The Boston Folk Festival

Thousands of people attended the First Annual Boston Folk Festival the weekend of September 12 & 13th, 1998. The '98 Festival events included an Emerging Artist Showcase, a symposium on the "Forty Years of Folk Music in Boston/Cambridge" with some of the most influential musicians and participants of the last forty years of folk music: Folklorist, Millie Rahn; Boston Globe Arts Writer, Jeff McLaughlin; bluegrass mandolinist/singer Jim Rooney; Club Passim Executive Director, Betsy Siggins Schmidt; and local singer/songwriter, Rob Laurens. This symposium was funded in part by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanites.

There were also performances with: Odetta, Viva Quetzal, J.D.Crowe, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, the Tannahill Weavers, The Blazers, Tom Paxton, Lui Collins & Dana Robinson, Susan Werner, Bill & Bonnie Hearne, The Disabled in Action Singers, Cheryl Hoenemeyer, Bertrand Laurence & the Jelly Rollers, Brother Blue, a Celtic Showcase of Music & Dance, The Swinging Steaks, Devonsquare, Turgay Erturk, Tolino, The Tarbox Ramblers, The Freighthoppers with Contra Dance Caller Sara Smith, Made in the Shade, Eddie From Ohio, The Silver Leaf Gospel Singers, Brooks Williams, Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, and a great trio from the Berklee School of Music: Matt Glaser, John McGann and Casey Dreisen.

Also, there was a special U.S. Postal Service northeast-dedication of the new "Legendary Folk Musicians" stamps honoring Josh White Jr, Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry and Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, featuring musicians representing the works of these great performers, including: Guy Davis, Paul Rishell & Annie Raines, Happy Traum and Josh White Junior. Children's stage and activities included: "Cowboy" Skip Gorman, Storyteller Sharon Kennedy, the Asian Women Lion's Dance Troupe and 17th Century Children's Folk Music and Dance presented by Plimouth Plantation, and a "folk instrument petting zoo".

If that wasn't enough, there was also a presentation of artists and activities sponsored by several local coffeehouses and producers including: Tony Cuffe, Taproot, Gerry Gregoire, Kris Delmhorst, Hugh Blumenfeld, John McVey, Barbara Kessler, Don White, Raelinda Woad, Tim Mason, Jess Klein, Chris Chandler, and Murray MacLeod, Barbara Phaneuf, Max Cohen, Lucian Parkman, Calico Harmony, Mary Gauthier, Blunt Instruments, Jennie Avila, Dreamwork, Think Twice, Terry Kitchen, and a song swap presented by the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston.