2020 'Long Distance' All digital BKAMF enjoyed over 40K viewers from all around the globe over two weekends. Many artists performing from quarantine and lock down. Venmo:
PayPal: PayPal.me/BrooklynAmericana
Sixty artists will play eight virtual stages in the sixth annual Brooklyn Americana Music Festival (BKAMF), a multi-day event that will bring together US-based and internatio
nal Americana musicians in a collection of celebratory long-distance watch parties. The 2020 BKAMF carries on by taking to the digital stage with performances in Brooklyn and beyond, streaming live music from its well-loved waterfront stages of past years to venues across the country and globe. This year’s exciting new stages are brought to the BKAMF through partnerships with the Americana Music Association UK—hosting the BKAMF’s Opening Day with five artists from the British Isles—and Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge—streaming from Nashville, Tennessee. All four days of the festival will be streamed free-of-charge on the BKAMF page. Music lovers around the globe will have access to this year’s programming, which will include sixty world premier events recorded all across the USA and overseas. Any donations will help fund the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival’s artist fees and operating costs. Founder Jan Bell, England native and long-time DUMBO artist, ordinarily books 400+ live music events year-round at the venues in which the festival takes place, and the BKAMF is her annual venture to amplify original artists even further in a highly visibility, community-first, multi day event. Times are approximate following start time. Thursday, September 10th
AMA UK – Opening Day
5pm – 7:30pm EDT
(Noon – 2:30pm GMT)
5pm Sons of Owen
5:30 Hannah White
6 Izzie Walsh
6:30 Blue Highways
7pm Hollie Rogers
7:30 pm Tiger Alley
Jalopy Theatre - Opening Night 8pm – 10pm
8pm Annie Keating
8:20 Isto
8:45 Charlie Burnham and Marika Hughes
9:10pm Ali Dineen
9:35pm Fatboy Wilson and Old Viejo Bones
10pm Gangstagrass
Austin TX ‘Stay at Home’ Songwriters
10:30pm Jenny Parrott
11pm Graham Weber
11:30pm Rich Russell
Friday, September 11th
Lock Down Local All Stars
Dumbo Archway 5 – 10pm
5pm Curtis J
5:30pm Paisley Fields
6pm Pete and Ginger
6:30pm Demolition String Band
7pm Mamie Minch
7:30 Queen Esther
8pm Hilary Hawke
8:30 Jesse Lenat
9pm Ana Egge
9:30 Fatboy Wilson and Old Viejo Bones
Sunnys Bar
10pm - Midnight
10pm Tone Johansen
10:30pm Erica Mancini
11pm Charlie Burnham and Marika Hughes
Saturday September 12th
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge
Happy Hour 3 – 5pm EDT
Special Guest Venue in Madison, Tennessee
3pm Buffalo Gals Band
3:30 Kristin Andreassen and Lauren Balthrop
4pm Megan Palmer
4:30pm Wild Ponies
The Carousel Stage
Dumbo Archway 5 – 10pm. Dedicated to Jane Walentas
5pm Papa Chapin and Family
5:30pm Nora Brown
6pm Squirrel Town
6:30pm A’yen Tran and Joe Bass
7pm The Hammer and the Hatchet
7:30pm Miriam Elhajli / Neha?
8pm Tiger Alley
8:30 Queen Esther
9pm The Mammals
9:30pm Jolie Holland
68 Jay St Bar
All Star Locals 10pm – Midnight
10pm The Dang It Bobby’s
10:30pm Alex Battles
11pm Aramis
11:30pm Paranoid Larry and his imaginary band
Midnight: Elyas Khan
Sunday, September 13th
Superfine Bluegrass Brunch 11am – 3pm
11:30am Storytime with Melanie Hope Greenberg
Noon: The Wild Goats
1pm Beth Chrisman
1:30pm Truckstop Honeymoon
2pm Elyas Khan
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Women’s Stage 3pm – 8pm
3pm Nora Brown
3:30pm Rima Fand
4pm Squirrel Town
4:30pm Marca Cassity / Myshkin
5pm Ali Dineen
5:30pm Carter Sampson
6pm Sabine McCalla
6:30pm Sasha Dobson
7pm Queen Esther
7:30pm Mike and Ruthy of The Mammals
Followed by The Chapin Sisters. Superfine
8pm til late
8pm Neha Jiwrajka
8:30pm The Bad Penny Pleasure Makers
9pm Bobby Blue the Balladeer
9:30pm The Four O’clock Flowers
The BKAMF’s virtual music festivities begin on the afternoon of September 10 with Opening Day with The Americana Music Association UK, a first-time partner of the BKAMF. This kickoff event will feature five artists from across the British Isles, each of whom wrote a new song with a transatlantic theme. Opening Night features Brooklyn’s beloved Jalopy Theatre with performances by Ali Dineen, Annie Keating, Charlie Burnham, and Isto—all of whom are accomplished artists and dedicated teachers at Jalopy’s School of Music. Stay tuned after their performances for a video special from Bluegrass hip hop stars Gangstagrass who are known for the Justified theme song. Friends from Austin, TX round out the evening including Brooklyn born and bred Rich Russell of The Lonesome Heroes, House of Songs Ozarks’ director of programming Graham Weber, and multi-instrumentalist Jenny Parrott. Friday, September 11th honors New York tough in the DUMBO Archway with “Lock Down Local All Stars” who wrote quarantine songs while hunkered down at home. Performances include Hilary Hawke (lead banjo on Broadway in the hit musical Oklahoma), Queen Esther (TED Talk episode ‘Black Americana’), Jesse Lenat (original cast of RENT and regular at Willie Nelson's Farm Aid sings songs from ‘Son of a Cactus Farmer’ with his brother David), and Curtis J (went solo after multiple successful tours as lead guitarist with the likes of Old 97's, and Reverend Horton Heat). Brooklyn locals at this year’s BKAMF include The Chapin Sisters (appeared on Letterman and played legendary stages across the US and Europe) alongside their three-time Grammy winning father Tom Chapin, who together are a third generation Brooklyn family rooted in folk music as a force for social justice. They’ll present Papa Chapin and Friends which is their family show they’ve put on for free throughout the pandemic. Also appearing is Neha Jiwrajka, a first generation Indian American whose recent teaching experience in Haiti sparked new songs focused on the immigrant experience. LGBTQ artist Paisley Fields, who recently received rave reviews in Rolling Stone for his new queer country album, streams from the DUMBO Archway stage on Friday. Thirteen year old Nora Brown, featured in Banjo Newsletter Magazine and published in Sing Out!’s “Murder Ballad Monday” as well as The Bluegrass Situation‘s Top Ten Young Banjo Players You Need to Know, will make an appearance on Saturday’s stream from the Archway stage. Superfine’s afterparty will be taken up a notch with a performance by Elyas Khan, a DUMBO musician now living in Berlin and leading man in the international circus music sensation LIMBO. Mamie Minch, founder of the all-women run Brooklyn Lutherie who played Celebrate Brooklyn 2019, will appear on Friday eve with her original blues and masterful guitar. Mike + Ruthy of The Mammals Hudson Valley present their skillful songwriting which has made waves in the Americana world and beyond as "Some of the best folk-rock music you will ever hear" (from Tape-Op Magazine). Husband/wife duo Ginger Dolden and Pete Lanctot make a double appearance on Saturday and Sunday. The dynamic New York singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Sasha Dobson (of Puss n Boots with Norah Jones and Catherine Popper) will stream from the stage at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sunday. Saturday and Sunday include outstanding artists from all across the country. Performances will include Jolie Holland (ANTI-Records labelmates Tom Waits and Sage Francis are both outspoken fans of Holland's, Waits nominated her for the Shortlist music prize), Marca Cassity (Two Spirit artist of the Oglala Nation), Carter Sampson (Oklahoma born and raised, founder of the Oklahoma City Rock and Roll Camp for Girls and Telluride Bluegrass Song Contest finalist), Sabine McCalla (a young New Orleans gospel folk country blues singer, and Best of 'The Beat' Award winner 2019), Truckstop Honeymoon (touring across three continents with four kids and a truck load of songs, relocating to Kansas from New Orleans after Katrina and recently moved to rural Wales, and recipients of awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts). Festival favorites return to familiar BKAMF venues including the Women’s Stage in Brooklyn Bridge Park, 68 Jay Street Bar, Sunny’s Bar, and Superfine’s Sunday Bluegrass Brunch with story time hosted by local children’s book author and illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg. The Sunday night after party at Superfine will feature New Orleans-based, old time jazz and soul Americana duo Samoa Wilson and Ernie Vega and their band the Four o’clock Flowers. For the full schedule and more info about all the artists, visit www.bkamf.org.
“Like” the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival page to view and join the events. Follow BKAMF on Instagram to get additional festival updates. The 6th Annual Brooklyn Americana Music Festival is made possible by public funds from the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, both administered in Kings County by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). The Festival is made possible in part by generous sponsors and the office of Councilman Stephen Levin.
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