Thu 6/5 @ 8PM
The Kent Folk Fest kicks of its 48th year as a spring event for the first time. And it’s the first year the former Kent State Folk Fest is officially the Kent Folk Fest, run by the Western Reserve Folk Arts association, which runs the Kent Stage.
Ten days of music at the Kent Stage kicks off with five-woman bluegrass-based Americana sensation Della Mae. Emerging from the unlikely base of Boston, not known as a bluegrass hothouse, the young group released their debut album I Built This Heart in 2011 and its follow-up This World Oft Can Be last year.
The group’s already setting their little corner of the world on fire for their combination of stellar musicianship and affecting songwriting. They’ve created a sensation at Austin’s South by Southwest music conference, were nominated for the 2014 bluegrass Grammy, toured the former Asian Soviet Republics under the auspices of the U.S. State Department’s American Music Abroad program, where they played concerts and worked with local musicians and kids, and recently returned from their first European tour.
The rapidly rising group is the perfect kickoff to the festival, which will offer an array of acts, young and veteran, including bluegrass, sing-songwriters, alt country, and jam.
Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door.