If every song tells a story, the book of the Big Muddy Folk Festival is hundreds, if not thousands, of chapters long. One of the great music gatherings in the Midwest and beyond, Big Muddy turns 32 when it returns to Boonville this year April 5-6.
Curated with affection, as always, by local folk music legend Dave Para — with a little help from his friends — the 2024 lineup makes a full bow toward tradition while reveling in ways that contemporary artists create minor revolutions per minute, moving the music forward. Under the sacred roof of Thespian Hall, Midwest-made mariachi will meet the blues and string bands will bend into all manner of shapes.
Mariachi in Missouri, from Missouri
Perhaps the most long-expected arrival at this year's fest will be fulfilled through Springfield's Mariachi Flor de Missouri. For decades, the regional Mexican music — developed along the country's western front — has delighted Para.
"You go to hear Mariachi because you love it and you can love it instantly," he wrote in the festival's annual newsletter, The Soundings.
Hoping to book a mariachi band for so long, the right outfit, right time and place lined up with Mariachi Flor de Missouri. An eight-piece iteration of the group will perform, and deliver on what the sound itself always promises.
"It’s wonderful music — emotional and full and rich," Para said of mariachi in a recent interview.
The 'Welsh Tornado' blows through Boonville
There are musical nicknames, and then there are musical nicknames. No less a figure than guitarist Tommy Emmanuel dubbed Gareth Pearson "The Welsh Tornado." The UK guitar whiz credits the likes of Emmanuel, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed with his musical formation.
Pearson's nimble, embodied style respects nearly every genre, while not living beholden to any of them. He can supply every bit of melody, bass and rhythm in a solo arrangement of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" or wrap his fingers around exquisite waltzes and rags with equal facility.
Listeners will be impressed with how much music and technique can pour forth from one guitar, Para said.
Strings and songs intertwined
A great lineage of string bands have made second homes at Big Muddy. This year, Colorado three-piece Stillhouse Junkies becomes part of that family.
The band beautifully folds a sense of place and history into their songs, Para said, and its three members — guitarist Fred Kosak, fiddler Alissa Wolf and bassist Cody Tinnin — fit together like pieces of a dynamic puzzle.
Other artists on their way to the 2024 Big Muddy Folk Festival
To hear Para tell it, he follows no masterplan when setting the roster for each edition of Big Muddy. But there's something organic and, well, musical to his work. He's always looking and listening, always asking friends for suggestions in the same way artists weave together found strains and deliberate influences.
Relationships are key to the festival's forward motion. New friends quickly become old friends, and these old friends stick around. This year, Para will share emcee duties with songwriter Ellie Grace, a Columbia native who's become a Kansas City mainstay.
Para will play a set with his wife, the musician Erika Gerety — who also appears with Albuquerque-based band Ladyfingers and a Thing’r, Too. Festival crowds, as well as listeners around and beyond the region, grew used to listening in on Para's partnership with his late wife and festival co-founder Cathy Barton. To hear him play a duo set again is a welcome thing.
Para and Gerety remain in a season of delight and musical discovery, he said. She is a "very expressive singer — I think her voice really comes around the bluesy sides of things," he added.
Also on approach:
- Notorious, featuring violinist Eden MacAdam-Somer and guitarist Larry Unger
- Kansas City blues duo Hudspeth and Taylor
Each Big Muddy features concerts as well as a deep, wide lineup of workshops. Tickets are $35 per evening concert, or $60 for the weekend. For more information on this year's festival, visit https://www.bigmuddy.org.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. He's on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen.
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