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The Brooklyn Folk Festival, which has inhabited Kings County venues like the Jalopy Theater and the Bell House in past years, takes over St. Ann's Church for its seventh-annual iteration on April 17–19. The historic Brooklyn Heights venue is an upgrade for the fest in terms of size—it's also a great place to hear acoustic music of any genre. Don't be fooled by the name: The folk fest brings together acts that deal in Americana and blues as well as global sounds from places like the Middle East and Guinea. This year's headliners include Daptone Records faves Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, blues multi-instrumentalist Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, folk luminary Michael Hurley, and weirdo-folk duo Peter Stampfel & Jeffrey Lewis. Tickets are on sale now at Brooklynfolkfest.com.
The three-day fest also has the distinction of hosting an annual banjo-toss contest. In terms of instrument destruction, it's not exactly exploding drum sets and incinerated guitars, but it'll do. Meet at the venue at 1pm on Sunday, April 19 to witness the mayhem (and check out video of a previous year's toss below).
RECOMMENDED: See our full guide to the Brooklyn Folk Festival
Brooklyn Folk Festival Full Schedule
Friday, April 17: Evening Music
8:00PM Jackson Lynch
8:45PM Horse Eyed Men
9:30PM Michael Hurley
10:15PM Jerron "Blindboy" Paxton
11:00PM Terry Waldo's Rum House Band
11:45PM Feral Foster and His Band
Saturday, April 18: Afternoon Music
1:30PM Wyndham Baird
2:15PM King Isto’s Tropical String Band
3:00PM Ryan Spearman
3:45PM Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues
4:30PM Frank Fairfield and Zac Sokolow
5:15PM Suzy & Eric Thompson
6:00PM Tom Marion with Frank Fairfield
6:45PM Ozark Highballers
Saturday, April 18: Workshops & Activities
1:00PM Old Time Jam Session
2:30PM Songs of Freedom with Matt Callahan and Yvonne Moore
3:15PM Folk City! A presentation about the history of folk music in New York by Stephen Petrus
4-5:30pm "Singing in Harmony" Vocal Harmony Workshop with Don Friedman and Phyllis Elkind
Saturday, April 18: Evening Music
8pm Pat Conte
8:45PM Cactus Blossoms
9:30PM TBA
10:30PM Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens
11:15PM Souren Baronian and band
Sunday, April 19: Afternoon Music
2:00PM Uncle Shlomo's Brooklyn Kids Concert!
2:45PM Hoodoo Honeydrippers
3:30PM Art Rosenbaum
4:15PM "Treasure from the Archive Roadshow"
5:00PM Famoro Dioubate
5:45PM Bruce Molsky
6:30PM Four o’clock Flowers
Sunday, April 19: Workshops & Activities
1:00PM Banjo Toss
2:30PM A Selections of Films by Alan Lomax
3:30PM Fiddle Workshop with Bruce Molsky
5:00PM Old Time Banjo Workshop with Art Rosenbaum
6:30pm Square Dance!
Sunday, April 19: Evening Music
7:30PM Down Hill Strugglers with John Cohen
8:15PM Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel (of the Holy Modal Rounders)
9:00PM The Whiskey Spitters
9:45PM Litvakus
