Philadelphia Folk Festival's inner sanctum

Most people see the Philadelphia Folk Festival from this side:

Chris Kasper and some of his former bandmates from The Lowlands at the 2012 Folk Fest.

And this side:

 Folk Fest volunteers Bryan Edwards and Lindsay Kuzara dance to the band Cabinet.

While I was interviewing the charming pair mentioned above, up comes a professional acquaintance from the PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce and Moyer Indoor/Outdoor. He was rather reluctant about being quoted in a story (Perhaps they don't know about his Folk Fest side outside of work?), but was excited to show me this area backstage where I had never been in all my years of covering the Folk Fest.
"Prepare to have your mind officially blown," said one of the backstage gatekeepers on the Dulcimer Grove side of the stage. 
To be more exact, it's under the main stage. This is the secret domain of the Philadelphia Folksong Society's Archive Committee, where audio and video recording of the main stage concerts takes place.

Dig those lava lamps in the back! The woman in the back is Joyce Lieberman, a sound mixer from WHYY.

To hear Hatfield resident James Fox tell it, there are gobs and gobs of archival reel to reel tape recordings going back to the earliest days of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, which is now in its 51st year. There are even recordings and photographs that pre-date the Folk Fest. The Folksong Society was founded in 1957.

Sadly the archive, which includes one-of-a-kind Folk Festival live jam sessions led by instigators like David Bromberg and Tom Paxton, is kept under wraps and can not be accessed by the general public for fear of bootlegging, or drawing the ire of music publishers ASCAP and BMI. However, access has been granted to Godfather of Folk Gene Shay and authors researching singers Stan Rogers and Steve Goodman.

"We had the only live video recordings of him," Fox said of Rogers, who passed away in 1983.

Fox said the society is working on getting a grant to digitize the analog audio archives, which promises to be a very time-consuming and expensive venture.

Thirty-year festival attendee Gary Schuman of Reading shared that he also had a serendipitous backstage access experience 20 years ago at the Folk Fest when he met The Holmes Brothers, who are back at the festival this year.   

Philly folk flavor

Sellersville Theater is my favorite venue to see live music. There's nothing quite like the intimacy of the place. I rediscovered that at the Dec. 29 "Monsters of Philly Folk" concert with WXPN Philly Local darlings Chris Kasper, Hezekiah Jones (Everybody in the band has a fictitious Jones stage name, a la The Ramones), and Andrew Lipke & The Prospects.
During the big-voiced Lipke's set, he thanked the audience for braving the elements to make it to the theater. He was referring to the storm from Dec. 27. I murmured, what I thought was under my breath, "That was two days ago." From the D row, where I was sitting, it could be heard from the stage. This prompted cellist, Krista Nielsen, to look over at Lipke and crack a joke about not "living in the past."
Lipke's clearly an accomplished musician, but he has to work on not appearing so impressed by his own abilities. The eclectic selections switched gears from string quartet-heavy songs; while others took on a Jeff Buckley sonic mold; and others felt like Tears For Fears' mid-90s, esoteric material.
"Standing Over You" was a standout performance. Yet there were songs, like "Untitled Song #1," (Dude, always title your friggin' songs! #1? You mean there's going to be others without a title?) that make you scratch your head and wonder: "What does this guy want to be? A chamber music rocker? A pop singer/songwriter? Or what?"
The Sellersville crowd - many coming from Philly, judging by how late some of them arrived - loved him. I wonder how a New York audience would receive Lipke.



Hezekiah Jones, fronted by Raphael Cutrufello, has a way with turning a lyrical phrase that grabs your attention. "What was once a pickle is twice the cucumber" LOL
Seeing this clip of "Writing Letters in the Morning" confirms an observation I made at the show that Cutrufello doesn't like to directly face the audience - quite a quirk for a singer to have.
Dig the fiddler!


I first heard of Chris Kasper in 2006, thanks to Lansdale Catholic product Kate Gaffney. "And You Wait," "The Stoop," "Ain't No Saint" and "Baltimore Street" were some of the best performances of the night (Well that, and when all the musicians came together on stage and played John Lennon's "Instant Karma"). I was particularly impressed that his backup band included the likes of Philip D'Agostino and Kevin Killen, Philly Local picks in their own right. Check out this clip of Kasper & Gaffney together.


Even if you're seeing someone whose songs you don't know all that well, time at the Sellersville Theater is time well spent.

Folk @ Fire

Every Tuesday in May, The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, will be taken over by the Philly Folk Parade, "a sounding bell of human musical freedom." Organized by local 'folk stars' The Spinning Leaves and Hezekiah Jones, the Folk Parade’s residency will provide a rotating cast of seven bands each night, sharing the stage starting at 9 p.m.

Hosting this week is Chris Kasper, and Hezekiah Jones gets the last one on May 25. My boy, Jesse Lundy, will be jamming with The Doublewides the 18th.

Cover is $7.

Click on the link in this post to The Fire or call (267) 671-9298.