Our full 2023 festival schedule can be found here!
Jackson Pines
2:15-3:30pm
Jackson Pines is a band of best friends from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. They write songs that relate stories they’ve heard and experiences they’ve had growing up and traveling around the country, weaving the lyrics with the rhythms of their stringed instruments. Combining minimalistic acoustic arrangements and taking cues from the ethos of folk, blues, and indie rock, Jackson Pines tells stories of hard times, overflowing love, disappointment, and hope. Their latest full-length album “Close To Home” was released July 2021, and features a full band accompanying Joe and James’ signature rhythms and melodies. Their new EP “Pine Barrens, Vol. 1” was released in 2023, and consists of Pine Barrens folk songs from where they grew up dating from 1750-2013.
Medukha
4:00-4:45pm
Medukha steeps age-old village melodies in contemporary psych-rock soundscapes. Having sprouted in 2020 with a live-streamed performance for Razom for Ukraine, Medukha has gone on to play festivals, basements, and living rooms across the North East. The arrangements, originally consisting of acoustic guitar accompaniments to existing folk songs, have expanded to include synth-and-guitar-led rock instrumentation. While continuing to experiment and evolve, Medukha also leads workshops in the traditions of Eastern European vocal polyphony.
Sean Tobin
1:00-1:45pm
Born and raised on the New Jersey shore, Sean Tobin was influenced by folk-singing troubadours and high-energy rockers alike. His vivacious performances and rock n’ roll-tinged releases are due mostly in part to his upbringing in the Jersey shore bar scene. Tobin honed his craft playing countless shows in dives, clubs and basements, as well as during his time busking on the streets of Galway, Ireland throughout 2015 and 2017. Listen to Sean here!
Yeimy Gamez Castillo
11:15-11:45am
Yeimy Gamez Castillo (b. Laz Paz, Honduras 1997) is a multidisciplinary storyteller raised and based in the unceded lands of the Lenni-Lenape: current day Newark, NJ. A community organizer, songwriter, poet, and music producer, her sonic and literary praxis are inspired by her queer and city-bound immigrant upbringing. An inquisition of the semantics and reimagining of language drives her art. Mixing and exploring her musical inspirations she uses multi-genre and experimental sounds to translate and transpire listeners into imagined worlds beyond identity and cultural lines. Visit her website here!
Laki Bali
12:00-12:45pm
From the heart of NYC, Laki Bali deliver an esoteric blend of exotically ancient yet invigoratingly modern music. A swirling romp of sound that is equal parts foot stomping and face puckering. Come with no expectations other than to have some wild fun and dance in ways you never have before.
Long Time Coming
10:00-10:30am
Long Time Coming CSNY are an exciting celebration of the music of Crosby, Stills who have been playing this music together for over 40 years, (along with various other lineups and projects that have taken them collectively and individually from venues from Atlantic City, Asbury Park and North Jersey to cross country tours). But it’s their shared passion for this music in particular that has always held a mutual friendship and bond between them.
In addition to honoring the original recordings, Long Time Coming CSNY bring the energy of a true live CSN&Y concert to the stage. They invite all fellow fans, young and young-at-heart alike to join in the celebration and let their “Freak Flag Fly”!
Rik Palieri
10:45-11:10am
Rik Palieri will be honored with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 2023 New Jersey Folk Festival. For the last 50 years as singer, musician, producer, and author, Rik has been using his art to promote peace and understanding in concerts throughout the world. Rik carries the torch of old traditions while inspiring a younger generation with his stories and songs of the human condition, which he learned from his mentors Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips and Jimmie Driftwood.
As a New Jersey musician in the 1970s and 1980s he became well known as an organizer of folk music events such as the “Festival of Blueberries” in Perth Amboy and several Raritan River festivals. Rik has recorded 14 albums and is featured on the 2009 Grammy-nominated album “Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute To Utah Phillips,” which celebrates the life and musical legacy of Rik’s longtime friend. Rik has written many articles and two books; his most recent being “Banjo Man – Adventures of an American Folk Singer.”
He is the producer of the award-winning television program “The Song Writer’s Notebook,” which is archived by The American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress, Washington DC. As a singer/songwriter, Rik is a vocalist and performs on the banjo, 12 string guitar, Polish bagpipes, the Ozark mouth bow, and the Native American flute.
During his five decades as a dedicated, traveling folk musician he performed at events in Canada, France, Spain, Germany Australia, Poland, Mexico and Argentina. He has appeared at such venues as the Kennedy Center, The Country Music Hall Of Fame, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Port Ferry Old Songs Folk Festival, Clearwater Festival events, the Hudson River Revival, the Vancouver festival, plus numerous TV and radio programs.
Born and raised in East Brunswick, NJ, he currently resides in Vermont. Additional information on Rik can be found on his website.
SHORE STAGE
Rugburn
3:30-4:00pm
RUGBURN is a high-energy blend of funk, rock, and jazz, characterized by adventurous improvisations and tight grooves. Described by Right Chord Music as “funk/jazz fusion at its modern, pulsating best”, RUGBURN seeks to get its audience feeling the burn with tasty licks and dynamic tones. Beginning in the New Brunswick, New Jersey basement scene, they have been playing together for the past six years from New York City all the way to New Orleans. RUGBURN has a full-length live album as well as a studio album in the works for the coming year.
Victor.digital
1:45-2:15pm
Formed by frontman Viktor Sveda in 2019, Viktor.digital has evolved its sound through nine albums and several sonic evolutions. The music of this New Jersey act is grounded by Sveda’s mid-western roots, and lifted by electronic sounds that propel listeners into the future. Viktor.digital is a folk band for the modern age.
Nine albums in four years is a feat for any artist, let alone an independent folk band from New Jersey. Perhaps the band’s work ethic is partly due to Sveda’s wrestling background– the intensity, the discipline, the passion. In 2013, Sveda was transplanted to Hudson County for a coaching position at Columbia University. Having wrestled in high school and college himself, the job was business as usual, allowing Sveda the time to pursue a new craft: music.
Sveda and band co-founder Mike Kuzan plotted big things upon meeting in 2016, and big things followed. Performances at White Eagle Hall, Arlene’s Grocery, Maxwell’s Tavern, and other shows nationwide granted Viktor.digital the stage time they desired. Tireless, Sveda, and the band continue to work. A new EP is set for release in April 2023.
Kyra Camille and the Chameleons
11:45-12:00pm
Born from the basements of New Brunswick, Kyra Camille and the Chameleons are the indie-rock answer to the question: what if Lizards played music? With influences like: Big Thief, Bob Dylan & Funkadelic, the result is some energetic indie music that’ll make you bob along while head banging.
Jilly Matje
12:45-1:00pm
Jilly! is a queer, Pennsylvania-raised singer/songwriter who’s grown up on the pop-rock sounds of the early 2000s. Her music features upbeat drums, punk guitar, and surf rock bass, and raw lyricism telling stories of relationships, love, and longing. Joined by Steven Franklin, Sophie McNeal, and Aaron Vader-Collins onstage, Jilly! will be performing songs off of her upcoming debut album— releasing in June.
Heathmonger
4:45-5:00pm
Heathmonger is a band formed in New Brunswick in 2022 who quickly gained a local presence through their rigorous live performance schedule and shows.