The Philadelphia Folk Festival has announced the lineup today for its 2022 event — August 18th through the 21st at Upper Salford’s Old Pool Farm — and it mixes traditional players, heritage singer-songwriters, and artists that push the festival’s typical genre boundaries.
In two of the headlining slots are the socially-conscious 90s collective Arrested Development, and the eclectic and funky ensemble Michael Franti & Spearhead — the first time Philly Folk has featured artists with hip-hop roots so prominently on their bill. WXPN favorite Hiss Golden Messenger, the indie-Americana project of North Carolina singer-songwriter M.C. Taylor, is high up in the lineup, along with the husband-and-wife gospel-roots duo The War and Treaty, veterans of the XPoNential Music Festival.
Singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz teams up with bluegrass vets Punch Brothers and Watchhouse for another of Folk Fest’s marquee performances; further down the bill we see singer-songwriter scene favorites Tom Rush, Bettye Lavette, Aoife O’Donovan (formerly of Crooked Still) and Dom Flemons (who first played Philly Folk with his band Carolina Chocolate Drops). Jammy players Talisk, Dustbowl Revival, and Twisted Pine are also in the mix, making for a lot of high-energy acts for Folk Fest’s first in-person event since 2019.
Though the Philadelphia Folk Festival lineup is typically inclusive of the local music community, as of right now those slots on the bill are still TBA; instead, the Folksong Society is having members of its Philly Music Co-Op compete to be on the lineup in a March Madness-esque online voting event called the Martin Stage Melee.
Tickets for the 60th Philadelphia Folk Festival are on sale now via the festival website; check out the full lineup in the poster below.
