The 43rd annual Alaska Folk Festival kicks off Monday.
The festival runs April 3-9 and will showcase more than 450 musicians performing a range of traditional and new folk, Irish, blues, old time and rockabilly.
The festival opens Monday evening at 7 p.m. and closes the following Sunday with a 9 p.m. performance.
Centennial Hall hosts nightly concerts from artists of all kinds, headlined by the Murphy Beds, who will perform Thursday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m.
The Murphy Beds, a New York City duo of Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer, play traditional and original folk songs with “close harmonies and deft instrumental arrangements” on guitar, mandolin and bouzouki, according to their website.
Concert times are 7-10:45 p.m. Monday through Thursday; noon-11:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon-9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Dances will be held at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 7 p.m. to a little after midnight. Styles will include contra, square, Motown, jazz, old time and others.
[A quick-pickin’ guide to Folk Fest]
Surrounding events include an “All-Day Coffee & Jam” at the JACC from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Friday, April 7. That event has food, dancing and an open mic contra and square dance jam. A family concert takes place on Saturday at 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the Sheffield room at Centennial Hall.
Heritage Coffee downtown will host a Songwriters Showcase Saturday and Sunday from 3-6 p.m. featuring emcees Katie Bausler and Grace Elliot.
Child care will be provided for the folk fest on Thursday from 6:30-9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 6:30-10 p.m.
Dozens of jam spots will pop up around town during the week for musicians to keep playing outside of their Folk Fest sets. For a complete list of times, see the bulletin board near the membership table at Centennial Hall.
Check out the Capital City Weekly for interviews and articles on this year’s most interesting acts at capitalcityweekly.com.
The Folk Fest also features scores of workshops for musicians, dancers and singers. For a complete list of workshops, visit http://www.akfolkfest.org/43/workshops.php. For a complete concert schedule, visit http://www.akfolkfest.org/43/concerts.php.
