The Richmond Folk Festival has announced its second wave of performers for this year’s festival. On Wednesday, the city’s most popular and biggest music festival, which drew more than 125,000 people last year, has released 13 more bands and musicians performing this year.
Here are the newly announced acts that are set to perform at the Folk Festival, which takes place on October 13-15 on Richmond’s historic riverfront:
Go-Go
The DMV
Be’la Dona is a group composed of 9 women who are set the bring the excitement of D.C.’s go-go scene to Richmond. They have been recognized as the Best Go-Go Group by the Washington Area Music Association three times within the past seven years.
Cabo Verdean funaná
Praia, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde
Artist Bitori and singer Chando Graciosa perform accordion-based dance music that Graciosa says represents the citizens of Cabo Verde.
Corazón de Granada: Flamenco Joven y Jondo
flamenco
Granada, Spain
Corazón de Granada: Flamenco Joven y Jondo is composed of guitarist Pablo Giménez, singer Alejandro Luján, and dancer Victoria Macias who perform the intricate and emotional music of flamenco.
old-time
Southwest Virginia
Crooked Road Ramblers, a 6-piece old-time rural string band, are performing the traditional music of Southwest Virginia.
C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band
zydeco
Houston, Texas
C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band perform the danceable, accordion-led music known as zydeco, a mixture of French Creole and Cajun dance music with R&B, rock, and blues.
Memphis soul
Memphis, Tennessee
Don Bryant, a long-time soul artist who recently released his first solo album since 1969, is set to bring the soul of Memphis to Richmond.
cumbia amazonica
Iquitos, Peru
Formed in 1968, Los Wembler’s was the first band to play Amazon rhythms on electric guitars. They are embarking on their first world tour in order to share their sound with the rest of the world.
Métis fiddle and dance
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Patti Kustorok is an expert old-time fiddle player from Manitoba, Canada. She was the first woman to win the Canadian Grand Master Fiddling Championship from 1994-1996.
Persian tar
Los Angeles, California
Sahba Motallebi started studying music at a young age in Sari, Iran. She was recognized as the Best Tar Player at the Iranian Music Festival from 1995-1998, and now performs classical Persian music in the U.S.
classic big band jazz
Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Army Blues are an 18-piece jazz ensemble composed of active members of the U.S. military.
Spencer Taylor & the Highway QCs
gospel
Washington, D.C.
Spencer Taylor & the Highway QCs are a gospel group whose style is rooted in jubilee gospel choirs which came about in the 1970s.
honky-tonk
Denton, Texas
An artist who started writing his own songs at the age of 12, Wayne Hancock offers the sounds and emotions of honky-tonk to the Richmond Folk Festival.
The festival will also feature a step team competition called A Step Ahead, which will bring together step teams from six local fraternities and sororities from schools such as Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Union University.
Stay tuned for more details on the full lineup and keep up to date with the Richmond Folk Festival on their Facebook page here.
