Laurie Lewis, right, and Nina Gerber are teaming up for a duet performance with the Tucson Folk Festival this weekend.
Rebekah and Matt Rolland will debut their new duo Riso. The pair are members of the popular bluegrass band Run Boy Run.
Tucson blues guitarist and vocalist Roman Barton-Sherman is on the lineup for the 2021 Tucson Folk Festival this weekend.
The Tucsonics — comprised of several of Tucson’s leading session players — is one of the headliners of the 2021 Tucson Folk Festival.
Eric Schaeffer is on the lineup for the 2021 Tucson Folk Festival.
Singer-songwriter Mitzi Cowell is on the lineup for the 2021 Tucson Folk Festival.
Ron Pandy will headline the family show at noon Sunday, April 11, from the Centennial Hall stage.
After a year of mapping out all the what ifs and then whats, organizers for this weekend’s 36th annual Tucson Folk Festival took a step back in time.
The festival on Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11, will feature nearly half of the artists who were supposed to perform at the 35th annual event last April. That festival with a pared down lineup was moved to the virtual stage in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which at the time was in its infancy.
Festival President Matt Rolland, of the popular Tucson bluegrass band Run Boy Run and the new duo Riso with his wife and bandmate Rebekah Rolland, said the festival reached out to all 130 artists on the 2020 lineup and around 75 of them agreed to do this year’s event.
“They are coming from all over. We actually did have some performers who wanted to come in from out of state,” said Rolland, adding that artists are coming from the Phoenix area, New Mexico, Washington State, California and several other states to participate on three festival stages.
“I love an opportunity to perform and they have been few and far between for the last year,” said headliner Laurie Lewis, who will perform with Nina Gerber on Saturday, April 10. “I was totally on board and Nina was, too.”
This year’s event will include live in-person performances at the MSA Annex at the Mercado San Agustin and a drive-in stage at Park Place mall. Reservations are required for the MSA shows, which will have limited reserved seats, but all are welcome to the drive-in shows. Admission is free.