The event takes place November 3-5
To plan this year’s Moab Folk Festival lineup, festival Director Cassie Paup began with Tim O’Brien. He’s a Grammy-winning songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, specializing in the fiddle; his latest album, “Cup of Sugar,” came out this year.
O’Brien felt special to invite this year, Paup said, because he was at the very first Folk Festival in 2003. Now, the festival is in its 21st year.
During the Moab Folk Festival, which runs Friday, November 3 to Sunday, November 5, O’Brien will play a number of shows with his wife and music partner Jan Fabricius and headline Saturday’s concert.
Once you have the Saturday headliner, Paup said, the rest of the lineup can come together. She thinks about whose music would complement whose and how to work in community requests or personal picks—Makeda Barkley, the assistant director, wanted to bring in Bella White this year.
“A lot of the new programming has to do with [Barkley] and her fresh eyes on the process. We did the same things for years and years pre-COVID,” Paup said. “It’s been amazing to check myself when I said, ‘No, we’ve always done it this way.’ Being free to break out of that has led to some pretty interesting innovations.”
This year, Paup said, attendees of the festival will hear familiar bluegrass tunes and bands on Saturday, but be introduced to new sounds on Sunday.
The festival is the main fundraiser for its parent organization, a nonprofit called the Friends of the Moab Folk Festival. In addition to the fall festival, the nonprofit hosts the annual free summer concert series, and hosts education programs for local kids.
The lineup will truly begin on Monday, October 30, with a concert put on by the instructors of the Moab Folk Camp, a workshop for amateur adult musicians. Musicians including Cosy Sheridan, Sloan Wainwright, Mandy Danzig, and Eric Jones will perform at 7 p.m. at Moab Arts (111 E. 100 N.) for free.
Then, the festival officially begins on Friday, November 3. There will be a jam session, free and open to everyone, at Spitfire Smokehouse from 6 to 8 p.m. All people need to bring to jam are themselves and an instrument (or a singing voice); the jam sessions, Paup said, are always popular and fun. There will be a sold-out Star Hall concert featuring John Gorka and Tim O’Brien with Jan Fabricius.
On Saturday, gates open at the Center St. Ballparks at 10 a.m., with Abigail Lapell starting off the music at 11 a.m. But just across the street at the Sun Court, there will be a “coffee slam and bluegrass jam,” starting at 9 a.m., where anyone can come drink coffee and jam with their bluegrass instruments.
And from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, the festival will highlight Pete Sands, a documentarian, activist, puppeteer, and talented musician. He’ll discuss his work in an interview at Star Hall.
The Saturday festival lineup will see a total of four concerts, plus a free community concert from 6 to 8 p.m. at Star Hall featuring Abigail Lapell and Pete Sands & The Drifters. There will be another jam session at Spitfire Smokehouse at the same time.
Sunday morning will also start off with a bluegrass jam and songwriter discussion: the jam will be at the same time and place; the discussion will be from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Star Hall with Cosy Sheridan, John Gorka, and Sloan Wainwright.
The Sunday lineup includes a gospel set with Kyshona, a concert by Two Runner, followed by Twisted Pine, and a headliner concert by Mighty Poplar. People might not have heard of Mighty Poplar, Paup said, but they’ve definitely heard of the band members in it: it’s a super group made up of Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny & Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, and Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon.
“Sometimes when people look at our lineup, they don’t recognize a big name or a headliner. And I would just say, come with an open mind, and you might be really surprised,” Paup said.
