Performer Biographies

The Beans

The Beans, Jim and Cindy Bean and Steve Sullwold have been performing in New England and along the East Coast for over 20 years. They are best known for their traditional, vocal harmonies, be it a rousing shanty, love song, or Gospel tune — both a cappella and accompanied.

Jim and Cindy first met singing Sacred Harp music. Begun in colonial New England, the music is known for its powerful harmonies. It remained alive in the South where Jim and Cindy have travelled to sing with traditional singers in Alabama. Sacred Harp has enjoyed a resurgence throughout the county and there are now singings in most states. Together with other Sacred Harp singers, The Beans will lead a workshop open to all who want to sing or listen.

Roy Book Binder

Musically, Roy Book Binder is equally difficult to fence in or categorize. His eclectic repertoire includes blues, country tunes, bluegrass, folk, and popular songs that originated on Tin Pan Alley. He has travelled with The Rev. Gary Davis in the 60's, Re-discovered Pink Anderson and revived his career in the 70's and has been included in The Blues Who's Who and the Big Book of Blues. Jorma Kaukonen included Roy's songs on his last two Red House albums. He fantasizes that if he had been born 50 years earlier, he would have become a minstrel man. One of his musical heroes, Dave Van Ronk, described himself as a songster. That title might suit Roy as well, his music, a reflection of his long musical journey through the rich American cultural landscape of the last half of the 20th Century.

Benoit Bourque

A versatile artist overflowing with energy and a contagious joie de vivre, Benoit Bourque has been winning the public over for more than 25 years. Charismatic, exuberant, warm, funny, limber and a band's sparkplug are a few words that have been used to describe him. A musician, dancer, singer, and caller, Benoit has been a member of different bands with whom he has toured extensively in North America and in Europe. Éritage, Ad vielle que pourra, Hommage á Alfred Montmarquette, Bourque et Bernard, Matapat, Le Vent du Nord, and presently La Bottine Souriant, are all bands that benefited from his talents and unmistakable charisma.

He is a specialist in Quebec traditional dance and has presented lectures and workshops in many camps and festivals. Benoit has also shared his skill in step dancing and bones playing which is a family tradition as his dad and grandfather were both bones players. Benoit is the recipient of multiple awards including 4 Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy).

This year Benoit will be joined by his son, Antoine, a fine box player and a wonderful addition to the New Bedford Folk Festival!

Maggie Boyle with Paul Downes

Maggie Boyle is a traditional singer. Through her ballads, old and new, she continues the tradition of music and storytelling passed on by her Irish family. Now living in Yorkshire, she was born in London where she sang and played from an early age. Maggie has accrued an impressive catalogue of live and recorded work including film soundtracks, theatre and folk circuit appearances worldwide. Her vocals adorned the hit movies Patriot Games and Legends of the Fall. She has worked with James Horner, The Chieftains, Bert Jansch, Steve Tilston and John Renbourn among others. She will be accompanied by English folk guitarist, singer and composer Paul Downes.

Kevin Burke

Kevin Burke’s fiddle playing has been at the forefront of traditional music for over 30 years. He has established his reputation as a first class musician ever since his work in the early 1970Õs with such renowned performers as Arlo Guthrie, Christy Moore and the Bothy Band. During his musical career Kevin has earned international acclaim in both Europe and America as a solo performer, a teacher and as a member of some of folk music’s foremost groups including the exciting Celtic Fiddle Festival and Ireland’s long admired and respected Patrick Street. Kevin’s contribution to music was acknowledged by The National Endowment for the Arts when he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship, the USA’s highest honor for excellence in the folk and traditional arts. Previous National Heritage Fellows include B.B. King, Doc Watson, and Bill Monroe.

Susie Burke and David Surette

Susie Burke and David Surette have made a name for themselves as one of the finest acts on the lively New England folk scene. Together since 1988, Susie and David have built a steady following for their own blend of contemporary, traditional, and original folk and acoustic music. Burke's vocal style is at once stunning and heartfelt, and is matched by Surette's fluid fretwork. Together, they bring skill, taste, feeling, and pure enjoyment to their music, and are bringing their music to an ever-widening circle of listeners.

Howie Bursen

Howie Bursen is best known for his gravity-defying, triplet-filled fiddle-tune variations, and his eclectic recordings contain quite a number of extraordinary clawhammer solos. He is not only one of today's foremost practitioners of the style, but he is also an excellent singer, song-writer and guitarist. His responsibilities as foreman of a Connecticut winery generally keep him close to home, but when possible he tours with his wife, folk-singer Sally Rogers, with whom he has made two recordings—When Sally Met Howie, and Satisfied Customers. Howie has taught clawhammer at the Maryland Banjo Academy, Common Ground on the Hill, and Banjo Camp North. His recordings include Cider in the Kitchen, Building Boom, and Banjo Manikin.

Jeff Davis

Jeff Davis is one of America's most respected collectors and interpreters of traditional music. He has traveled far to visit "source singers" — farmers and miners who remembered the old songs and tunes — and closer at hand to libraries and archives, always looking for the best of the music that was once common in towns and villages. An event with Jeff might include New England ballads sea songs, African–American banjo tunes, cowboy ditties, rare Yankee fiddle tunes and more. You will "meet" singers and players from the North Carolina mountains and coast, Nova Scotia farmers, African–American sailors, New York loggers and many others.

Antje Duvekot

No one writes quite like Antje Duvekot, who was influenced lyrically by the very greats—Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen, who are Mt. Rushmore-like figures to her. “Antje is the rare artist who can write about the social and the personal in the same breath,” says folk icon Ellis Paul. “Her voice has a sound of innocence and naiveté which makes razor-sharp insights into the human condition.” Adds producer Neil Dorfsman, who has worked with Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Sting: “She creates an entire, detailed world in verse, and takes you there with beautiful and understated melody. Her songs are stunning paintings of color and shade.” And as Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh says, “Antje is the whole package.”

Marina Evans

Marina Evans combines sultry jazz vocals, folk influences and rock into a sound entirely her own. Since her start in her hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts, Marina has taken her music from New York to San Francisco and from London to Florence, Italy.

Finest Kind

Finest Kind is the remarkable folk trio from Ottawa, Canada whose exquisite harmony singing and brilliant vocal arrangements are bringing a fresh sense of excitement and discovery to the performance of old songs. The trio's glorious sound, served up with easy-going humor, has won a devoted following across North America. Finest Kind was formed in Ottawa, Canada, in 1991 by Ian Robb, originally from London, Ann Downey, who hails from the southwestern U.S. and Shelley Posen, a professional folklorist from Toronto. The variety of these individual musical backgrounds makes for one of the distinctions of a Finest Kind performance—the exhilarating mix of repertoire. British, American, Irish, and Canadian traditional ballads keep company with gospel rousers, drinking songs, sea shanties, and pop oldies. The timeless works of the Carter Family, the Copper Family, Rudyard Kipling, and Hank Williams mingle with originals by Ian or Shelley. Unencumbered by allegiances to any one style, Finest Kind presents the hand-picked best of many genres, and keeps audiences wondering just what delight they'll hear next.

Ari and Mia Friedman

Ari & Mia, Boston's Americana sister act, are a soulful and spirited acoustic accompanied duo exploring the traditions of Southern Appalachia, Northeastern fiddle music, and the realm where their own compositions cross paths with older traditions. Their hearts also lie with early American swing and jazz music. Ari & Mia's “intricate arrangements, soaring harmonies, infectious grooves and intuitive improvisations combine an old-time sensibility with a truly adventurous spirit,” says Hankus Netsky of New England Conservatory.

Beppe Gambetta

From his unique background as an Italian musician in love with both American roots music as well as the music of his native country, Beppe Gambetta has travelled the world and even crossed the “Iron Curtain” to dazzle and charm music enthusiasts everywhere. After eleven CDs, DVDs, teaching books and collaborations with many other top-flight musicians, Beppe is increasingly known as one of the true live master innovators of the acoustic guitar. With America in his heart and his roots in the sun and the olive trees of the Mediterranean, he naturally and seamlessly bridges the shores of the two continents, creating an exciting musical fusion.

Raymond Gonzalez

Raymond Gonzalez is a composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. A professional guitarist since the age of 16, he has traveled extensively throughout the US performing on concert stages, festivals, radio, TV, coffeehouses, house concerts, and most things in between. Classical, celtic, jazz, folk, blues, rock and the avant-garde are all in Raymond's arsenal of musical styles. He began composing for solo guitar, piano, and small (classical) ensembles at a very young age, which ultimately lead to a Master's degree in Composition from the New England Conservatory of Music. He continues to compose and perform in the classical and modern music arena. Raymond taught guitar (all styles) at University of Massachusetts, Boston for 10 years and currently teaches at Salem State University.

John Gorka

John Gorka is an honored icon of the folk tradition. Energetic acoustic music that is not a trend, not a fad, but an expression of everyday life, is his trademark. John's rich baritone voice and unique song craft weave a magical spell that can only be described as “Gorka”.

The Grand Slambovians

The Grand Slambovians have been called “the hillbilly Pink Floyd,” which is an apt description, particularly if you throw in elements of Incredible String Band, Neil Young, The Band, Dylan, and maybe even some Frank Zappa as well. Upon returning from the U.K. (where they spread their contagious brand of quirky Americana from Glasgow to Penzance) the band completed work on their fourth studio album, “The Grand Slambovians”. The advent of “The Grand Slambovians” (2011) is both the band's latest reincarnation and the title of their new soul stirring CD. “These are great songs, captured in a chaotic, unstoppable and barely describable landslide of an album.” —Acoustic Magazine June 2011

Kim and Reggie Harris

Consummate musicians and storytellers, Kim and Reggie Harris combine a strong folk and gospel legacy with a solid background in classical, rock, jazz and pop music. Creative curiosity, years of road and stage experience and interactions with performers such as Pete Seeger, Jay Leno, Tom Paxton, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Harry Belafonte and others, has led them to produce music that entertains and inspires. As a result of their CDs Steal Away and Get On Board and materials developed in their work with the Kennedy Center, Kim and Reggie have earned wide acclaimed for their contributions to the resources and knowledge base—in historical and educational circles—on the Underground Railroad and the modern civil rights movement. Kim and Reggie are unique in their ability to entertain audiences of any age and background as they blend their talents as singers, songwriters, educators, interpreters of history and cultural advocates.

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a masterful guitarist and songwriter who has had several Billboard-charting hits. Equally at home singing pop, country or classics from the American songbook, he remains one of the true authentic voices in contemporary music. His songs have been recorded by such artists as Alison Krauss, Suzy Bogguss, Chet Atkins and The Persuasions. Some of his biggest songs include Top 40 hits like “Bluer Than Blue,” “This Night Won't Last Forever” and “Almost Like Being in Love.”

The Kennedys

Inspiration is where you find it — and where it finds you. Open to every moment, the much — traveled married duo of Pete and Maura Kennedy have spun their personal experiences, musical influences and philosophical beliefs into nine previous albums of winsome original songs, frequently seasoned with exquisitely — performed cover tunes, that blend acoustic — based folk, rock, country, pop and secular gospel into an inclusively delightful sound that's all their own.

The story of Pete and Maura Kennedy's personal and professional relationship, now in its second decade, is somewhere between fate and a fairytale. How else can you explain a chance meeting in Austin between two East Coast-born musicians that immediately sparked a songwriting collaboration, a first date at Buddy Holly's grave, an enduring romance, and a creative partnership that radiates warmth, positive energy, and captivating music? After Pete and Maura's fateful 1992 meeting (the subject of their first Appleseed CD's title song, "Half a Million Miles") and several years of touring and recording with Nanci Griffith, the duo seceded amicably from Griffith's Blue Moon Orchestra and became The Kennedys, recording CDs that encompass their favorite musical styles while incorporating the naturalistic, transcendental and mythological teachings of Joseph Campbell, Eckhart Tolle, Walt Whitman, and various Eastern–oriented philosophers into their songs and lives. The body of work The Kennedys have created since their 1994 wedding is a reflection of their musical and philosophical influences and experiences separately and as a couple. Their goal is to live in the moment, appreciating every second of sensation, which imbues their music with a constant sense of wonder and freshness.

Jeremy Kittel

Jeremy Kittel is one of the foremost practitioners among a new breed of fiddlers and violinists who easily navigate a multitude of musical styles and traditions, while cultivating new ground and redefining the role of the instrument.

Jeremy is currently the violist for the Grammy-winning Turtle Island String Quartet. He has toured and recorded with such musical giants as Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, and Darol Anger. He has appeared on the NPR radio show, A Prarie Home Companion, has been a guest performer with multiple symphony orchestras, and has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

His latest recording, Chasing Sparks (Compass Records), clearly establishes Jeremy as a formidable composer and arranger, as well as a violinist of the highest technical and musical sensibilities. Of course, this is no surprise given that he has previously released three other CD's spanning the musical spectrum from jazz to Celtic, with a strong dose of originality and technical mastery.

Some of his recent exploits include: performing as a world-class jazz improviser in the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet; leading his namesake group, the Jeremy Kittel Band, into exciting new acoustic music territory; co-arranging and recording strings for rock band My Morning Jacket’s latest record; performing at Bonnaroo & Telluride Bluegrass Festival with singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn; and teaching internationally as one of the world's leading Scots-Irish fiddlers.

Peter Lang

Peter Lang is one of the world's preeminent 6 and 12 string guitarists. He cites the work of such country bluesmen as Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis, and Mississippi John Hurt as the principal influences on his dizzying finger-picking. Like his label mates at Takoma, John Fahey and Leo Kottke, Peter Lang used the techniques and vocabulary of country blues guitarists to create his own compositions in a variety of alternate tunings. Lang has toured, and recorded as one of the top acoustic players of his day. He has kept good company, having recorded or performed with Ry Cooder, John Fahey, Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, John Hartford, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Emmylou Harris, Leo Kottke, Freddie King, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, John Hammond, Keith Jarrett, Phoebe Snow, and Maria Muldaur.

Lori McKenna

Lori McKenna's unusual combination of professional and personal life, at least in the context of the modern music industry, has been well-documented. Admired and recorded by Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and Alison Krauss (to name just a few), McKenna is a master at chronicling the small, difficult moments between romantic partners as they navigate their relationships. “Poignant and profound poetry. She has an uncanny ability to paint stories of the human condition in a way that reminds us all that we are not alone.”

Anaïs Mitchell with Jefferson Hamer

A native of Vermont, Anaïs Mitchell spent her childhood traveling through the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe before returning to attend Middlebury College—experiences that imprint a rural worldliness on her deeply imaginative songwriting. Mitchell's latest project is “Young Man in America”, an album partially inspired by her father and the novel he wrote when he was around her age. She takes on the voices of multiple characters, both male and female, and brings her own band to help flesh out the album's sound for the live audience. Mitchell's previous work includes Hadestown, a folk-opera retelling of the Orpheus myth set in post-apocalyptic small-town America, and featured guest appearances from Greg Brown, Ani DiFranco, and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.

Jefferson Hamer is a self-taught instrumentalist and singer, inspired by popular music and the distilled folk sounds of America, Ireland, and the British Isles. He began his career in Colorado in the late 90's as a guitarist and harmony singer, and absorbed the California-Country spirit of Gram Parsons in equal measure with English folk visionaries like Richard Thompson and Martin Carthy and the mystical Irish sounds of Planxty. His most recent projects include a much-anticipated collection of reworked English folk songs in collaboration with acclaimed songwriter Anais Mitchell, called Child Ballads.

Mustard's Retreat

Everything Mustard's Retreat does on a stage is aimed at pleasing, moving and engaging their audience. Whether singing their own gentle love songs and vivid ballads, telling tall tales or offering treasures from America's vast traditional song bag, a Mustard's Retreat show always feels like it's designed for the people who have come to see them that day, in that coffeehouse, school, concert hall or festival. Audiences sense this from the moment David Tamulevich and Michael Hough hit the stage, are drawn to it like hungry kids to Sunday supper and reward it the best way they know how. They come to see Mustard's Retreat again and again.

Chris Pahud

"Chris Pahud sings with all his heart, and his heart is huge. His voice and songs come from such a beautiful place, I smile every time I hear him sing... and witness him doing what comes so natural to him..."

—Mary Gauthier, Lost Highway recording artist

Chris Pahud ('PAY hood') grew up in Needham, Massachusetts and currently resides in Quincy, Massachusetts. Chris started playing guitar and singing in the local Boston area around a decade ago. Chris's CD Red Sky in Morning was released in 2009. Produced and mastered by Seth Connelly, it also includes Seth on bass, piano, mandolin and guitars, Garnet Rogers on guitars and vocals, Youngbloods co-founder Jerry Corbitt on guitars and fretless bass, former Del Fuego percussionist, Joe Donnelly, Jr. on drums, Hatrack Gallager on harmonicas and Steafan Hannigan on whistles, Uilleann pipes, bouzouki and bodhran.

Ellis Paul

Ellis Paul is one of the leading voices in American songwriting and one of the top songwriters to emerge out of the fertile Boston folk scene. He helped create a movement that revitalized the national acoustic circuit with an urban, literate, folk rock style that helped renew interest in the genre in the 90's. His charismatic, personally authentic performance style has influenced a generation of artists away from the artifice of pop, and closer towards the realness of folk. Though he remains among the most pop-friendly of today's singer-songwriters—his songs regularly appear in hit movie and TV soundtracks— he has bridged the gulf between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger more successfully than perhaps any of his songwriting peers.

Sally Rogers

Sally Rogers performs traditional, contemporary and original ballads and song, interwoven with stories taken from her life as a performer, a wife and a mother. Throughout her concerts, she accompanies herself on guitar and Appalachian dulcimer, or performs without accompaniment in a voice that needs no further enhancement. Reviewers have described her voice in superlatives ranging from “remarkable” to “mesmerizing.” As one critic summarized, “...it's really next to impossible to do justice to a voice of that quality.” Much of the material performed by Sally includes compositions of her own, many of which are considered classics of the folk and popular genre. Sally's newest recording, Evidence of Happiness features Claudia Schmidt.

Claudia Schmidt

Claudia Schmidt has been exploring the nuances of acoustic music with her voice, 12 string guitar and mountain dulcimer with an exciting collection of original, traditional, and contemporary writing. From small clubs to large concert stages, her craft is at its height in live performance...She has been featured on PRI's A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, a television documentary on KTCA-TV in St. Paul called "I Sing Because I Can't Fly", and has written music for and acted in the musical "Bag Lady Tendencies" with Friends Mime Theater in Milwaukee and Frank Galati's production of "Good Person of Szechuan" at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, for which she won a Jefferson Award. All those elements of performing are brought to bear at a Schmidt performance as she mines the humor and poignancy of our lives and shapes it into a 'one-woman revitalization movement', as a journalist from Oakland, Ca. described her. The stage is her natural habitat, and every member of her audience is made to feel welcome and energized by her presentation. Claudia's newest recording Evidence of Happiness features Sally Rogers.

Art Tebbetts

New Bedford's own troubadour and a cornerstone of the Festival both as performer and stage host. Art Tebbetts is a seasoned guitarist-singer-performer averaging 200 to 260 gigs a year, who also hosts the Open Mics held at the Café Arpeggio. He plays coffeehouses, festivals, bars, pubs, fairs, and more. His "day gig" is "Music For the Ages" that specializes in playing for seniors in nursing homes, assisted living, senior day care, Councils on Aging, & church gatherings.

Gareth Turner

Gareth Turner is one of Britain's best melodeon players and founder of the folk rock band Little Johnny England. He has also been a member of The Albion Band and played with Show of Hands and Ashley Hutchings Dance Band.

Vishtèn

There's an old saying that goes something like, "Go out and make your mark in the world exploring the new ways but don't turn your back on your roots." The members of Vishtèn have been doing just that for the past seven years, touring their brand of new-traditional French-Canadian music in over 1000 performances rendered in eight different countries. Made up of third generation Acadians living separate but parallel musical experiences, twin sisters Pastelle and Emmanuelle LeBlanc from Prince Edward Island, Canada have teamed up with Pascal Miousse from the nearby Magdalen Islands to create a sound that incorporates elements of the new ways while retaining and staying true to the essential spirit of their roots. The sound is essentially Celtic but with a difference. The songs are French, sung by each band member, alone or in three-part harmony. The foot percussion drives the rhythm in a fiddle tune at times yet refrains itself in the gentler musical moments. The band members are accomplished multi-instrumentalists and step-dancers incorporating the fiddle, guitar, accordion, penny-whistle, mandolin, piano, jaw-harp and bodhran into each performance. They are surely making their mark in the world today as their musical maturity comes through to captivate audiences wherever they play.

Cheryl Wheeler

Cheryl Wheeler has to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing you read and nothing you hear from her albums prepares you for how entertaining a performer she is. If you're not already familiar with Cheryl, you have probably heard her music. She is very respected as a songwriter by her peers, which can be seen by how many of them record her songs. Cheryl's songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul & Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Bogguss, Melanie, Bette Midler, Maura O'Connell, Sylvia, Kathy Mattea, and Holly Near. From her albums you can tell that she is a gifted songwriter with a beautiful voice. From other people's comments about her you learn that she is a natural storyteller with a fantastic sense of humor. But until you see her in person, you never really believe what you've been told about her. Interestingly enough, almost half of the songs she performs during her shows have never been recorded.

John Whelan Trio

A seven time All Ireland champion, John Whelan is an instrumentalist, composer, producer and arranger who brings both passion and playfulness to his music while respecting the tradition in which it is rooted. Named Traditionalist of the Year by Irish Echo magazine, John won high praise from Celtic music authority Earle Hitchner "As an instrumentalist, composer, producer, and arranger who brings both passion and playfulness to his music while respecting the tradition it's rooted in. John Whelan has richly earned the Irish Echo's highest honor for traditional music." The John Whelan Trio features John on accordion, Flynn Cohen on guitar and Kathleen Parks on fiddle.

Brooks Williams

Ranked one of the Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists, singer-songwriter Brooks Williams writes groove-laden songs and delivers them with an easy-going vocal style and monstrous guitar chops. Walking the line between blues and Americana, Williams has worked stages worldwide for over 25 years, amassing a staggering back-catalogue of songs, recordings and tales. With nearly 20 CDs to his name—and more on the way—this Statesboro Georgia native is, according to americanaUK, "impossible not to like."