On June 15 & 16, beautiful Croton Point Park in Westchester County, NY will once again be filled with the sights, sounds, and music of the Great Hudson River Revival. This year the Clearwater Festival celebrates its 35th Anniversary as the Great Hudson River Revival. Founded by Pete Seeger as a grassroots fundraiser and originally named “Hudson Valley Folk Picnics”, the event has grown over the years and now consistently features a diverse variety of world-class musicians from around the globe appearing on 7 bio-diesel powered stages.
Bold beats and folk icons, hand-crafted delicacies and gorgeous produce, unexpected art installations and an old-school working waterfront make up the experience known as Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival. This unique festival brings together major musical figures and green activism to form a creative community for one weekend a year in one of the most scenic spots on the Hudson River at Croton Point Park located in Westchester County, NY.
The banks of the Hudson River will come alive with hundreds of musical artists performing and this year’s lineup ranges from old-school R&B from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings to the new scions of gritty Americana, Son Volt and Drive-By Truckers’ now gone solo Patterson Hood, and Jason Isbell who will play side-by-side with gospel soul legends like Mavis Staples, an acoustic Hot Tuna, and veteran legacy artists like Judy Collins and David Bromberg.
Most recently added to the Festival lineup is award winning actor and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who will perform on Sunday on the Rainbow Stage.
New voices, including the Virginia mountain-top chamber pop of The Last Bison and the harmony-rich Brooklyn country of The Lone Bellow will ring out alongside Pete Seeger himself. Seeger will perform with long-time collaborator Lorre Wyatt in a special festival appearance, one of several strong collaborations at this year’s festival. Other featured collaborations will be Hot Tuna & Steve Kimock and Keller Williams & The Travelin’ McCourys.
In addition to American roots music, the festival has long welcomed world music. This year is no exception, with Afrobeat intensity of Antibalas, uplifting Afropop from Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Bhangra-powered brass delivered by Red Baraat, virtuosic Malian desert blues of Vieux Farka Touré, and funky Celtic-Asian fusion handed down by Delhi 2 Dublin. Native American artists Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joanne Shenandoah, and roots-soul vocalist Martha Redbone are also a major component of the festival lineup.
Featured on the Dance Stage will be Zydeco and Cajun favorites Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, Jesse Lége and the Bayou Brew, and from the first family of New Orleans music, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. In addition, the Dance Stage will host the sounds of super-psychedelic contra dance experience, Giant Robot Dance; Klezmer greats, The Klezmatics; Jay Ungar & Molly Mason performing waltz and swing; and Hudson Valley dance troupe, The Vanaver Caravan.
In addition, the festival will also welcome performers Nicole Atkins, Jill Sobule, Tift Merritt, The Lone Bellow, Dan Zanes, and longtime Clearwater friends David Amram, Tom Chapin, Josh White Jr., Toshi Reagon & Big Lovely, and Guy Davis.
“We’re still a folk fest, in that we feature artists from around the world,” explains festival director Steve Lurie. “Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, with his background, is still folk. Sharon Jones is, too, as she plays R&B from a particular time, a particular scene. I use the broad sense of folk music as a guiding light.”
The festival’s other guiding light is its message of activism and changing the way people relate to the river, and to the environment and community in general. The Great Hudson River Revival maintains its grassroots culture to this day with the much-anticipated weekend festival produced with the support of over a thousand dedicated volunteers.
Along with prominent names on stages, the festival has an Artisanal Food and Farmer’s Market, Juried Crafts Expo, Green Living Expo, Activist Area, Working Waterfront with rides on small boats and tall ships (including the sloop Clearwater and schooner Mystic Whaler), a children’s area, Todd’s Musical Petting Zoo, The Jam Tent, The Circle of Song, Story Grove and so much more, all in one two-day, zero-waste, bio diesel- and solar-powered festival to support the mission of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, one of the nation’s preeminent environmental organizations and a key mover in promoting policies to restore, protect and preserve the Hudson to its former, teeming glory.
Tickets are on sale at www.ClearwaterFestival.org or (845) 236-5596. The Clearwater Festival is a family-oriented event and children and kids 12 and under get in free. The gates will open to attendees at 9:00 AM both days.
All proceeds directly support Clearwater’s environmental education, advocacy and research to help preserve and protect the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as the communities of the Hudson River Valley.
The entire festival is wheelchair accessible and most stage programming is staffed with American Sign Language interpreters.
