Three Days of Peace & Music: 2009 National Folk Festival in Butte America

For the second of a three-year run, Butte, Montana hosted the National Folk Festival. With up to seven stages going simultaneously for three days, no one can take in everything. No matter: any act you hear will be an example of the very finest music to be heard in that genre: ONE MORE YEAR IN BUTTE -- DON'T MISS IT! (and it's all free)

Festivities opened at the Original Stage, a former mine yard with great views, perfect weather (the norm for July in Butte),:

a big and very appreciative crowd (though EcoRover generally doesn't like crowds, when there's a music festival 's'alright),:

and a horse parade by representatives from the seven Tribal Nations of Montana:

How nice for folks from all over America to discover that Butte is more than a burnt out old mining town:

For each of the three nights, we closed the evening at the dance stage. Here, with Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited, an amazing Chimurenga group from Zimbabwe:

Saturday noon began with the soothing Finnish folk tunes played by Wilho Saari on the kantele--a gazillion-stringed instrument sort of like a complex zither:

Later came the hit of the festival (it helped that we had Karina Patch with us to cheer on her compatriota), the superbly entertaining Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano:

Their performance included some "children's songs," like this one warning pretty young women about the dangers of lecherous old men:

With the much larger crowds this year (compared with last), you had to be early to each venue to get a good seat. The Mariachi band had folks packed in for two full city blocks from the stage:

Sierra Hull won the "upcoming artist to watch for" category hands down. This young Bluegrass musician picks a mandolin like a-ringin' a bell (check out this video, even though it's from a few years ago and she's even BETTER now):

So many acts, so little time. Any stage you came upon provided some new incredible musical experience, such as Melody of China (the guy here is playing aspen leaves!):

Then it was dance 'til dark (and, at our age, that's about when we drop!) to the tunes of the Colombian vallenato band, Los Macondos:

Followed by the rich Cajun beat of BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet:

Wow. Sunday morning we slept in 'til 7 a.m., took a walk to clear our heads of a late night (and a few pints thanks to Quarry Brewing), and then started the day easy with some cowboy poetry and tunes by DW Grothe:

And a yodeling lesson by the always-entertaining musician, horseman, and storyteller Wylie Gustafson (he's the man behind the infamous Yahoo! yodel):

A few rain showers moved through the valley to close out the festival, so things got "cozy" at the stages with tents. That's OK, Butte people like to be close, and 2 minutes next to us and you're our new best friend, whether it's watching the breakdancing of the Massive Monkees or the red hot champion fiddler, Texas Shorty:

Dance every day! Yep, you betcha, we closed 'er up moving our feet to Los Macondos and the big finale band, Bill Kirchen & The Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods (with George Bedard--listen to a video of these old rockers here) (battery was dead so I nabbed this pic from Kirchen's website):

Not a big music fan (is that possible?)? There much more: this year's sub-theme was the "culture of the horse," with everything from mule packing to trick roping.

Also, in additional to the "official" festival, there were many spin-off attractions at the local coffeehouses and bars. As god said upon creating each new thing in the world, "'s all good."

Mark your calendar and save the date: 09 - 11 July 2010. See you in Butte America!