Spring is just around the corner in Charm City, and that means one thing: the Baltimore Old Time Music Festival is back for round two on March 13th and 14th. The celebration of Old Time and Roots music returns to Creative Alliance in downtown Baltimore City for a weekend of concerts, workshops, square dancing, and plenty of jamming. Last year was a wild success, the building brimming with music and excitement all weekend, and this year stands to be just as memorable.
Festival hosts Ken & Brad Kolodner have curated a diverse lineup featuring Old Time all-stars Foghorn Stringband, Grammy-nominated powerhouse singer/songwriter Amythyst Kiah, the wildly-entertaining early country quartet Bill and the Belles, acoustic roots duo Red Tail Ring, the hypnotizing father-son team Ken & Brad Kolodner, and the West-Virginia-based fiddle/banjo/feet trio T-Mart Rounders. All performers are teaching hands-on workshops and performing multiple times over the two days.
Of special note, Ken & Brad Kolodner will be releasing their latest record Stony Run (with their pals Rachel Eddy & Alex Lacquement) at the festival.
This year, the festival has partnered with Baltimore Honkytonk for a kickoff party at Waverly Brewing Company on Thursday, March 12. Foghorn Stringband will be performing on stage at the brewery, diving deep into their country repertoire. Be prepared for plenty of two-stepping! The festival officially begins Friday, March 13 at the Creative Alliance with an evening concert featuring sets from each performer.
Although the Friday evening concert has already sold out, plenty of tickets remain for the main event, which takes place Saturday, March 14 at the Creative Alliance. The doors open at 11am with activities beginning at noon. The venue is the ideal setting for this indoor festival. The main theater space can hold over 200 people for performances and the epic square dance to close out the festival Saturday night.
There is an intimate lounge space that will be used for a variety of performances, presentations and our “Old Time Cabaret,” which provides an opportunity for local and regional Old Time and Roots music bands to share a couple tunes. Banjo legend Cathy Fink will lead a “Women of Old Time” presentation, and banjo scholars Pete Ross and Kristina Gaddy will dive into the Banjo’s extensive historical roots in Maryland. Two workshop spaces are located upstairs and will run all day with workshops including multiple levels of fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, singing, and flatfooting. Some of the workshops have already filled up, but a handful of spaces are still available. There are ample spots for jamming, including various gallery spaces and other nooks throughout the building. It’ll be a jam-packed weekend that celebrates where Old Time music exists today and where it’s going, both of which can be seen right here in Baltimore.
Shake off those mid-winter blues and come experience what all the excitement is about!
