THROUGH THE LENS: WoodyFest and Briggs Farm Blues Festival

This week the column returns to festival coverage by featuring the Briggs Farm Blues Festival, which took place July 11-13 in Briggsville, Pennsylvania, and the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (WoodyFest), July 10-14 in Guthrie’s hometown, Okemah, Oklahoma.

Briggs Farm Blues Festival 2024 

Now in its 27th year, the Briggs Farm Blues Festival is held on a 440-acre farm and presents, as its name implies, blues-oriented music on two stages. The Main Stage features the better known, farther-reaching acts, which this year included The North Mississippi Allstars, Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel, and Uncle Lucius. The Back Porch stage features those playing the blues in a more traditional manner, such as Delta-born Lonnie Shields, who made his 19th appearance at the fest.

Some of the buzzed-about highlights: When Allstars’ guitar wizard Luther Dickinson switched to bass, permitting bandmate Chris Chew to shine on Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” and B.B. King’s “Why I Sing the Blues;” and Detroit’s Eliza Neals’ cover of Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” and John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom Boom.”  

It was quite a fest, and Jim Gavenus was there with his camera. More of his photos of this event in previous years were featured in this column last year.

WoodyFest 2024 

I remember reading about Woody Guthrie in Sing Out! magazine in high school, which led me to read his autobiography, Bound for Glory, and pick up a copy of his Library of Congress Recordings. As you well know, his influence was wide- and far-reaching, with many calling for his song “This Land Is Your Land” to be our country’s national anthem. 

Just one of the ways Guthrie’s legacy continues is the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, better known simply as WoodyFest. The event was started in 1998 by the Woody Guthrie Coalition, a not-for-profit organization that also presents other cultural, musical, and educational events that promote Guthrie’s values and legacy. WoodyFest is held each year on the weekend closest to the date of Guthrie’s birth, July 14, and this year frequent ND contributor Chad Cochran trekked from Ohio to Oklahoma to cover it.

“Performances happen throughout the day in numerous indoor venues, but larger acts play at the Pastures of Plenty stage, which is an outdoor venue,” Chad told me. “There are also panel discussions to attend and special activities, music included, for younger roots fans. Although steeped in folk music, there is something for everyone to enjoy.”

The headliners this year included James McMurtry, David Amram, The Red Dirt Rangers, Jamie Lin Wilson, hometown favorite John Fullbright, Willi Carlisle, Ken Pomeroy, The Deslondes, Beat Root Revival, and Sad Daddy, a quartet featuring Melissa Carper.

“Closing out the festival,” Chad shares, “was an a cappella singalong of ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ which was led by many of the musicians who had played throughout the fest. If you were fortunate, and still awake, you could even stumble upon a late-night jam in a motel parking lot. Woody’s music was everywhere.”

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