![]() “I have enjoyed playing the Kerrville Folk Festival over the years. When we circled back around a few months later, we played to a packed house. Rod Kennedy had an idea to do a folk festival right then and asked us if we wanted to be in it. We were crashing on couches as mid-morning guitars passed overhead and songs were being sung. ![]() “I was playing bass with Michael Martin Murphey and we were staying at the house of Segle Fry. He takes the stage at the Kennedy Outdoor Theater on June 10. Bob LivingstonĪs one of the original members of the Lost Gonzo Band, Livingston played the first festival. ![]() Here, we’ve gathered memories from longtime Kerrville Folk Festival performers and contributors. ![]() When you arrive on the ranch, for the first time or the 50th, you will be greeted at the gate with ‘Welcome Home.’” “It is the community-songwriters, fans, volunteers, and more-that creates magic. “When members of our community describe their festival experiences, the words most frequently heard are ‘magical’ and ‘transformational,’” explains Muse, who had her own transformative experience at the festival when she met her future husband about 100 yards from her office at Quiet Valley Ranch. “When seated on the benches, if you talk much, be prepared to be shushed.”īut don’t get the impression that the festival’s community is unwelcoming, and don’t be surprised if you want to come back year after year. “Our audience sits on benches and intensely listens,” she says. If you’re a newcomer, Muse offers some advice. The festival is also live-streaming the first five days of the festival for free. On Memorial Day, an In Memoriam program is planned to remember performers and community members who died. Two artists, Kimmie Rhodes and Bobby Bridger, are performing with their sons. Photo from Kerrville Daily Times, courtesy Kerrville Folk FestivalĪccording to Mary Muse, who has been executive director of the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation since 2015, this year’s theme is “Bridging Generations.” Three artists who played the first festival in 1972 are returning: Bill Hearne, Bob Livingston, and Michael Martin Murphey. UT Coach Darrell Royal is seated next to them. Johnson and his wife, Ladybird Johnson, attended the first festival. The fest has been going ever since, even surviving the cancellation of the 2020 event due to COVID. That first year, 2,800 fans showed up for the concerts, which were recorded for a limited-edition album that came out later that summer. There would also be a New Folk concert hosted by Yarrow with original songwriters from Texas and other states, and a blues workshop with Mance Lipscomb and Robert Shaw.Īdd in the Hill Country’s laidback setting in the 1970s, and the festival had all the right ingredients for success. When the lineup was announced later that spring, about a dozen mainly Texan luminaries of folk music were on the bill, including Allen Damron, Kenneth Threadgill, Carolyn Hester, Peter Yarrow, Michael Murphey (no Martin in his name then), Steve Fromholtz, Bill and Bonnie Hearne, and Dick Barrett, a National Fiddling Champion from Pottsboro. And, it would “include the folk songs which have been passed down through the years.” Founded by Rod Kennedy, an Austin-area event producer, the festival would be held June 1-3 at the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium and run concurrently with the first Texas State Arts and Crafts Fair. In March 1972, a short writeup in the Kerrville Mountain Sun described what locals could expect at the town’s brand-new music festival. Peter Yarrow performs at the Threadgill Theater.
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