Richmond Folk Festival Gearing Up

July 2, 2009 (Richmond, VA) – The Richmond Folk Festival is pleased to announce the first eight performers for the second annual festival that will take place October 9-11, 2009 in downtown Richmond along its historic riverfront. More than 25 groups will be scheduled to perform on the festival’s six stages...

“The festival will be an even greater gift in these challenging economic times,” said Festival Programming Committee Chairman, Jim Wark. “It’s an amazing event and it's as free as air. The artistry of our 2009 line-up will match, if not exceed, that of the last four years, and just watch what happens when Swamp Dogg takes the stage!”

1. Tidewater native and rhythm & blues legend Swamp Dogg returns to the Old Dominion from Los Angeles to serve up a musical “Total Destruction to Your Mind.”
   
2. Nashville-based Jerry Douglas is an innovator and a traditionalist and perhaps the finest player of the Dobro who has ever lived. Along with his group, The Jerry Douglas Band, the music of this resophonic guitar wizard transcends categorization.
   
3. One of Washington, DC’s most influential go-go bands, Trouble Funk will rock the Festival dance stage with the percussion-heavy funk groove that has been driving crowds crazy for three decades.
   
4. Heir to a family musical legacy, zydeco accordionist Jeffrey Broussard leads Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys, one of Southwest Louisiana’s hottest new dance bands.
   
5. Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga brings African dance rhythms to this year’s line-up. Now making his home in the U.S., this dynamic singer’s unique blend of Congolese rumba infused with the flavors of Kenya has made him an undisputed star of East African music.
   
6. From New York City, led by the brilliant, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellow, Sue Yeon Park, Sounds of Korea is recognized as the foremost traditional Korean dance group in the United States.
   
7. Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill have created one of the most memorable musical partnerships of our era. Based in West Hartford, Connecticut and Chicago, Illinois, this spellbinding Irish fiddle and guitar duo weaves music that slowly smolders before exploding with exhilarating energy.
   
8. Rounding out this first group of performers for the 2009 Richmond Folk Festival is a real working cowboy from Dusty, Washington. Yodeler extraordinaire Wylie Gustafson and his group Wylie & The Wild West will delight festival-goers with their classic country, western swing and cowboy songs.

The Richmond Folk Festival is one of Virginia’s largest events, drawing visitors from all over the country to downtown Richmond’s historic riverfront. The Festival is a FREE three-day event that got its start as the National Folk Festival held in Richmond from 2005-2007. In the tradition of the National, the Richmond Folk Festival features more than 25 performers, on 6 stages with continuous music and dance performances, along with a Virginia Folklife Area, an interactive Family Area produced by the Children’s Museum of Richmond, a folk art marketplace, regional and ethnic foods, festival merchandise and more. More information is available at www.richmondfolkfestival.com.

The Festival is produced by Venture Richmond, in a continuing partnership with the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA), the City of Richmond, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the National Park Service, the Library of Virginia and the Children’s Museum of Richmond. . For more information visit www.venturerichmond.com.