Denver Folk & Roots Music Festival Announces Lineup

What: Second Annual Denver Folk & Roots Music Festival. When: Friday, March 28 at 6 p.m. Where: The Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Swallow Hill Music Association is pleased to announce its official artist lineup for its Second Annual Denver Folk & Roots Music Festival on Friday, March 28 at 6 p.m. This evening of diverse music is presented in the unique setting of one of the finest acoustic concert halls in America, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

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Dakota Blonde

The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a series of five showcases. Southern Journey featuring Emily Morgan Bates and Marta Burton, a tribute to Alan Lomax and those dedicated to recording the folk music of the American South, will be the first showcase, followed by Fifth World, a Native peoples trio comprised of Dine flute player Andrew Begay, Saamoke percussionist Will Clipman, and Laarakia didgeridoo player Ash Dargan. Next we'll make a run to the southern border with Tuscon, Ariz.-based Santa Cruz River Band, who will entertain the crowd with an array of Mexican folk songs and southwest spice. Steppin' In It with Rachael Davis will then deliver some rocking newgrass peppered with jazz and folk influences. Our final showcase will be Colorado favorites Dakota Blonde, an acoustic trio whose combination of folk, bluegrass, and country with a little Celtic tinge keep audiences coming back for more.

Following the showcases there will be a brief intermission as the stage changes are made for the headliners for this special event, Nanci Griffith and Bruce Cockburn.

Bruce Cockburn's esteemed career includes 29 albums, numerous international awards (including an induction to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001) and countless concert performances. His highly personal finger picking guitar style merges Mississippi John Hurt blues with modal jazz harmony as well as melodic lyricism and cycling rhythms that suggest an ear for Indian, Asian, and African music. His songwriting has also reflected the turmoil of our times, with anti-globalism manifestos, a reflective coda on his experiences with the poor and downtrodden in Nicaragua, and environmentalist anthems. His latest album, Life Short Call Now, is the 29th album in a career that's midway through its fourth decade, and is wide-ranging, playful, and adventurous, eager to take chances and happy to push limits.

Nanci Griffith's admirers are legion (Bob Dylan specifically requested that she sing "Boots of Spanish Leather" at his historic Madison Square Garden anniversary concert), and she has penned some of country music's most enduring compositions, including Emmylou Harris' and Willie Nelson's "Gulf Coast Highway," Kathy Mattea's "Love at the Five and Dime" and "Listen to the Radio," and Suzy Bogguss' "Outbound Plane." She was the first to record Julie Gold's Grammy-winning classic, "From a Distance," which found wider commercial success with Bette Middler. Whether performing her own poetically evocative material or the compositions of her influences, friends, and peers, Griffith possesses a powerful gift for inhabiting the songs she sings. Her career spans nearly three decades with numerous accolades, including numerous Grammy nominations as well as a win in 1994 for her album, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

The emcee for the evening will be Denver's Godfather of Folk, Harry Tuft. Tuft is responsible for sowing the seeds of Swallow Hill through his establishment of the Denver Folklore Center, an staple of not only Denver's folk and music community, but of the entire Western region of the United States.

For tickets visit www.swallowhillmusic.org or call (303) 777-1003. Discounts are available for Swallow Hill members.

Helping people make and enjoy music since 1979, Swallow Hill Music Association is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the United States as a source for folk, roots and acoustic music. With more than 2,100 members, Swallow Hill provides a place to celebrate music that is rarely heard elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain Region. Three concert venues house more than 200 performances a year, featuring some of the world's great artists as well as up-and-coming new talent. The Julie Davis Music School at Swallow Hill provides a valuable and affordable extra-curricular educational resource to the community with more than 60 music instructors involved in more than 240 adult classes and 70 children's classes annually. A Tier II member of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Swallow Hill has won both the Mayor's and Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts, countless "Best of Denver" awards, has been recognized by the the North American Folk Alliance, and is one of the most sought-after venues by folk and roots performers in the country.

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