Kingman Island Bluegrass & Folk Festival (Photo courtesy Living Classrooms)
Make sure to put the Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival on your calendar for Saturday, June 9. For just $35 a ticket, you get eight and a half hours of music, from noon to 8:30, with five stages of acts to choose from. The festival is family friendly, including your four-legged children!
The festival has booked a diverse set of outstanding artists to perform this year. Headliners Ganstagrass, known for the Emmy-nominated theme song to the FX series Justified, play a unique brand of bluegrass/hip-hop fusion.
Many of the best local and regional artists will appear at the festival, produced by Living Classrooms. The American Songster Revue includes DC area resident Dom Flemons, who won a Grammy for best Traditional Folk Album in 2010 as a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I had the privilege of seeing fellow Songster Revue member Amythyst Kiah open for Valerie June last year, and she put on an outstanding performance.
Baltimore native Cris Jacobs and his band tore the house down this past Sunday at the Anthem as the opening act for Sturgill Simpson and Willie Nelson, receiving a standing ovation. Rolling Stone mentioned Cris in its “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know” in March 2017. Rolling Stone praised Galax, Virginia’s Dori Freeman’s 2016 self-titled release as “a strong contender for Americana debut of the year” and listed her in its “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know” in February 2016. The most recent issue of No Depression, the journal of American roots music, included a feature on Dori.
Other artists appearing include Crys Matthews, The High and Wides, The Gina Clowes Project, Jonny Grave, Bearcat Wildcat, Elena & Los Fulanos, Odetta Hartman, Letitia VanSant, Wild Common, Babeo Baggins, Moose Jaw, The Fly Birds, The Dirty Grass Players, The Gin Rickys, Boaty Otis, Under the Oak, Rock Creek Revival, Shannon Bielski and Moonlight Drive, Jahnel Daliya, The Iris Bell, Yasmin Williams, CRAMER, Reed Appleseed, NEFFY, and The Sunrise Review.
Never been to Kingman Island? It’s easy to go, nestled between the banks of the Anacostia River. Learn more about Kingman Island. And buy your tickets for the festival online.
Kingman Island Bluegrass & Folk Festival
Kingman Island
Saturday, June 9
Shows 12-8:30pm
$35 GA/$125 VIP
All ages
