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This weekend will mark my first Winnipeg Folk Festival since before the pandemic.
The last festival I attended was 2018’s edition, which was a particular highlight for me on the strength of the lineup alone — Courtney Barnett! Phoebe Bridgers! Julien Baker! — so it was a nice one to go out on, so to speak.
But I’m excited about getting back out there, if a bit wary about those forecasted daytime highs.
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Some people will go to Birds Hill Park every year on the second weekend in July regardless of who is performing. Others’ attendance is totally lineup dependent.
And festival lineups can be divisive.
It’s always exciting when a lineup includes your favourite acts, especially those who would likely not play Winnipeg if not for folk fest. I was thrilled to see Jenny Lewis on the mainstage in 2015, for one example; to see her band Rilo Kiley perform, I had to drive to Minneapolis.
And then, of course, there will always be some people who are disappointed. “There’s no one on this year’s lineup I care about” is a common curmudgeonly comment I’ve heard.
“…yet,” is what I would say. “There’s no one on the lineup you care about — yet.”
Find new music
See, the Winnipeg Folk Festival’s whole thing is discovery. It’s about finding new music in the best way to find new music, which is experiencing it live.
It’s about stumbling on workshops, which are the most special thing about the festival, to my mind: you can see, like, six artists at once and they will never be on the same stage again. It’s about opening your mind and your ears and your heart and letting something new in.
Which can be hard. I don’t know if this is an age thing or a nostalgia thing, but I find myself listening exclusively to familiar artists and albums — this is the music I know and love, I have all the music I need, thank you so much.
This could also be a reaction to my former life as a music writer, which demanded I stay on top of what was new or review bands I might not ordinarily gravitate towards. It became exhausting. It became, well, work.
I’ve found my way back to the delight of discovery. And for us Arts & Life deskers, this process happens well before the festival; we’ve got to listen to a whole bunch of things so we can recommend them to you in our daytime stage roundup (which runs in the paper tomorrow, FYI).
Phoebe Bridgers was a folk fest discovery for me in this way. As soon as her voice hit my ears through my headphones, it was love at first listen. First Aid Kit, an Americana folk duo who hails improbably from Sweden, was another. Ditto Hurray for the Riff Raff. And so many more.
Phoebe Bridgers (George Walker IV / The Associated Press files)
This year, I was reminded of the genius of husband and wife duo The War and Treaty, who were here in 2018. Bluesman Jerron Paxton is going to be a favourite from this year, I expect: he was born in 1989, but makes music that sounds like it’s from 1929. Ditto Nick Shoulders, an Arkansas country punk.
Even if you’re not heading out to Birds Hill this weekend, take this as a challenge to take a chance on something new to you. Pick someone from the lineup and give ‘em a spin. You just might find your new favourite artist.
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