© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

KALW On-Air Folk Festival Sat. Apr. 13

KALW On-Air Folk Festival Returns Saturday Apr. 13th

IF YOU MISSED THE FESTIVAL, YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE FIVE HOURS VIA KALW'S LOCAL MUSIC PLAYER FOR ONE WEEK FOLLOWING THE BROADCAST.  https://www.kalw.org/local-music-player-0

Join us on Saturday April 13th from 3:00 to 8:00 pm for five hours of continuous live music, featuring some of the Bay Area’s top talent.  The Folk Festival is presented by KALW’s music hosts JoAnn Mar, Kevin Vance, and Peter Thompson.  Here’s the line-up:

3:00 pm    Briana di Mara is an eclectic violinist who performs in a wide variety of traditional styles including Celtic, Balkan, Turkish and Arabic.  She’ll be playing songs from her debut recording “Haven.”

3:45 pm    Paper Wings is the duo of Emily Mann and Wilhelmina Frankzerda, two young emerging musicians, harmonizing together on songs inspired by old-time, traditional, and Appalachian styles.  We’ll hear them perform songs from their new forthcoming release “Clementine.”

4:15 pm    Miko Marks is a powerful and passionate singer who refuses to be stereotyped.  At the start of her career, she was hailed as a hot new country artist “breaking the sound barriers in music” by Ebony Magazine.  Miko got a standing ovation last year at the Freight’s 50th anniversary concert in front of a full house.

5:00 pm Mokai plays earthy, original music.  Accompanying himself on fingerstyle guitar, he tells gripping stories, rhymes freely, and through his songs, melds the strange and beautiful into rootsy performances. 

5:30 pm Forest Sun returns to KALW.  His home is in the Bay Area and around the world.  A second-generation folkie, he comes from the school of Do-It-Yourself, writing his own songs, recording and releasing his work, touring the planet, and gaining a following.  His originals, his guitar work, and his voice are a simple brilliance. A cool neighbor you're happy to invite to sing on your front porch.

6:00 pm   The Quitters are Stevie Coyle and Glenn Houston, alumni of such bands as The Waybacks and Houston Jones. A guitar duo of right-side up finger picking (Stevie Coyle) and upside down flat picking (Glenn Houston). The Quitters deliver a performance spiced with humor and serendipity.

6:30 pm    Kathy Kallick and Gene Tortora Kathy Kallick recently released her 21st album to widespread acclaim and chart-topping success, and continues to tour widely with her band. She’s been collaborating informally with Old Friend (they were once in a band of that name) Gene Tortora, a dobro player who’s been part of several other influential Bay Area bluegrass bands, including Styx River Ferry (the band that initiated bluegrass at Paul’s Saloon), The Phantoms of the Opry (with Pat Enright), and The Squids (the world’s first punk bluegrass band).

7:20 pm    The Wildcat Mountain Rambers are a bluegrass band based in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Chad Johnson, Mark Wardenburg, Robert Cornelius, Suzanne Suwanda, and Alex Mayers will be previewing their upcoming appearances at an Earth Day celebration and the Brookdale Bluegrass Festival, as well as their regular gigs at Sam’s BBQ and the Summit House.

JoAnn Mar is a veteran radio announcer, producer and host of Folk Music & Beyond, heard every Saturday from 3 to 5 pm. In her spare time, she is a radio documentary producer/journalist. Her news reports and features have aired on NPR, Voice of America, The Charles Osgood File, Pacifica Radio and AARP's series Prime Time Radio. Topics covered include prisons, end-of-life, women's issues, the plight of immigrants and public education.
Kevin Vance created a program of folk music for KALW, A Patchwork Quilt, in October 1991. He grew up in Berkeley during the 1960s and '70s and spent his years learning in public schools, community colleges, bookstores, libraries, and non-commercial radio stations, as well as from the people around him. When he's not on the radio, then he's selling books, taking care of his family, listening to music, entering stuff into a computer, or taking a class.
Peter Thompson is the host of Bluegrass Signal on KALW. Since 2004, the program has been syndicated on WAMU's Bluegrass Country.