Rhode Island Folk Festival has a lot to offer this Sunday

The Americana, folk and singer-songwriter community in Rhode Island is vast. There are numerous musicians that have the ability to serenade listeners with just their voice and a guitar in their hands. There are also numerous bands bringing a similar sensation with various string instruments often backed up by a rhythm section. The Rhode Island Folk Festival will be once again celebrating this community at Rose Larisa Park in East Providence on August 28 from 12 noon to 6pm. It’s a free all ages event that features three stages of music, a songwriter workshop, a variety of crafts & food and more.

Since its original inception as the Providence Folk Festival in 2014, the event has been run, curated and made into reality by local musician John Fuzek. It has grown immensely since the first year while maintaining its mission of being as inclusive, diverse and entertaining as possible.

“We strive to program performers that the festival goers will really enjoy as well as trying to introduce them to new and emerging talent-both national and local,” Fuzek says about putting on the festival. “This year I am very excited about having The Fools and Robin Lane in the line-up. I have loved The Fools since their parody ‘Psycho Chicken’ was released but they solidified their place with ‘Life Sucks Then You Die’ and ‘World Dance Party’. Robin Lane has been a friend of mine since 1980, she is an extremely talented singer-songwriter with roots going back to Neil Young and the Laurel Canyon crowd. She had big hits back then such as  ‘When Things Go Wrong’ but has continued to write music that is amazing.”

“We are bringing in people like Steve Martin Banjo Prize winner Jake Blount and percussionist Sidy Maiga,” he adds. “This year we’ve also added a songwriter workshop with local legend Mark Cutler and an area with activities for kids. Our grassroots festival keeps on growing and please don’t forget we also have a food drive for the Rhode Island Food Bank happening during the festival as well.”

Blount, Maiga and The Fools are just a few of the acts that’ll be performing in the park’s bandshell along with Julie Rhodes & The Electric Co., Dan Lilley & The Keepers, Pamela Means and The Carleans. Lisa Couto and Erik Peterson who form the duo Sounded Ground will be the hosts of that particular part of the festival.

“We are looking forward to another beautiful day at Rose Larisa Park,” Couto says. “Join us for  diverse music, delicious food and great folks!”

Cutler and Lane will be one of the many artists performing on the SongBird Stage along with Rachel Sumner, Jose Docen, Bank Of Ireland, Swimming Bell, Joanne Doherty, Isaiah Johnson from Sleeping Turtle, Frozen Corn, Beauquet and Tyler-James Kelly & Jess Powers. Allysen Callery and her daughter Ava from Beauquet will be co-hosting the stage and Callery is very excited about it.

I think this is my fifth year hosting the singer-songwriter Songbird Stage”, Callery mentions. “It’s been a highlight of the year to be able to invite some of my favorite musicians to play and share this awesome day of music with everyone. I am super psyched that my daughter Ava will be joining me as co-host this year as well as playing a set with her band, Beauquet.”

“I’m proud to be part of the Rhode Island Folk Festival and I’m really happy that they asked me to participate,” Cutler, a Cranston resident, also mentions about the festival. “It’ll be fun to be playing music along with so many of my friends, it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to be out and about. I’m especially excited for folks to check out my community songwriting workshop. It was created for folks who don’t normally write songs and I hope we get some people to participate.”

The third stage that’ll be set up at the Rhode Island Folk Festival is the Emerging Songwriters Stage co-hosted by Beth Barron and Joanne Lurgio. As of press time the lineup for that stage hasn’t been revealed but that shouldn’t stop you from coming by and spending a Sunday afternoon checking it all out. To keep tabs on further announcements and updates along with knowing all the details, log on to rhodeislandfolkfestival.com.