The music played by the Richard Felt Orchestra doesn’t exactly fall into the category “traditional folk art,” but its members – all of whom are over 70 – firmly believe that when they die, the dance songs they perform will die with them.

“Every generation has a span of life,” observed bandleader Richard Felt in a phone interview Tuesday. “Not many young people are playing this type of music. It is an era fewer and fewer play. But, people come into [the Locke Mills Town] hall with one or two canes, put them over the back of a chair, get out on the dance floor, then pick up their canes and go home.”

The seven-member band based in western Maine is one of only two “local” groups scheduled to perform at the National Folk Festival this weekend. The other is a group of musicians, singers and storytellers from the Wabanaki tribes.

“We’re highly honored to be asked to play down there,” said Felt. “It’s a great honor and a great recognition of our band. We’ve been around a lot of years and made a lot of elderly people happy.”

The group has done that by playing the music today’s senior citizens heard and danced to in their youth. Felt said that on Sunday afternoon the band plans to play waltzes, foxtrots, two steps and line or contra dances named Lady of the Lake, Boston Fancy, Mountain Ranger, and Haymakers’ Jig.

The band was formed in the early 1980s and has been playing twice a month at the Town Hall in Locke Mills ever since. The group also performs at the town’s American Legion Hall, the Maine Veteran’s Home in Paris, and area retirement and convalescent homes. The band has also performed at the Maine Arts Festival in Brunswick.

Felt, who plays harmonica, said that the band never uses sheet music because every member plays by ear and knows all the songs in the group’s repertoire by heart. A former sheep farmer, Felt served on the Woodland Board of Selectmen for many years and is still master of the Franklin Grange in Bryant Pond.

Dorothy Canwell of Oxford plays piano and accordion, but is most renowned for her whistling. She’s competed in contests from Maine to California. Retired from Robinson Woolen Mill, Canwell also “arranges” the music for the group.

A retiree from Gilbert Spool Co., Irving Cole of Greenwood plays lead guitar and Richard Jones, buffalo farmer in North Waterford, plays drums. Lewis Newcomb of Minot is the banjo player. He worked at Pineland Hospital for many years, according to Felt.

Former barber William Bedard and his wife, Lona, of Norway, round out the group. She plays keyboard and piano accordion, while her husband can play “anything with strings,” but mostly performs on banjo.

“We’re from all different walks of life, but when we get together for music, it’s like there was a plan to it all,” said Canwell. “We’re not youngsters anymore, but we have a wonderful time playing together. We’re like a family. Whatever happens to one of us, happens to all of us.”

The Richard Felt Orchestra is scheduled to perform at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Kenduskeag Dance Pavilion.