The Key’s Week Of Folk: Listen to our playlist of virtually every artist on #PFF2013 (and a few who aren’t)

The Key’s Week of Folk is our series of interviews, reviews, artist spotlights, playlistings and general ephemera to get you ready for the 52nd Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival, happening August 16th to August 18th at Old Pool Farm in Schwenksville. In this installment, we give you a crash course in the festival lineup.

If you’re a first-time Philadelphia Folk Festival-goer – or if this is your first festival in general – you might feel a little overwhelmed. So many artists, so much music that’s new to you, so little time to sort out what’s what and who you’ll see. Which is where Week of Folk comes in: we’ll be exploring the festival landscape from different angles all week long, bringing you artist picks from some of our trusted sources and digging into under-explored corners of the festival, and folk-music in general.

But sometimes it’s best to begin by laying it all out in front of you. Below, you’ll find our Philadelphia Folk Festival 2013 playlist, featuring a track apiece from the majority of the festival lineup, arranged in the order they’ll appear. You’ll see some names that might be new to you, like Luella & The Sun, Brooklyn combo Spirit Family Reunion and fiddler Frank Fairfield. You’ll notice old favorites, like Richard Thompson, Jeffrey Gaines and Todd Rundgren. You’ll visit with some neighbors, such as The Lawsuits, Toy Soldiers and Ginger Coyle. You’ll get to the track from The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band and maybe remember how they smashed a flaming washboard at last year’s festival. Most of all, you’ll be able to head into this weekend well-listened and sonically prepared.