Over 800 artists submitted two songs, and now 16 have been selected as finalists in this years Kerrville Folk Festival “New Folk” competition. It was late in 1971 when producer Rod Kennedy was putting together plans for the first Kerrville Folk Festival that would be held in 1972. A conversation with Peter Yarrow (who would perform at the first festival and return many times over the years), Yarrow mentioned the “New Folks” concerts that he used to produce at the original Newport Folk Festival. The idea was to give exposure to new singer-songwriters that did not have connections to the music industry.

The event proved successful and would soon help turn Kerrville into a festival dominated by singer-songwriters. In turn, Kerrville has influenced the folk scene by exposing some of the finest singer-songwriters of the genre – including Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle, Vince Bell, Tish Hinjosha, Lyle Lovett, Tom Russell, John Gorka, Buddy Mondlock, Cosy Sheridan and many others.

The 16 finalists for 2009 will perform this coming weekend at Kerrville. Each will perform the two songs they submitted and judgesAmilia k Spicer, TR Ritchie, and Jon Vezner will choose six “winners”. These six will return the following weekend to perform at the New Folk Winners concert

Here are the finalists and the schedule:

SATURDAY, MAY 23
Threadgill Theater (noon to 3 p.m.)
in order of appearance

Saturday, set 1
Lynne Hanson (Ottawa, ON, Canada)
Sarah Donner (Princeton NJ)
Ben Mallott (Austin TX)
Marc Black (Katonah NY)
Angela Easterling (Taylors SC)
Larry Murante (Seattle WA)
Donna Beckham (West TX)

Saturday, set 2
Louise Mosrie (Nashville TN)
Rebecca Loebe (Atlanta GA)
Tommy Byrd (Austin TX)
Matthew Fockler (South Padre Island TX)
Valorie Miller (Asheville NC)
Colin McGrath (Brooklyn NY)
Liz Longley (Downington PA)
Bob Sima (Woodbine MD)


SUNDAY, MAY 24
Threadgill Theater (noon to 3 p.m.)
in order of appearance

Sunday, set 1
Sarah Sample (Seattle WA)
Greg Alexander (New York NY)
Jason David Hiatt (Austin TX)
Carrie Catherine (Saskatoon, SK, Can.)
Ernest Troost (Los Angeles CA)
Gretchen Witt (Brooklyn NY)
Laura Zucker (Lafayette CA)
Larry Zarella (Massachusetts AK)
Sunday, set 2
Tom Neilson (Greenfield MA)
Joe Crookston (Ithaca NY)
Shannon Wurst (Alma AR)
Roy Schneider (Fort Meyers FL)
Kim Miller (Wimberley TX)
Jeff Martin (Portland OR)
Lucy Wainwright Roche (Brooklyn NY)
Kate Mann (Portland OR)

Best of luck to all the performers! I look forward to the great new songs that always start trickling into the radio station in the weeks following Kerrville and the New Folks competition!