the performances encompass a variety of styles. The idea behind the festivals is to "promote emerging artists while giving our audience exposure to both new and recognized, seasoned talent", according to the festival's official website.
The event is intended to promote emerging artists as well as recognized, seasoned talent, such as Peter, Paul and Mary, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Michelle Shocked, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams, and Nanci Griffith.
Almost all the staff are volunteers. For more information, please see the Texas State Historical Association Handbook online: www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xfk01
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[edit] The Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition
There is a yearly competition to discover promising new singer-songwriters called the New Folk Competition. Thirty-two finalists are selected from a field of 800 entries to share two of their original songs in an afternoon appearance on the stage of the Threadgill Theater. From these 32 finalists, six winners are selected by a small group of well-established performing songwriters. In addition to cash and other tangible prizes, the six winners are invited to the main stage to perform a 20-minute set.
A win at Kerrville carries considerable prestige in the singer-songwriter community. This is in part due to the peer-professional judging and the festival’s long history of recognizing emerging artists who have later gone on to wider success. There have also been examples of notable performers who have appeared as finalists in the competition without ever earning a win. Artists who have performed in the competition include:
- Steve Earle (1978)
- John Gorka (1984)
- Nanci Griffith (1978)
- Tish Hinojosa (1979)
- Robert Earl Keen (1983)
- Mark Elliott (1993)
- Lyle Lovett (1980, 1982)
- Ellis Paul (1994)
- Slaid Cleaves (1992)
- Cosy Sheridan (1992)
- Johnsmith (1990)
- Anne Feeney (1989)
- James McMurtry (1987)
- Pierce Pettis (1987)
- Buddy Mondlock (1987)
- David Wilcox(1988).
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[edit] The 2007 New Folk Competition
The 2007 New Folk Competition was held May 26 & 27.
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[edit] The 2006 New Folk Competition
The 2006 New Folk Competition was held on May 27 and May 28.
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[edit] The 2005 New Folk Competition
The 2005 New Folk Competition was held on May 28th and 29th.
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[edit] Kerrville Wine & Music Festival
The Kerrville Wine & Music Festival, called "Little Folk" is also hosted by the ranch over Labor Day Weekend, and the two share a website.
[edit] List of Past Performers (not a complete list)
- David M. Bailey
- The Belleville Outfit
- Bobby Bridger
- Hamilton Camp
- Mary Chapin Carpenter
- Guy Clark
- Judy Collins
- Ronny Cox
- Hondo Crouch
- Jimmy Driftwood
- Joe Ely
- Steven Fromholz
- Bob Gibson
- Eliza Gilkyson
- Vince Gill (as part of Bluegrass ReVue, in 1975)
- Jimmie Dale Gilmore
- Nanci Griffith
- Butch Hancock
- Carolyn Hester
- Tish Hinojosa
- Ray Wylie Hubbard
- Janis Ian
- Flaco Jiménez
- Robert Earl Keen
- Tom Kimmel
- Jimmy LaFave
- John A. Lomax Jr.
- Lyle Lovett
- Mary McCaslin
- Augie Meyers
- Willie Nelson
- Gary P. Nunn
- Odetta
- Tom Paxton
- Peter Paul & Mary
- Stan Rogers (after performing in the 1983 festival Rogers perished while aboard Air Canada Flight 797)
- Peter Rowan
- Tom Russell
- Mike Seeger
- Martin Sexton
- Michelle Shocked
- Michael Peter Smith
- Bill Staines
- B. W. Stevenson
- Townes Van Zandt
- Jerry Jeff Walker
- Susan Werner
- Cheryl Wheeler
- Rusty Wier
- Dar Williams
- Lucinda Williams
- Peter Yarrow
- Steve Young
- The Steel Wheels
