New Performers Confirmed for Millpond Music Festival

by News Staff · August 15, 2022

Take a peek at our latest confirmed performers for this years festival!

Laura Love with Terry Hunt

Laura Love retired from live musical performance at the height of the Pandemic in 2020, feeling satisfied that she’d said everything she needed to say, sung everything she needed to sing and done everything she needed to do in a lifetime of touring and playing concerts. Laura, who is a light-skinned African American woman, felt ready to put topical songwriting aside to settle into an easychair rocking groove after long days of organic gardening and playing with her legion of cats — yet after recent frightening escalations in hate crimes, racism, sexism, anti-environmentalism and all the other “isms”, she again feels the need to poke her head up and outta retirement, however briefly, to sing and say just a little bit more. Over the decades, Laura has performed at venues across the globe, including The Philadelphia Folk Festival, Merlefest, Carnegie Hall, Club Passim, The Ark, City Winery NYC, The Freight & Salvage, Strawberry Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Fest, Millpond and Kate Wolf Music Festivals as well as Canadian festivals, to name a few.

In this resurfacing, she has expanded her repertoire of original, socially conscious songs, to include several hand selected jazz standards along with beloved Negro spirituals and Field Hollers. As well, she now sprinkles a dusting of covers learned from some of her favorite singer/songwriters (Shawn Colvin, Amy Winehouse, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell and the like).

Laura has received glowing reviews for her 13 cd releases (On Mercury, Rounder, Koch and other labels) from print publications such as THE NEW YORK TIMES, Billboard, The Utne Reader and People and Time Magazines. She is also a published author, having released her memoir, “You Ain’t Got No Easter Clothes” on Hyperion (Now Hachette Book Group) as well as “Nights In Tents” about the year she spent traveling with the OCCUPY Movement (Skyhorse Publishing).

Early in the Spring of 2022, Laura dropped her latest CD, “UPPITY” which she “sincerely hopes will be her last!”

Téada

A traditional band with a truly worldwide reach, Téada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, the Middle East and Australia.

Highlights include a 30,000-capacity stadium concert in Brittany, along with performances at Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia, Edmonton Folk Festival in Canada, Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, and Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo. In 2014, the band performed to 40,000 people during an extensive 7-week tour of Japan / Taiwan, and continues to have a strong touring presence in the United States, where Téada has toured actively since 2001.

May 2022 brought the release of the band’s new album – Coiscéim Coiligh / As The Days Brighten – on the Gael Linn label, featuring an exciting vocal collaboration with Hollywood actor & singer John C. Reilly in addition to the band’s customary reenergising of rare tunes from the tradition.

Line-up:

Oisín Mac Diarmada (fiddle), Seán Gavin (flute, uilleann pipes), Patrick Doocey (guitar), Samantha Harvey (piano, dance)

Learn more at: https://teada.com/

The Idiomatiques

For nearly a decade, The Idiomatiques have been thrilling audiences in Southern California and beyond with their unique blend of Django-style Gypsy Jazz, Hot Swing classics, clever and fun original tunes, effervescent vocals and comic presentation.

Critics and audiences alike have raved about the good times to be had at an “Idios” show, where it’s near impossible to sit still or keep grinning from ear to well-fed ear.

The Idiomatiques members come from diverse musical backgrounds which help enhance their unique sound and approach. They each add their personal experiences into a satisfying blend for hungry listeners!

Members of the band have worked with a long list of international stars including BoyzIIMen, Kenny Loggins, Gilles Apap, Yanni, Michael McDonald, David Foster, and Rick Braun, as well as Gypsy Jazz icons Mozes Rosenberg, Paulis Schaffer and Fappy Lapertin, just to name a few.

Learn more at: https://www.theidiomatiques.com

Call for Volunteers!

Do you love the Millpond Music Festival? We are looking for volunteers to help us make this years festival happen! Our festival would not be possible without the help of our amazing volunteers who have been helping put this event on for the last 29 years. Want to be part of the legacy? Submit a volunteer application through our website!

The perks of being a volunteer at the Millpond Music Festival include a FREE day pass to the festival for 4 hours of volunteering, or a FREE WEEKEND PASS for 8 hours of volunteer work, plus you get to hang out at the festival, soaking up all the music and good vibes.

Check out the various volunteer opportunities below, and submit your application with your station preference here.