Festival announces additions to lineup

The Sisters Folk Festival has announced another round of bookings for the 2013 music event, September 6-8, 2013.

Grammy-nominated John Fullbright, Cheryl Wheeler, Lake Street Dive, Ryan Montbleau Band and the California Honeydrops will all be performing throughout the weekend.

New to the lineup are outstanding additions that will keep the eclectic and riveting performances thriving over the festival weekend in Sisters. Additional bookings include Jon Cleary and the Philthy Phew, Hurray for the Riff Raff, the Shook Twins, The White Buffalo, Joshua James, Richard Julian Band, Baskery, Ray Bonneville, Marley's Ghost, Nathaniel Talbot Quartet, Beth Wood, Betty and the Boy and Shinyribs.

Many intensely original artists with a distinct voice will showcase their craft. SFF will feature John Craigie, Amber Rubarth, Greg Trooper, Kenny White, and Liz Longley in the Dave Carter Songwriter Showcase on Saturday.

"In changing the format, SFF will present great writers in a songwriter in the round to get a flavor of how each one approaches and presents their music. The 'round' format also provides the possibility of the unexpected, which is always engaging for our audience," said Brad Tisdel, executive director of Sisters Folk Festival.

"The caliber of artists this year will be some of the finest we have ever presented. Although not household names to some, these artists have immense integrity and present a diverse range of music, from New Orleans stride piano and R&B (Jon Cleary), to jazz-infused string music (Lake Street Dive), to Swedish folk with serious attitude (Baskery)," said Tisdel. "We are very excited for our audience to hear great music they may be familiar with, and to be blown away by those artists they discover and have never seen or heard of."

"We're really happy with the way the lineup shaped up this year," said festival board chair Jim Cornelius. "We've got veteran stalwarts like Jon Cleary and Cheryl Wheeler, along with performers that have a lot of 'buzz,' like Hurray For The Riff Raff and Lake Street Dive; songwriters whose careers are really taking off like The White Buffalo and John Fullbright... I think people are going to want to see it all. And if you schedule yourself creatively, you can."

The Americana Song and Arts Academy will also feature many of these artists teaching music and songwriting September 3-6. Registration is filling up for the intimate three-day event at Caldera. Music instructors include Natalia Zukerman, Ryan Montbleau, the Shook Twins, Richard Julian, Oklahoma poet laureate Nathan Brown, Amy Speace, and many others. For more information on how the Sisters Folk Festival is melding the music and visual arts into one inspiring camp, visit http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org.

The Sisters Folk Festival All-Event passes are $115, and in 2012 sold out for the first time.

The event draws world-class musicians and songwriters to intimate venues throughout Sisters. Event organizers continue to place the music at the forefront, as most venues are listening-audience experiences that compel the artists to perform at their best, whether in front of 125 or 1,100 fans.

For more information on the 2013 Sisters Folk Festival or to purchase tickets, go to http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org, or call the festival office at 541-549-4979.