Celebration Songwriters- Kerrville Folk Festival

Celebrating Songwriters
In The Hill Country Of Texas

“Give yourself to love, if love is what you’re after. Open up your heart, to tears and laughter. Give yourself to love. Give yourself to love.”

The simple, poignant chorus of singer-songwriter Kate Wolf’s song plays over and over in my memory as I return from my annual pilgrimage to the Kerrville Folk Festival where 30,000 guests gather to celebrate the craftsmanship and magic of all genres of songwriting every May and June. And I smile as I think of the remarkable new songs I have heard in the last few days from unknown songwriters around all-night campfires and during the afternoon songwriter competition concerts. Ahhhh – fresh perspectives and multi-cultural expressions of life, love, joy, sorrow, disappointment, humor, and the socio-political events that color our lives – eloquently imbedded in our hearts by a song.

Run annually since 1972, the internationally respected Kerrville Folk Festival is the longest continuously running music festival of its kind in North America, held on the Quiet Valley Ranch, just 9 miles south of the resort town of Kerrville in the heart of the glorious Texas Hill Country. Evening main stage performances of recognized singer-songwriters anchor an 18-day schedule of special daytime concerts, songwriting schools, music business seminars, instrument technique workshops, professional development courses for teachers (earning CEC’s), activities for children, organized bicycle rides and canoe trips, camping, and most importantly, the New Folk Competition showcasing the original songwriting talents of 32 finalists.

The six 2007 winners are Danny Schmidt (Austin, Texas), Storyhill (Bozeman, Montana), Carla Gover (Richmond, Kentucky), David Llewellyn (Nashville, Tennessee), John Wort Hannam (Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada), and Anthony da Costa (Pleasantville, New York).

Chartered in 1975, the non-profit Kerrville Music Foundation created fair guidelines and rules for submitting songs for the annual competition. Approximately 800 entries from many countries begin arriving in December of each year and go through a screening process targeting songwriting excellence. By spring, 32 finalists are selected and invited to present two songs live on stage during the festival to three paid, qualified touring and recording artist judges. Audiences enthusiastically roar in delight during the 2-day, 16 finalists a day presentation of fresh song offerings by these emerging talents. The six winners receive a cash honorarium from the Texas Music Foundation, reimbursement for travel expenses, complimentary admission to the festival, various other professional prizes provided by sponsors, and the title of New Folk Award Winner – one that is truly meaningful professionally worldwide. In the 36 years of the festival, many New Folk winning songwriters have evolved into acclaimed careers in music from the experience of sharing their songs with peers, seasoned recording artists, and music industry professionals who are there to perform, listen and encourage!

For many, the word “folk” implies “old timey, old fogy” music – a big misconception in my opinion. A more contemporary definition refers to performers who write, compose, and sing their own material including lyrics and melodies, often providing sole acoustic accompaniment to an entire song composition. If you embrace this simplified definition, then every song begins as the bare bones of cultural expression before it is layered with the muscle of other instruments and flesh of vocal accompaniment. And the long life of a single song resonates in the spirituality of our souls identifying with the message – the mission of every singer-songwriter.

Folk music is an integral part of community centered cultures – the music of the common people with deep roots in its own culture. All countries have developed singer-songwriter traditions blending folk and popular genres such as nueva cancion in Andean countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia. In Spain and Portugal it’s nova canco and nova cancao, in Cuba a genre known as nueva trova. In Mexico, cancion yucateca on the Yucatan Peninsula and trova serrana in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca are both regional adaptations of trova, canto popular in Uraguay, and cantautori in Italy. And in North America, we just call our oral tradition “folk”.

Is there a singer-songwriter in your life? Lucky you! Your artist can look in their own backyard of Texas to learn more about how to craft their songs, hone their skills, and be nurtured by the best of the bests songwriters. Find competition guidelines and submission requirements on the KFF website (www.kerrville-music.com/newfolk or www.kerrvillefolkfestival.com).

The 16th Annual Kerrville Wine & Music Festival, August 31 through September 2, Labor Day Weekend, is a great way to get the “lay of the land” for next year. While plenty of hotels are available locally, camping gives you an opportunity to informally share your songs with master craftsmen and amateurs alike around campfires during all hours of the day and night – campfires are the heart and soul of every festival!

I could pepper this article with names of performers and New Folk Winners you will recognize and many you will not, but I’d rather suggest you discover who’s who on the festival website and to encourage you to experience a gathering of creativity on a large, inspiring scale by attending a festival!

As the faces of songwriters and the melodies of their songs dance in my thoughts while my fingers tap across the keyboard, I’ll share with you with another chorus to yet another powerful song which I heard for the first time at the festival many years ago (before it became popular and recorded by many mainstream artists):

“From a distance, there is harmony. And it echoes through the land.
It’s the song of hope. It’s the song of peace. It’s the song of every man”


Reneé Shearer