The Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival, is an annual one-day festival held the first Saturday in June at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center

Appel Farm Arts and Music Center

Appel Farm Arts and Music Center, located near Elmer, in Salem County, New Jersey, USA, is a multifaceted nonprofit regional arts center founded by musicians and arts educators Albert and Clare Rostan Appel...

 located near Elmer

Elmer, New Jersey

Elmer is a Borough in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 1,395, making it the 520th largest city in New Jersey....

, in Salem County, New Jersey

Salem County, New Jersey

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 64,285 people, 24,295 households, and 17,370 families residing in the county. The population density was 190 people per square mile . There were 26,158 housing units at an average density of 77 per square mile...

, USA. Appel Farm’s signature concert event, which includes a Craft Fair and Children’s Village, extends beyond New Jersey, attracting audiences of up to 10,000 from the entire mid-Atlantic region and beyond.

History

In 1988, Appel Farm’s Executive Director, Mark Packer, and Sean Timmons, Artistic Director, conceived of a one-day musical event to present acclaimed performers to audiences in a rural corner of New Jersey. Both were familiar with other festivals but wanted their endeavor to have its own identity. Ultimately, they created a signature event celebrating the craft of the songwriter and showcasing high quality craft artists and children’s activities.

“We focus on great songwriting,” said Timmons in a 2006 interview. “That’s really the thrust of what we’re about. They could be folk, country, rock, Latin, hip-hop, anything – we never feel our hands are tied.”

The first festival, held on May 13, 1989 at a 176 acre (0.71224736 km²) site that was formerly a farm, set a precedent, presenting recognized artists alongside local and lesser-known performers. Singer/songwriters Don McLean

Don McLean

Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...

, Tom Rush

Tom Rush

Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist.- Life and career :Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University after...

, and Livingston Taylor

Livingston Taylor

Livingston Taylor is an American singer-songwriter, born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He attended the Westtown School in Pennsylvania...

 were headliners while The Taproom Band, Elaine Silver, the Pinelands Dulcimer Society and Shirley Keller provided a more regional flavor. Approximately 800 people attended that first festival, which has since grown to draw crowds of upwards of 10,000 while remaining true to the spirit of its founding principles. Over time, the Festival has earned a reputation as the “Woodstock of South Jersey” for its eclectic variety of musicians and its rural setting.

The Festival has been held on the first Saturday of June since 1990, drawing music enthusiasts from throughout the Northeastern corridor of the United States, and from as far away as Texas and California. The family oriented, daylong event offers a lineup of as many as twelve musicians and musical groups, including both recognized as well as emerging artists, performing on two outdoor stages. The Festival also incorporates a Children’s Village featuring children’s theater performances and arts activities and a juried Crafts Fair, which includes exhibitions and demonstrations of artwork in an array of media by over 50 artists.

Artist Greg Nemec designed the iconic festival posters for the first twenty years.

Over its history, the event has received several honors and awards, including two Governor’s Awards for Tourism (2008 and 2004) and Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly” Award in the category of Folk Festival in 1992. Appel Farm was voted “Best Performance Venue” in South Jersey Magazine’s 2007 “Best of the Best” Awards. The Festival’s Craft Fair was given a four-star (excellent) rating by the Montclair Craft Guild.

The Festival took a one-year hiatus in 2009 and roared back with a one stage event featuring The Avett Brothers, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Enter The Haggis and more in 2010. In 2011, a full line up on two stages featured an eclectic line up including Gogol Bordello (acoustic), Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, Ani DiFranco, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Good Old War and more.

Past Performers

2010: The Avett Brothers, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Patty Griffin with Special Guest Buddy Miller, Enter The Haggis, Richard Shindell, 61 North, The Mayhem Poets and Napalm Da Bomb. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2008: Marc Cohn, They Might Be Giants, Suzanne Vega, The Smithereens, Vienna Teng, Enter The Haggis, Lucy Kaplansky, Red Molly, Christina Courtin, Matt Duke, Alfred James Band, Nicole Reynolds. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2007: Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Joan Armatrading, Amos Lee, North Mississippi Allstars, Chris Smither, Leon Redbone, Adrienne Young, Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra, Sam Shaber, Hoots & Hellmouth, Kate Gaffney and Carsie Blanton. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2006: Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne is an American power pop band that formed in New York City in 1996. The band consists of members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter and Brian Young.-Early years:...

, Richard Thompson, Janis Ian

Janis Ian

Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...

, Duncan Sheik

Duncan Sheik

Duncan Scott Sheik is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik initially found success as a singer, most notably for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing". He later expanded his work to include compositions for motion pictures and the Broadway stage, leading him to involvement in the...

, David Jacobs-Strain, Slo-Mo, Daniela Cotton, Toad the Wet Sprocket

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986. The band consists of singer/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss. The band enjoyed chart success in the 1990s with the singles "Walk on the Ocean," "All I Want,"...

, Crooked Still, James Hunter, Klezmatics, Birdie Bush, and Cabin Dogs. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2005: Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...

, Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...

, Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday....

, Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.-Biography:...

, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers

Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers

Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers is an American rock band formed in Western Massachusetts in 2003. The band features lead singer Stephen Kellogg , bassist and keyboard player Kit 'The Goose' Karlson, drummer Boots Factor, and electric guitar/pedal steel player Sam 'Steamer' Getz...

, Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...

, Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka

John Gorka

John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...

, Phil Roy

Phil Roy

Phil Roy is an American musician, singer, and songwriter.-Early musical career:Roy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began playing the guitar at age nine. At age 17, attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts...

, Lori McKenna, John Francis, and Bet Williams. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2004: Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...

, Jonatha Brooke

Jonatha Brooke

Jonatha Brooke is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Illinois.Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies...

, Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...

, Los Lonely Boys

Los Lonely Boys

Los Lonely Boys is a Chicano rock power trio from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown eyed soul, country, and Tejano....

, Lizz Wright, Erin McKeown, John Hammond, Tempest, Ember Swift, The Kennedys, Slo-Mo, and Stargazer Lily. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2003: Joan Armatrading, Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....

, Little Feat

Little Feat

Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....

, Martin Sexton

Martin Sexton

Martin Sexton is an American singer-songwriter and producer originally from Syracuse, New York.- Early life :Sexton grew up the tenth of twelve children in a working class Irish-American family. He acquired his first guitar, a Sears & Roebuck acoustic, at the age of 14 and later played in local...

, Kim Richey, Jeffrey Gaines, Gaelic Storm, Vance Gilbert and Ellis Paul, 4 Way Street, Xavier Rudd, and Amos Lee. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2002: Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....

, Jonatha Brooke, Nerissa & Katryna Nields, Grey Eye Glances, Guy Davis, Kelly Joe Phelps, Entrain, Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer, Da Vinci's Notebook, 4 Way Street, and Patty Blee. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2001: The Robert Cray Band, Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...

, BeauSoleil

Beausoleil

BeauSoleil is an American musical group specializing in Cajun music. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, the group members are brothers Michael Doucet and David Doucet , Jimmy Breaux , Billy Ware , Tommy Alesi , and Mitchell Reed .-Band history:Founded in 1975, BeauSoleil BeauSoleil (French, beautiful...

 avec Michael Doucet

Michael Doucet

Michael Doucet is a Cajun fiddler, singer and songwriter who founded the Cajun band BeauSoleil from Lafayette, Louisiana.In 2005 Doucet was one of 12 recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA award, which recognizes artistic excellence, cultural...

, Dar Williams

Dar Williams

Dar Williams is an American singer-songwriter specializing in pop folk.She is a frequent performer at folk festivals and has toured with such artists as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, The Nields, Shawn Colvin, Girlyman, Joan Baez, and Catie Curtis.-Biography:Williams was born...

, Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, Phil Roy, Jess Klein, Oscar Lopez, Tom Landa & The Paperboys, Jeff Lang, and 4 Way Street. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun.

2000: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

, Richard Thompson, Jonatha Brooke, Moxy Früvous

Moxy Früvous

Moxy Früvous was a politically satirical folk-pop band from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. The band was founded in 1989, and was active throughout the 1990s...

, Martin Sexton, John Gorka, Greg Brown, David Gray, Lucy Kaplansky, Willy Porter, The Asylum Street Spankers, Ben Arnold, and Vanida Gail. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun, Helen Leicht and David Dye.

1999: Arlo Guthrie

Arlo Guthrie

Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...

, Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...

, Susan Werner

Susan Werner

Susan Werner is an American singer-songwriter. Much of Werner's work has been in the contemporary folk genre.-Career:Born and raised near Manchester, Iowa, Werner became interested in music at a young age and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in voice at the University of Iowa. In 1987, she...

, The Nields, Olu Dara, Great Big Sea, Ann Rabson, Ellis Paul, Stacey Earle, and John Train. Emcees: Gene Shay, Helen Leicht.

1998: Indigo Girls

Indigo Girls

The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...

, Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent is an American singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres country and folk music.-Early life:...

, Moxy Früvous, Livingston Taylor, Grey Eye Glances, Vance Gilbert, Karen Savoca, Joseph Parsons, Big Bill Morganfield, Whirligig, and Michelle Nagy. Emcee: Gene Shay.

1997: John Prine

John Prine

John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...

, Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday....

, Dar Williams, Richie Havens

Richie Havens

Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...

, Jeffrey Gaines, Martin Sexton, disappear fear, Richard Shindell, David Olney, June Rich & Nancy Falkow

Nancy Falkow

Nancy Falkow is an American singer/songwriter and musician from Philadelphia.-Biography:Falkow grew up in Margate, New Jersey as part of a Jewish family and at sixteen took first prize for writing in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.After graduating high school in 1988, she...

. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun and Keith Brand.

1996: Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

, Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...

, Janis Ian

Janis Ian

Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...

, Kips Bay, Catie Curtis

Catie Curtis

Catie Curtis is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has been categorized in several genres, including pop, rock, alternative country, indie and folk. She has recorded 11 CDs. The most recent, Stretch Limousine On Fire, will be released in August 2011 on Compass Records.-Early life:Catie...

, Moxy Früvous, Vance Gilbert, Garnet Rogers, Les Sampou, Charlie Zahm, Susan Piper. Emcees: Gene Shay, Michaela Majoun and Keith Brand.

1995: Shawn Colvin, Arlo Guthrie, Wolfstone

Wolfstone

Wolfstone are a Scottish musical group founded in 1989, who play Highland music combined with rock and roll. Their repertoire consists of both original songs and traditional folk pieces. To date, they have released seven studio albums, the latest, Terra Firma, in 2007. The band record on their own...

, Cliff Eberhardt

Cliff Eberhardt

Cliff Eberhardt is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is a founding member of the Fast Folk Music Cooperative in New York City. Eberhardt joined Red House Records in 1997 and has recorded five albums for the label, the most recent in 2009, 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions...

, Dar Williams, Vince Bell, Joseph Parsons Band (replaced Christine Lavin), Jennie Avila & Amy Torchia, John Flynn, Women's Sekere Ensemble and Karen Capaldi. Emcees: Gene Shay, Keith Brand, Chuck Elliott and Kathy O'Connell.

1994: Nanci Griffith

Nanci Griffith

Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...

, Laura Nyro

Laura Nyro

Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...

, Chris Smither, Iain Matthews

Iain Matthews

Iain Matthews is an English musician and songwriter. He was born Iain Matthew McDonald, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was known in the 1960s first as Ian McDonald, then as the 1960s progressed, as Ian Matthews...

, Trout Fishing in America (band)

Trout Fishing in America (band)

Trout Fishing in America is a musical duo which performs folk rock and children's music. The duo is composed of Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet...

, Cheryl Wheeler, David Broza, Guy Davis, Ben Arnold, Sojourn (now Grey Eye Glances), Matt Sevier and Karen Farr. Emcees: Gene Shay, David Dye, Michaela Majoun and Kathy O'Connell.

1993: Randy Newman

Randy Newman

Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....

, Livingston Taylor, Patty Larkin

Patty Larkin

Patty Larkin is a Boston-based singer-songwriter. redefines the boundaries of folk-urban pop music with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics...

, David Massengill, Greg Brown and Bill Morrissey, Ani DiFranco, Satan and Adam, Shirley Lewis Experee-ance, The Low Road, Joseph Parsons, Susan Werner and Jaime Morton. Emcees: Gene Shay, David Dye, Michaela Majoun and Kathy O'Connell.

1992: The Roches

The Roches

The Roches are a female vocal group of three songwriting Irish-American sisters from Park Ridge, New Jersey, known for their "unusual" and "rich" harmonies, quirky lyrics, and casually comedic stage performances.The Roches have been active as performers and recording artists since the mid-1970s,...

, Holly Near

Holly Near

Holly Near is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist for social change.-Early years:...

, John Gorka, Tom Chapin

Tom Chapin

Tom Chapin is a Grammy Award-winning American musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter and storyteller.-Biography:Chapin attended State University of New York at Plattsburgh and graduated in 1966. From 1971-1976, he hosted a TV show called Make a Wish...

, Chris Smither, Don Henry, the story (featuring Jonatha Brooke & Jennifer Kimball), Ben Arnold, Beth Williams and Vance Gilbert. Emcees: Gene Shay, David Dye and Tom Gala.

1991: Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.-Profile:...

, Livingston Taylor, John Sebastian

John Sebastian

John Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...

, John Hammond, Rory Block, Jorma Kaukonen, Dave Van Ronk, Vassar Clements, Joseph Parsons and The Low Road. Emcee: Jim Albertson.

1990: Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton

Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...

, Holly Near, Leon Redbone, Loudon Wainwright III, Bill Miller, Joseph Parsons, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Lew London Duo, Small Change and Endless Mountain Bluegrass Band. Emcee: Jim Albertson.

1989: Don McLean, Tom Rush, Livingston Taylor, The Taproom Band, Elaine Silver, Pinelands Dulcimer Society and Shirley Keller. Emcees: Tim Donald and Kevin Kelly.

External links

• Appel Farm Arts and Music Center: official site http://www.appelfarm.org/
• Gregory Nemec website: http://www.gregorynemec.com/index.html
• Festival photos: http://www.buzzpics.com/performers.html
• Festival photos: http://www.skylerbug.smugmug.com/Festivals