Swayed Pines 1995-2015
On April 29, 1995, at the 22nd Swayed Pines Folk Festival, there were two concerts. At the family concert, during the day, Livingston Taylor and Kristoph Franz performed. Livingston performed again for the evening concert with Arlo Guthrie.
At the 23rd Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 27, 1996, Richie Havens and McCutcheon headlined the event. At this point, Havens had 16 albums and sang about brotherhood and personal freedom. He played the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival, the 1968 Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert, and the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Havens played a three-hour concert at Woodstock, receiving an encore, in which he made a song on the spot, which became “Freedom.” In 1970 he released his album Alarm Clock which yielded a top-20 recording of the Beatles’ Classic “Here Comes The Sun.” He also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. He was so popular on The Tonight Show that Johnny Carson had him come back the next night to play, making him one of two guests asked to do this, the other one being Barbra Streisand. In the ‘80s Havens won Clio Awards for his work with Kodak and McDonald’s. In 1992, he delivered an amazing performance in New York at a concert saluting the work of Bob Dylan. Havens was also in two movies, Catch My Soul (1974) and Greased Lightening (1977). McCutcheon also played a family concert at 5:00 pm with Pat Surface. Surface’s music focuses on social concerns, the environment, and issues of the 1990s.
At the 24th Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 26th, 1997. Robin and Linda Williams were the headlining performers with John McCutcheon. The Williamses had been playing together for over 20 years and had 13 records out. In 1995, their first all-gospel album Good News was nominated for the “Best Gospel Album” by the International Bluegrass Music Association. In 1993, the duo opened a 16-city tour for Mary Chapin Carpenter, 3x time Grammy winner. They were also on her album Stones in the Road which won the Best Country Album. This was McCutcheon’s 15th performance at Swayed Pines Folk Festival. In the afternoon, sideline performers would be a group, Ecuador Manta, and soloist Pat Surface. Ecuador Manta is a group of musicians from the Native Village of Otavalo in the Andes Mountains that sing and play instruments native to South America.
At the 25th Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 25, 1998, McCutcheon performed with Mulberry Lane. Mulberry Lane Mulberry is made up of sisters, Jaymie, Rachel, Heather, and Allison. They’re from Omaha Nebraska and were releasing their first CD Don’t Cry ‘Till You Get to the Car that year.
The Swayed Pines Folk Festival did not happen in 1999 because of scheduling conflicts. To make up for this, McCutcheon was scheduled to play a folk concert on April 24th. This concert took place at CSB instead of SJU which was also different. The Swayed Pines Folk Festival was held the next year in 2000 but in a different fashion. The event was held on April 30th, from noon to five with no fiddle contest or evening concert. Part of the reason the Swayed Pines Folk Festival wound down in the early 2000s was due to the lack of funding and the removal of J-terms in 2001 created more scheduling conflicts in April.
On September 14, 2008, Sunday at noon, Junior MJ Bach and a group of students and community members were trying to resurrect Swayed. They called it Swayed Pines Revisited and hosted it at Watab Island. Senior Richelle Caya approached Bach about getting this event going again. Bach tried to get McCutcheon to come but with no funding, it was not an option. Bach did, however, find other bands that would play pro bono. Mark Kreitzer came to play for free because he played at a Swayed Pines Folk Festival before with a different band and was so excited the event was going back. Bill and Kate Isles a folk act from Duluth came. A student act, “And More!” made up of seniors Tony Schulte (guitar) and Pat Hayes (keyboard) played. KJNB compensated musicians for travel and Campus Greens funded the port-a-potties and compostable dinnerware. The set list was as follows: And More!, Gary Jorgenson & co., Collegeville Station, Bill & Kate Isles, and Mark Kreitzer Band.
In 2015, SJU sophomore George Dornbach tried to restore the Swayed Pines Folk Festival to its glory days. The festival occurred in October on a Tuesday night from 7:00-10:00 pm in the Great Hall. The event ended with Charlie Parr a folk musician from Duluth playing.
