THROUGH THE LENS: The 2024 Philadelphia Folk Festival Returns to Its Roots

After a one-year hiatus, the venerable Philadelphia Folk Festival returned home to the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township, Pennsylvania, for its 61st edition Aug. 16-18.

The one-year “pause” was necessary for the festival to reduce its financial debt, restructure the operations of its parent organization, the Folksong Society, and reorient the fest into a sustainable event. The cost-cutting reduced the number of nationally known artists, but offered more regional acts to an audience that was hungry for the fest’s reopening. Many familiar aspects, such as on-site camping, crafts, and workshops, also returned.

While the cuts resulted in a smaller festival, the event’s mission of presenting diverse musical styles and providing historical perspectives remained intact. It was a homecoming for one performer who fits into both parts of that mission. Headlining Saturday night was John Oates, one-half of the wildly successful 1970s-’80s duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. Before his commercial success, Oates was a roots musician. During a chat when he headlined MerleFest in 2016, he told me that when he was a teenager his guitar teacher took him to see Doc Watson at a local folk club. That experience left an indelible mark on his music.

ND photographers Mark J. Smith and Eric Ring were at the Philadelphia Folk Festival to capture the magic of the community and the music. Both are longtime veterans. Mark began going to the fest in 1970 and first photographed it in 2004 for a local newspaper. Eric has been attending for some 26 years, many as a volunteer, and authored, along with John Lupton, Smiling Banjo: A Half Century of Love & Music at the Philadelphia Folk Festival.

As Eric is helping start a podcast for the Folksong Society, he was present when its host, Emily Drinker, interviewed Oates for a future episode. Among other things, Oates said he began attending the fest in the 1960s when it was held on the Wilson Farm in Paoli, Pennsylvania, before it moved to its present location, where he saw influential artists such as Mississippi John Hurt. This was certainly a humdinger of a highlight. I cannot wait to hear the podcast.

Eric’s other highlights were Friday’s workshops by local artists CubiZm, Jersey Corn Pickers, and The Hoppin’ Boxcars; the beautiful vocals and harmonies of Alice Howe and Freebo; the soulful blues of the Alexis P. Suter Band; rising bluegrass stars AJ Lee & Blue Summit; and the extraordinary Dom Flemons, who weaves history, storytelling, and songs into an inspirational experience.  

Mark told me that his highlights included Bostonian Ellis Paul, a man and his guitar; and Australian Nigel Wearne, who blew him away. Both Mark and Eric were mightily taken with local folkie regular Stephen Wade’s banjo playing, augmented by a humor-filled history lesson about the instrument; Gangstagrass, also local, who fuse bluegrass and hip-op into an intoxicating hybrid; and Tony winner John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening) who is set to star in The Avett Brothers’ upcoming Broadway musical Swept Away (ND story).

Click on any photo below to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow.