A Great Music Event
What better way to spend a beautiful summer day than listening to live music in the open air, stretched out on the lawn, dancing, or tossing a Frisbee around? Nope. We can't think of much that's better either.
This will be the 29th annual Rockport Acoustic Music Festival. Since its inception in 1979, the festival has brought performers from many genres—acoustic rock, folk, world, blues, Celtic, bluegrass, world vibe, and more—from across the country to perform during the peak of our summer season in Rockport, MA.
Each year the line-up of entertainers changes and the festival takes on its own shape, though some things remain constant from year to year: it is free, open to all, and family-friendly. Cape Ann is an ideal site for a summer music festival such as this—with its historic sights, shops, galleries, restaurants, and natural beauty.
The festival is a non-profit enterprise, and festival performers, organizers, and workers are contributing their time and talent without compensation. It's all for the music and the fun!
The Rockport Acoustic Music Festival is the longest-running annual event in Rockport, MA.
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Press from Previous Years
Rockport-alooza: 11 bands to play at 27th Acoustic Music Festival
Brian O'Connor said the first Rockport Acoustic Music Festival inspired him to be a musician. O'Connor's friends from high school played in that festival, he said, and, soon after, he was practicing "Pinball Wizard" with them in a jam session at one of their homes.
Since that time, O'Connor has been director of the festival for eight years and makes annual appearances on the festival stage playing his own original music.
"My favorite part of the festival is just being outdoors," O'Connor said. "Kids can play Frisbee or Hacky Sack while great musicians are playing on the stage."
O'Connor will be playing during the festival. The festival, which will start at noon and go to 6 p.m., is now in its 27th year.
It features eleven acts playing half-hour performances. The festival will be held at Millbrook Meadow, across from Front Beach on Beach Street.
David Cutler, director of the festival, said half of the performers have played at the concert before and have become favorites of those in attendance. Others, including Marmion Way, a group of Rockport High School 10th-graders, will be playing on the stage for the first time.
The festival also includes a drum circle between acts, Cutler said, so that the music can keep going without breaks. Cutler said concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own drums or acoustic guitars to play during these intermissions.
"While the bands are setting up, you can start a groove of your own," Cutler said, "and it'll give the festival a Rockport-alooza-type feel."
The festival ends with an All-Star Meadow Jam at 5:30 p.m. Cutler said the jam is for anybody still around at the end of the day to get up and play. It's an improvisational jam session, he said, of which musicians like to be a part. Cutler said he encourages the slated musicians to get on stage with each other during their performances as well. Cutler will even make a special appearance on stage at 12:30 p.m. with Appalachian Still, a Northampton-based trio, playing the harmonica.
Each year the festival has been unique and taken on its own shape through the director who organizes it, O'Connor said.
Greg Dann, guitarist of Redheaded Stepchild, said the festival has had full bands playing electric instruments in some years, but this year it has "gone back to its roots" with a fully-acoustic line-up.
Dann, like O'Connor, remembers the 27-year-old festival from the first year. He said he heard of it through word of mouth, and he was asked by Herman Fritz, one of the festival's founders, to open the first festival.
"That's my claim to fame, I guess," Dann said.
Cutler said the Rockport Acoustic Music Festival is the longest-running event in Rockport, and it has been his goal to see how many other organizations can join in.
Claire Franklin, organizer of New Year's Rockport Eve, has come for many years, he said, and held fundraising events for her yearly New Year's celebration by selling refreshments.
Anybody interested in volunteering can log on to the festival's Web site, www.rockportfestival.com, to contact Cutler. Cutler said people can volunteer for as long as they like—from five minutes to five hours—doing various tasks from helping set up the stage to putting up signs for the concert.
Cutler said the concert is a family-oriented event, where children can blow bubbles, play with flying discs or go swimming at Front Beach as their families picnic on the Meadow.
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26th Annual Rockport Acoustic Music Festival
For the past quarter of a century, the annual Rockport Acoustic Music Festival has been held in the historic North Shore town of Rockport, Massachusetts. This year ... musicians will convene once again for the celebration of acoustic music. This long-running festival features regional musicians whose styles range from folk to pop to rhythm & blues. This year's lineup includes several festival favorites such as Brian King and his unique blend of pop, folk, punk, ambient, and cabaret, Redheaded Stepchild, an acoustic blues band started in 1996 by Kathryn Koch and David Nanni, and John, Josh & Caroline, whose music ranges from folk to blues to British music hall.
In addition to performing at past Rockport Acoustic Music Festivals, many of this year's musicians are well-known, seasoned performers. John Hicks, Josh Brackett, and Caroline Haines, for instance, each had folk careers reaching back to the 1960s and 1970s before they formed the trio John, Josh & Caroline in 2001. In particular, lead singer/songwriter Josh Brackett was involved in the 1960s Cambridge folk music scene. In fact, legend has it that he gave one of folk music's biggest stars, Joan Baez, an extra boost of confidence before she made it big. As Brackett recalls, after hearing the teenage Baez play in Cambridge, he offered, "Joanie, you're pretty good at this. You could even do it for a living."
Other performers on this year's bill include the Bob Kramer Band; Brian O'Connor; Greta Bro, Peter Meyer & Friends; Jim Dierdorff and Benny the Wonderdog; Livin' on Luck; Mike Kirsch and Friend; Pulse Pursuit—John Holland/Lisa Bouchie; Singin' Sargeant Tony Hilliard, and Sonny Fishcake's Music Revue. The Festival is a nonprofit project managed and staffed entirely by volunteers and is free of charge. It will be held at Millbrook Meadow, across from the Front Beach in Rockport.
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Dozens of performers in a beautiful setting make for great outdoor fun.
Take in the sights of scenic Cape Ann, Massachusetts.
Come, enjoy, but leave our lobster pots alone. OK?
In case you haven't guessed, this year's artwork is a play on the old poster artwork for the famous Woodstock festival of '69.
Get Your Gear!
Show your support! Tees, coffee mugs, bumper stickers now on sale at our CafePress store.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to Brian Y. for graciously providing material that was on this here website for all of three days. Thanks. We'll use it next year Brian. Anyone wishing to send Brian a bottle of J.D. may contact the webmaster.
