Cloudy with periods of rain. Potential for heavy rainfall. High near 70F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.

The North Carolina Folk Festival returns to bring folks, fun, and funk to downtown Greensboro, September 9-11, with three days of free stage shows, jams, and demonstrations across five official stages and a handful of downtown locations.

“It’s time to make your Festival weekend plans and get excited!” said Amy Grossmann, President and CEO of the North Carolina Folk Festival. “We can’t wait to gather as a community again this September to celebrate the diverse voices of those whose creative expressions have shaped our community.”

Grossmann looks to gather and offer a festival that “honors, celebrates, and shares the meaningful ways in which communities express their creativity and cultural traditions through music, dance, food, crafts, and other folk arts to enhance appreciation of diverse traditions and contribute to community vibrancy and inclusivity.”

Those aims extend to actually getting to the festival, with the Greensboro Transit Agency offering fare-free bus systems throughout the festival weekend. “No matter where you’re staying in Greensboro,” said organizers, “there’s a route that can get you to the NC Folk Festival!”

The festival also aims to be fun for the whole family with both kid-oriented performances and kid performers; and a designated family-area, filled with activities, temporary tattoo-making, and creation stations for building family time capsules or building a drum out of recycled materials.

On stage, artists like the Secret Agency and Big Bang Boom will offer kids’ music that’s also approachable for adults.

For Greensboro’s Big Bang Boom, that means offering kids’ songs wrapped in power-pop music stylings “for parents who have had enough of Barney.” Local folks in the crowd might recognize frontman Chuck Folds and drummer Eddie Walker from their Bus Stop days. They’ve hooked up with Steve Willard and tour the country playing schools, libraries, and children’s museums. They’ll be on the Lawn Stage Saturday and will open up CityStage on Sunday.

The Secret Agency, a kid-friendly project from the Grammy-winning Agent 23 Skidoo, brings a family-funk phenomenon down from Asheville in a dash of purple velvet, with songs like spells, offering “reverence for the boundless mind-states of young children, respect for the culture and DNA of hip-hop, funk, and soul music, and a deep belief in the power of the imagination to change the world in positive ways, both personal and universal.” They’ll open the Old Courthouse Stage Saturday and Sunday; with an extra set on Saturday at the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park.

From kid-oriented performances to kid performers themselves, 10-year-old gospel singer Caleb Serrano will kick off a gospel block at the CityStage on Saturday, and at the Old Courthouse Stage on Sunday.

The festival’s eye on inclusivity also includes an American Sign Language interpreter at various shows through the weekend — Serrano’s Sunday set will have an ASL interpreter in tow. On Friday, ASL interpretation will be offered during Greensboro’s soulful multi-genre hybrid band, Soultriii, at the Cone Health Stage. As well as at Friday’s big name: GRAMMY-award winning newgrasser Sam Bush, who’ll close the CityStage that first night.

On Saturday, Big Bang Boom, Symphony Unbound with Dori Freeman, Karan Casey, Black Opry Revue, and George Clinton will be accompanied by an ASL interpreter. On Sunday, ASL interpretation will be available for the Rumble at the Old Courthouse Stage. Over on the CityStage, an interpreter will help sign the sounds of the new south for Athens’ Americana band, Futurebirds; followed by the Cajun legend: BeauSoleil avec Michael Douce.

And of course, all signs point to the funk for George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at CityStage Saturday night. “We could not think of a more fitting performer to round out the amazing lineup we’ve arranged for this year’s festival,” Grossmann said.

“George Clinton is an innovator and icon who has shaped and morphed the American musical landscape for decades, and we welcome him back to his home state to give up the funk with North Carolina!”

The funk keeps rolling with artists like The Rumble, who’ll spend all three days of the festival at the Old Courthouse Stage — which they’ll close out on both Friday and Sunday; and play just before BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Saturday afternoon. Featuring the Grammy-nominated Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr (of the Golden Eagles Indian Tribe), the Rumble is a premier ensemble of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Indian Funk, “representing the legacy and preservation of NOLA music and Black masking culture.”

Klezmer revivalist, Michael Winograd & The Honorable Mentshn, will also be spending the whole weekend, celebrating music of the Eastern European Jewish Diaspora, with shows at CityStage on Friday and Sunday; and a set at the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park on Saturday.

Irish vocalist and songwriter, Karan Casey, will also play all three days: with a show at the Lawn Stage on Friday and Saturday; and at the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park on Saturday and Sunday. She’s paired with Black Opry Revue, “a collective of Black artists and Black fans of country, blues, folk, and Americana music,” for a few slots on the Lawn stage. She’ll play before them on Friday, and after them on Saturday (which will have an ASL interpreter).

As an ensemble, Black Opry is all over the festival, with individual members having their own sets on Saturday and Sunday. As a group, they’ll close the Lawn Stage Friday and Sunday night. Saturday will feature sets from individual members including: Aaron Vance at the Old Courthouse Stage, Chris Pierce on the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park, and Autumn Nicholas on the Lawn Stage. On Sunday, Tae Lewis will be on the Lawn Stage and Nikkie Morgan will be on the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park.

The Jeff Little Trio is also paired on the bill with members of the Black Opry. A primary pianist and purveyor of Appalachian music, Little will be at the Lawn Stage all three days. With an extra Saturday set at the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park.

Highlighting local artists with the popular vote, the Travis Williams Group, the third-place winners of the North Carolina Folk Festival’s “Not Your Average Folk” contest, will perform before Little, opening the Lawn Stage on Sunday. The group itself centers around instrumentation from the Oud meshed amongst an ensemble “focusing on a fusion of traditional Arabic music with jazz, modern classical music, rock, and world music.”

“Not Your Average Folk” first-place winner, Anna Vtipil, will be at the Old Courthouse Stage on Saturday afternoon. A songwriter and pianist, Vtipil’s band “explores harmonically complex and rhythmically asymmetrical textures with a connection to intimate and emotional lyrics.” The group itself formed as students at UNC-Greensboro, offering a hint of the festival’s connection to the area college community.

Greensboro is a city with seven colleges, so it’s fitting that the UNC-Greensboro Old-Time Ensemble opens the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park and the NC A&T Cold Steel Drumline opens the Old Courthouse Stage on Friday. The NC A&T Fellowship Gospel Choir plays the CityStage on Saturday.

Second-place winners, the Zinc Kings, drive that connection home. A progressive folk and string-band, they’ll open the Lawn Stage on Saturday, with members and educators in their ranks, including Mark Dillon and Christen Blanton.

Blanton is not only the director of the UNCG Old-Time Ensemble, she also serves as the Orchestra Director at the Academy at Lincoln and leads their Global Music Ensemble. Beyond her set with the Zinc Kings, she’ll lead a “Folk Song and Old-Time Jam,” at the Center City Jams stage on Sunday; following the Irish Seisiún led by UNCG professor, and ethnomusicologist, Gavin Douglas.

On Saturday, UNCG Dance Music Coordinator (and founder of Africa Unplugged), Atiba Rorie, will lead an African Drum Workshop; offering elements of his studies with Babatunde Olatunji, Fahali Igbo, Bradley Simmons, Chief Bey, and The National Dance Ensemble of Ghana.

Dillon, a professor in the music department at UNCG and at the entertainment technology department at GTCC, is the host of the “Eastern Standards Time” Honky Tonk Jam series (held bi-weekly at Four Saints Brewing in Asheboro). He’ll rustle up a serving for a rendition at the Center City Jams Stage on Saturday.

The BackBeat Blues, Jazz-Fusion, and Bluegrass jams are among the other regular Triad series in the spotlight at the Center City Jams Stage. Led by the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society, the BackBeat jams work to build community by “creating a weekly space in a local venue where the oral tradition of teaching and playing Blues music is taught and shared.” Typically held on Thursdays in Mt. Airy and Kernersville, the Blues will rain over Center City Park on Saturday.

Getting into the swing of things, Unheard ProjectGSO is hosting a monthly residency, second-Fridays through November, at Revolution Mills. They’ll bring a groove and build a jam at the festival on Saturday. On Sunday, Clyde Lewis (of Hotwax and the Splinters), will close out the jam sessions with pickin’, grinnin’, and a banjo or two from his weekly “K-Vegas Monday Brewgrass” series at the Brewer’s Kettle in Kernersville.

A ”Healing Earth Rhythms — a commUNITY Drum Circle” led by Billy “Two Rivers” Hunt will open the Center City Jams Stage on Friday, to gather “drums from all Nations, Tribes, and Cultures for CommUnity in holding space for drumming, singing, chatting, dancing, and Healing!” And on Saturday, theGentlemanBoss will host the festival’s first-ever “Beat Cypher,” with an open invite for area beatmakers and MCs to share their original music and join-in improvised verses.

The NC Folk Festival, at its roots, promotes a “national festival, local vibe” environment. In that, Kaleta & Super Yamba Band (playing at the Old Courthouse Stage on Friday and opening the CityStage on Saturday), offer the concept in practice. Led by Afrobeat and Juju veteran Kaleta, Super Yamba Band is based in New York City but features a handful of former Greensborians: Daniel Yount (drums), Evan Frierson (percussion), Walter Fancourt (sax), and Sean Smith (trumpet).

The Winston-Salem Symphony String Quintet will bring their “Symphony Unbound” series to the Lawn Stage on Saturday. Part of an initiative to “bring music out of the concert hall and into the community,” in collaboration with musicians from other genres. They’ll be joined by vocalist and songwriter, Dori Freeman (who’ll also perform a set of her own at the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park on Sunday).

Bringing the national (and international) music of the world to the Triad, with artists like Colombian drummer, Kiko Villamizer, who’ll close the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park on Friday; and perform in the second slot on the CityStage on Saturday, before closing Old Courthouse Stage later that night. Raised on a coffee farm outside of Medellin, Villamizer studied jazz in Miami and has toured the world exploring musical possibilities. His latest album, “Todo el Mundo,” offers a “psychedelic fusion of the sounds of the Colombian forest, and the healthy sweat of the Caribbean,” through the rhythm of Gaitas and Colombian hand drums.

QWANQWA, a supergroup of Ethiopian musicians, will perform after Villamizer at CityStage and before him at the Old Courthouse Stage on Saturday. They’ll also be at CityStage on Friday; and will start Saturday by opening the Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park.

Larry Bellorín will bring the Venezuelan harp to the Lawn Stage and Cone Health Stage at Lebauer Park on Sunday. One-half of the musical partnership “Larry & Joe” (with Joe Troop), Bellorin delivers on the traditions of Llanera music, having studied and performed with Urbino Ruiz, Renaldo Armas Cristina Maica, Teo Galindez, and Rumi Olivo; and formed both music schools and festivals in Venezuela before seeking asylum to the United States.

Beyond stage performances and jams, the Folk Festival will also offer a Maker’s Marketplace, with dozens of food and craft vendors; and the “Dance @ the Van Dyke” series running Saturday and Sunday, with dance performances and workshop classes.

Saturday will showcase Korean Fan Dance (“Bu-chae-chum,” led by Jiwon Ha), J-Setting (led by Jaleel Cheek), and Irish Step Dancing (led by Colleen King and the Walsh Kelley School of Dance). Sunday’s demonstrations include: House Dance (led by Eli Motley), Salsa (led by Lisa Hines), and Afro-Rhythms led by (Milanda Y. McGinnis).

As the official Folk Festival takes over the downtown Greensboro footprint, the folks of downtown Greensboro keep the beat on the street. The Green Bean is once again host to music and art programming, with regular events like Matty Sheets’ classic open-mic running every Tuesday and the Greener Side Comedy Hour (hosted by Nick Ciaccia) every last Friday. “Two Folksingers,” Charlie Marks and Colin Cutler will be at the Green Bean for a special performance on Thursday.

Cutler’s “East of Nashville Songwriters in the Round’’ series (featuring catherine the great, Eugenius, and Sam Foster) is returning to the Crown later in September — one example of the uptick in independent-music events happening at the Carolina’s blackbox upstairs venue. During the folk festival, the Crown will play host to a couple of events during the concurrent North Carolina Comedy Festival (presented by the Idiot Box), with Eric Trundy on Friday and Eeland Stribling on Saturday.

Folk fest jam leader, TheGentlemanBoss will pair with Katie.Blvd for a “Spin the Crown,” dance-skating event featuring DJs Brydecisive and Professor X on October 7.

Brydecisive will be at Elsewhere during the Saturday of Folk Festival weekend, with Alvin Shavers, for the latest installment of the “Blues Groove House Dance Party,” a series serving the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society with dance floors, wall-to-wall wonders (including a cash bar), and beats blasting to “articulate the evolution of Black music from the Juke Joint to the DJ and House Music scene.” The series is one of the latest ways the Elsewhere Living Museum has leaned towards music and live-event programming. They’ve been hosting a monthly open mic series, in addition to a packed calendar of artist residencies and entertainment lineups.

Over at the Flat Iron, new owners Josh King and Abbey Spoon, are settling in. They’ll officially celebrate with their own “Flat Fest,” September 16-18. During the Folk Festival weekend, they’ll host Drew Foust’s album release show, featuring an “Organ Jam After Party” with Sam Fribush, on Friday. Meanwhile, the Flat remains the home base for Prez and In the Beat of the Night. Prez is also offering a weekly jazz soundtrack for Sunday evenings at Cafe Europa.

Back on the South Elm side of things, RockHouse GSO will be hosting the UH2BT Interactive Pop-Up Party on Friday. On Saturday, Boxcar will feature a “Pre-Pride live band drag show.” On Sunday, Scuppernong will host its monthly series celebrating North Carolina songsters with a songwriting in the round set featuring Bobbie Needham, Randy Condor Williams, and Jeff Wall.

From the folks themselves, to the official festival operation, music rings across downtown Greensboro.

Time to get down and get funky. The North Carolina Folk Festival returns on September 9-11.

Katei Cranford is a Triad music nerd who enjoys spotlighting artists and events.

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