Swayed Pines 1985-1994
On April 27, 1985, at the 12th Swayed Pines Folk Festival, Doc Watson was the featured performer. He was a three-time Grammy winner and played the five-string banjo, French harp, and guitar. MPR also broadcast part of the fiddle contest a half hour before Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion.”
On April 25, 1986, McCutcheon played a special warm-up concert for the Swayed Pines Folk Festival happening the next day. Taj Mahal, a folk and blues musician, was the premier performer this year. Mahal is a master of guitar, piano, bass, harmonica, vibes, mandolin, and dulcimer. At the time, he had 13 albums out with Columbia, Warner Brothers, and Crystal Clear.
At the 14th annual Swayed Pines, on April 25, 1987, McCutcheon and Greg Brown played at the Warner Palaestra. Greg Brown is a singer/songwriter from Iowa. He frequently performed on National Public Radio’s’ “A Prairie Home Companion,” hosted by Garrison Keillor. The crafts fair occurred from 12:00-6:00 pm.
On April 30th, 1988, Claudia Schmidt and McCutcheon played the evening concert at the Swayed Pines Folk Festival. This year, a $2,000 grant was received that was used to compensate crafters with the best demonstrations or crafts.
On April 22, 1989, the 16th Swayed Pines Folk Festival happened. At the evening concert, Arlo Guthrie and Tom Paxton were the featured performers. Guthrie, the son of the legendary Woody Guthrie, was considered one of the most influential and creative songwriters in the US at the time. In 1969, he was a featured performer at the Woodstock Festival. Paxton had released 28 albums and had written 4 books at this time. He was also the chairman of the board of the World Folk Music Association.
At the 17th Swayed Pines Folk Festival in 1990, McCutcheon and Tim Chapin played. Chapin plays music for all ages and is the brother of the late singer Harry Chapin. This year, fiddlers arrived with homemade instruments and the crafts booths were diverse, with one booth selling pained scenes on saw blades.
At the 18th Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 20, 1991, there were three featured performers. The performers were McCutcheon, Gregory Gladkov, and Loudon Wainwright III. Wainwright was on M*A*S*H as the guitar-strumming surgeon. His pieces are humorous, such as his song, “If Jesse don’t like it, then it’s probably not art,” which was made in response to Senator Jesse Helms cutting art funding. McCutcheon and Gladkov were eight days into their “U.S./U.S.S.R. Friendship Tour” at this time.
At the Swayed Pines Folk Festival, on April 25, 1992, John McCutcheon and Schooner Fare folk group headlined. Schooner Fare was a Maine-based group that had toured all over the continent and held the record for number of sell-out concerts at Washington D.C.’s “Wolf Trap.” They were also dubbed the best folk group in 25 years by fellow musicians and critics alike. At the craft fair, there were over 120 crafters.
On April 24, 1993, the featured performers at the Swayed Pines Folk Festival were McCutcheon and John Prine. John Prine had been labeled, “the next Bob Dylan,” in the early 1970s when he was discovered on the Chicago folk music scene by Kris Kristofferson and Paul Anka. His debut album in 1971 was titled “John Prine” and received critical acclaim and has since penned folk standards such as “Hello In There,” “Sam Stone,” “Angel From Montgomery,” and “Paradise.” Prine received a Grammy award for his album The Missing Years, which features guest vocalists Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, and Tom Petty. He also made his acting debut in 1992 in John Mellencamp’s film, Falling From Grace.
A change that was made for the 20th Swayed Pines Folk Festival in 1993, was adding a second day called, “Roots and Wings.” This was a day of workshops and master classes on composing, storytelling, dance, and playing a variety of musical instruments. It was named “Roots” to learn about the history and then “Wings” to spread the ideas and talents to the next generation. This event was made possible in part by a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, funding provided by the Minnesota State Legislature, and the St. Cloud Area Allied Arts Fund Drive. Roots and Wings occurred the day after the main festival, on April 25th. On April 25, Kevin Locke presented on the cultural heritage of the Lakota Native Americans. He was a lecturer, storyteller, flutist, and dancer. Guy Carawan played songs on the hammered dulcimer, banjo, and guitar. He wrote many of the lyrics of the civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.” McCutcheon presented on traditional folk music. Chuck Suchy brought songs and stories of rural human values from the farms of North Dakota. Two former CSB students, Mary Bussmann, and Tracy E. Tracy performed as “Kindred Spirits.” Creative Theater Unlimited also presented stories, music, dance, and visual arts of Hmong folk arts.
On April 23, 1994, the 21st Swayed Pines Folk Festival occurred with John McCutcheon and Holly Near playing. Near had an impressive 25-year career, as a singer, actress, and writer. Some of her success came from her appearance in movies such as Slaughterhouse-Five, and TV shows such as, All in the Family and Room 222. She also collaborated with many artists on her album HARP, such as Arlo Guthrie, Ronnie Gilbert, and Pete Seeger. Her 16th album, Holly Near: Musical Highlights, featured selections from her one-woman show Fire in the Rain …Singer in the Storm.
The second annual Roots and Wings folk workshop was held on April 24, 1994. It featured two prominent women folk singers, Holly Near and Anne Reed. Near’s songs address contemporary events and gender issues. Reed is a Minnesotan and has gained national acclaim as a folk artist and songwriter, including Minnesota Music Academy’s Female Songwriter of the Year Award in 1993. Many of her songs, such as “Heroes” focus on gender issues. Other performers at the Roots and Wings workshop were the Voices of Sepharad group which explores in song and dance Jewish cultural tradition, Mattie Clark told West-African and African American stories depicting the essence of the black experience, Anne Dunn, an Ojibway grandmother, offered stories from her culture about unexpected heroes, and Dave Moore performed original songs, blues, and conjunto music on guitar, accordion, and harmonica. All artists performed in a concert that evening.