Okee dokee folks… Last weekend I went on a ten-hour, each way, road trip to play a show. The drive wasn’t so bad, but the music was horrible. As I have mentioned before, I rarely listen to the radio and generally prefer silence when operating a vehicle. If I do listen to anything, it’s 88.1 from Wheeler School! BTW, lately they have been playing a song or two from locals — most notably Mark Cutler and The Berger Boys. Unfortunately, that station’s reach doesn’t make it to Ohio. WELH faded out before I entered the Mass Pike. Ten hours is a long time for silence so I tried to keep the music going and just kept scanning the airwaves for a suitable driving soundtrack. If I found a good song it was interwoven with static. I can’t tell you how many times “White Wedding” by Billy Idol popped up over the weekend. That’s a song I never need to hear again! As I headed further west the radio choices became un-listenable — country, Christian, country, Christian… two of the worst genres of music on earth! Anyway, the moral of this story is that I really should have brought music with me. No scanning, no commercials, just music I like. I don’t use Spotify or have a playlist on a smart phone with apps (because I don’t have one) or anything like that. Once home, I did figure out that I can load Mp3s on my tablet and bluetooth into the radio to listen. Next time! Man, I miss the days of driving around with a matchbook wedged under the 8 track tape in the car’s deck. If you know, you know. Life used to be so much simpler and music was so much better. Read on…
Since this is the August edition of my column, it is time for the big three of RI’s end of summer Festivals! The Warren Folks Festival, The Rhode Island Folk Festival, and Rhythm and Roots Festival.
This year’s Warren Folks Festival, the TENTH annual, will take place on Saturday, August 15 from 1 – 7pm. Performers include: Dred Buffalo, Teevio and the Aces, John Phelps, Immuter, Nat Burn, Ugly Moon, IforGot, Charlie Marie, and poetry with Moshi. Located in the back lot of Cutler Mills (30 Cutler St.), this free, family-friendly festival celebrates the very best of Warren’s creative spirit with music, food & drink, arts & crafts, and more. Parking is limited and they recommend walking or biking to the event. Recycle-A-Bike will be on-site providing a complimentary bicycle valet service. Get weird and get to: thecollaborative02885.org/folks-fest-2026 for more.
The 12th annual Rhode Island Folk Festival happens on Sunday, August 30 from noon to 6pm at Crescent Park in East Providence. This year’s line-up includes husband and wife duo John Cowsill (The Beach Boys, The Smithereens, The Cowsills) & Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), Tracy Bonham (known for her hit “Mother, Mother”), along with many, many more acts. With three stages of music:The Bandshell Stage, The Songbird Stage, and The Gazebo Stage; a children’s area (with instrument give-aways, crafts, performances and more), an open song circle hosted by Pete Vendettuoli, a songwriter workshop with Mark Cutler, food trucks, craft vendors, and a beer garden. The festival provides Rhode Islanders (and folks from neighboring states as well) with a full afternoon of family-friendly fun. Other festival performers include Gilberto Rivera and Rumbanama; The Unlikely Strummers! — a 20 piece ukulele orchestra; John McNiff, aka Roger Williams, ahistorical speaker; Mark Cutler; Beth Barron; Allysen Callery; Lisa Couto; Ilana Katz Katz; Gary Higgins; Orion Clay Camero; Joe Doyle; Tyler Seton; Lights Out; Nathan O’Flynn-Pruitt; Anthony Loffredio; Kim Petrarca; Ron Carlson; James Erik Stark; Stephan Couture; Emily Hahn; Michael James; Russell Potter; Grace Givertz; Prairie Bird; Space Cowboy Newt; My Druthers; Princess June; and Dan Lilley, Amy Bedard & Scatman (the annual host band). For more, get the folk over to RhodeIslandFolkFestival.com
The annual Rhythm and Roots festival takes over Ninigret Park in Charlestown every Labor Day Weekend with lots of music, food, vendors, and fun! On Sept 4 it’s St Paul & The Broken Bones, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Donna The Buffalo, Los Texmaniacs, Futurebirds and more. Saturday, Sept 5, brings in Tower of Power, Margo Price, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Ward Hayden and the Outliers, The Quahogs, The Alpaca Gnomes, and others. Sunday wraps the weekend with a full day of music including Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Devil Makes Three, Yonder Mountain String Band, Roomful of Blues, Quinn Sullivan, the Suitcase Junket, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, and many more. You can catch Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Pine Leaf Boys, Old Fashioned Aces, and Ruben Moreno performing each day! This is one of RI’s best festivals and the “Summer-Wrapper-Upper.” There are multiple music stages, woods to walk in, the observatory at night, dancing, jamming, lots of varied food choices, and beer. Camping has been sold out for a while, so plan ahead next year! For more about all of this zy-de-go-go to: rhythmandroots.com
Newport singer-songwriter, Kai Nanfelt, has released the song, “Down” that will benefit Tune In Tune Up, a Rhode Island nonprofit dedicated to providing critical healthcare access to musicians and music industry professionals. Nanfelt says, “The song is about accepting that healing is rarely linear. There are still difficult days and setbacks, but there are also more good days than there used to be. More than anything, the song is about learning to give yourself grace.” The campaign will raise funds and awareness for the organization’s mental health, medical, dental, financial, and wellness initiatives, including Trouble No More, its behavioral health program. For more, turn on kainanfelt.com, distrokid.com/hyperfollow/kainanfelt/down, or tuneinandtuneup.org/donate.
In the Protest Song Dept I have more to share with you. Some of these are great! Highlights this time around are: DEVO’s Gerald V. Casale, Bruce Kluger, Bryan Andrews, and more Carsie Blanton. Visit motifri.com/protestsongs2026 for the newest. If you have a song, send a public link of the music, and a copy of the lyrics to: RISongwriters@yahoo.com
That’s it for now. You can listen to my podcast at motifri.com/rootsreportpodcast. You can find my concert photographs at motifri.com/fuzeksfotos. Thanks for reading and listening.