It feels like it just happened, but the 2011 NW Folklife Festival was more than four months ago, with a whole summer (such as it was) between then and now. With the days getting shorter and wetter, it seems like a perfect time to remember those sunny warm days by pulling up a computer and listening to the huge amount of archived audio our friends at Folklife have made available for listening.
There’s a lot to choose from, so a good starting place might be our own Ball of Wax showcase, which happened on Sunday, May 29th (scroll about halfway down the page until you see Pickwick‘s Galen Disston rocking the mic). You can check out sets from me, Joshua Morrison, Shenandoah Davis, Sunday Evening Whiskey Club, and Pickwick.
If you’re looking for more listening suggestions after that, you can cross-reference Folklife’s archived audio pages with this in-depth post about Ball of Wax artists who played at the Festival this year. That should keep you busy until the end of the work day, anyway.
Speaking of live recordings from this year’s Festival, Northwest Folklife will be celebrating the release of Roots & Branches Vol. 3, the newest installment of its live compilation series, on October 21st at the Columbia City Theater. The CD features recordings from BoW friends Corespondents, Ravenna Woods, and Cahalen Morrison & Eli West, along with many more fine performers. The live show, featuring Cahalen & Eli, Squirrel Butter, Spoonshine, and more, promises to be a terrific evening. Details at this Facebook thingy.