brooklynfolkfestival1

Brooklyn Folk Fest this weekend, Frank Fairfield isn't playing, but Blind Boy Paxton is (and Peter Stampfel and many more)

Brooklyn Folk Fest '11

The third annual Brooklyn Folk Festival kicks off tonight (6/10) at the Jalopy Theatre and runs through Sunday (6/12). Tickets for all three days are available as well as three-day passes. Uncle Monk (Tommy Ramone and Claudia Tienan), Peter Stampfel & the Ether Frolic Mob, and others play the festival tonight. Saturday (6/11) and Sunday (6/12) will take place at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition and feature performances by Blind Boy Paxton, The Dust Busters, Radio Jarocho, Jalopy house band Whiskey Spitters, Boom Chick, and others.

The festival also includes workshops and film screenings on Saturday and Sunday including jam workshops, banjo and fiddle tunings, singing workshop, and films by Alan Lomax, John Cohen, and Mike Seeger.

Blind Boy Paxton
Blind Boy Paxton

Blues singer/guitarist Blind Boy Paxton recorded an in-studio performance for KEXP last August you can listen to. He also contributed vocals to the track “But That’s Alright” off Frank Fairfield‘s recently released album Out on the Open West

“Frank Fairfield’s backstory is the stuff of old American legend: A troubled vagabond who eventually made his way home to Los Angeles, Fairfield rooted through the city as a street musician, pulling bow across fiddle and hammering away at a banjo or acoustic guitar on corners or in flea markets. One afternoon, the right musician saw him play, became his manager, hitched him to a tour with champions Fleet Foxes, and landed him a record deal with one of the country’s most trustworthy syndicates of old sounds, Tompkins Square. Now, he’s the subject of a documentary and a touring musician with audiences in multiple continents.

The album (which just got an impressive 8.0 on Pitchfork) is streaming on Frank’s myspace. Frank is currently on tour in Europe, but plays a record release show at McCabe’s in LA on July 24th. No NYC dates, but Frank is on the lineup of September’s Hopscotch Fest which takes place in North Carolina, so maybe one will pop up around then. Meanwhile go check out Blind Boy (who played a show with Frank at Jalopy last summer) at Brooklyn Folk Fest this weekend.

Check out the full Brooklyn Folk Festival lineup, some videos and the flyer below…


Blind Boy Paxton & Frank Fairfield – Saturday Blues

Down Home Radio with Jeron “Blind Boy” Paxton p.1

Down Home Radio with Jeron “Blind Boy” Paxton p. 2

Uncle Monk “Long Gone” on WoodSongs 439

Brooklyn Folk Fest '11

Friday, June 10th At The Jalopy Theatre
6:00 PM Winston Fleary and the Big Drum Nation Dance Company
7:00 PM Jay Gandhi
8:00 pm Major Contay & The Canebrake Rattlers (spelling change)
8:45 PM Uncle Monk
9:30 PM Peter Stampfel & The Ether Frolic Mob
10:15 PM Feral Foster
11:00 PM Jake Sanders Sextet

Saturday, June 11 At the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition
2:30 PM Jake Sanders performs Mexican folk tunes
3:15 PM Larry Hanks & Deborah Robbins
4:15 PM The Americans
5:00 PM Hubby Jenkins
5:45 PM Lankandia Cissoko
6:30 PM Walker, Jay & Steve from Baltimore
7:15 PM Black Sea Hotel
8:00 PM Roulette Sisters
9:00 PM Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton
9:45 PM The Dust Busters
10:30 PM Radio Jarocho
11:15 PM Clifton Hicks
12:00 AM Whiskey Spitters

Sunday, June 12 At the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition
2:00 PM Tamevale Kapelye (The Foolish Band)
2:45 PM Alan Friend
3:30 PM Willy Gantrim
4:15 PM Jackson Lynch
5:00 PM Elizabeth Butters
5:45 PM The Pearly Snaps
6:30 PM Boom Chick
7:15 PM Brotherhood of the Jugband Blues
8:00 PM Little Brothers
8:45 PM The Tillers
9:30 PM The Whistling Wolves
10:15 PM The Newton Gang
11:00 PM Kerri Lowe
Sunday, June 12 Downstairs Stage BWAC
3:00 PM Banjo Toss & Banjorama
4:00 PM Square Dance
5:00 PM Veveritse

Workshops
Saturday, June 11th Screening Room, BWAC

1 pm – Hazel Dickens Singing Workshop
2 pm – The Films of John Cohen
* Roscoe Holcomb From Daisy Kentucky (2010)
* The High Lonesome Sound
* Sara and Maybelle (The Carter Family) included in ticket price
3 pm – The Films of Alan Lomax
4 pm – Beginning Jam Workshop (not confirmed)
5 pm -Fiddle: Tunings & Styles in Old Time Music, taught by Craig Judelman
Sunday, June 12th Screening Room, BWAC
1 pm Intermediate Jamming Workshop
2 pm Banjo:Tunings & Styles in Old Time Music, taught by Eli Smith
3 pm A Film By Mike Seeger
*Talking Feet: Solo Southern Dance of the Appalachian, Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountain Regions included with price of admission.