Folk festival organizers announce first 8 acts More than 110,000 spectators expected for this year’s event

BANGOR – More food. More Porta-Potties. More crafts. More people. And more important, more music.

That was the message at Tuesday’s news conference announcing the first eight performers for the 65th annual National Folk Festival, to be held Aug. 22-24 along the city’s waterfront. The festival, produced by the Washington, D.C.-based National Council for the Traditional Arts, will be the second of three held in Bangor. The weekend event is expected to draw more than 110,000 people, up from 85,000 last year.

“There’s no one who was here last year that isn’t going to be here this year, and they’re all going to bring their friends,” festival chairman John Rohman told a group of about 20 gathered in the City Council chambers.

To keep the crowd entertained, organizers have lined up more performers this year and expanded the Maine Native Arts segment, which was a popular draw last year. Rohman and festival coordinator Heather McCarthy announced the first round of entertainers, selected by a panel of local and NCTA representatives.

Dale Watson and His Lone Stars, whom Rohman described as a “cross between Johnny Cash and Lyle Lovett,” will play a combination of honky-tonk and vintage country. National Heritage Fellow Natividad Cano leads the group Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, a California-based ensemble that has carried on the mariachi tradition in the United States.

Though Wylie Gustafson’s yodeling is recognized nationwide – his voice can be heard in Yahoo! commercials – he hasn’t given up his day job raising livestock in Dusty, Wash., population 11. When Wylie and the Wild West take the stage in Bangor, they’ll be bringing most of Dusty with them.

“When they leave town, that’s it,” Rohman joked.

Not so for Warner Williams and Jay Summerour, bluesmen who hail from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Gaithersburg, Md. Williams, a singer and guitarist, and Summerour, a harmonica player, began playing Piedmont-style blues together in the early 1990s and have appeared at the National Folk Festival when it visited Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as the Lowell Folk Festival in Massachusetts.

Englishman John Styles, a Punch and Judy puppeteer who was unable to attend the folk festival last year due to a family illness, will be on hand with a humorous act that appeals to children and adults alike. The Cajun group La Bande Feufollet, on the other hand, is made up entirely of children. The young band members were brought together by their love of music, the French language and Louisiana heritage.

Mamadou Diabete, born in Mali, West Africa, comes from a long line of “jeli,” or Malian musician-storytellers who invoke tales of the past to ensure that traditions are not forgotten. His quartet focuses on stories of the rise of the Malian Empire, which began in the ninth century and lasted into the 16th century.

Barachois does its part to keep traditional Acadian music alive. Based in Prince Edward Island, Canada, the four-member ensemble combines rhythmic, high-voltage music with step dancing, and surely will make a few appearances in the dance tent.

“They’re riotously entertaining,” McCarthy said. “You’re going to have a blast.”

If festival-goers need a break from the dancing, they can head over to the Native Maine Arts area, which will expand this year thanks to a grant from the Maine Arts Commission.

Master artists from Maine’s Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet nations will give demonstrations of traditional arts such as basket weaving and root-club carving.

In addition, there will be an exhibit titled Basket Trees, Basket Makers, which will focus on the brown ash wood used in basket weaving, while a narrative stage will highlight family traditions passed on through the generations.

“So much of what we love about Maine is based on native traditions,” said Pauleena MacDougall, associate director of the Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine. “This is a great opportunity to learn about these traditions.”

The Native Maine Arts portion isn’t the only part of the festival that will grow. The festival featured three Maine-based performances last year, and McCarthy said that number will increase this year.

“I think they did a great job showcasing the traditions they represented,” McCarthy said. “There are Maine traditions that are wonderful to celebrate and there are Maine performers who embody these traditions and deserve to be in the spotlight on the National Folk Festival stage.”

Though the number of stages won’t change, festival organizers plan to add another main entrance to the site at West Market Square. Rohman hopes the new entrance will increase foot traffic downtown and ease the parking crunch at Bass Park.

The larger-than-expected crowd last year caused a number of headaches, including waits at food booths that lasted up to an hour, long lines for the restrooms and a few traffic hassles. But Rohman assured the group that these problems have been addressed.

“It’s no longer a mystery to us,” Rohman said. “We understand our role and we understand the NCTA’s role.”