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Swallow Hill announces its 16th Annual Folk Festival
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PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Contact: Rodolfo Betancourt
rudy@swallowhillmusic.org
Laura McGaughey
laura@swallowhillmusic.org
303.765.2488 |
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Denver —
Swallow Hill Music Association announces its 16th
Annual Folk Festival, one of our largest fundraising events of the year,
bringing a whole weekend of acoustic musical entertainment and community
building.
From its humble beginnings as an all-day and all-night, 24-hour-a-day
Folk-a-thon to its current incarnation as a three-day long festival, the Swallow
Hill Folk Festival has evolved through its history as the organization continues
to grow. This year’s Festival begins Friday, September 7th at 6 p.m., continues all day Saturday
the 8th
from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The Festival features headlining acts the
Ruthie Foster Trio, Dakota Blonde, and Corinne West & The Posse,
plus three stages with more than 150 of the best musicians in Colorado, who are
giving their talents to help Swallow Hill continue its mission to present,
teach, and preserve folk, roots, and acoustic music and dance.
Ruthie Foster is a
prodigiously gifted singer and songwriter from Texas, and if you've not been
introduced to her yet, you’re in for a major epiphany. And if you’ve been
following Foster’s career ever since her self-released, 1997 debut, Full
Circle, or even since her 2002 breakthrough, Runaway Soul, you’re in
for an even bigger surprise, because you really haven’t ever heard Foster until
you hear her now, with her most recent release, The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster.
Simply put, mama’s gotta brand new bag. "This CD," she says,
"is
what happens when all the elements come together and you just get out of the way
and let the groove go, you know? I learned a lot about just getting out of my
own way."
Foster quickly established herself as one of the acoustic music world’s
brightest stars. From the Kerrville Folk Festival to
Austin City Limits to stages all
across North America and Europe, she has won thousands of new fans each night.
Both live and on disc, Foster mixes contemporary folk with old-school gospel and
blues with dazzling efficiency, showcasing a powerhouse voice that draws
favorable comparisons to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin.
Dakota Blonde's vibrant harmony trio of Mary Huckins,
Don Pinnella, and Tony Raddell will entertain the Folk Festival audience with
their down-to-earth, sentimental, and humorous tunes that reflect their
influences of folk, bluegrass, and country, with a little Celtic tinge. The
three met through their careers in music therapy, working with children and
adolescents who are emotionally troubled. That special capacity for empathy
could explain the titanium bond the band quickly makes with their audience. All
three come from musical families, and their charm stems both from the music they
play and from the family feeling they bring into any concert hall or venue.
You'll walk away feeling like you've always known them. John McEuen praises,
"Dakota Blonde should emerge soon as one of those 'discoveries' that people will
get excited about —all they have to do
is listen." Accomplished songwriters, their song "Somebody’s Brother" won the
2001 Walnut Valley Festival New Song Showcase, and Mary Huckin's song "Dig Real
Deep" was a
finalist for the 2002 MerleFest Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. Dakota Blonde
has shared the stage with Nickel Creek, John McEuen, Jimmy Ibbotson, Pete
Huttlinger, Tony Furtado, Jim Horn, John Sommers, Jim Salestrom, Firefall,
Mollie O'Brien and many more. They have also played in festivals along with
artists like Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, David Crosby, Lucy Kaplansky and
Greg Brown.
Originally from California's Sierra Mountains, Corinne West spins tales
with a voice part velvet and part grit that is both achingly penetrating and
highly addictive. Her music has a cool, layered, sound with a kick, which some
describe as
"utterly
spellbinding."
Her style combines the
energy of rippin' bluegrass, the nostalgia of American roots, the backbone of
hard country, and the smooth silky richness of traditional folk. Her debut
record, Bound for the Living, which has been played on more than 160
radio stations worldwide, has resulted in international acclaim. This last year
she completed her follow up record, Second Sight, which was produced by
Mike Marshall and features Jerry Douglas, Darol Anger, Tony Furtado, Mike
himself and more. Plans for the album's release are in the works. West has
opened for many amazing artists, including Patty Loveless, Rhonda Vincent, The
Doobie Brothers, Dwight Yoakam, David Grisman and Asleep At The Wheel. Forging
her own contribution to Americana music, which fuses her distinct voice with the
driving steam of an American roots train, West is the real deal and her music
strikes to the core.
For tickets visit
www.swallowhillmusic.org or call (303) 777-1003. Discounts are available for
Swallow Hill members.
About Swallow Hill Music Association:
Helping people make music since 1979 years, Swallow Hill Music Association is
one of the largest institutions of its kind in the United States as a source for
folk, roots and acoustic music. With more than 2,100 members—some of whom are
also volunteers—Swallow Hill provides a place to celebrate music that is rarely
heard elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain Region. Three concert venues house more
than 150 performances a year, featuring some of the world's great artists as
well as up-and-coming new talent. The Julie Davis Music School at Swallow Hill
provides a valuable and affordable extra-curricular educational resource to the
community with more than 50 music instructors involved in more than 240 adult
classes and 70 children's classes annually.
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