2007 Festival Wrap-Up Part 1 (North American Folk Alliance Conference)

December 28th, 2007 by Rachelandthecity

The first conference I attended last year, and the one that is coming up very soon is The International Folk Alliance Conference that is held in my hometown, Memphis, TN at The Marriott Hotel. The North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance was officially formed back in 1990 in Philadelphia, but recently moved their headquarters to Memphis. I am not sure how long the conference, which happens every February, has been taking place - but 2007 was the first year it was held in our fair city and word is it will be held here for at least the next 15 years.Unfortunately, I was only able to attend one night of the three day conference this year because I was busy getting ready for my own showcase at SXSW (more on that later) but the night I did attend was well worth it. I did not have many expectations and planned to spend most of my time in The Memphis Room with a bunch of my friends like Holly Cole, Cory Branan, Blair Combest, Jed and Kelly, Jimmy Davis, Dan Montgomery and Keith Sykes.

From L-R: Kelly, Jimmy, Jed, Keith

Holly Cole

Cory Branan

Check out my profile on Holly Cole or listen to a recent set from Cory Branan on Live from the Hitone.

Or take a listen to my show 10 Degrees of Memphis where I highlighted all the Memphis based artists that played the festival.

Of course, after I got there I realized how big this conference actually is. I traveled from room to room (yeah, they actually had impromptu sets from artists in various hotel rooms! Like this one from Susan Marshall, Dave Cousar and Rick Steff!!!) checking out as much music as I could. It was a super cool, low key event! By the end of the night I had also taken in kickass sets from Glen Phillips (does Toad the Wet Sprocket mean anything to you?) and one of my favorite artists from the Righteous Babe label (other than Ani DiFranco, of course!), Hammell on Trial!! If you get the chance to see this guy live - DO NOT MISS IT!!

Hammell and Me

Anyway, if you get the chance, come on down to Memphis and check out this awesome festival before it gets huge and annoying!