Nearly 9,000 people turned out to the sixth annual Boston Folk Festival at the University of Massachusetts at Boston this weekend, which featured more than 20 blues and folk acts, including acclaimed artists Emmylous Harris and Koko Taylor.
Most of the weekend-long event was sold out, according to Pat Monteith, general manager of the university-funded radio station that sponsored the festival, WUMB.
The festival featured multiple stages, workshops, children’s activities and a songwriting contest.
The biggest stage, called the Field Stage, overlooked an open space on campus and was able to fit hundreds of audience members on lawn chairs and blankets.
The last acts to perform on the Field Stage Saturday and Sunday evenings were Koko Taylor and Her Blues Machine and Emmylou Harris, a legend in country and folk circles.
Taylor sang upbeat blues songs like ‘Let the Good Times Roll.’
‘The blues was my best friend,’ she told the audience, speaking of her childhood in Memphis, Tenn.
The smaller stages included the Coffeehouse Stage which ‘replicates the coffeehouse experience’ and the Plaza stage, Monteith said.
Performers were set together with a common theme on the medium-sized Plaza stage, she said, where performers of varying genres sing songs reflecting a certain topic, such as ‘On the Road Again’ or ‘My Favorite Things.’
The plaza stage generated ‘a lot of energy and synergism,’ Monteith said.
For the contest, a new addition to the festival this year, budding folk singers sent their CDs to the radio station, where they were judged by festival performers Tom Rush and Joel Mabus. The winner received a cash prize and the opportunity to perform on stage Saturday.
Monteith said the idea sprung from those already on the folk circuit.
‘We got a lot of comments from musicians to have an open mic night,’ she said. ‘We were expecting 100 applicants, but we got over 300.’
After narrowing down the list to five finalists, the judges chose John Shindler, who sang the song he submitted, titled ‘The Freedom Trail.’
In addition to Shindler’s song, the audience listened to an eclectic mix of genres, including folk, blues and bluegrass. The Tony Triksha band, from New York, played the banjo alongside the guitar and drums. Singer/songwriter Tom Rush, a New England native and graduate of Harvard University, sang what the radio station described as ‘traditional and bluesy material.’
The popular festival started in 1997 in response to the dismal folk scene in Boston.
‘When there was a decline in attendance in folk venues in Boston, 75 organizations got together and said, ‘Let’s do something about this,” Monteith said.
The organizations received a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to start a festival. Since then, the show has become a financially independent ‘ticketed event.’
The show featured more blues music this year because Congress has designated 2003 as the ‘Year of the Blues,’ Monteith said. Blues singer Koko Taylor was one of the main performers for the show.
‘2003 has been designated by the U.S. Congress as the Year of the Blues, and the Boston Folk Festival will be featuring perhaps the most highly acclaimed blues artist of her time,’ Monteith said. ‘We couldn’t be happier.’
Many of the attendees agreed.
Laney Goodman, a Boston resident who hosts a nationally syndicated public radio show called ‘Women in Music,’ said she believed the diversity in musical style at the festival reflected the nature of folk music.
‘Folk is an umbrella for all different types of music, from country to singer/songwriter to hardcore blues,’ she said. ‘It’s good to have this eclectic mix.’
Goodman said she was anxious to see Koko Taylor, the ‘queen of blues.’
‘A lot of people outside of Chicago will never get to see her,’ she said.
Many came to support WUMB, the radio station sponsoring the festival.
‘I’m a WUMB member, and it is the only station that plays folk music all day,’ said event attendee Maggie Oliva. ‘This is a great way to spend the day, seeing live entertainment.’
Audience member Dave Olsen, who said he appreciated the ‘nice collection of different artists, from folk to blues,’ was glad he finally got to go to the event.
‘We’ve been in Boston for few years now and never got to go, so this is like a belated birthday present,’ Olsen said.
Goodman, the radio show host, said she was pleased to see younger people enjoying the folk festival.
‘Traditional acoustic music is getting a resurgence,’ due to the work of artists such as the Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer, she said.
As the audience listened to the music, children flew kites and vendors sold everything from Hungarian to Thai food. Local artists also sold handmade jewelry and crafts.
Gianna Bird sells her pieces in Silver Moon Designs, a shop in Natick. She said she decided to set up a booth at the festival from listening to WUMB.
‘So far, it’s going pretty well,’ she said.