Because of coronavirus, we haven't seen - or heard - the National Folk Festival since 2019.
But an event this weekend will be a welcome reminder to folk fans of what they've been missing.
Good Folk: A Folk Experience in Queanbeyan will have 22 concerts in four venues - the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, the Bicentennial Hall, the Royal Hotel and Campbell & George.
The managing director of the National Folk Festival, Helen Roben, said that after the 2020 and 2021 festivals was cancelled, preparation for the smaller-scale Good Folk began in January this year with the support of Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council.
After the cancellations, "It was very important to the National Folk Festival to have a presence," Roben said.
Despite the differences in scale and numbers, she said that "the quintessential folk experience remains."
The headliner will be eight-time Golden Guitar winner Fanny Lumsden, who performed at the National Folk Festival in 2017 and 2019.
Lumsden said she loved the folk music community and welcomed the opportunity to perform live in Queanbeyan.
"Everyone's pretty excited about getting together and appearing in the same room as people are sharing an experience."
Another musician in the event will be Timothy James Bowen, who has toured with Ms Lumsden.
Bowen, a cancer survivor, was featured on the TV show The Voice in 2020 and said his experience was "fantastic ... The producers were really respectful and let me tell the story I wanted to tell."
In Queanbeyan, he said, "I'll be performing at the Bicentennial Hall and a lot of the music I'll be playing is on my upcoming album. I'm in the middle of recording that with a producer from the [United] States."
Among the other performers who will be gracing the various venues will be Indigenous act Stiff Gins, Canberra's long-running ensemble Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, Central Coast alt-pop trio Little Quirks and Queanbeyan poet and rapper Omar Musa.
Roben said, "The format of a concert series is different to what our audiences are used to at the Folkie, but the spirit and mission are the same.
"The most exciting thing is this is a music experience for us all - in Queanbeyan!"
Good Folk: A Folk Experience in Queanbeyan is on at various times at four Queanbeyan venues on April 3 and 4, 2021. More information and bookings: folkfestival.org.au.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
