Folk music is the map of singing – ethnomusicologist, Alan Lomax (1915-2002)
In 1974, Bob Dylan announces his first tour since 1966. Both KISS and Rush would release their debut albums. Ramones play their first concert at Performance Studio in New York, and later at CBGB. Queen plays their first North American show. Patti Smith records her debut single, ‘Hey Joe’. Lynyrd Skynyrd would release the song that follows them to this day in ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. Meanwhile, closer to home, Ian Huxley and friends (including Peter Cuffley) chewed the fat about the need for a folk festival in Central Victoria.
Enter the Maldon Folk Festival. First held in 1974, a makeshift stage was created using hay bales on the back of a truck at the Bill Woodfull Oval. Around 180 people attended. Ian Huxley and his ‘scratch band’ would perform, as would Stan Gottschalk who had recently arrived from the US.
Maldon Folk Festival
- When: Friday 1 – Sunday 4 November 2024
- Where: Venues across the Maldon township
- Tickets: Early Bird (1 July – 31 August) Adult Weekend, $150, Family Weekend, $300, Youth Weekend, $74. Full ticketing information and purchasing can be found here.
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As the years rolled on, the festival found new homes and a larger life. It received the Australia Day Event of the Year Award from the Maldon Shire Council for its 1994 outing. The 2012 festival would receive the same honour. Today, it is a must-attend festival for those with folk music in their veins. At 49 years old it may be one of the country’s oldest folk festivals, but it still has a healthy spring in its step.
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Your 2024 line-up features Albi & the Wolves (NZ), Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham, Alan Reid (Scotland), Michael Waugh, Alana Wilkinson, Jenny Mitchell (NZ), Enda Kenny, Leroy Johnson & the Waterbag Band, Robyn Martin, The Nightingales, Sonia Smith & Glenn Skuthorpe Band, Nick Charles, Suzette Herft, Rhiz & the Sugarplums, Sadie Mustoe, Out of Hand, Kevin McCarthy, Katankin, Saije, Bread and Drink and Painted Rooms, Mast Gully Fellers, Réiltín Collective, The Duck Downpickers, Kaylah Thomas, Fiona Ross, Freya & Tom McGowan, Kyneton Street Band, Bush Sessions, A Bit of English, Emu Creek Bush Band, Harpers Bizarre and Rudy the Music Man.
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Other performers include poet and writer Steven Whiteside who will launch his new book, Snow, Fire and Gold. You also have comedian and storyteller Eric Purdie, bush poet and muso Geoffrey Walker Graham, bush poet ‘The Rhymer from Ryde’ Graeme Johnson, poet Lorraine McCrimmon, bush poet Campbell the Swaggie (Campbell Irvine), balloonist Michael the Balloonologist, the O’Shea Academy of Irish Dancing, dance group extraordinaire The Britannia Morris, family-friendly circus space The Connected Circus and community choir The Woodend Warblers. Margaret Crichton will lead the festival choir, while Jeanette Gillespie and Duncan Brown lead a concert.
Camping and caravan spots are available at the Maldon Football Oval, the Maldon Caravan Park and Mt Tarrangower Reserve. You can also find a number of historic B&Bs, motels, hotels, caravan parks and self-contained cottages in the area.
The Maldon Folk Festival will take place in Maldon from November 1-4. Further information can be found at https://www.maldonfolkfestival.com/
