Late Summer Festivals

Here's the followup to our Summer Festival Preview. As we draw closer to fall, there are still plenty of events to satisfy everyone's musical appetite.

Kicking off a four-week North American tour in August, Bob Marley's five sons and friends including Toots & the Maytals, Common, Nappy Roots and Blackalicious will launch the Bob Marley: Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival. The tour, which begins Aug. 7 in Portsmouth, Va., is the first tour officially hosted by the Marley family and will feature many of the sons' own songs as well as collaborative renditions of their father's hits. For more information, check out www.rootsrockreggae.com.

The Apple & Eve Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I. will be home to a wide range of artists from August 6-8. The event kicks off with “An Evening with Ron Sexsmith and Josh Ritter.” Then, over the next two days, artists performing include Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steve Earle, Wilco, Doc Watson, Lucinda Williams, Rufus Wainwright, Mindy Smith, Slaid Cleaves, Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, The Mammals and Old Crow Medicine Show. A new tent stage (Waterside) will be home to a steady flow of string bands on Saturday and Sunday. Visit www.newportfolk.com for more information regarding performance schedules and ticketing.

If you’re in or around Portland, Me. Aug. 7 and 8, stop by the Festival of Cultural Exchange for a bit of alt.country, alt-rock and world music. Included in the lineup are Juliana Hatfield, Steve Earle, The Holmes Brothers, Oteil Burbridge & The Peacemakers, the Congo’s Kanda Bongo Man, and Sudanese dance troupe The Nile Girls. With tickets at only $37.50 for both days, a World Marketplace featuring street performers, a kids’ arts and music area, and hands-on arts and music for adults, this is an inexpensive way to enjoy a weekend with the family. For more information, visit www.festivalofculturalexchange.org .

On Aug. 21, head over to the Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival in Burnaby, B.C., for an eight-hour day of funky and rootsy blues. Artists performing include Colin James, Rosanne Cash, Buckwheat Zydeco and the Tarbox Ramblers. For more information about this and other British Columbia festivals, head to www.coastaljazz.ca .

During the last weekend of August (27-29), you can catch 45 acts at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Old Pool Farm near Schwenksville, Pa. will be host to a variety of artists, including Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Natalie MacMaster, Eliza Gilkyson, Mindy Smith, Ollabelle, Phil Roy and Taj Mahal. This is the 43rd installment of the festival, and it continues to make improvements based on feedback from festival-goers. This year there will be a special emphasis on dance, but the staples of bluegrass and folk will be ever-apparent as well. Especially accommodating to families, an area called Dulcimer Grove will be situated in the kids area where hands-on crafts, jugglers, storytellers and kid-friendly musicians will entertain all. For more information, visit www.folkfest.org.

Over Labor Day weekend, Colorado will be home to the four-day Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Festival. The festival will take place in the Snowmass Village Town Park, at the foot of the Elk Mountains. This year’s guests include Lucinda Williams, Jack Johnson, G. Love & Special Sauce, David Byrne, Lyle Lovett, Robert Randolph, BR549 and The Steve Miller Band. Four-day passes are $125, and more information about the festival can be found at www.jazzaspen.com.

Jack Ingram’s 2nd Annual Real. American. Music. Festival (known as R.A.M.) will take place Sunday, Sept. 5 on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, at the John T. Floore Country Store. In addition to Ingram, performers include Reckless Kelly, Scott Miller & the Commonwealth, The Bottle Rockets, Bobby Bare, Jr., Joe Ely, The Lost Trailers, and James McMurty. Fifteen acts will take over two stages from noon until 2 a.m. Monday. Ticket prices are reasonable, and more information about the festival can be found at www.ramfestival.com.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival returns for its third year with eight stages, over 130 performances and an expected crowd of at least 150,000. Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, will host the event Sept. 17-18. Tickets are available online only for $75 plus service and delivery charges. The festival continues to include a wide variety of artists and genres, much like its namesake public television show, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary this fall. This year’s festival performers include The Pixies, Ben Harper, Elvis Costello, Wilco, The Roots, Sheryl Crow, Trey Anastasio, Solomon Burke, Los Lonely Boys, Modest Mouse, Ryan Adams, Cake, Patty Griffin, Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Kweller, Drive-By Truckers, Shelby Lynne, Franz Ferdinand, The Beta Band, My Morning Jacket, Gomez, Old 97’s, Broken Social Scene, Josh Rouse, Cat Power, Neko Case, Particle, Calexico, The Gourds, Centro-matic, The Legendary Soul Stirrers and many more. For the full line-up, go to www.aclfestival.com.

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