![\"Edmonton](\"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/folk-fest-0068.jpg\" "\\"Edmonton")
In a sweet lineup bolstered by proven favourites, Atlanta hip-hop heroes Arrested Development follow singer-songwriter Cat Power Saturday night at Edmonton Folk Music Festival, with powerhouse S.O.B. singer Nathaniel Rateliff closing the weekend Sunday.
Also up on main stage, blues whirlwind St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Victoria folk duo Ocie Elliot will warm up for Rateliff’s solo project.
It’s the 48th annual iteration of the sprawling love-in on Gallagher Park hill, running Aug. 6-9.
The 60-plus-act roster also features viral folk band Buffalo Traffic Jam and Icelandic indie-folk act Of Monsters and Men main stage Friday night; while on Thursday, American soul trio Thee Sacred Souls follows mighty country troubadour and hometown hero Corb Lund.
The music starts 6:35 p.m. Thursday with L.A.-based R&B trio The Womack Sisters to get us up and moving straight off.
In the diverse mix of session players (see full list below): Grammy nominated The Milk Carton Kids, Austin psych jam band The Point, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr & the Zydeco Twisters, bittersweet country picker John R. Miller, English four-piece rock band SupaLung, bluegrass sensations Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, local queer pop artist Caylie G in School of Song, Quebec folk storyteller Mia Kelly … the list goes on.
Longtime festival producer Terry Wickham nods to a few bands, including Amble, who mix Irish tradition with modern indie folk, playing 8 p.m. Friday night at the big shell.
“I think they’ll do really well, and there’s secret ones in there, like DUG or Gwenifer Raymond, such a great guitar player.”
He points to a couple English folksingers.
“Nick Mulvey is as good as they come, so is Kate Rusby. So is, you know, just a lot of people, like St. Paul & the Broken Bones.
“Bombino – you can’t miss him, he’s on main stage Sunday afternoon – he’s kind of a monster guitarist. SYML is a popular guy online,” Wickham says of the multiplatinum Where’s My Love singer, an American dream-pop singer exploring his Welsh blood.
“Ásgeir, we’ve been trying to get him for a long time,” adds Wickham. “He’s from Iceland and it’s funny that Leif Vollebeck speaks Icelandic, so we’ll get them in a session together.”
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Wickham discusses his philosophy, in a nutshell: “book great bands.”
“I just wanted to add a lot of quality all the way through the lineup. I know some festivals, they concentrate and get those big five or 10, and then you can tell there’s a real gap in quality,” he said.
“I negotiate tight at the top, and then I’m generous with the up-and-comers, so people aren’t losing money. You never know who’s going to get popular too, and they kind of go, ‘Well, they treated us well,’ and will happily come back.”
Notable is the wide contingent of locals this year, including angel-voiced country singer Mariel Buckley, heartfelt blues aficionado Joe Nolan, fiddle dynamo Brianna Lizotte, the energetic Mbira Renaissance Band, plus expats Sister Ray and, of course, the in-the-news environmental activist Lund.
“I’m very impressed with what he’s doing with Water Not Coal ,” says Wickham, “because he takes a lot of flak, you know. He’s only standing up for the good – coal mining. Why would you put it in the eastern Rockies?”
Besides a little tightening of security following an issue when Robert Plant was here, Wickham says it’s generally business as usual, with an eye on the ever-widening, fenced-off bog.
“I mean, just like things like hiding the banks of toilets, maybe put some scrims around them and have some pictures on there.
“Eventually I’d like to see some flowers growing along the sides of stages and stuff,” says Wickham, who blissfully gardens in his spare moments.
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The Edmonton Ski Club is also in the middle of putting up a new building. “It’s going to be a hassle for this year in terms of movement and all that, but you know, it’s short-term pain for long-term gain.”
When asked what’s gone up to run the four-day show, Wickham chuckles, “Everything.”
“Whatever inflation we’re feeling, it’s at least double that in outdoor festivals. That’s why a lot of them have gone away in Europe, even here: Regina is gone. Blues Festival is gone,” he says.
But despite jaw-dropping increases in booking fees and everything else made more expensive in the wake of Trump’s idiotic Iran quagmire, the only increase in ticket costs are a $10 bump in the four-day-each Adult Personal Pass and Senior Personal Pass.
Breaking the four-day passes and single-day tickets down all in, Adult Personal Passes are $261.20, with Thursday or Friday costing $117.45, Saturday or Sunday running $123.75 apiece.
The U-25 Personal Pass and Senior Personal Pass are both $203.45, with a Youth Personal Pass still at $127.85.
Single days for seniors 65-79 are $61.80 a pop, and for youth 12-17 $47.10 each.
Tickets go on sale 10 a.m., Saturday, June 6 at edmontonfolkfest.org .
With a solid lineup and all the ducks lined up, Wickham is feeling optimistic, overall.
“Funding is good, our volunteers are good, our staff is experienced,” he says.
“We have a lot of blessings, you know. I think we’re in really good shape.”
Bring on the four (not too) strong winds!
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Full Edmonton Folk Music Festival list
Adam Baldwin (N.S.)
Amble (Ireland)
Anna Tivel (U.S.)
Annie & the Caldwells (U.S)
Arrested Development (U.S.)
Ásgeir (Iceland)
Bella White (B.C.)
Bombino (Niger)
Brianna Lizotte (AB)
Buffalo Traffic Jam (U.S.)
Buyepongo (U.S.)
Cat Power (U.S.)
Corb Lund (AB)
Courtney Marie Andrews (U.S.)
D.K. Harrell (U.S.)
Daby Touré (QC/Mauritania)
Daily & Vincent (U.S.)
Damien O’Kane & Ron Block (Northern Ireland/U.S.)
Dana Sipos (B.C.)
Djékady, feat. Balla Kouyaté & Mike Block (Guinea/U.S.)
Djely Tapa ((QC/Mali)
Dove Ellis (Ireland)
DUG (Scotland/Ireland/U.S.)
Fantastic Cat (U.S.)
Gwenifer Raymond (Wales)
Hurray for the Riff Raff (U.S.)
Jake Xerxes Fussell (U.S.)
Jeffrey Martin (U.S.)
Jeremie Albino (ON)
Joe Nolan (AB)
Joel Plaskett (NS)
John R. Miller (U.S.)
Julian Taylor (ON)
Kate Rusby (England)
La Déferlance (QC)
Leif Vollebekk (QC)
Madalisto Band (Malawi)
Mariel Buckley (AB)
Mia Kelly (QC)
Nathaniel Rateliff (U.S.)
Nick Mulvey (England)
Ocie Elliott (B.C.)
Of Monsters and Men (Iceland)
Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley (U.S.)
Rockin’ Dopsie Jr & the Zydeco Twisters (U.S.)
School of Song (AB) – Caylie G, Mitch Gorman, Paul Cournier, The Western Thistles
Sister Ray (AB)
St. Paul & the Broken Bones (U.S.)
SupaLung (England)
SYML (U.S.)
The Brundi Brothers (U.S.)
The Mbira Renaissance Band (AB)
The Milk Carton Kids (U.S.)
The Pairs (ON)
The Point (U.S.)
The Womack Sisters (U.S.)
Thee Sacred Souls (U.S.)
Tia Wood (AB)
Trousdale (U.S.)
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