What's Up @ the 2019 Edmonton Folk Festival
It's a well-worn cliche that feminists in general and lesbians in particular love folk music. It has been since at least 2002, when no less than the Gray Lady herself declared, "Folk music has become the sound of lesbian culture." And that was five years after a traveling all-woman festival called Lilith Fair, produced by Canadian Sarah McLachlan, became the top-grossing musical throwdown of the year. Nowadays, Lilith Fair is no more, but Canadians are still kicking folk festival ass - with assistance from queer sisters - thanks to the Edmonton Folk Festival.
Four decades old this year, the Edmonton Folk Festival will serve up four days of fabulous music this week, kicking off Thursday the 8th, and continuing through Sunday, the 11th. More than 60 performers include the Alabama-based soul outfit St. Paul and the Broken Bones, singer-songwriter Jason Isbell - a former member of Drive-By Truckers and a four-time Grammy winner - and Ani Difranco, the legendary musician known for her fiercely independent, anti-corporate stance and coming out as bisexual at a time when that was big news and a career risk.
Ani Difranco (Photo: Associated Press)
As she has multiple times, lesbian icon Brandi Carlile, a three-time Grammy winner whose work spans genres including rock, alternative country, pop and folk, will also play the festival this year. "Brandi Carlile and her wife Catherine's first official date was at the Edmonton festival," recalls Edmonton Folk Festival Producer Terry Wickham. "Brandi at that time was relatively unknown. We gave her what we call 'the Norah Jones spot,' because we signed Norah Jones six days before she won all the Grammys, and gave her the second-to-last spot on the main stage. Brandi just came out and she killed it. People didn't know her, but they take to a great voice like that. She said to our audience, 'How does it feel to be at the best f-ing music festival?' "
The Edmonton Folk Festival, which takes place in Gallagher Park, a bucolic river valley overlooking the city skyline, was founded in 1980. Past performers have included Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Arrested Development, Tracy Chapman, Shovels and Rope, K.D. Lang, Van Morrison and David Byrne. It continues to grow as Edmonton's population's has, snaring both artists and audience members from across the world and presenting a wide range of musical genres, from blues to Celtic, worldbeat to roots rock, as well as gospel, bluegrass and, of course, folk. This year the event will feature seven stages, with dozens of food vendors serving fare from around the world, a beer garden, artisan marketplace, morning yoga sessions and more.
Brandi Carlile (Photo: Associated Press)
There is no camping onsite, but Edmonton is home to a wide range of queer-friendly accommodations, like the Metterra Hotel, the Matrix Hotel and, if you're feeling fancy, the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald. The city of one million or so is itself known to be LGBTQ welcoming, with Jasper Avenue the site of a flowering gayborhood. Of course, the Edmonton Folk Festival has spent 40 years leading the charge for inclusivity, according to The Edmonton Folk Music Festival Society, which notes the organization "endeavours to provide a culture of safe space for all, including marginalized and vulnerable segments of our population..."
Adds Wickham, "Obviously, we've had lots and lots of gay artists over the years. We fly the Pride flag, along with indigenous flags. It's just a very friendly, welcoming space."
Can't make the Edmonton Folk Festival this year? Mark you calendars for 2020, when the festival will run August 6 - 9, and 2021, when it's slated for August 5 - 8.
For more on the Edmonton Folk Festival, visit the event's website.