The heart of the Texas folk scene is found at the annual Kerrville Folk Festival, as oldheads and Gen-Z converts sing around the campfire under the same Texas sky.
For over 50 years, the Kerrville Folk Festival has remained a utopia for singer-songwriters and folk lovers. This year, the festival’s impressive 18-day lineup began on May 22, and its final performance took place on June 8. Home to ample camping grounds and the prestigious New Folk Competition for songwriters, the festival continues to draw crowds and keep the folk spirit alive in Texas.
“Cowboy songs and old folk songs are a part of this culture here,” Weekend two headliner BettySoo said. “Czech, German history, … Texas has so much of that fitted into what we think of as just songwriter songs.”
During her time at UT, alumna BettySoo said she found community in Austin’s folk scene by listening to public radio.
“They would say, ‘A band that plays a similar thing is playing at The Cactus Cafe or Hole in the Wall this weekend,’ and I’d be like, ‘I kinda want to do that,’” BettySoo said. “It really opened my eyes to so much.”
BettySoo first attended the festival in 2008 when she won the New Folk Competition, where some of the most famous names in folk, such as Lyle Lovett and Lucinda Williams, got their start. This year’s competition saw over 1,100 applicants submit their best songs with the hopes of performing at the festival. Songwriter Stephanie Sammons was among the applicants.
“It’s an incredible experience and all the other songwriters that you’re competing with, that you’re getting to know, (and) that leads to all kinds of friendships and opportunities,” Sammons said.
A second-time finalist, Sammons said writing about what’s important to her proved effective.
“You can’t get up there and change who you are just because you think ‘Oh, the judges might like this more than what I would normally do,’” Sammons said. “It’s an exercise in being your authentic self.”
Celebrating its 52nd year, the competition’s historical importance remains. But as younger audiences flock to Kerrville, “Creekbed” Carter Hogan, a trans artist and performer at this year’s festival, said Kerrville reached an interesting crossroads.
Hogan said the festival continues to platform predominantly cis-white performers despite the increasingly diverse audience.
“They could very easily keep going the way they’ve been going,” Hogan said. “That will make Kerrville not interesting to younger people.”
Moving forward, Hogan said they are hopeful the festival will continue to evolve with its audience.
“Kerrville (Folk Festival) is for curious people who are interested in pushing themselves, who are interested in learning and asking questions and trying to live a life that is different from what the system demands of us,” Hogan said. “With an audience like that, you really can’t go wrong.”
