There are institutions devoted to rock ’n’ roll, country, blues, jazz, soul, and other forms of American music, so why not one dedicated to folk? That was precisely the question a group of musician advocates in Beacon asked, and in answer they’ve launched a campaign to open the American Center for Folk Music there—a fitting location, given that the town was the long-time home of Pete Seeger. To help raise the necessary funds for the effort, the Towne Crier will host a benefit concert on January 1.
This special event promises a bill of local and regional musicians that includes the band Guthrie’s Ghost (Hope Machine’s Steve Kirkman and Fred Gillian, plus David Bernz, Jacob Bernz, and Amy Fradon), the Solar Sound Band, Susan Bozso, and others. Proceeds from the show will support the ACFM organization (centerforfolkmusic.org), which will organizer say will “grow into a hub for celebrating folk pioneers and sustaining the folk music process.”
Appropriately, here’s Kirkman and Gillian doing the song “Folk Singer” with Hope Machine:
The American Center for Folk Music fundraiser concert will take place at the Towne Crier in Beacon, New York, on January 10 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $15. For more information, call (845) 855-1300 or visit www.townecrier.com.
This article appears in January 2016.
