Kerville Folk Festival - New Folk Contest

L-R: Martin Gilmore, Cindy Kalmenson, Sarah Beth Go, Madeline Roger, Abigayle Oakley, Katie Dahl

I was recently a contestant at the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk songwriting competition in Kerrville, TX. It’s the third such contest I have been in over the last year, and I’m ecstatic to be one of the winners! It’s crazy to me that I have now won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival contest, the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival contest, and Kerrville over the last twelve months. I am certainly honored, but moreover, I am grateful for all the friends I have made during those contests and I wanted to share a bit about the Kerrville experience, and tell you all a bit about the other contestants because they were all so great, and I think my fans would also like their music. 

I’m a big fan of Jimmie Rodgers (which I think is no surprise) and I knew about Kerrville because of him. He moved there as part of the treatment of his tuberculosis. The thought was that dry warm climates would help people recover. It didn’t work for Jimmie, he died in NYC at the age of 35. But his house “The Blue Yodeler’s Paradise” is still standing in Kerrville and I had always wanted to see it. It’s not a museum, but it’s still there. (I did go see it first thing when I pulled into town). 

Kerrville is surprisingly scenic (to me it was). The festival is southwest of Kerrville on the Quiet Valley Ranch. There are two stages, and a large campground featuring lots of music. It’s hot, like really hot, and then there are big thunderstorms. The night before I arrived a big thunderstorm whipped up the campground, blew away Easy-Up tents and a branch fell in the New Folk camp and crushed a tent. Fortunately, no one was in it at the time. I knew the heat was legendary, but that didn’t really make it any easier for me. I camped for one night and then ended up getting a hotel in town. 

The New Folk Camp is a wonderful place to be. There are so many great hosts there, and they looked after us so well. It was a place of friendship and camaraderie, even though we were competitors. From the very beginning folks were so welcoming and open that I knew it was a special place. By the second day I definitely felt like I was in a second home full of artists. 

There are over 1000 submissions to the New Folk competition. Those who apply submit recordings of two songs which go through a series of listeners who pare the submissions down to 24 folks who come to the festival to compete live on stage. Each of the 24 finalists play a two song set during the final rounds which take place over two days in the heat of the afternoon. There are so many different styles of songs represented, different approaches, different performance styles, etc. It’s a great place to get a cross-section of great folk songwriting. All of the writers were at the top of the craft, writing entertaining, inspirational, or moving songs (sometimes all three at once. 

I watched everyone’s set either from the crowd or from the backstage area, and they were all live-streamed for folks to see. You can watch them on the Kerrville Folk Festival YouTube page.

There were a few people I have met at other events including Racine Parker who competed at Telluride and Rocky Mountain Folk Festival with me. It’s impressive just to make the cut to compete in the finals at those contests and she was there all three times. Her new record is amazing and worth a listen. I have been enjoying it, and at this point she’s a very good friend as well. 

I met AJAYE at the SWRFA conference in 2024 and we went to have pho (my favorite food) with Jackson Emmer at a place nearby the hotel. She lives in Nashville and writes killer songs. Not only was she in the New Folk contest this year, but she also was part of the Songwriter’s Serenade in Texas, very impressive accomplishments. 

I also met Tai Shan at the SWRFA conference in 2024. She was showcasing there just like me and we chatted in the hallway after our sets. She also lives in Nashville and writes songs with lots of impressive folks. She’s a great story-teller and singer, and I enjoyed hearing her cool jazz chords back in the New Camp circles. 

Hudson Mueller was at SWRFA as well last year, but I didn’t get a chance to hear him there because I was talking business with some folks. I’m bummed, because he was so great at New Folk, and I really enjoyed talking to him in the camp. We had (almost) matching Open Road Stetsons. He’s living in Houston now and you should definitely go check out one of his shows if you get a chance. 

I saw Jeremy Facknitz at the Colorado Roots Music Summit in 2023, and though he lives in Colorado Springs, our paths haven’t crossed since then. He’s a real showman with a great stage presence and super entertaining songs. A real troubadour. He stays busy and if you see that he’s playing somewhere near you definitely go check him out!

I especially liked one of the songs that Reckless Saints played during their set and it has stuck in my head. Specifically the chorus line “Everybody’s looking down to see what’s up”. It was catchy and fun and had something to say about society. They are from Fort Meyers, Florida and it sounds like they stay pretty busy down there. Hey, beaches and good musicians, sounds like it would be worth a trip!

Abbie Gardner and I have a bunch of mutual friends because she plays dobro and has her feet planted in the bluegrass world. Her set was awesome because her songs were great, but also because she accompanied herself on the dobro. We had a lot of fun trading solos during the cover song circle that happens after the winners are announced. She plays in a band called Red Molly and they are great. I’m hoping that we will get to jam a bunch more in the future. Check out all her records, and if you go see a show tell her I said howdy!

Mike Vitale is from the LA area and we had a lot of fun talking about history and all sorts of stuff. Mike is amazing. He’s a super great guitar player, and writes awesome songs. He has a great one about Finneas Gage, and one about a coyote that I especially love. But, honestly, I like everything I heard from him and what a unique and cool guitarist he is. Make sure to keep track of him, he’s worth seeing. 

Morgan Lee Powers is originally from Waco, but she just moved to Nashville and is hustling to make things happen. She has roots around Kerrville and is really working hard. Keep an eye out for her name on albums coming out of Music City.

Malena Cadiz is from Los Angeles and writes great songs in a contemporary style. She’s a master Instagrammer and such a friendly person. I enjoyed her set a lot. 

Cindy Kalmenson is a veteran entertainer and has a great stage presence. She won the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Competition in 2023 and played a set there last year. She established the famed Nashville music series “Girls With Guitars” and has some really fantastic songs. She lives in Ojai, California and was one of the winners so we will be on tour together in Texas this November. Come see us!

I had a great time hanging out with Brian Johannesen from Iowa City. He works at a big theater there and had a lot of great insight into the music business. He writes some really great songs that just have that “timeless art” about them. He played a great one in his set about finding a whale in the forest. It’s fantastic and has been on my mind a lot. He is running a songwriting festival in Iowa City and you all should take a trip out there to attend! I can’t make it this year, but It’s on my radar for 2026! Brian’s the man, and I hope to hang out with him a lot more down the line!

Sophia DeLeo is from NYC and played a great set at the contest. I didn’t get to chat with her much at the contest, but I saw that she also plays banjo which makes me bummed because I can talk to people about banjos all day long. It sounds like she keeps busy out there, so check her out if you’re in the city, or buy her records if you’re not (or also if you are!)

Holly Lovell and I have a mutual friend in Courtney Hartman. Courtney produced Holly’s record, which sounds amazing. Holly is also from the Denver area, though we have never crossed paths as far as I know. Her whole family came to support her in the contest and I enjoyed hearing her dad’s story about finding a Guild guitar in a thrift store. Hoping to see her at more songwriting stuff around town if I can ever figure out how to fit it in. 

Christopher Worth is from the Portland, Oregon area. He’s a great singer and guitar player and had some really awesome upbeat songs that grooved and were super singable. I like that part of Oregon and enjoyed chatting with him about the scene up there. I wish we could have played more music together, but there’s just so much to do at that festival. I’m hoping to make it up to Portland sometime to catch one of his shows, or maybe share a bill sometime!

Helena Hallberg plays the mountain dulcimer and we found out that we have some mutual friends from that world (it’s a pretty small world admittedly). She’s from Sweden originally, then lived in Switzerland, and now lives in Nashville. What a great songwriter she is, and I really enjoyed hearing her set. Hoping to cross paths again sometime soon and hear some dulcimer music!

Jessica Willis Fisher is an inspiring person and a great musician and songwriter. She wrote a book about her childhood and upbringing and it’s worth hearing her story of resilience. She writes great songs as well and her performance reminded me of Dolly Parton. She said she primarily plays fiddle and competed when she was younger. Hopefully we can pick some tunes sometime. 

Sarah Beth Go and her husband Nathan K are some of the most creative songwriters (and people) I’ve ever been around. Sarah makes amazing stop-motion videos to accompany her songs which are moving and funny all at the same time. She was definitely one of the best dressed competitors. They are super great artists and so much fun to hang around. Sarah was also one of the winners so we will be on tour together in Texas in November.

Abigayle Oakley and I have a mutual friend in Jackson Emmer. She has co-written several songs with him and produced his latest record. I play guitar for Jackson from time to time and we have spent some time in the car listening to her records. Like Jackson says, she’s a songwriting Jedi, and some of her songs have become new favorites of mine. I especially like “Hazel Eyed Lover in Patagonia” and it loops in my head pretty much endlessly these days. She did a great job on Jackson’s new record and some of the songs on that album that I like the best were cowritten with her. She was also one of the winners and will be on tour with us in November. 

Madeline Roger is from Winnipeg, CA which sounds cold. She was nice enough to loan me her guitar for the winners concert. It’s a great guitar and she said it was built by her brother. She’s really out on the road playing with a string quartet, playing solo shows, and singing with the band The Fretless. What a great songwriter with so much joy when she plays music. If the 2025 New Folk artists had a class president, we probably would have elected her. You definitely shouldn’t miss seeing her if she’s playing near you, which seems likely since she seems to be all over the country. She was also one of the winners and will be at some of the shows on the November tour. 

Katie Dahl is from Wisconsin (Door County, one of the really pretty parts of Wisconsin.) Not only is she a fantastic songwriter, but she’s also a playwright and has a new musical coming out soon. I enjoyed talking to her about Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson, which is one of the most magical venues ever. You should definitely check out her music and her plays/musicals. She was one of the winners of New Folk as well. 

I did not envy the judges at all. What a hard job it must have been to pick the winners. There were so many great and inspirational songwriters at this contest that I was just happy to be amongst them. Please go check them out and buy their music. It’s hard making a living as a songwriter and one of the real benefits of being part of this contest is that it helps get folks in front of an audience that really loves and cares but songwriting. I can’t say enough good things about all of them, I truly enjoyed getting to know everyone and was bummed that I couldn’t stay the whole week to hang out with them more. I signed up for these contests primarily to meet folks, and I really have! It has been so great!

Kerrville Folk Festival is a special event, and I would recommend that anyone who is interested in songwriting attend sometime. If you want to meet a lot of great songwriters in a creative and supportive atmosphere, you can’t beat Kerrville. It’s all about the songs, and such an inspiring and inclusive place. Never mind the heat, it’s worth the trip!