[MusicFriends] Turtle Hill Folk Festival

[esmith3 at frontiernet.net]

The Turtle Hill Folk Festival will be held September 8, 9, & 10 at 
Markus Park, Honeoye Falls. This 35th anniversary festival of the 
Golden Link Folk Singing Society features a Golden Ring reunion, with 
Gordon Bok, Ed Trickett, Joe Hickerson, and Sara Grey. Additional 
performers include Kieron Means, Canadian songwriter Maria Dunn, and 
the Michigan trio The Raisin Pickers. The weekend includes contemporary 
and traditional folk music, dancing, workshops, campfire singing, food 
and craft vendors, and children’s activities. All-weekend passes are 
$53; one day or evening tickets are also available. Call (585) 234-5044 
or visit www.goldenlink.org for more information.

The Golden Ring was based on an approach to making music; the specific 
set of individuals changed somewhat over the years. In 1964 and again 
in 1970, a group of musician friends temporarily set aside their solo 
performing careers to make music together in a non-competitive, 
ensemble approach. The concept appealed to the group of music-makers 
who decided to form a folk music club in 1971 in Rochester, so they 
named it the Golden Link Folk Singing Society.

Golden Link’s thirty-fifth anniversary Turtle Hill Folk Festival will 
present key members of the Golden Ring:

Gordon Bok has been one of our most cherished folk artists for decades. 
He grew up in and around the boatyards of Camden, Maine, and he has 
been a leader in preserving, collecting, creating and sharing a wide 
variety of rich and intensely beautiful songs of both land and sea.

Ed Trickett plays guitar and hammered dulcimer and sings with emotion 
and honesty. His repertoire includes a wide range of ballads, sea 
songs, and songs of love and protest. Ed has appeared on over 40 
recordings, and has also famously joined with Gordon Bok and Ann Mayo 
Muir for a wonderful series of recordings and concerts spanning almost 
30 years.

Sara Grey is a ballad singer with a powerful, sweet voice, singing 
songs from the US and the UK, and specializing in the migration of 
songs across the Atlantic. Sara accompanies herself by frailing a 
five-string banjo and, when playing tunes, it is obvious why she is 
regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the old-time style.

Joe Hickerson’s repertoire includes a vast array of folksongs and 
allied forms in the English language, many with choruses. In 1960 he 
wrote the 4th and 5th verses of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." Joe 
also has a career as a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, archivist, and 
librarian, and for 35 years he was Librarian and Director of the 
Archive of Folk Song/Culture at the Library of Congress.

Additional featured performers will be:

Maria Dunn is a storyteller through song who combines North American 
folk and country music with the influences of her Celtic heritage. Born 
in Scotland and raised in Ontario and Alberta, she writes songs 
inspired by historical and contemporary characters, capturing their 
struggles and triumphs in her lyrics.

The Raisin Pickers are a trio from Michigan that play banjo, guitar, 
and mandolin, fiddle, bass. And they sing! They are Carol Wells Palms, 
Mark Palms, and David Mosher, three musicians with a great 
understanding of traditional music. In addition to their concert 
performance and workshop participation, they will provide music for the 
evening contra dances.

Kieron Means, son of Sara Grey, is a rich-voiced singer of traditional 
and contemporary songs. He has a great rapport with an audience and has 
an exceptional professionalism for a young performer. His voice is as 
smooth as silk, rich and mellow and he sings to his audience not in 
spite of them.