Salisbury, MD – Two sibling bands are among the latest performers to be announced for this year’s Maryland Folk Festival.
The Quebe Sisters will come to Downtown Salisbury from Dallas, Texas, before they take an undetermined hiatus at the end of 2023. The other sibling group, The Folk Villains, will head down the road from Tyaskin.
Also performing are Eileen Estes & The Good Folk and Jonathan Zapuche. Zapuche and The Folk Villains are featured as part of a Youth Performance Showcase.
The City of Salisbury will host the inaugural Maryland Folk Festival after five years as the host of the National Folk Festival, which was produced in collaboration with the National Council for the Traditional Arts.
Approximately 300 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the event, with more than 30 different musical groups performing on four outdoor stages throughout Downtown Salisbury. The Maryland Folk Festival strives to present the nation’s finest traditional artists.
The artists announced today include:
The Quebe Sisters
(Dallas, Texas) – progressive western swing
The Quebe Sisters (Dallas, Texas) progressive western swing
Grace, Sophia and Hulda Quebe front an innovative progressive western swing band of archtop guitar, upright bass, fiddles and sibling harmony. The Dallas-based five-piece presents a unique Americana blend of western swing, jazz-influenced swing, country, Texas-style fiddling and western music.
Eileen Estes & The Good Folk
(Maryland) – Irish
Eileen Estes & The Good Folk (Maryland) – Irish
Eileen Estes thrills audiences with her extraordinary voice, which effortlessly combines vocal power with subtle emotional expressiveness. She grew up immersed in the music of Ireland and Scotland and is a traditional singer, arranger, vocal coach, songwriter and song collector who collaborates with musicians from around the world.
Jonathan Zapuche
(Fruitland, Maryland) – classical violin / música llanera
Jonathan Zapuche (Fruitland, Maryland) – classical violin / música llanera
Jonathan Zapuche began violin lessons when he was 4 years old, and in the last nine years, he has won first place at the Little Mozart International Music Competition, second place at the London International Music Competition, second place at the Manhattan International Music Competition, third at the Bösendorfer Youth Music Festival, and third at the Golden Key Music Festival. Last year, at the age of 13, Jonathan performed at Carnegie Hall. Currently, he is the youngest violinist in the Peabody Youth Orchestra.
The Folk Villains
(Tyaskin, Maryland) – bluegrass / old-time/ folk
The Folk Villains (Tyaskin, Maryland) – bluegrass / old-time/ folk
The Folk Villains are three-time winners of Best Youth Band at the Berlin Fiddlers’ Convention and have, for five years, brought bluegrass, old-time and folk music of all kinds to live gigs throughout Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, including virtual statewide and national gigs.
The Maryland Folk Festival will feature individual artists on Facebook (facebook.com/MDFolkFestival), Twitter (twitter.com/mdfolkfestival), and Instagram (instagram.com/mdfolkfestival/) throughout the next month. More performers will be announced as they are confirmed.
To learn more about these artists and their stories, as well as the artists that have already been announced, please visit https://mdfolkfest.com/performers/.
About the Maryland Folk Festival
After five years as the host of the National Folk Festival, produced in collaboration with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the City of Salisbury’s Arts, Business, and Culture Department is proud to launch its own legacy festival. In 2023, the City of Salisbury, Maryland will take center stage with the Maryland Folk Festival from Sept. 22-24.
This large-scale, multi-day outdoor event celebrates the roots, richness and variety of American culture. It features hundreds of the nation’s finest musicians, dancers, craftspeople and other keepers of culture in performances, workshops, and demonstrations, plus children’s activities, non-stop participatory dancing, storytelling and more. https://mdfolkfest.com/
About the City of Salisbury, Maryland
Founded in 1732, Salisbury is the county seat of Wicomico County, a place where John Smith touched land in 1608 during his exploration of the Chesapeake Bay, bringing him in contact with the Wighcocomoco or Wicomico, the Nause, the Kusk’arawack, and the Nantaquack or Nanticoke tribes who had lived in the region for several millennia. Situated on Maryland’s historic Eastern Shore at the crossroads of the Delmarva Peninsula, Salisbury is now one of the region’s largest cities, and serves as the capital of the Eastern Shore, a rural area defined by its agricultural and maritime traditions, landscapes, and industries. The Chesapeake Bay is central to this distinctive identity. Though a relatively small city, Salisbury is the geographic and economic hub of one of the nation’s fastest-growing Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The City of Salisbury is working to build its reputation as an arts and culture destination and is aligning its downtown development and revitalization efforts with the arts. Salisbury believes hosting the Maryland Folk Festival is the perfect catalyst to further a cultural renaissance and urban renewal. https://salisbury.md/
ABCD Events
The Arts, Business & Culture Department is responsible for fostering Salisbury’s thriving economic climate through supporting business, expanding economic opportunity, promoting artistic expression, hosting unique experiences, and maintaining regional attractions such as the Salisbury Zoo and Poplar Hill Mansion. By producing signature events, facilitating business incentives, and collaborating with stakeholders, this department strives to make Salisbury a place where arts, business, and culture intersect and flourish. https://salisbury.md/departments/arts-business-culture
