Observer Editor
48th Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival: The Ark
See 24 Friday. Tonight’s headliner is Toad the Wet Sprocket, a veteran alt-pop band led by Glen Phillips, a singer-songwriter known for his guitar-propelled anthems that blend a winning melodicism with an introspective, sometimes wry thoughtfulness. Allmusic.com describes his music as “a quiet storm that dutifully blends Cat Stevens’ confident huskiness and Jackson Browne’s weary but warm observer of all things broken.” Also appearing: Bruce Cockburn, a longtime major star in Canada, where he has won several awards and is rightly regarded as a peer of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. He broke into American mainstream radio with the 1979 single “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” and in 1989 with the ecologically minded “If a Tree Falls.” Cockburn is best known for his riveting, rhythmically varied folk-rock guitar stylings and for his articulate, imaginatively impressionistic songs that blend leftist politics, Christian mysticism, and a barbed erotic intensity. The Milk Carton Kids are the L.A. duo of singer-songwriters Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan known for their folksy acoustic Americana originals. The New York Times calls their music “a sweetly dazzling variation on close-harmony vocals, part Simon and Garfunkel and part Everly Brothers.” Joy Clark is a New Orleans–bred singer-songwriter & guitarist known for her soulful brand of Americana that incorporates blues guitar licks along with lyrics that often evoke the music of the Black church in which she was raised. “Clark has a voice that’s smoother than Tennessee whiskey, and the music here has a varied feel to it, ranging from folk, through blues, funk and soul, with a touch of gospel, harking back to her childhood,” writes American UK in a review of her long-anticipated 2024 debut album Tell It to the Wind. Willi Carlisle is a Missouri-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his evocative lyrics and clever turns of phrase, with songs that range from cowboy ballads to narco-corridos and trucker songs. His 2024 album Critterland is a somber and honest look at suffering in small town America, in particular the devastating effects of drug addiction. Emcee is Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor. 7 p.m.
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