NERFA 2023 Recap

I made my annual pilgrimage to NERFA (the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance) this past weekend, held for the second year in a row in beautiful Asbury Park, NJ. The weather was almost as nice as last year, and the music was just as fine. Who can beat seeing old friends and making new ones?

It was gratifying to see so many On Your Radar alums in the formal and late-night showcases: Ryanhood, Rebecca Loebe. Youth in a Roman Field, Scott Wolfson and Other Heroes, Cricket Blue, Suzie Vinnick, Katie Dahl, Meghan Cary, Orly Bendavid, Katie Martucci, Alice Howe & Freebo, Arielle Silver, Zoe Fitzgerald Carter, Miranda Hardy, and Bruce T. Carroll, among the ones I had the time to see.

One of the artists with the biggest buzz was Sam Robbins, who, as it happens, will be performing tonight at On Your Radar at Rockwood Music Hall with Mary Lee Kortes and Belle-Skinner (an evening not to miss)! Other standouts, by popular consensus, included Will Dailey, Acoustic Nomads, and Jillian Matundan. I was also impressed, to name a few, with Mark Wahl, Caroline Cotter, Ben Gage, Genevieve Rachette, Juliet Lloyd, Doug Kolmar, Madeleine Roger, Dustin Lowman, Michael Arthur, and The Pairs, many of them Canadian. Maybe some of them will end up doing On Your Radar someday.

There’s never enough time to catch everybody I want, especially since I don’t have the stamina to stay up till 2:00 or later anymore. However, I couldn’t resist making time for faves like Kathy Moser, Tret Ture, Deirdre McCalla, and especially Ellis Paul when he’s teamed with Radoslav Lorkovic. The keynote speakers were Livingston Taylor and Crys Matthews, who couldn’t be more different, but were equally entertaining and provocative.

But I have to confess that what made this a special NERFA was receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. The recognition itself was certainly appreciated, but more than that, the response from the audience was very moving. It made me feel like Sally Field and truly blessed to be a part of the folk community.