Original Ozark Folk Festival

The Original Ozark Festival is ready for its 77th year with a new date and more music and workshops than ever before.  This year we celebrate the Strings in the Springs with workshops for fingerpicking, flat-picking, uke and mandolin, as well as jig dancing & spoons. The Ozark Songwriting competition is back showcasing songwriters from all over the country. Enjoy the Folk Fair in Basin Park with Ozark artists and Craftspeople on Friday and Saturday. Come to Eureka’s Original Ozark Folk Festival for three nights and three days of music, fun, and folk.

Schedule:

7:30pm: The Elders at The Auditorium
“The Elders" remain one of the top Celtic-rock bands in the U-S after 24 years because of their timeless sound. It’s their passion, great melodies, unique harmonies, unparalleled musicianship and strong song-writing that keeps them connected. From an Emmy-Award Winning DVD, to an induction into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame and to a PBS concert televised across the U-S, The Elders are still going strong because of their powerful, personal and musical chemistry.

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7:30pm: Matt the Electrician at The Auditorium
Matt Sever was born in San Francisco, California, and spent his formative years in northern California and southern Oregon. Sever began playing at coffee houses when he was 15 years old and broke into the Austin, Texas music scene in 1996 when he began hosting an open mic. When Sever would arrive at gigs still sweaty from a long day's work in Austin's summer heat, he would often explain, "Hi, my name is Matt, and I'm an electrician." Described as "a young Paul Simon wrapped around a Tom Waits heart. Sever is known for delivering quirky and unique covers and the ability to "hold everyone rapt like a bunch of babies in front of dangling car keys." as he fills his songs, live shows and studio albums with an "endearing parade of characters."

11:00am: Jeff Cannon at The Basin Park - Downtown
Jeff Cannon, a native of New York City, comes from a family with a strong commitment to social justice and a passion for folk music. After a long break, Cannon is back with his sixth solo CD titled "High Tea for Poets," featuring the backing of the Virtual Strangers, a talented acoustic string band. The album is characterized by a bold and stark sound, perfectly capturing the message of finding beauty and new beginnings in challenging times. While Cannon pursued other endeavors, he always knew that home is where the heart is, and he returned to his roots as a freelance writer and senior lecturer in communications at Indiana University. Throughout his career, Cannon has received widespread support and collaboration from acclaimed folk and alt-country artists, and his latest release continues to tackle important issues and aims to leave a lasting impact on listeners.

12pm: 1973 Ozark Mountain Folkfair Exhibit at Main Stage Creative Community Center
We are excited to present an exhibit of original event photography by Albert Skiles and Jim Mathis of The 1973 Ozark Mountain Folkfair.  An estimated 30,000 people gathered for the music and craft festival in the Ozark woods north of Eureka Springs. Arkansas journalist Edd Jeffords organized the Festival, which showcased a diverse mix of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, gospel, rock, and even Cajun music. This festival changed the culture of Eureka Springs by bringing a new generation of artists and musicians to town.

12:15pm: Richard Gilewitz & Tim May at The Basin Park - Downtown
Tim May began playing guitar and banjo at age eleven, and by thirteen he was performing at the Bluegrass Festival of the United State in Louisville, Kentucky. Tim is respected nationwide as a teacher and clinician. He’s taught at the Nashville Guitar College, South Plains College, and at Nashcamp. In addition, he periodically travels the country as a clinician for Oregon-based Breedlove Guitars.

1:30pm: The Creek Rocks at The Basin Park - Downtown
“Wolf Hunter” is the debut CD by The Creek Rocks from Springfield, Missouri. The title is an amalgam of the names of the two folklorists whose collections provided the raw materials for the songs on the album -- John Quincy Wolf of Batesville, Arkansas and Max Hunter of Springfield, Missouri. Cindy Woolf was raised in Batesville, along the southern foothills of the Ozarks Mountain region, and Mark Bilyeu hails from Springfield, located atop the Ozarks Plateau. They began their musical collaboration in 2003 with Mark at the helm for Woolf’s debut CD “Simple and Few.” They married each other in 2013, shortly after the release of Cindy’s third solo CD, “May.” Joining them on Wolf Hunter are bassist Jason Chapman, also known from The Chapmans, the award-winning family bluegrass band; and percussionist Jay Williamson, who is a sixteen-year veteran of another family band, Big Smith, of which Mark was a founding member as well. Big Smith released seven CDs during their tenure, and Mark has a solo album to his credit, 2005's "First One Free."

2:00pm: Aaron Smith with Still on the Hill at Main Stage Creative Community Center
Aaron Smith’s songs explore the mystery of human experience, searching for the meaning of love, family, heritage, kindness, doubt, and grace. In vignettes infused with an infectious sense of hope and humor, the unlikely heroes of his songs -- grandmothers and grandfathers, street preachers and neighbors, the forgotten and lonely - find courage, salvation, and more than a few laughs.

​Kelly & Donna of Still on the Hill are award winning ‘story telling-song writers’.  Different than most singer-songwriters, this dynamic duo embellishes their songs with a host of unique instruments from the hills they call home. Many of these were hand-made by old-timers and have amazing stories that go with them.  Their 'low tech' Power Point has become a trademark of shows.  Every song has a photo quilt to go with it.  A picture is worth a 1,000 words.

2:45pm: Billy Yank & Johnny Reb at The Basin Park - Downtown
From folksongs and ballads about outlaws and moonshiners, to country blues and sacred songs, this duo makes simple, honest music that feels right at home on a street corner or around a campfire. Connecticut native Keith Symanowitz and Arkansan John Severs combine skillful fingerstyle blues guitar reminiscent of Mississippi, John Hurt and Merle Travis, soulful singing, and a mixture of washboard and spoons, clawhammer banjo, and percussive dance. In spite of ourselves, Billy Yank & Johnny Reb remind us that we’re all one big human family on the dance floor. The duo is joined by the bassist Jerry Bone from Arkansas’ own Lockhouse Orchestra. Bone is a founding member of The Famous Unknowns, the first house band from B.B. King’s on Beale Street in Memphis, TN., and former bassist for David Lynn Jones

4:00pm: Mountain Alice at The Basin Park - Downtown
Mountain Alice is an Ozark country string band based out of Northwest Arkansas. Alice, who fronts the band with pure, strong, and unique vocals, draws influence from the likes of Carole King, Patty Loveless, and Allison Krauss. The band is composed of Christopher “Slim” Parker, Dylan Hawf, and Jennifer Parker. Together the band creates a country sound that is authentic to Ozark mountain music and traditional acoustic country music of the 60s and 70s. Each member's songwriting is authentically soulful and moving.

5:15pm: Shannon Wurst at The Basin Park - Downtown
Shannon Wurst's music is best described as Ozark Americana, and it is literally in Shannon’s blood. Her father, Ronnie Wurst, plays country and classic rock in bars across rural Arkansas, and her stepfather, Ed Carr, is a wizard flat-picker who often performs with Shannon. Shannon is steeped in the outlaw country tradition of courageously confessional songwriters with big hearts and loads of hard luck tales. There is a yearning tension in her songs, and they often feature emotive first-person narratives. With her delicately powerful vocals, her songs come off brave in their candor, and sage in their messaging. Shannon has earned favorable comparisons to Margo Price and Lucinda Willams -strong female leads blazing their own paths in the Americana genre.

11:00 to 6:00: Folk Fair and Live Music at The Basin Park - Downtown
The Original Ozark Folk Festival Folk Fair showcases our Artists and Craftspeople. Basin Park will be filled with potters, woodworkers, luthiers, Jewelers, and many others. Eureka Springs has supported a vibrant art scene for over a century.  Enjoy the free music and pursue the talented creators of Eureka Springs, from 11:00 to 6:00 on Friday and Saturday.