New Bedford Folk Festival Day #1 ~ 2019 July 6 ~ Zeiterion, Custom House Stage, Seamen's Bethel ~ New Bedford, MA
Set List (Zoë Lewis at Seamen's Bethel)
Breakfast in Bangkok - 78 - Welcome To the Circus - You're Just Perfect - Never Too Old - Little Bit of Lovin' - Geraldine - Mine - Gringo - Eyelashes
Setlist also available on Setlist.fm
Scroll past the videos for comments on the festival.
Videos
"Small Is Tremendous" (Zoë Lewis)
Bourque Émissaires
Review
It was a hot day for the New Bedford Folk Festival. I attended more "workshops" (multi-performer segments) than in other years, and spent more time in the air-conditioned Zeiterion than in most years.
Last year I learned that the parking garages charge for parking on Festival weekend, and so I got to this historic seaside town a little on the early side and found a free spot on Purchase Street. After a short walk to the magnificent Zeiterion theater, Concert Going Partner and I got our wrist bands (good for both days) and went into the "Z," where we discovered to our delight that the "reserved seating" for the very expensive premium ticket holders only includes the middle section; thus, we were able to sit close to the stage over on the audience left side.
The first performance was a "workshop." Workshop MC Art Tebbetts took eight minutes to read a lengthy bio of each of the four performers. After he was done, The Kennedys took over as workshop leaders. Maura and Pete are a regular at the NBFF. They performed three songs themselves, taking turns with the other three performers, and introduced each performer when it was their turn. The second performer was affable French-Canadian father and son duo Bourque Émissaires, whom Pete K. jokingly introduced as "Bourque Experience." The Bourque duo play accordion and guitar and sometimes sing, and they have a lot of fun on stage and are very enjoyable. The third performer was one of my favorites, Cape Cod's Zoë Lewis, whose song "Small Is Tremendous" I filmed (link to video above). She also played her song "Cuppa Tea" which somebody ought to combine with the song of the same title by The Kinks. The last performer was the four-woman combo, Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards, who played uptempo alt-folk featuring a fun solo on the acoustic bass (the solo was so good Maura K. commented on it). Pete and Maura encouraged all the musicians to play along on each other's songs, an opportunity that is welcomed and enjoyed by both the performers and the audiences.
We got lunch from one of the food trucks along Purchase Street, and moseyed a block down the hill to the outdoor Custom House Stage. In the park next to the stage there was a creative installation of rustling streamers attached to trees overhead. As much as these were very pretty, when the wind blew they made a whooshing sound that was somewhat distracting. But that's what you get when you have an outdoor music venue. This workshop featured very enjoyable Appalachian trio Molsky's Mountain Drifters, a five-man Celtic band called Bua, and stepdancer Kevin Doyle, who danced a few times while Bua were performing, and also joined them on bodhran for a couple of songs.
We returned to the Zeiterion where we caught the last few songs by Seth Glier. Seth is a young upcoming singer/songwriter whose multi-stylistic music fits into a folk festival by a big stretch of the term "folk." He writes fantastic songs, plays a variety of instruments with tremendous skill, and has an emotive and varied voice that you just have to hear. I was somewhat sorry we missed a piece of his set, but you can't be everywhere at once. He stayed put for the following workshop, which also featured Zoë Lewis (seeing her for the second time this weekend), enjoyable folk quartet Low Lily, and a three-man band with a Scottish focus, McKasson, McDonald, McLane. These bands were all very good and presented a really nice variety of music.
We finished our day at the "Meet the Performer Stage" at the Seamen's Bethel. First up was Lynn, Mass.'s Don White, a singer/songwriter with a good sense of humor, but a serious side, too. He reminded us a little bit of Ray Mason. After his set Zoë Lewis set up her several instruments for her set (third time seeing her today, but we never, ever get tired of her wonderful, positive attitude and songs ranging from the clever to the poignant). Her stage setup included four red plastic frisbees that she uses to illustrate a song she wrote after babysitting the toddler twins of a friend of hers ("Welcome to the Circus"). Her set was the end of our Day #1 at the 2019 NBFF.
Click for 2019 Concert Page with links to all 2019 concerts ... Click for Main Concert Page with links to all years