A voice was sounding
For the fourth February running, Oklahoma presented some of its best and brightest musicians to the potentially thousands-strong audience at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
For four days and nights, Oklahoma artists, including John Fullbright, Jesse Aycock and Travis Linville, contributed to the traditional and contemporary folk cacophony of FAIC, both via The Oklahoma Room, an intimate concert venue housed in a hotel suite, and larger-format concerts. The festival wrapped Sunday evening.
A limited number of artists each year are selected to play the conference’s official showcases, primetime performances in hotel conference rooms filled with fellow musicians, music fans, DJs and other industry professionals. Oklahoma artists with official showcase slots this year included Fullbright, Wink Burcham, Annie Oakley and Kalyn Fay.
Starting at 10:30 p.m. each night of the conference, three floors of the Kansas City Westin Crown Center are transformed into an intense private showcase madhouse, with artists performing simultaneously in every room, convening in stairwells for spontaneous jam sessions and, for a few unregistered hopefuls, busking in the lobby.
Memorable Okie moments
The Oklahoma Room is one of the largest sanctioned private showcases of the conference, and a Tulsa-heavy roster of Oklahoma artists performed solo, in the round and in any number of onthe-fly collaborative configurations, night in and night out on the seventh floor.
It’s an exhausting curriculum, overwhelming at times and unforgettable in others, with a quick walk down a hotel hallway yielding strains of traditional Celtic instruments, acoustic singer-songwriters and salsa drumming, with all showcases rotating several times per hour. Despite the abundance of friendly competition, Oklahoma’s musical talents carved out some memorable moments.
For his Oklahoma Room slot, Fullbright, predictably, packed the room to uncomfortable levels of standing room for his set of cover songs by noted Oklahoma artists. He also sat in as a sideman with a number of other performers. Annie Oakley booked several private showcases outside of the Oklahoma Room and created a notable buzz, with several new faces coming in to hear them on their conference home court.
Other highlights include soft-spoken Tulsa artist Robert Hoefling’s “Material Mama,” a self-effacing tune where Hoefling’s charming drawl was accented by friends and fans singing along from the crowd. Paul Benjaman performed the Charlie Chaplin classic “Smile,” a heartrending tribute to late Tulsa musician Steve Pryor. Dylan Stewart, singing about leaving his hometown of Ringling, and Jared Tyler’s countrytinged tribute to Fort Gibson Lake helped contribute to the Okie-heavy sense of place.
Jacob Tovar (accompanied by bassist Paul Wilkes, drummer Dylan Aycock and guitarists Paul Benjaman, Jeff Freling, of Kansas City band Victor and Penny, and Linville) had a star-making turn near the closing hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. Tovar’s cheeky “One Track Minded Baby,” written about his little girl, inspired hoots and hollers from an otherwise exhausted crowd and dance moves and cheers from the legendary Beatle Bob.
Many traveling musicians show up to FAIC with only a guitar and a handful of songs, hoping to make connections. The prevailing sentiment in The Oklahoma Room was this year, as in the past, to strengthen connections already made at home. The opportunities to see new artists were virtually endless, yet many of the Oklahoma artists chose instead to support their own, singing along and cheering each other on.
And even outside of The Oklahoma Room showcase itself, the state’s presence was felt — the official conference tote bags contained a travel guide to Tulsa and a back issue of “No Depression” with a lengthy feature piece on Oklahoma roots music. The Woody Guthrie Center, an official exhibitor and showcase sponsor, had its logo emblazoned on the registrant wristbands. Brian Horton, founder and president of Horton Records, which helped put together the Oklahoma Room showcase roster, said the turnkey involvement is no coincidence: The ultimate goal of Oklahoma’s revitalized involvement in Folk Alliance International is to attract the annual conference to Tulsa as a future host city.
Until The Oklahoma Room comes home, however, information on many of the involved artists can be found at www. hortonrecords.bandcamp.com or www. facebook.com/ OklahomaRoom.