2024 HEADLINERS
LISA MORALES BAND
Saturday, April 6, 8:15PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
This is the kind of songwriting that provides a lust for life even in the face of death. It provides love in a field of heartbreak. It is provides heaviness in the light and jazz in the mundane
– JSITop21 –
Lisa Morales draws from a creative palette informed by the rhythms, colors and flavors of the Southwest — from the painted-desert skies of her native Tucson, Arizona, where she, her sister Roberta, and cousin Linda Ronstadt grew up. Morales continues to record and release music sung in English, Spanish, and Spanglish, conveying the promise of new beginnings and confirming that she is a woman in touch with her emotions and inner power. Morales once again affirms her world-class stature on her new solo album, She Ought to Be King.
STEVE POLTZ
Saturday, April 6, 7:00PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
Steve Poltz is a living example of the American music tradition, a songwriter who can bend your ear with a hooky melody, then break your heart with a wry observation about the human condition.
– POPMATTERS –
Steve Poltz opens himself up to the universe in a way most of us will never be loose enough to achieve, and the universe responds with a wink, a seemingly bottomless well of inspiration, and the talent to truly connect with an audience. Steve has co-written with numerous stars of the folk and bluegrass worlds, including Jewel, Billy Strings, and Molly Tuttle. His new album, Stardust & Satellites, was produced by Oliver Wood and Jano Rix of the Wood Bros.
LESLIE MENDELSON
Sunday, April 7, 5:00PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
Leslie’s melodies are timeless. They reach me way back in my youth somewhere. I hear traces of Burt Bacharach and Carole King, and hooks and passages that remind me of the pop songs I grew up hearing on the radio.
– Jackson Browne –
If Leslie Mendelson’s only collaboration with a legendary musician was Jackson Browne, it would be a worthy point to celebrate. What’s truly telling is that Leslie has also drawn the attention of The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir who recorded a duet with her on Roy Orbison’s standard, “Blue Bayou,” while The Who invited her to open two shows at Madison Square Garden last year. Today, she is supporting her most recent studio album If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…, as well as a solo acoustic EP In The Meantime.
A Grammy Award-nominated artist, Mendelson returns this summer with her fourth studio album, After The Party. For this latest effort, she collaborates with not one, but three producers: the legendary Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt), the young, in-demand Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham, Sara Bareilles, Sara Watkins) and her longtime songwriting partner, three-time Grammy Award-winner, Steve McEwan. Recorded at Jackson Browne’s studio Grove Masters in Santa Monica, CA, she was joined by an ace band featuring guitarists Waddy Wachtel and John Jorgenson, bassists Leland Sklar and Derrick Anderson, and drummers Jim Keltner and Abe Rounds.
BABA MARIMBA
Sunday, April 7, 7:15PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
This group could be teaching graduate-level courses in African, jazz and world music. That’s how varied and deep the group’s collective musical experience is.
– TUCSON WEEKLY –
For over a decade, Baba Marimba have been getting Tucsonans moving and grooving to their worldbeat fusion stylings. Their musicians have been Tucson regulars for decades, known as favorites of the Tucson Folk Festival while also frequently performing at venues around the city. Their sound encompasses baritone and soprano marimbas, kalimbas, electric viola, conch shells and African, Latin and Middle Eastern drums and percussion, mixed with drums, bass, guitar, horns and flute.
FAMILY SHOW HEADLINER
DESERT MUSEUM FAMILY BAND
Saturday April 6, 3:30 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Wildflower Stage!
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum teams up with Mr. Nature’s Music Garden for an unforgettable nature-themed jam! Come on a musical journey as we celebrate what makes our Sonoran Desert home such a special place. Sing, dance, & learn with original music in English & Spanish performed by Education Specialist, Michelle Constanza Miner – feat. Anthony Aldinger (Mr. Nature), Syndenn Sweet (Hanner House Records), Eli Beren (Brother Bear Eli), Kyleigh Sacco (Desert Museum), & Ted Ramirez (Tucson’s Official Troubadour). Now that’s edutainment!
KEITH SECOLA
Sunday, April 7, 4:00 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
Secola is a great songwriter and nimble guitarist who doesn’t feel tied down to any one sound.
– INK 19 –
Native folk & blues rocker Keith Secola is an award-winning songwriter, producer, guitarist, and native flute player. His music is familiar to thousands of fans across North America and Europe. Keith’s famous song, “NDN KARS”, is considered the contemporary Native American anthem and is the most requested song on Native radio in the US and Canada. Keith Secola is Anishinabe (Ojibwa) originally from the Mesabi Iron Range country of northern Minnesota, now residing in Arizona. He is a member of the Anishinabe Nation of northern Minnesota and southern Ontario.
THE CROSS-EYED POSSUM
Sunday, April 7, 6:15 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
The Cross-Eyed Possum is an award-winning, nationally touring, and identical twin-led Newgrass/Americana band playing festivals and events such as Pickin’ in The Pines 2023 and the 40th Annual Huck Finn Jubilee. They feature vocal harmonies and technical proficiency with original music inspired by such groups as CSNY and the Punch Brothers, and also by their dedication to jazz and classical music while attending universities. The band is currently celebrating their second studio album, Out on My Own, which was released in July 2023.
EAGLE ROCK GOSPEL SINGERS
Sunday, April 7, 3:00 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
…taut with electricity…a band that has become a rousing celebration of traditional Gospel sounds with rock foundations.
– NPR Music –
The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers began as a collective of friends getting together in the summer of 2010. A choir of up to 15 revived the old Gospel spirit with songs like “I Shall Not Be Moved”. They evolved into a sextet, committed to embracing the richness found in early 20th-century recordings. Influenced by past Gospel musicians such as Washington Phillips and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as well as current bands like Calexico, the band creates a unique style drawing R&B, Americana, rock, and folk.
MARIACHI NUEVO AZTECA DE TUCSON
Saturday, April 6, 12:00 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
Alumni from Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School, Mariachi Nuevo Azteca de Tucson are some of the Old Pueblo’s best and brightest on the mariachi scene! They have notably played the Rialto Theatre with Mariachi Estrella Juvenil Inc. as part of their anniversary show, “Un Homenaje A Lose Grandes”, and regularly bring their ensemble to events throughout Southern Arizona. Now, they are once again gracing the Tucson Folk Festival’s Plaza Stage with their enlivening mariachi sound.
SONGWRITING COMPETITION CLOSER
THE CARNIVALEROS
Friday, April 5, 8:30 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
“Who are these guys? For starters, they are fronted by accordionist/vocalist Gary Mackender (well, he also plays drums, percussion, and additional keyboards), and featuring bassist Karl Hoffmann, drummer Les Merrihew, and guitarist/fretmaster Joe Fanning, plus a slew of Tucson kith and kin pitching in (backing vocalist Bjorgvin Benediktsson is also now listed as being an additional guitarist). Together, the stir up a giant melting pot of sonic chorizo gumbo that will leave you demanding encores. Or second helpings, take your pick.
SONGWRITING COMPETITION OPENER (2023 WINNERS)
FOX AND BONES
Friday, April 5, 6:00 PM
from the Tucson Folk Festival Plaza Stage!
Scott Gilmore and Sarah Vitort are Fox and Bones—energetic offbeat folksters with a retro pop-rock bent who have been setting the world alight with a handclapping, foot-stomping good time since 2016. The indomitable duo has brought their optimistic Americana polish to international stages shared with the likes of Rayland Baxter, The Dead South, ZZ Ward, The Talbott Brothers and Horse Feathers among others.