Thursday, September 5th
Hedgehoppers & Youth Talent Showcase
The Auditorium
Thursday, September 5th 6:00pm
Get ready for a heartwarming tradition that’s been going strong for 77 years – the Hedgehoppers! This class of third graders from Eureka Springs performs a traditional Ozark dance and song, preserving a form of Ozark square dancing that’s been around since 1947. For over 70 years, every third grader has had the chance to participate as a Hedgehopper, making it a beloved and cherished tradition that brings the entire town together. And this year, we’re taking it up a notch – upper classes will also be showing off their musical talents. Don’t miss out on this incredible showcase of talent and tradition at the Hedgehoppers!
Barefoot Ball
Basin Park Hotel
Thursday, September 5th 8:00pm
Dance the night away at the historic Barefoot Ball, a tradition going back to 1948! Join us for the 76th Annual Original Ozark Folk Festival on Thursday, September 5th the at Basin Park Hotel featuring live music and two-step lessons.
Ozark Folk Festival
Friday, September 6th
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
The Auditorium
Friday, September 6th 7:30pm
Since their early beginnings in 1971, the Daredevils have released a number of major label and independent record label recordings, traveled millions of miles performing throughout North America and Europe, and they continue to grow and maintain a loyal and dedicated fan base throughout the world. Their songs are regularly played on Classic Radio stations and, of course, songs like “If You Wanna Get To Heaven,” “Jackie Blue,” “Chicken Train,” “Standing On The Rock,” and countless others are still fan favorites across all media. Their current lineup of talented musicians allows the band to perform songs from every corner of their vast catalog, and they continue to delight Dareheads with their live performances.
Creek Rocks
The Auditorium
Friday, September 6th 7:30pm
The Creek Rocks. Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf are among the Ozark Plateau’s most potent songwriters, expressing themselves with a humble folk-rock sound and lyrics to touch the heart. Mark is a founding member of Ozarks family band Big Smith, who toured and recorded from 1996 to 2012, then reunited in 2016, and now play a few select shows a year. Cindy Woolf has been a resident of the Ozarks since 1998, where she has become well-known for a singular singing voice and her enchanting performances of her original songs. Dirty Linen said of Woolf upon the release of her first album, “instantly timeless…spell-binding…beautiful, heartfelt, entrancing.”
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Richard Gilewitz
The Basin Park - Downtown
Friday, September 6th 2:15pm
Workshops Friday
For nearly four decades, American fingerstyle wizard Richard Gilewitz has fascinated listeners with 6 and 12-string finger gymnastics while spinning enchanting yarns of a seasoned raconteur. His concert performances around the world spill over with unexpected turns of the funnies, thought-provoking takes on life on the road, and tunes that propel the audience on a magical journey of sight and sound. His signature playing style delivers a technical diversity of banjo style patterns and classical arpeggios with a rhythmic percussive approach, exploring the history of guitar with sounds of folk to Americana, the blues to the classical, ragtime to pop, and somewhere in between.
Dandelion Heart
The Basin Park - Downtown
Friday, September 6th 3:30pm
Wild with purpose, the women of Dandelion Heart endeavor to create a unique Americana sound, blending four individual songwriting styles. These dandies are rooted in Northwest Arkansas, with a passion for making music, and having fun creating with each other. The band is comprised of Lacy Hampton (guitar, hand percussion), Chase Hart (guitar), Korey McKelvy (mandolele, banjo), and Willa Thomason (cello, guitar). Early on, the four shared originals from previous projects (Aisle 24, The Ozark Travelers, The Silver Lining), but quickly began evolving their set to include more originals born from this collaboration.
Undergrass Boys
The Basin Park - Downtown
Friday, September 6th 5:00pm
The Undergrass Boys toured in the early '80s, performing with Emmylou Harris, Leon Russell, Bill Monroe and are now coming back for a special performance at The Ozark Folk Fair in downtown Eureka Springs. The Undergrass Boys are back together again for our Folk Festival with a new album and new songs!
Folk Fair and Live Music
The Basin Park - Downtown
All Day Friday & Saturday
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.
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Ozark Folk Festival
Saturday, September 7th
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The Elders
The Auditorium
Saturday, September 7th 7:30pm
“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.
Matt the Electrician
The Auditorium
Saturday, September 7th 7:30pm
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."
Jeff Cannon
The Basin Park - Downtown
Saturday, September 7th 11:00am
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.
1973 Ozark Mountain Folkfair Exhibit
Main Stage Creative Community Center
Friday & Saturday - Reception Sat. 12pm
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.
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Richard Gilewitz & Tim May
The Basin Park - Downtown
Saturday, September 7th 12:15pm
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.
The Creek Rocks
The Basin Park - Downtown
Saturday, September 7th 1:30pm
“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."
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Aaron Smith with Still on the Hill
Main Stage Creative Community Center
Saturday, September 7th 2:00pm
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.
Billy Yank & Johnny Reb
The Basin Park - Downtown
Saturday, September 7th 2:45pm
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
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Mountain Alice
The Basin Park - Downtown
Saturday, September 7th 4:00pm
Mountain Alice is an Ozark County String Band based out of Northwest Arkansas. Alice Jorris, who fronts the band with her pure and strong vocals, hails from Iowa. Her strong big presence and pure vocals draw influence from the likes of Carole King, Patty Loveless, and Allison Krauss. The band is comprised of Christopher “Slim” Parker, Dylan Hawf, and Jennifer Parker. Together the band creates a country sound that is authentic to Ozark music and traditional acoustic country music of the 60s and 70s. The songwriting is relevant to the modern soul.
Shannon Wurst
The Basin Park - Downtown
Saturday, September 7th 5:15pm
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.
Ozark Folk Festival
Sunday, September 8th
Jesse Dean
The Basin Park - Downtown
Sunday, September 8th 11:00am
Jesse Dean was born and raised in a green, rocky hollow a few miles from Winslow, Arkansas, in a house with a piano for every room, walls hung with guitars and banjos, and a tin roof for rainy-day percussion. His skill as a musician is homegrown. Jesse Dean’s edgy blues-rock originals showcase soulful bass lines, muscular lead and rhythm guitar, vibrating riffs, and sultry jams.
Brick Fields Band
The Basin Park - Downtown
Sunday, September 8th 12:15pm
This husband and wife team with Larry’s anointed guitar sound and back-up vocals along with Rachel’s, soulful ambrosial voice, flute, and rhythm guitar continue to touch their audiences deeply everywhere. Brick Fields Music has been called an “Unleashed cleansing of the soul” by Nashville Blues Society. Doug Hill of the Norman, OK Transcript called Brick Fields album the "Gospel Blue" “A worshipful House of Blues with a steeple on top!” And New Classic Music for Tomorrow said, “Brick Fields is by far the most soulful artist I’ve heard in years!”
