The daily stage-by-stage performance schedule for the 40th annual “peace, love and crawfish” celebration is now available. The first weekend’s scheduled artists (April 24-26) include, among many others, the Lost Bayou Ramblers; Joe Cocker; the Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective; a tribute to Mahalia Jackson by Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples and Pamela Landrum; James Taylor; Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger with Mike & Ruthy; and Etta James & the Roots Band. The second weekend’s performers (April 30-May 3) include Emmylou Harris; Solomon Burke; Bonnie Raitt; Patty Griffin; Neil Young and Buddy Guy.

The annual festival honoring Florida folk musician and songwriter Will McLean (1919-1990) takes place this weekend at Withlacoochee Campground, Dunnellon, Florida. McLean spent much of his life traveling around the state and writing songs based on Florida history. He was awarded the Florida Heritage Award in 1989 and inducted posthumously into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1996.

This year’s winners of the Best New Florida Song Contest, sponsored by the Will McLean Foundation, will be presented their awards and will perform their songs at the festival. The winners are Garrison Doles, first place for “This Florida;” Chris Kahl, second place for “Out on Cedar Key” and Carla Bak, third place for “Boil that Sugar Cane Down.”

Scheduled artists include The Mayhaws, Clyde Walker and Roadside Revue, to name just a few.

The man whose dogged persistence led to the formation of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center passed away on Sunday, March 22 at the age of 91. With a heritage of socialist activism and an education in political science, he began as a union activist (in addition to being a shipwright and carpenter) but returned to school later in life to study folklore and eventually to teach at the university level. He began his writings in this area with a 1965 article on hillbilly music, and one of his last projects was the co-editing of the historical union song collection The Big Red Songbook, completed in 2007. Green was awarded the Living Legend medal by the Library of Congress in 2007. In addition to the obituaries referenced above, The Daily Yonder has a personal article that helps to round out the picture of Archie Green’s legacy.

A two-CD set from Leonard Cohen’s July 17, 2008 London performance will be released Tuesday, as will a DVD of the same. Songs include “Suzanne,” “In My Secret Life,” “Sisters of Mercy,” “First We Take Manhattan,” “Hallelujah” and 21 others. Audio and video excerpts are available on CBC Radio 2.

Cohen will be performing in Austin April 1, Oakland April 14, Chicago May 6 and Boston May 30.

After her crowd-winning performance at the South by Southwest Music Conference last week, singer/songwriter Caroline Herring is headed to Savannah, Georgia for her April 2 concert during the Savannah Music Festival. Caroline’s “Southern Gothic” folk music writings capture the imagination, and her voice is wonderfully easy to listen to. The video on the Savannah site is a great introduction to this singer’s work.

The Swallow Hill Music Association is celebrating its 30th anniversary Saturday night, with RootsFest Denver, an event known in previous years as the Denver Folk & Roots Music Festival. Shawn Colvin, Leo Kottke, the Boulder Acoustic Society and Joe Pug are among the performers. Also playing is the longrunning bluegrass group Hot Rize, currently consisting of Tim O’Brien, Bryan Sutton, Nick Forster and Pete Wernick. A Taylor Leo Kottke 12-string guitar, signed by Leo Kottke and estimated to be worth $3400, will be raffled off at the festival. The location is the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available online or at the box office.

Hartsville, South Carolina hosts the Renofest Bluegrass Festival each year during the fourth weekend of March. The event is named for the bluegrass banjo player Don Reno. A major element of the festival is a set of contests: the state bluegrass band, guitar and banjo championships. First-place winners will take home a $1500 cash prize, a Sunburst D18 guitar built by Wayne Henderson or a Deering “Terry Baucom” 5-string banjo, respectively.

Performers for this year’s gathering include Church Street Blues (last year’s bluegrass band competition winner), Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, Ronnie Reno and the Reno Tradition, and Claire Lynch. More information on the festival and the artists is available in this article by Nick Hilbourn of the Morning News.

The Old Town Temecula Bluegrass Festival began today in Temecula, California, and ends Sunday, with free concerts all afternoon. Performers include, among others, This Just In, Claire Lynch and Windy Ridge.  A concert by Scott Gates and Nathan McEuen (son of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s John McEuen) is a recent addition to Sunday’s schedule.

The Glendale Folk and Heritage Festival started today and ends tomorrow at the Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale, Arizona. Folk, country and bluegrass music is being presented by over 150 performers. Admission is free. Music workshops and demonstrations of early settler life are also part of the event.

Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida is the site of this annual music festival, displaying a wide variety of roots music. Folk icon Richie Havens is among the performers appearing at Springfest. Others include the Emmitt Nershi Band, Swamp Cabbage (with a sound reminiscent of ZZ Top), Darrell Scott and the acoustic folk duo Mike Merenda and Ruth Unger.

Annie Wenz, a regular at the festival, recently released an instrumental CD entitled Winds of the World, combining Native American flute, guitar, and drum music inspired by her travels.

After a long closure, the Village Pump Folk Club in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England will reopen next month. A selection of the club’s best regular performers will play the grand opening. The club will then begin a regular schedule of Friday night shows featuring artists such as the award-winning acoustic folk band Show of Hands.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Swedish bluegrass group Abalone Dots will be playing at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas this weekend. Live music from their performance at the Belmont tonight is available through UStreamTV. Please note that, as is often the case with music events, scheduling may change without notice.

Tickets go on sale March 30 for Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration, a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden for the nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie and Steve Earle are just a few of the many participating musicians. We’ll write more on this closer to the event.

One of my favorite CDs purchased in the last year is Epiphany Project’s Hin Dagh, a collection of original songs and adapted prayers in various languages including Armenian, Swahili, Aramaic and ancient Welsh. Epiphany Project is the duo John Hodian and Bet Williams. Bet’s full voice and four-octave range and John’s piano compositions make a stunning combination. Add to that a healthy mix of world folk instruments and the album is a feast for the ears. Hin Dagh is their third CD, and the first one to have this range of languages; Bet and John have also recorded separately.

If you live in the Boston area and you haven’t seen Epiphany Project in concert, you will have your chance Saturday night. The time is 8:00 pm and the place is the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham. Most of their material will be in English, from their previous recordings, but some of the material from Hin Dagh will also be presented. Anyone who attends is in for a musical treat.

The group’s next U.S. appearance, before they go on to tour Europe, is at the Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 8:30 pm Friday March 27.

The sixth annual Oxford Folk Festival will be held March 20-22 in Oxford, England. Musicians scheduled to perform represent a wide variety of folk music. I’ll mention just a few of them. Telling the Bees, composed of Andy Letcher, Colin Fletcher, Jane Griffiths and Josie Weber, plays music inspired by everything from modern protest to ancient stories. Jon Boden on fiddle, singing lead, and John Spiers on melodeon, with vocal harmony, form the duet Spiers & Borden.

Two-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner Lau provides “modern traditional” music, with Kris Drever on vocals and guitar, Martin Green on piano accordion and Aidan O’Rourke on fiddle. Kris, a Radio 2 winner in his own right, will also be performing solo.

Kismet is a female trio whose members are all singers, songwriters, composers and arrangers. Melissa Holding plays the accordion and two Japanese instruments–one a three-stringed instrument, similar to a banjo, called a shamisen, and the other a 13-stringed harp called a koto. Melissa formed the group East Whistle and toured with it for several years. Katherine Lucas plays clarinet, whistles and percussion instruments and has sung with Amariah and Frabjous Day. Jackie Singer plays the violin and the mandola and is also a storyteller. She founded the medieval folk group Jabberwocky.

I could go on and on with this list, but just want to mention a couple more: sweet-voiced singer/songwriter Kate Rusby and blues balladeer Maeve Bayton. Whatever your folk music tastes, there is bound to be plenty of good music at this year’s festival.