If you can’t commit to the whole weekend at Folk College (which includes lots of great workshops, jams, a contradance, folk bands, etc) you’re still welcome to come out and hear the evening concerts at Folk College: Joel Mabus, Grey Larsen & Cindy Kallet, Luminescent Orchestrii, Orpheus Supertones, AppalAsian and of course, our host band, Simple Gifts!

It’s at Juniata College in Huntingdon, an easy (and scenic) drive from State College… come join us!

Friday night’s concerts were great!  Simple Gifts, of course,  then AppalAsian,  with their suprisingly evocative blend of chinese erdhu,  mountain dulcimer and banjo.  Closing out the evening was Luminescent Orchestrii, a knock your socks off 4-piece with twin fiddles, standup bass and guitar.  Klezmer, Soul, Eastern European, Hip-Hop and more all gets thrown into the blend and comes out mesmerizing.  I hope we can find a way to bring them to the WPSU studios for an Acoustic Brew concert!

Tonight,  Joel Mabus, Grey Larsen & Cindy Kallet, and Orpheus Supertones.

PS The new performance space at Juanita College is dramatic and very nice acoustically—a very cool venue.

Loved Luminescent Orchestrii - great musicians and really great instructors at Folk College this year.  The new space in Halbritter is wonderful.  The theatre has great sound and a really nice, personal feel.

I know L.O. has been to Arts Fest a few times, but I’d love to see them at WPSU and not in the rain!

For me, the highlight of the weekend concerts was Joel Mabus. I unfortunately missed him last time at the Brew because I was playing the same night, and was thrilled to have him as part of Folk College this year. While I was mildly surprised that his set didn’t include Touch a Name on the Wall, given that it was Memorial Day weekend, I felt like Joel demonstrated the power that one exceptional entertainer can have over an audience, armed with just one instrument (well, at a time, anyway.) I thought the take on Tiger Rag that he closed with was especially nice.

I was also quite fond of the Orpheus Supertones’ performance; I had not heard them before and found them quite enjoyable (although they might need a bit more work to be REALLY effective on the single mic setup, imho.)

I also especially enjoyed the performance by one of the adjunct instructors, Diana Wagner, during the encore performance featuring the other instructors. It was a song more or less written about Folk College, and I found it quite moving.