2012 Festival Events – Performances
- All Jump Up/Silver Rose - The beloved and dynamic duo of Barb Silverman, “a folk festival in a box,” and Steve Rosen, “the folk Buddha,” pack 30 years of charm and talent from old-time to
- Almost “A” Quartet - Almost “A” is a mix of Romanian gypsy, artsy stuff, jazz standards, tango, and Django. Don’t miss the incomparable Dorothy Martirano on violin, Armand Beaudoin on cello/double bass, Chris Reyman
- Billy Galt and Jeff Kerr - Billy Galt is well-known in Central Illinois for his guitarmanship with the Blues Deacons; he also has spent time playing backup for Homesick James, Sonny Boy WIlliamson, Jr., Maxwell Street
- Black Coffee Fridays - Black Coffee Fridays is an acoustic music group organically grown out of companionship, love for music, resilient porch chilling, the inner flame of good times burning to express themselves and
- Blind Boy Paxton with Brandon Bailey - CU Folk and Roots is proud to announce the return of Blind Boy Paxton, who wow’ed audiences at our 2011 festival. Amazingly, he’s not just the real deal, he may
- Boneyard Morris Dance Group - Morris dance is a traditional dance from England that has been done for hundreds of years. There are several references to Morris dance in Shakespeare. Each village or region has
- Carl Sandburg: Music of the People, Voice of the People - Carl Sandburg dedicates his American Songbag to the “Unknown Singers”: the people who lived and died, having sung, but who are now unsung. They live on through the tradition they
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- Champaign-Urbana Accordion Club - The Champaign-Urbana Accordion Club is a group of people devoted to squeezing the old box. We welcome all levels of experience and inexperience, and meet weekly on Wednesday evening, for free and
- David Howie - David Howie is no less than a legend in this town. A singer/songwriter/guitarist, he also covers a song catalog of astonishing range.
- Deak Harp - Deak Harp started playing harmonica at age 12, when he heard a schoolmate playing blues on a harmonica. Deak listened to British blues untill his brother Bob told him about
- Devil in a Woodpile - From Bloodshot Records – Devil in a Woodpile, they play blues. They also play country. Ragtime. Hot Jazz. Hillbilly. It’s all the same to them. It’s all taken from the same
- Donnybrook - Jay and Pat Landers (Donnybrook) have been deeply involved in performing traditional Irish/Celtic music since 1983, when they were founding members of “Drowsy Maggie,” one of the first Irish folk
- Emily Otnes - Emily Otnes is an 18-year-old singer/songwriter from Urbana, Illinois. Her musical style is a mix of jazz, pop, and folk, created through the use of vocals, piano, guitar, ukulele, and
- Gina Forsyth - New Orleans-based Gina Forsyth is an award-winning singer/songwriter, who is known for her wizardry on fiddle and guitar. With an alto as unique as it is soulful, unpretentious songs that
- Grass Roots Revival - Grass Roots Revival (GRR) plays traditional bluegrass and Americana music with a vengeance. GRR’s specialty is close harmonies and the high-lonesome sound that bluegrass is known for. All three members
- Jazz Clarinet Revival - Jazz Clarinet Revival is Nathaniel Ruiz’s ongoing project to display the different musical environments (primarily in the jazz idiom) that the clarinet can fit. This particular performance focuses on Bossa
- John Lilly - John Lilly is a multi-talented acoustic music performer from Charleston, West Virginia, specializing in Americana, country roots, and traditional folk music.
- Kevin Elliott - Kevin Elliott has maintained an uninterrupted love affair with the contemporary folk sound he first heard as a child in the 1960’s. This sound, which has ebbed and flowed in
- Legend of Levi Morgan - Urbana based Legend of Levi Morgan started out playing Red dirt covers and decided to write their own music that blended Red dirt, folk, country, and some bluegrass.
- Margaret O’Brien - Singer-songwriter Margaret M. O’Brien grew up on the South Side of Chicago in the Beverly neighborhood, and has lived in New Mexico, Oregon and California as well. She picked up
- Michael Powers - Michael Powers, drummer and hand-percussionist extraordinaire has played with many blues, rock, and world music bands in the area over the past thirty years. His solo percussion performances are a
- Mike Anderson – Storytelling - The combination of music, storytelling and humor has made Mike Anderson one of the most sought-after performers from the Atlantic coast to Canada to the Gulf and all points in
- Monster Buttermilk Presented by Piper’s Hut - Monster Buttermilk is a performing unit comprised on musicians who participate in C/U’s weekly Irish music session (every Wednesday 8:30p to 10:30p at O’Neil’s, 301 N. Neil St. in Champaign).
- Mr. Stephens - The festival welcomes back “Mr. Stephens,” who has been entertaining the twelve-and-under set around C-U for years with his blend of serious and silly, fun and folksy guitar and vocals.
- Mugdock Pipers - The Mugdock Pipers were founded in the 1960s by Mr. Jim Lynch, Urbana, to promote the art of the Highland Bagpipe in the Champaign-Urbana area. Members have been drawn from
- New Old Cavalry - The New Old Cavalry is a young, energetic, and dynamic bluegrass group that has torn out of Bloomington, IN, reaching as far as the west coast in only a few
- New Orleans Jazz Machine - The New Orleans Jazz Machine is a traditional jazz band formed over 15 years ago and features: Carlyle Johnson (long-time Champaign music teacher), clarinet/soprano sax Russ Pence, trumpet Barry Wagner,
- Nightjar Promotions Singer-Songwriter Showcase with Midas the Crow, Vivian McConnell, Justin Rondon, Gloria Roubal - Nightjar Promotions presents four wonderful original local singer-songwriters in conjunction with the C-U Folk & Roots Festival. In just six short months since moving to Champaign from Southwest Missouri, Justin
- Old Time Players - Duo Christine and Paul Breen make up the Old Time Players . Christine plays the old time five-string banjo and has been playing clawhammer style for several years. She is
- Orpheus Mandolin Orchestra - The Orpheus Mandolin Orchestra comes to us from Bloomington, Illinois, where it grew out of old-time jam session that attracted a remarkable number of mandolin players. The Orchestra’s repertoire includes
- Puppetalooza! with Miriam Larson - Join puppeteer Miriam Larson for some fun stories for all ages. Puppet antics will include a retelling of the Aesop tale Ant and Grasshopper and a slap-stick skit that all
- Red Tail Ring - Red Tail Ring is the Americana roots duo of Michael Beauchamp and Laurel Premo. Whether rendering a traditional tune or one of their original compositions, the duo infuses each song
- Resonation Station - Krannert Uncorked gets the Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival off to an early start with the feel-good traditional and pop songs of Resonation Station. Jordan Schilling, Jeremy Taylor, Collin Richey,
- Robbie Fulks - Robbie Fulks kicked off the very first CU Folk and Roots Festival in 2009 and we’re thrilled to have him back! Don’t miss his humor-laced alt-country uniqueness.
- Rose Duffy - Rose Duffy’s dedication to Irish music began at a young age. Her father and sisters played tunes after dinner in the family kitchen, and when she started to study Irish
- Stay Gold Boys - The Stay Gold Boys is a rockabilly/jump trio out of the Champaign-Urbana area. Band consists of seasoned local veterans, Todd Fletcher on guitar and lead/backup vocals (Parasol Recording Artist June
- Storytelling with Hal Southern and Camille Born - Hal Southern was born and raised in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. He started telling stories in 2009 and loves the journey that stories take him on. He tells
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- Storytelling with Kathe Brinkmann and Elaine Bearden - Kathe Brinkmann is a wonderful storyteller with a breadth of tales that range from the moving to the comical. She is always tuned into her listeners and seems to know
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- Storytelling with Sue Searing and Kim Sheahan - Sue Searing has lived in Champaign for over 15 years, working as a librarian at the University of Illinois. She’s originally from upstate New York. Her passion for discovering, learning,
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- Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra - Emerging as one of Canada’s most exciting young multi-genre roots band, the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra’s faithful underground following has expanded to National awareness and saw them playing festivals across Canada
- The Blue Ribbon Revival - Are you a Believer? Do you feel as though you were born in the wrong era? Do the Philistines of Country Radio make you fear for the salvation of the
- The Curses - If The Curses have souls, they are old ones. Their music is kinda like going to your favorite buffet Sunday afternoon with a bad hangover.
- The Freight Hoppers - We are happy to have the Freight Hoppers, one of old-time’s most powerful and dynamic bands playing at this year’s festival. The lineup for the festival is Heidi Clare on
- The Shanties - The Shanties – In bars and in concert setting they are New Irish music, an energetic infusion of traditional and pop. Solid for 12 years, according to its fans, and
- The Young and the Fretless - The Young and the Fretless plays old-time mountain music on the prairie–a mix of Appalachian Mountain and Midwestern tunes and songs. Its members are Lyle Konigsberg (fiddle), Tom Bassett (fretless
- Vine Street Syncopators - The Vine Street Syncopators, led by trumpeter Jeff Helgesen, performs traditional swing music from the 1930s, including music originally recorded by Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhardt, and Eddie Condon, amongst others.