Folk Alliance International (FAI) happens once a year, often in Kansas City, and is the single largest gathering of folk musicians in the world. And “folk” is used broadly enough to explain the fact that over the course of four music-filled days, I saw everything from an electric funk/blues trio to a show-stopping trio of female voices using only one acoustic guitar. Folk Alliance brings together two gigantic groups of people in the world: Artists (songwriters, players) and Industry folk (talent buyers, managers, booking agents, etc), and from Wednesday afternoon through very late Saturday night, all sorts of schmoozing and music-making mayhem ensues, while very little sleep happens to compensate. By Sunday morning, most of us are heart-filled bleary-eyed zombies making our way through the airport with our instruments, ready to sleep for days and absorb the many experiences and conversations that just occurred.
Like most conferences, FAI includes interesting panel discussions during the day on issues relevant to the songwriter, touring musicians, or what-not. There are always enough choices at any one time that rather than struggling to find something to attend, it’s a battle to be in more than one place at a time. The keynote speakers are usually names you know, or will soon, and all of them have been selected with wisdom and care. Panel discussions run between 10am and 4pm, and, when mixed with a nap here and there, make up the bulk of the day.
From 6pm-10pm, you can roam the roughly dozen or so ballrooms hosting the Official Showcase Artists - these up-and-comers who have been selected among the many applicants. No matter which ballroom you attend, you’re sure to catch a highly-talented songwriter. The acts range from solo performers to full bands, and the Official Showcase concerts rotate every 30-45 minutes.
THEN comes the madness, and typically my favorite part of the week. Each night at 10pm, everyone heads for the elevators. That’s because every single room on the top three floors of the hotel have been turned into mini-concert venues, and now host concerts from 10:30pm until 3am, nonstop, rotating every 15-20 minutes. You can imagine the scene in the hallway, as musicians and industry folk make their way up and down, snaking past each other with our instruments, darting past doorways through which lovely sounds can be heard every single time. Some folks are headed for a particular room, following their map, as there is a rhyme and reason to this all, and you can seek out a particular artists to track. Others are simply wandering, blissfully, from one lovely showcase to the next, trusting fate will lead them to the next wonderful song or conversation in the flow.
After four straight nights of this, up past 3am and happy to do it, I met more folks than I can remember. I caught enough new music to keep me busy the rest of the year, and came away with an exhausted body, but a supremely inspired heart. For anyone even loosely inclined to attend, this is an annual event - next year is hosted in Montreal. And there are smaller (1/10 the size) held throughout the year. Colorado’s region is part of SWERFA, held in Austin each September.
Thank you, kind folks that help this event become what it is. It’s one gigantic family, and one I’m grateful to be part of.