Fall into Autumn Festival live streams a feast of acoustic Americana, folk/roots and bluegrass (24 & 25 October)

The upcoming this weekend of 24/25 October will feature some acclaimed Americana, bluegrass and folk artists live streaming from across the USA and UK, including some Folk Radio UK favourites. Top-notch acoustic musicians including Jake Blount, Rachel Baiman, Vera van Heeringen and The Honey Dewdrops will perform from their homes in two evening concerts (7pm – 10.15pm UK time) hosted by Yorkshire-based grassroots promoter True North Music. Many of the American artists featured were due to tour the UK this year before the pandemic put a stop to touring and live events. The performances will be live-streamed to True North Music’s Facebook page and YouTube channel and are freely available to watch, with donations welcomed (link below).

There will also be several ticketed music and dance workshops on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, delivered via the Zoom platform and which can be booked on Wegottickets. Cara Luft & JD Edwards (aka Canadian folk/roots powerhouse duo The Small Glories) will lead a songwriting workshop where they’ll discuss the process of writing some of their award-winning songs. Both well-respected singer-songwriters, the duo garnered multiple 2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards this year as well as being named Folk Alliance International’s 2019 Folk Artist of the Year.

Gifted UK multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Carrivick will lead a flatpicking guitar workshop looking at playing fiddle tunes on the six-string (intermediate players and above). Charlotte is a familiar figure to folk fans, having toured widely with multiple bands including Cardboard Fox, The Carrivick Sisters (with twin Laura), her duo with fiddle ace Kieran Towers, and rising bluegrass stars Midnight Skyracer.

Blending influences from UK folk, Indian music and Americana, Sheffield-based duo Mishra weave an enchanting web of intricate music. Led by Kate Griffin’s gorgeous voice and inimitable clawhammer banjo, Mishra’s sound is driven by Ford Collier’s instrumental skills on Indian tabla, African calabash, Irish whistle and guitar. Both Griffin and Collier have each been shortlisted for BBC Radio Two’s Young Folk Awards with previous projects, and their 2019 debut album The Loft Tapes received glowing reviews.

Evie Ladin is a multi-talented California based dancer, singer and clawhammer banjoist who’s also the leader of all-female percussive dance group MoToR/dance. Evie will lead a percussive dance workshop based on her piece The Storm. She’s a renowned performer and teacher who has toured the UK many times in her duo with Keith Terry, performing their entertaining mix of Appalachian roots, world music and body percussion.

True North Music’s Maria Wallace has put on over 50 folk/roots and bluegrass gigs in Yorkshire since 2015 and decided to put a live streamed extravaganza together in the absence of her usual grassroots music series in Huddersfield and Sheffield. All the artists had agreed to perform for donations, but True North Music subsequently managed to secure some funding from Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund. The grant will support both this virtual festival and two real-life concerts planned to be performed, filmed and live streamed in Huddersfield in early 2021 (dependent on Covid-19 restrictions).

Maria Wallace said “I’m really busy putting everything together for this weekend’s virtual festival. It feels great to be working on something positive, although it can never replace real-life gigs which we all miss so much! Live streamed events do bring us a lot of joy and connection though, and of course provide work for hard-pressed folk and roots musicians. We’re delighted to have received the Arts Council funding which will enable us pay the artists a reasonable minimum, and we’ll also be welcoming donations for the Facebook Live and YouTube live streams so that we can pay each musician as much as possible. We’ve got some brilliant ticketed workshops lined up too, which will allow people to join in as participants as well as audience members, from the comfort of their own homes. Please join us online and help keep grassroots music alive!”