26th Annual
NEW FOLK CONCERTS
May 24 & 25 June 1, 1997

For the 26th year the KERRVILLE MUSIC FOUNDATION hosts the NEW FOLK CONCERTS, where during the Kerrville Folk Festival on Saturday and Sunday, May 24 & 25, thirty-two writer-performers will be invited to share their original songs. Then, a week later, on Sunday, June 1, six AWARD WINNERS will return to perform 20 minutes of their original songs and receive their $150 Awards from the ASCAP Fund and the Townsend Miller Memorial Fund. All of these concerts will be staged at the Outdoor Theater at Quiet Valley Ranch on Highway 16 South of Kerrville.

Established at the suggestion of Peter Yarrow in 1972, these annual concerts are one of the high points of the year for songwriters from all across the country. 1997 judges selecting the six Award Winners are David Amram(New York), 1991 New Folk Winner, Alisa Fineman(Monterrey Bay Area), and 1996 New Folk Award Winner John McVey(Nashville).

Here are the guidelines:

  1. All writer-performers are invited to send the Foundation one rewound cassette (without box) of two original songs on the same track of the cassette.

  2. These previously unrecorded songs may be performed by the writer alone or by a group which must include the writer or writers.

  3. Do not send any lead sheets, publicity, bios, etc...

  4. The songs submitted must be the songs performed on the concerts if you are selected.

  5. The writer(s) retain all rights to the songs.

  6. No writer who appears on the main stage with billed performer prior to May 26, may appear at New Folk.

  7. Anyone may enter except those billed as performers in 1997 or those who have been selected for New Folk for the past two consecutive years.

  8. All tapes are mailed back to the writers prior to May 1st with the list of winners.

  9. The Foundation selects 32 tapes and will invite those writers to be guests of the festival during the five-day period May 22-26.

  10. 16 finalists will perform each day, Saturday and Sunday, May 24 & 25 to provide the judges with an opportunity to select six Award Winners who perform at the Award Concert, Sunday, June 1.

  11. Do not enter if you cannot fulfill all three concert opportunities.

  12. All tapes must be accompanied by a $10 entry fee payable to the Kerrville Music Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1466, Kerrville, TX. 78029 or shipped to New Folk, 5600 Medina Highway, Kerrville, TX. 78028. Only the first 600 entries received before Midnight, April 1st, will be accepted.

  13. Include your name, address, zip code on your cassette, so you can be notified and your tape returned.

  14. In addition to the 32 finalists, up to 10 regional writers may be selected to appear with one of their songs at the Ballad Tree (3-5 p.m.) May 22 or 23. Those selected for the Ballad Tree will receive a single free pass to the festival for that day only.

  15. Scholarships for $72 of the $144 tuition to the May 27-30 Songwriters School are available for as many as ten of the 32 finalists and are awarded on a first-come basis to those paying the balance of $72 to the Foundation prior to May 20.

  16. Finalists will receive two five-day passes for May 22-26; those receiving scholarships will receive additional passes May 27-30; the six Award Winners will receive passes through June 1; those selected for the Ballad Tree will receive a single one-day pass for the day of their Tree. All those selected may camp free for the duration of their pass. Others participating with you, if any, must purchase a ticket to be admitted with you. All cars in the campgrounds pay $6 per day, but free parking is provided in the parking meadow.

  17. Any rules that are misprinted or printed incomplete in other publications are not official and we take no responsibility for any disqualification resulting from not following the complete instructions listed above.

Folk Festival dates are May 22-June 8 (18 days). To receive a brochure of the complete schedule, please call (210) 257-3600. You will be notified before May 1st.

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