The Avett Brothers

This Year’s Festival Features The Avett Brothers, Citizen Cope, The Swell Season

by Adrienne Ziegler

What started as a fundraiser in 1977 to boost support for the non-profit music venue, The Ark, has grown to be a staple in the Ann Arbor community.

The Ann Arbor Folk Festival rings in 34 years of great folk music on Jan. 28 and 29 at Hill Auditorium, withsome exceptional headliners sure to please even modest folk fans.

“No matter what folk music means to you, you’ll find it at the festival,” said The Ark’s Marketing Director Barb Chaffer Authier.

Headliners this year include recent chart-toppers The Avett Brothers as well as Citizen Cope on Friday night. On Saturday, The Swell Season, the duo featured in the movie “Once,” and folk icons Judy Collins and Mavis Staples will headline.

Each day of the festival also includes shorter showcase performances by up-and-coming artists and regional acts before the headliners, giving the audience a taste of something new and different.

“The philosophy behind the booking at the festival is that the Friday night will be a little bit more geared towards artists that push the boundaries of what it means to play folk music,” said Chaffer Authier. “All those people still fit into what we think of as folk music.”

Saturday’s lineup features artists and singer-songwriters that meet more traditional folk standards, she added.

“The concept is the same, but you’re going to find something new every year,” she said.

The Ark started out as a collaboration between four local churches. It was meant to be a venue for students, where they could talk, listen to music, and generally escape the personal and academic stresses of college. Over the years, the funding from the churches decreased, and, in 1977, the Ann Arbor Folk Festival was born to raise money to balance to budget.

That first year, folk legend John Prine headlined the one-night event, and it was so successful that they decided to hold it every year.

In 2003, Hill Auditorium underwent renovations, making it impossible to hold the festival there. Organizers moved the event to the Michigan Theatre for that year, but, in order to accommodate the same number of people, they changed the format to a two-night festival.

The concept stuck, and now, even though the festival has moved back to Hill Auditorium, the tradition of two days of music continues.

Chaffer Authier said the festival is the Ark’s biggest fundraiser and brings in about 20 percent of The Ark’s operating budget every year.

To find out more about the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, visit The Ark’s website at http://theark.org.

General public tickets for the event range from $30 to $47.50 for a single night, and $50 to $85 for both evenings. Sponsorship packages are also available. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.