This year’s Clearwater Festival features a global line-up that has cross-generational appeal. From Folk to Bluegrass, American Indian to African, Cajun to Swing and Indie-Rock to Blues. The line-up transcends musical boundaries and geographic borders.
Clearwater Festival will celebrate a number of milestones with sets by Arlo Guthrie & The Guthrie Family (Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday), The Preservation Hall Jazz Band (50th anniversary) and Walkabout Clearwater Chorus (25th anniversary).
Highlights for Saturday, June 16 include: Béla Fleck, Dawes, Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thiele, Arlo Guthrie & The Guthrie Family, Tinariwen, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, Joan Osborne & The Holmes Brothers, Donna The Buffalo, Tom Paxton, Aoife O’Donovan, Tim O’Brien, Tom Chapin, Joanne Shenandoah, Sara Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Raul Midón, Guy Davis Band, David Amram, Tao Seeger Brass Band, Melissa Ferrick, Joel Rafael, The Chapin Sisters, Forro In The Dark, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Jesse Lege & The Bayou Brewe and many more.
Highlights for Sunday, June 17 include: Ani DiFranco, Martin Sexton, Dawes, Balkan Beat Box, Deer Tick, Loudon Wainwright III, Alejandro Escovdeo, The Klezmatics, Peter Yarrow, Tim O’Brien, Toshi Reagon & Big Lovely, Jill Sobule, Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, Ollabelle, Holly Near, Joe Purdy & The Giving Tree Band, Dala, Bhi Bhiman, David Wax Museum, Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, Vanaver Caravan, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, David Amram, VaJose Conde, Alsarah & The Nubatones, Brave Combo and many more.
The Clearwater Festival is a festival family-oriented weekend event taking place every year at Croton Point Park in Westchester County. The Festival offers attendees an opportunity to gather to enjoy music, celebrate the Hudson River, and take part in the organization’s commitment to protecting our environment and community, and mission to inspire, educate and activate the next generation of environmental leaders.
The Festival’s family-oriented programming includes the Family Stage, juggling and roving artists, face painting plus lots of other activities and vendors. Kids 12 years old and under get in free.
Performances that make the Clearwater Festival unique include Story Grove, where festival goers can sit under the cool shade trees and listen to America’s best-loved storytellers. The Arm-of-the-Sea Theater, a contemporary mask and puppet theater company, performing large-scale production by the river’s edge.
New to the festival this year is The Traveling Musical Petting Zoo – from accordion to zither, The Zoo’ is a fully interactive, hands-on exhibition for musicians, young and old, novice to professional.
The Festival offers much more than just great musical artists; at the Working Waterfront, attendees can go out on small boats and tall ships, including the sloop Clearwater and the Mystic Whaler.
The Discovery and Tideline Tents feature Clearwater’s original hands-on environmental education programs and Hudson River research.
The Environmental Action Tent will highlight Clearwater’s watershed and environmental justice initiatives in cities up and down the Hudson.
The juried Crafts Area showcases over 50 crafters and folk artists with quality hand-made items, demonstrations and workshops. The Green Living Expo Tent is the place to learn about products, services, concepts and technologies that can inform your lifestyle and business choices.
The Artisanal Food & Farm Market features twice as many vendors as last year and showcases local farmers and small-scale food processors based in the Hudson Valley and the surrounding regions. There will also be demonstrations and farm songs throughout both days.
Last year, and for the first time, the festival expanded the Zero Waste program to include the entire festival grounds. This year, the festival continues to fine tune this effort including finding a closer facility to manage compost generated during the festival.
The festival is wheelchair accessible and most stage programming is staffed with American Sign Language Interpreters.
All proceeds from the Clearwater Festival directly support Clearwater’s environmental education, advocacy and research to help preserve and protect the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as the communities of the Hudson River Valley.
About Clearwater Festival, Great Hudson River Revival
Inspired by Pete Seeger’s desire to clean up the river over forty years ago, the Great Hudson River Revival initially helped raise the funds to build the sloop Clearwater, which has since become a world-renowned floating classroom and a symbol of effective grassroots action. Today, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is a non-profit organization that sails at the forefront of the nation’s environmental challenges. The revenue raised by the Revival goes to support Clearwater’s numerous educational programs and its work toward environmental and social justice—as well as keeping the Clearwater afloat.
Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival is produced by the nonprofit, member-supported, environmental organization Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. All proceeds go directly to support Clearwater’s environmental research, education and advocacy efforts to help preserve and protect the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as communities in the river valley.
About Clearwater
Clearwater’s mission is to preserve and protect the Hudson River, its tributaries and related bodies of water. Clearwater conducts innovative environmental programs, advocacy and celebrations in order to inspire and energize the next generation of environmental leaders. Clearwater’s concerts, sloop education programs and environmental advocacy programs have inspired, educated and activated millions of people for over 40 years.
Founded in 1969 by music legend and environmental activist Pete Seeger, the organization began with the launch of sloop Clearwater—a majestic replica of the sloops that sailed the Hudson in the 18th and 19th centuries. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 106-foot-long tall ship is among the first vessels in the U.S. to conduct science-based environmental education aboard a sailing ship, creating the template by which environmental education programs are conducted around the world today. Since the launch of Clearwater, America’s Environmental Flagship, more than half a million young people and hundreds of thousands of adults have experienced their first real look at an estuary’s ecosystem aboard the sloop.
Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at www.ClearwaterFestival.org, or by calling (845) 236-5596. Tickets range from $60 (single day) to $200 (weekend pass with camping). Clearwater Members receive a 20% discount. Kids 12 & under get in for free.
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
