Logo: Susquehanna Folk Music Society
Presenting fine traditional arts in Central Pennsylvania since 1985

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sun, November 10 - Open Mic Night

Open Mic Night New Cumberland
Spend the evening at the lovely West Shore Theatre in New Cumberland, enjoying some fine local music and maybe taking center stage yourself. Your host for the evening is Eryn Spangler. Be there at 5:15 to sign up to play! Sunday, November 10 at West Shore Theatre. MORE

Wed, November 13 - Palmyra

Palmyra Palmyra Lancaster
This breakout folk trio explores the fusion of traditional folk string instruments, lush harmony, and earnest songwriting. They’re an unmistakable force in the Americana music landscape. With special guest Vince Yarnell Concert on Wednesday, November 13 at Zoetropolis. MORE

Fri, November 15 - Martha Redbone at Kulkarni - discounted tickets!

Martha Redbone at Kulkarni - discounted tickets! Martha Redbone at Kulkarni - discounted tickets! Harrisburg
Kulkarni Cultural Series presents Martha Redbone Roots Project: a “tasty gumbo of roots music” from Appalachia’s coal country and her mother’s multi-racial Indigenous heritage, from pre‑gentrified Brooklyn and the Black Migration. In sound and story, folk, blues and gospel, Martha Redbone and her ensemble share her life experience as an Afro‑Indigenous woman and mother. For a LIMITED TIME we’re offering discounted tickets! Noon on November 12 is the deadline to reserve your $10 ticket (regularly $15). Concert on Friday, November 15 at Penn State Harrisburg’s Kulkarni Theatre. MORE

Fri, December 13 - April Verch & Joe Newberry

April Verch & Joe Newberry Harrisburg
These two grew up around people who made their own fun with music and dance, and it shows. With original songs and timeless classics, heartwarming stories and lively tunes & dance, their shows radiate joy and good fellowship. Concert on Friday, December 13 at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg. MORE

Sat, January 25 - Winter Coffee House

Winter Coffee House Harrisburg
Susquehanna Folk Coffeehouses are intimate evenings showcasing Central Pennsylvania's fine amateur acoustic musicians, who play a wide variety of material for an attentive, music-loving audience. Interested in performing? Apply now! FREE Coffeehouse concert on Saturday, January 25 at Fort Hunter Barn. MORE

Fri, February 7 - San Miguel Fraser

San Miguel Fraser Harrisburg
Castilian, Celtic and original music featuring violins, vocals, cittern and pandareta: “exquisite, exhilarating, effervescent... expressing the joy, warmth, and beauty of our shared humanity.”—Culburnie Records   Concert on Friday, February 7 at Fort Hunter Barn. MORE
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graphic of the words, A Brighter Future in Full Color

Black Voices in January

Music is a force for creating positive social change, for healing divisions and creating new understanding. Come see it in action in two mid‑October Susquehanna Folk shows!

Tray Wellington Band
Wednesday, October 16
in Lancaster
Tray Wellington

Tray Wellington is an IMBA award winning musician of color who's turning banjo stereotypes inside out. He clearly never feels hemmed in by his instrument, his background, or the vocabularies available to him from each. Tray is a strikingly original presence in the roots music space.

Deeper Than The Skin
Saturday, October 19
in Harrisburg
Reggie Harris & Greg Greenway

Reggie Harris and Greg Greenway invite you into a place of common ground, affirming the notion that more perfect union begins... with us! Through song and story, shared emotion and mutual respect, these two friends show us that our shared humanity is so much deeper than the skin.

Get tickets for Tray Wellington
Get tickets for Deeper than the Skin

Visiting the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

In this Folk Artist spotlight, folklorist Amy Skillman shares her visit to the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in June. The theme for this year was “Indigenous Voices of the Americas,” celebrating the historic and contemporary folkways of native cultures across the Western hemisphere.

Read the full article

Amy especially enjoyed the Skateboarding and Skate Art area of the festival. Skateboarding is very popular among Indigenous youth, both as a sport and as a form of cultural expression: a new folk tradition in the making.

She was particularly impressed by ImillaSkate: a group of young women from Bolivia, lifelong skaters who felt excluded from the male-dominated sport. ImillaSkate distinguishes itself by adopting the traditional dress of their ancestors, including long braids and the colorful, bulky (but now shorter!) skirts associated with the women of the Andes. These young women have reclaimed the dress as a symbol of cultural pride and empowerment.

A montage of images from the festival. Top half: a handmade lacrosse stick, two young Bolivian women performing a hip-hop piece, artist Kandi McClinton, attendees watching a weaving demonstration, two baskets, and colorful knitted figures from Peru. Bottom half: a closeup of hands carving a wooden mask; an Ojibway woman holding a dress with heavy gold embroidery and rows of conical red bells; a group of Hawai’ian women dancing; a closeup of hands working a loom; a woman seated at a loom; and a dancer’s stylized eagle mask from the Pacific Northwest.
See more Folk Artist Spotlights
The board and staff of the Susquehanna Folk Music Society are committed to celebrating and affirming diverse cultures through programming which explores the music, dance, craft and stories of many people. We stand in complete solidarity with the Black community and all marginalized communities to speak out against injustice, bigotry and racial violence.
Sheila Arnold, an older Black woman with very short hair, holds her fingers up in L shapes, like a frame that she is looking through. She smiles as she speaks to her audience.
Caña Dulce y Caña Brava: several women wearing colorful dresses and holding traditional Mexican instruments, including a large harp, along with one man holding a small guitar-shaped instrument.
A Black man stands in the corner of a brick-walled room, playing a banjo and gazing down toward his hands.
A woman’s hands buckle a band of small brass jingle-bells onto a dancer’s ankle. The dancer’s foot is rimmed in red paint, and she wears colorful silk leggings.
King Jester is a young Black man, leaning against a wall as he plays a metallic resonator guitar. He wears a gray T-shirt and is looking down at the guitar.
Black Opry member King Jester is following in the footsteps of many jazz and blues greats, transitioning from a studio/touring sideman to a band leader. His multi-instrumental musical journey includes the Berklee College of Music (entering as a drummer, leaving as a bass player) and stints with Sting, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Katz, and many more. Jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln referred to King Jester as “the future of music.” [2023-2024 Concert Series]