7/6/14: This week on Front Row Center: Michael Marsolek talks with George Everett, Executive Director of Mainstreet Uptown Butte, the presenting organization of the 2014 Montana Folk Festival, which takes place in Uptown Butte, Friday, July 11th - Sunday, July 13th. As always, admission is free to all events during the three days of the festival.
The 2014 festival kicks off Friday evening at 6:30 with a New Orleans second-line brass band parade, led by the Stooges Brass Band. After that, you can hear mariachi, Appalachian blues, zydeco, Chicago blues, R & B, and music from Newfoundland - and that's just Friday evening's schedule. Beginning on Saturday morning, seven venues present dancing, crafts, art and music from around Montana and the world, transforming uptown Butte into a multi-cultural hub with 150,000 participants.
Bluegrass, klezmer, Western swing, Peruvian dance, Kurdish, Laotian, Quebecois, Dominican, Jamaican reggae, West African Highlife, Appalachian old-time, gospel, and Blackfeet and Assiniboine music fill the musical stages. In the Montana Folklife area, 2014 is the year of "The Culture of the Car," including plenty of Montana vintage cars and a display of art cars: "From Harrod Blank's Art Cars: The Cars, the Artists, the Obsession, the Craft."
