The Roots to headline eclectic folk festival roster
Prince's Island Park will play host to acts ranging from Cowboy Junkies to Booker T
Hip-hop superstars the Roots have been announced to play the 45th annual Calgary Folk Music Festival on Prince's Island Park.
The Philadelphia band, which formed in the late 1980s, will close the night on the mainstage on Saturday, July 27. The Roots are among 72 acts that will play at the festival, which runs from July 25 to 28 at Prince's Island Park. The Roots are multiple Grammy winners and were the house band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Other headliners include Ottawa indie-folk singer-songwriter Leif Vollebekk, who will close the July 25 Thursday night mainstage alongside the already-announced English songwriter Ben Howard.
Irish songwriter James Vincent Mcmorrow and Toronto folkies Wild Rivers will perform on the mainstage on Friday, July 26, which will close with veteran indie band The Cowboy Junkies.
On Saturday, The Roots will be joined by Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and BCUC, a self-proclaimed “Afro-psychedelic” band from Soweto.
On Sunday, veteran funk and soul icon Booker T will present his “Stax Revue” show alongside California's Fantastic Negrito, who wowed audiences as a 2023 headliner.
The festival will also feature its usual array of multi-artist workshops and concerts on multiple stages. Other artists announced for the lineup include New York composer Allegra Krueger, multi-instrumentalist Benj Rowland, veteran American country-blues singer-songwriter Charlie Parr and Quebec's Shauit, who mixes traditional First Nations music with modern styles.
World music will be well-represented, as always, with North African blues player Bab I'bluz, West African Voudoun act BIM, Tuareg act Etran de L'air, Latino rockers Making Movies and traditional Mexican musicians The Mariachi Ghost.
Other highlights include British singer-songwriter Billie Marten, Toronto trio Elliott Brood, Mexican-american band Y La Bamba American alt-folk rockers Deer Tick, L.A. folk-punk singer-songwriter Sunny War, Prince Edward Island's “pan-global” Umbrella Collective and American soul and blues singer Robert Finley, a veteran who nevertheless didn't release his debut album, Age Don't Mean a Thing, until 2016.
Local acts on the roster this year include Calgary's Ginger Beef, Kue Varo & The Only Hopes, hip-hop acts Arlo Maverick and K-riz, jazz-rockers L'omelette and Nehiyaw songwriter Wyatt C. Louis.
For a full lineup, go to calgaryfolkfest.com.
Early bird weekend passes and single-day tickets are available starting April 30 at noon.