Brooklyn Folk Festival

10/26/2025

Get ready for a rip-roarin’ good time with at this year’s Brooklyn Folk Festival! They’ll be pickin’ their way onto the Main Stage on Saturday, November 8th at 12:50 PM. 

Cole Quest & The City Pickers is not your average bluegrass band. Led by Cole Quest, grandson of Woody Guthrie, this New York City based crew has been entertaining audiences since their debut album in 2016. Earlier this summer, they released their second full length album, Homegrown, on . It features standout original songs alongside fresh takes on older tunes, including some by Woody Guthrie himself.

The City Pickers are a vibrant celebration of good friends and good music. They’re guaranteed to get your feet moving, so don’t miss this joyful, high-energy set! Be sure to buy your tickets now so you can catch them in action this fall! We will see you at the fest! 🎻

10/25/2025

Get ready for a rip-roarin’ good time with at this year’s Brooklyn Folk Festival! They’ll be pickin’ their way onto the main stage on Saturday, November 8th at 12:50. 

Cole Quest & The City Pickers is not your average bluegrass band. Led by Cole Quest, grandson of Woody Guthrie, this New York City based crew has been entertaining audiences since their debut album in 2016. Earlier this summer, they released their second full length album, Homegrown, on . It features standout original songs alongside fresh takes on older tunes, including some by Woody Guthrie himself.

The City Pickers are a vibrant celebration of good friends and good music. They’re guaranteed to get your feet moving, so don’t miss this joyful, high-energy set! Be sure to buy your tickets now so you can catch them in action this fall! We will see you at the fest 🎻

10/24/2025

Official schedule is here and there’s a special surprise if you scroll ‘til the end☕️

Thank you to everyone who’s bought tickets already! A reminder to those who haven’t that now is the time.

All the details are on our website BROOKLYNFOLKFEST.COM

See ya in 2 weeks💫

10/09/2025

Give a round of applause for the lovely , who will be gracing the Brooklyn Folk Festival stage on Sunday, November 9th at 6:30 at Parish Hall.

Gina Leslie writes music that feels like a blanket; it wraps you up in a gentle melody and keeps you warm all night long. Her writing is tender, melancholic, and insightful, weaving themes of love, loss, and longing into songs that linger. Growing up in Colorado, Gina was quickly introduced to American folk, country, and bluegrass music. Her solo work also carries a distinct jazz influence, creating a refreshingly personal sound. This is the music that should be playing at every quaint coffee shop on a rainy day, honest and unforgettable.

We can’t wait to have Gina back on the Brooklyn folk festival stage this fall! Get your tickets now so you don’t miss her beautiful music. We will see you at the fest 🎶

10/02/2025

We are thrilled to announce that will be making their Brooklyn Folf Festival debut on Saturday, November 8th at 9:30 PM.

Formed by Ahmoudou Madassane, Mikey Coltun, and Souleymane Ibrahim, the powerhouse rhythm section behind Mdou Moctar, TAKAAT is a new trio making serious noise (literally: takaat means “noise” in Tamashek). Their debut EP ‘Is Noise, Vol. 1’ was recorded live to tape in single takes, and it shows: this music is pulsing and full of life. TAKAAT isn’t here to play it safe. They’re here to light the place up.

Their second album, appropriately named Noise Vol. 2 is now available on Bandcamp! Go check it out and don’t miss their electrifying set this fall! It’s going to be pure, loud, and alive.
We will see you at the fest! 🎸

09/30/2025

We can’t wait to welcome Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, and Cleek Schrey to the Brooklyn folk festival stage this November! You can find them at parish hall on Sunday the 9th at 5:20 PM.

Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, and Cleek Schrey Are three of the most compelling musicians in the American traditional music scene, explore traditional repertoires from Appalachia and the broader South, gleaned from visits with older players, field recordings, vintage 78s, and archival tune collections. Working with fiddle, hardanger d’amore (a fiddle with sympathetic strings), banjos, and a 19th-century pump organ, the trio conveys both the sonic details of their instruments and a generous musical interplay rooted in a dozen years of collaboration. Their 2024 debut album Beehive Cathedral, released on Dear Life Records, presents resonant, thoughtful, and expansive explorations of Appalachian and American music. Irish fiddle luminary, Martin Hayes, declares it “a hypnotic recording that is grounded, subtle and refined.” The trio departs from the string band format that has defined the genre, especially since the Old-time music revival of the 1970s made guitar, bass, and chordal accompaniment features of the music. Untethering the music from chord patterns and guitars, they reimagine older approaches to the music filled with tonal ambiguity, drone, and dissonance.

The members of the trio are veteran performers in the Old-time scene, where they’ve worked with renowned string bands The Bucking Mules and Bigfoot. Beehive Cathedral draws on the group’s experiences making music together at Southern fiddlers’ conventions, in the back of NYC pubs, on stages, and in their homes. It also sources energy from their broader musical lives, including Schrey’s participation in NYC’s experimental sound community and Decosimo’s solo project and collaborations with Durham, NC projects Wye Oak, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell.

You won’t want to miss this performance so be sure to get your tickets now!!! We will see you at the fest 🎻

08/04/2025

Special volunteer opportunity for our lovely NYC locals! 💫

We will be spreading the good folk fest word throughout the city by hanging posters and we need your help! If you would like to lend a hand with this opportunity in exchange we will give you a free pass to the whole festival! A nice way to volunteer with us without having to work a shift during the fest.

We are looking to cover neighborhoods such as Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, Bed Stuy, Crown Heights, Flatbush, the UWS, LES, the village, Astoria and more!

If you would like to volunteer for this special opportunity please send an email to Dana at [email protected]! These spots will go fast. See ya out there🎻

07/23/2025

Just dropped the full lineup on our website👀

Schedule coming soon.

BROOKLYNFOLKFEST.COM

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07/09/2025

The Brooklyn Folk Festival presents the best in American and world folk music. Located in downtown Brooklyn, NY the festival is a celebration of down home music, cultural diversity and memory.

06/12/2025

2025 Brooklyn Folk Fest poster reveal & announcements🔔

We are honored over here with the great news that we start Brooklyn Folk Fest announcements today and we absolutely can’t wait to share with you all what we’ve been working on. You don’t want to miss this news so be sure you're following us and Jalopy Theatre and School of Music

Alongside these announcements, we are launching our folk fest fundraiser today. We are facing unprecedented cuts that are compromising the future of our beloved Brooklyn Folk Festival. Not only are we facing these challenges, since venues and cultural centers are facing the same issues, there are limited opportunities for artists across the board. It is a part of our mission to ensure that artists and music-lovers have a place to go find solace in community - year round at Jalopy, but especially annually at the Brooklyn Folk Fest.

Please help us make this happen and continue our vision for the 17th Annual Brooklyn Folk Festival. It’s been a cornerstone of the community for folk and traditional music from near and far and something we have been incredibly honored to present to you each year.

If you can’t donate much at this time, buying a ticket helps too- early bird tickets just went live.

To Donate: https://livingtraditions.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/livingtraditions/donation.jsp?campaign=6
Tickets: https://www.viewcy.com/o/thebrooklynfolkfe
Let’s do this together!♥️

Last but certainly not least, a round of applause and our sincerest thanks to Rakel Stammer for creating this beautiful wonder of a poster

The Brooklyn Folk Festival presents the best in American and world folk music. Located in downtown Brooklyn, NY the festival is a celebration of down home music, cultural diversity and memory.

11/19/2024

Music of course elicits many emotions, but one of its steadiest and best qualities is the way it can spark uncomplicated joy, even in very complicated times. For Bonus Tracks this week, here are a few musical offerings that spark joy.

11/13/2024

That’s a wrap on the 2024

Your organizers over at are getting a bit of rest and then you best believe we’re going to drop lots of memories on here♥️ don’t forget to tag us so we can see yours too!

Until then, here’s a shot of & the and please come see us over at Jalopy for live music almost every night!

A huge thank you to all of the people who made this weekend possible. All of the musicians, volunteers, sound techs, photographers and videographers, , our sponsors, and of course our dear community showed up heart first and made it one for the books. (Will keep the credits rolling as more photos come in). It’s nothing without you all, thank you so much for showing up and letting us keep this thing going.

See you in 2025🚗