Folk festival brings music

Music lovers from all over the Northwest will head for Sisters over Labor Day weekend for the Sisters Folk Festival.

The festival, set for Saturday and Sunday, September 5-6, on the meadow at Pine Meadow Ranch, will feature folk artists of national stature and a host of local and regional talent. The full days of music begin at noon on Saturday and Sunday.

A special highlight this year will be a free family stage at High Lakes Health Care, featuring a magic show, Sisters artists Brad Tisdel and Ward Stroud and a special appearance by headliner Christine Lavin.

The family stage will run from noon to 2 p.m. at the corner of Pine and Adams Streets.

The music kicks off each day at noon on the festival main stage located in a big tent on Pine Meadow Ranch at the west end Sisters.

Some of the region's best songwriters and "pickers" will perform continuously throughout the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday in styles ranging from contemporary folk to bluegrass, with a hearty shot of Irish balladry thrown in.

Past songwriting contest winners Glen McPherson and Darryl Purpose are featured Saturday.

Plenty of food will be available, and there will be a beer and wine garden.

Headlining Saturday's evening show, which starts at 7 p.m., are legendary singer-songwriter Tom Russell, contemporary folk singer Peter Case and Delta blues maestro Kelly Joe Phelps.

Sunday's headliners are East Coast folk legend Christine Lavin, Irish balladeer Peter Yeates and Portland singer-songwriter Dave Carter.

Russell, with Ian Tyson, has penned some of the finest originals in Western folk music - "Navajo Rug," "Claude Dallas," and "The Banks of the Musselshell." He has also written classics such as "Outbound Plane," "The Angel of Leon," and "Walking on the Moon."

With ace guitarist Andrew Hardin, Russell puts on a dynamic show with some of the strongest material folk music has to offer.

Peter Case is a veteran folkie who has hit his stride in a big way with his recent CD "Full-service, No Waiting." With a finely honed sense of the telling image and a rock-n-roller's intensity, Case promises to be a standout act.

Kelly Joe Phelps has parlayed his unique playing style and songwriting talents into a reputation as one of the Northwest's most compelling performers. Phelps is playing this summer at some of the biggest festivals around, including the granddaddy of them all, the Newport Folk Festival.

Christine Lavin is acclaimed for her humor and engaging performance style as well as her keenly observed songs reflecting the whimsies of life and love.

Peter Yeates returns to Sisters, where he headlined the first Sisters Folk Festival. Dave Carter, winner of the first Sisters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest, has gone on to also win the Kerrville New Folk Contest this year.

Sunday evening's shows also begin at 7 p.m.

For those who like to play as well as listen, there will be an open-mic Saturday afternoon at Hotel Sisters, and after-show jams have become a tradition.

The Sisters Folk Festival is presented by Bend Memorial Clinic and KTVZ-21.

Tickets for the afternoon shows are $5; evening shows are $10. All-event passes are available for $20. Sunday's family stage is free.

Tickets may be purchased at Paulina Springs Book Company in Sisters, Boomtown Records in Bend and the Curiosity Shoppe in Bend. To charge by phone, call 541-549-0866.