First performers announced for 2023 Maryland Folk Festival

June 26, 2023

Sarah Ash,

SALISBURY, Md. – The Maryland Folk Festival has announced the first five performers taking the stage this September in Downtown Salisbury.

After five years as the host of the National Folk Festival, this September will mark the inaugural year of the Maryland Folk Festival, set to take place September 22nd through 24th. Approximately 300 artists, including musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople, will take part in the Maryland Folk Festival, with more than 30 different musical groups performing on four outdoor stages throughout Downtown.

The five performers announced on Monday include:

The Blue and Gold (British Columbia, Canada) – blues/country
- The Blue and Gold is a musical collaboration between Juno-nominated and WCMA Blues’ Artist Of The Year Ndidi O and folk-roots guitarist/banjo player Trish Klein (The Be Good Tanyas, Frazey Ford, Po’ Girl) which celebrates the musical artistry and legacy of pioneering female blues musicians.
Daryl Davis Band (Silver Spring, Maryland) – boogie-woogie piano
- This boogie-woogie piano master who learned at the feet of his musical heroes breaks boundaries by tapping into the shared roots of blues, R&B, and early rock and roll.
The High & Wides (Baltimore, Maryland & the rural Delmarva peninsula) – bluegrass
- The High & Wides draw on their backgrounds in bluegrass to take the music to a place of their own with inspiration from the days when old-time, rockabilly, western swing, and proto-rock’n’roll mingled in a murky soup of hillbilly string band music.
Ken & Brad Kolodner (Baltimore, Maryland) – old-time / hammered dulcimer
- The dynamic father-son team Ken & Brad Kolodner weave together a captivating soundscape on hammered dulcimer and clawhammer banjo, blurring the lines of Old-Time, Bluegrass and American Roots music.
Tifane (Douglasville, GA and Port-au-Prince, Haiti) – Afro-Caribbean
- Award-winning artist Tifane is one of Haiti’s top female ambassadors of its music and inspiring culture. Since releasing her first album, “Anprent,” known for its record-selling single “Se Kòm Si,” she has collaborated with some of the biggest names in Haitian music and has performed for audiences around the world.