American folk musician Peggy Seeger and New Zealand Celtic group Cairde team up Saturday night in a benefit performance for the Nelson Women’s Centre in Nelson, New Zealand. The Centre was partially burned by arsonists a few years ago. Seeger being very active in gender issues, this is a project dear to her heart. Irish singer Irene Pyper-Scott and New Zealand instrumentalist Nathan Torvik will join Seeger on stage….

The 2010 International Folk Alliance Conference is being held in Memphis Wednesday through Sunday. Public events include a Roots Music Spectacular on Friday and Songwriters in the Round on Saturday, both free at the Center for Southern Folklore, and paid performances at the Bartlett Center of a Sacred Steel Gospel Review on Friday and Songwriters in the Round on Saturday. More details are available on the conference web site.

The White House hosted two special events Tuesday in honor of Black History Month: a high school workshop in the afternoon and a concert Tuesday evening. Both featured performances by noted folklorist and musician Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon. Concert artists included, among others, Yolanda Adams, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Smokey Robinson, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. An article in The Root has a thoughtful analysis of Dylan’s role in the civil rights movement.

PBS will broadcast the concert at 8:00 p.m. EST Wednesday, February 11. Beginning Thursday, February 12, the performance will be available online.

I’m always looking for new music and for time to write about it, and sometimes I have to be reminded to look in my own backyard. I became aware of a recent performance by a fairly new local group called Seryn, and once I listened to some of the concert online I wanted to share it with you.

Folk-pop singer Bethany Yarrow and cellist Rufus Cappadocia, aka Bethany & Rufus, will join Peter Yarrow in concert October 17 at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Performances include an evening show and an afternoon children’s concert. New Bethany & Rufus group members Yacouba Moumouni and Bonga Jean-Baptiste bring a world-music influence.

When Nancy Griffith makes her tour stops in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts October 22-24, the opening performer will be Amy Speace. “Of the many artists that I look up to Nanci Griffith surely is high up on my list of influences,” says Speace in a recent press release, “and it will be a huge honor to share the stage with her on these shows. Nanci paved the way for the rest of us trying to bridge the gap between folk and roots and country music.” Griffith is touring to promote her new CD, The Loving Kind.

Grammy Award-winning folk, roots, and country music singer Kathy Mattea will be the special guest at the fourth annual WFMT Midnight Special Folk Festival on Sunday, September 20, 2009, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., in Skokie, Ill. 98.7WFMT has announced a lineup of seven artists of national and international stature for its four-hour extravaganza to be presented on a single stage at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard.

I don’t know whether she will eventually choose to settle (or be channeled) into a particular style, but right now Thailand-born Burmese singer/songwriter Mary Win is exploring a wide range of sounds from folk to rock to pop. Her lyrics are often dark but her songs are definitely worth a listen. “Snowdrifts” is an example of a song that is more in the folk music pattern. “Suddenly”  is a song she presented last year in honor of human rights efforts in her parents’ native country of Burma.

Mary makes her home in the Seattle area. Her upcoming shows include a performance on Sunday, July 19th at the Strawberry Festival on Vashon Island.

The Boulder Weekly has a recent interview with Joan Baez, discussing her career, her involvement in political protest, the changes in our social environment and the evolution of her musical style. She is appearing at the Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder on Wednesday July 15th.

We posted in February about Steve Martin’s release of an album of banjo music. Billboard magazine reported Wednesday that Martin has been invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee on May 30. Album producer Jon McEuen (of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fame) will also take the stage, as will several other country musicians.

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.