AFP CLOSED Temporarily

Weekend shows at the Arizona Folklore Preserve will be canceled starting the weekend of March 21-22 through the weekend of April 18-19.  We want to protect volunteers, guests and performers at the Folklore Preserve from potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus.  If an “all clear” notice is declared before that time, it will be posted on the AFP website and announced in our reservation line message.
 
We appreciate your patronage of the AFP, and we hope to see you at a show in the future.

Nick McBlaine and Log Train

Peter McLaughlin is on stage once again, this time with friends and Tucson musicians Alvin Blaine and Nick Coventry. Alvin plays everything including banjo, slide guitar, harmonica, dobro, accordion, lap steel, mandolin, and pedal steel. He's also a great singer, a professional sound man for Old Blue Sound Company, and even builds his own guitars. Nick is a classically trained violinist. Based in California, he has also played throughout Europe. His specialty is the swinging style of Gypsy jazz violin. These three play lonesome old songs, new originals, fiddle tunes, traditional Folk and Country music, Bluegrass, Swing, and Americana, and they have fun with all of it.

P.D. Ronstadt & Co.

Peter Dalton Ronstadt, a fifth generation Ronstadt in Tucson, Son of late Michael J Ronstadt, nephew of Linda Ronstadt, and great grandson of Federico Jose Maria Ronstadt, aims to explore the musical heritage of his family while presenting new and original material. Along with his band of Tucsonans, ‘The Company’, Petie paints a musical picture of the American Southwest by presenting music from the region, music from Mexico, collected favorites, songs of his father, and new songs that draw inspiration from all the elements of his upbringing. With a lush tapestry of instruments along with unique arrangements, enjoy a moment in time while P.D. Ronstadt & The Company take you on a musical journey that will lift spirits and stir memories.




Click here to go to the artists website

Don Armstrong and the Whiskeypalians

DON ARMSTRONG & THE WHISKEYPALIANS consists of:

DON ARMSTRONG on guitar & 5 string banjo,
Don Armstrong has been hailed as a “Tucson legend” and “folk treasure.” The Arizona Daily Star referred to him as a “consummate songwriter,” while his songs have been recorded by artists nationwide and sung and enjoyed worldwide. Playing guitar and five string banjo, Don was part of the duo Don & Victoria Armstrong for 42 years before Victoria’s passing in 2014. Together, they recorded ten albums. Don now records for The Ronstadt Record Company and his first solo album is due out in the fall of 2018. Don met Earl when he & Victoria were on the bill with Earl in a tribute concert to Earl’s uncle, Travis Edmonson (remember Bud & Travis?) in 2008, which was one of the last concerts that Travis attended. Recently, Don & Earl decided to bring his Uncle Travis’s legacy to life, by performing several of his songs, along with those that both Don & Earl have been known for over the years. Their recent performances together have packed concert venues and brought exuberant praise from the likes of The Kingston Trio, Limelighters & New Christy Minstrels, not to mention long time fans of both Don & Earl.

NICK COVENTRY (Black market Trust, Hot Club of Tucson, Nick McBlaine & Log Train and The Tucsonics) on gypsy violin & fiddle
Nick Coventry started playing violin at an early age and after hearing a Stephane Grappelli tape at the age of 12 he began in earnest to learn the swinging style of Gypsy jazz violin.  At 18 he studied classically at the University of California Santa Barbara, at 20 he started his first gypsy swing band, “Les Gendarmes du Swing” and began writing and performing around his hometown of Goleta, California.  In 2005 he travelled to the famous Djangofest at Samois-sur-Seine, France to meet and play with the best European musicians of Gypsy jazz.  This resulted in a series of tours around Spain, England, Scotland and Denmark with the Hot Club of Galicia.  At home, Nick has performed at the Djangofest in San Francisco with Gonzalo Bergara, as a guest with the John Jorgenson Quintet,  Stephane Wrembel trio in New York, and with Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan at Chicago’s Green Mill.  He currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.

GARY MACKENDER (The Carnivaleros, Kevin Pakulis Band & The Mollys) on accordian
Gary Mackender was raised in America's heartland and was exposed to many elements of popular American music; jazz, rhythm & blues, rock 'n' roll, country, showtunes, zydeco and bluegrass. After locating to Tucson, Arizona in 1989, he joined a group of folks calling themselves The Mollys in 1993. This band allowed him to hone his skills as a versatile and musical drummer, absorbing and mixing styles, bringing all of his background to bear. Up until his departure in 2000 The Mollys provided him the opportunity to perform in some of the best venues across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It was during this time that he dragged along his accordion on tour and learned how to play it, slipping away late at night after the gigs when everyone else fell asleep, and he hasn't stopped. "It's even more organic than the drums. It responds to every move, it breathes, it wheezes, it can be loud and demanding yet it can whisper and seduce. I've also discovered material on it that would never have presented itself on the piano."

SLIM ROST (Way Out West, Ice Nine) on bass.
 

Sue Harris

Sue has spent her life gathering songs and stories from and about the West - - from classic country to more recently written western songs; authentic folksongs, cowboy songs, poems and folktales describing what life was like here not that long ago; and even the occasional Mexican folksong.

Her unique and personable vocal style can take the simplest of songs and breathe into them life and vitality.

 

Click here to go to her MySpace page to listen to some samples of her music.

Dolan Ellis

Dolan Ellis is Arizona's Official State Balladeer

Dolan Ellis has been Arizona’s Official State Balladeer since 1966. He has traveled more than a million miles throughout the length and breadth of our state, getting to know the unique people and out-of-the-way places most of us never see, then writing songs about these people and places. Along the way he has taken thousands of professional-quality photographs to illustrate his music. Come and hear just a few of the hundreds of ballads Dolan has written in his career as Arizona’s Balladeer "Arizona is more than a state...it's a state of mind".

Please consider donating to help save the Salt River wild horses.  The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) is a non-profit organization 501(c)3, dedicated to monitor, study and protect the Salt River wild horses in the Tonto National Forest, Arizona. We use all of our resources and connections to prevent harm from coming to the Salt River wild horses and ensure that they will be here for future generations to enjoy.
​There are links to donate on Dolan's website front page.

Click here for a YouTube video of Orphan of the Hills
Click here for a YouTube video of Dolan performing Magic Mountain

Click here to go to the artists website

Jeneve Rose Mitchell

Most people wouldn’t call a 17-year-old a seasoned performer.  But Jeneve Rose Mitchell has been performing professionally since the age of four.  You might know her as the ‘Rocky Mountain Hillbilly Girl’ who in 2015 (at the age of 15) auditioned for the final season of American Idol, and proceeded to steal the hearts of not only the judges (Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick, Jr.), but America as well. She wound up finishing in the top 14 on Idol, which was no easy task considering there were over 200,000 contestants who auditioned from just about everywhere.  And now Jeneve Rose will be performing at the AFP!

Click here to see Jeneve Rose Mitchell's Top 10 performance of 2016 American Idol


Click here to go to the artists website

IWMA Youth Chapter Showcase

For the past two years, the Arizona Folklore Preserve has collected donations to support the International Western Music Association (IWMA) Youth Chapter. During that period we have given the group over $7,000 as well as a number of donated musical instruments. This year we hope to raise our total donations to over $12,000.

The IWMA Youth Chapter provides a valuable service to the Western music community by helping aspiring young Western music performers learn all the things they will need to know to become successful performers. The chapter assists these budding young performers by providing them with opportunities to get voice lessons, instrument lessons, song-writing lessons, and other instruction to provide them with the tools they need to pursue an entertainment career. It even supplies instruments to deserving young people who cannot afford to buy them.

Members of the IWMA Youth Chapter will be our performers this weekend. If you like Western music and want to keep the genre alive please support our donation drive.

Peter McLaughlin

Peter McLaughlin is an acclaimed acoustic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, performer, recording artist and music instructor located in Tucson, AZ.  He plays many genres and styles, and specializes in acoustic flatpicking and fingerpicking techniques.  He was born in Washington DC, and his family's roots are in Scotland and England by way of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.  Early on, his parents, Bill and Nancy McLaughlin, brought music into the lives of Peter and his brother David.  They were introduced to all types of music, had a family band, and were surrounded with love and encouragement.

Peter started playing the guitar at the age of eight and was very soon jamming at bluegrass festivals and fiddle conventions.  He lived in Denmark in the early 70s, and attended a Danish high school.  In 1974, Peter moved again, this time to attend Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he played with Tom Rozum (mandolin, fiddle, and vocals), Roger Smith (bass and vocals), John Zarske (rhythm guitar and vocals), and Frank Dedera (banjo) in the group Flying South, an acoustic string band specializing in bluegrass and early swing era jazz.  A later incarnation of Flying South included Kirby Mittelmeier (mandolin and vocals) and John Willis (bass and vocals).
 
In 1983, Peter moved to Tucson, where he played music with banjo player Ross Nickerson in various bands, including the 1988 Telluride Band Contest winners, The Titan Valley Warheads, who Peter still plays with on occasion.  

In 1991, Peter had the opportunity to reunite with his long-time pal, Tom Rozum, and joined Laurie Lewis, touring nationally and internationally for six years as guitarist and harmony vocalist with her band.  

In 1992 Chris Brashear moved to Tucson.  He and Peter struck up an immediate and lasting friendship and a strong musical bond and began performing and recording together.

In 1996, Peter released his first solo album, a CD entitled Cliffs of Vermilion, produced by Laurie.  She, along with Tom, Chris, brother David, father Bill, and others appear on Peter's stellar debut CD, which is on Dog Boy Records.

In 1999 when Chris recorded his first solo CD, Wanderlust, an excellent new bluegrass band formed out of that project when producer, Jody Stecher, along with Bluegrass Boy banjo picker, Bob Black, bassist, Forrest Rose, Chris and Peter started Perfect Strangers.  Their self-titled CD, released on Rebel Records in 2003, was also produced by Jody.

Since the late 1980's Peter has performed off and on with Bob Meighan, Earl Edmonson, Kirby Mittlelmeier and Brian Davies in a band affectionately known as The Dreadnutts.  In 1991 they won the Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest.

In 2011 Peter's current band, The Sonoran Dogs, was formed out of a tour with the late Japanese guitarist, Maro Kawabata.  The "Dogs" continue to perform regularly at various festivals and concert venues.  Their first CD was released in 2014 on Dog Boy Records.

In 2013 Peter was inducted into the Tucson Musicians Museum.

Click here for a link to Peter's music page to listen to samples of his Cliffs of Vermilion cd.
Click here for a YouTube video of Peter along with Chris Brashear and Todd Phillips
Click here for a YouTube video of Peter and friends playing So Long Arizona at Studio 55 Marin.
Click here to go to the artists website

Earl Edmonson

Earl Edmonson has been playing music since his early teenage years when he took up harmonica and guitar. Originally influenced and inspired by the diverse music scene of the 1960’s, Earl plays folk, blues, bluegrass, country and Americana music that features heartfelt and soaring vocal interpretations, harmonica, and fingerpicked, flatpicked, and slide guitar, with influences such as Doc Watson, Robert Johnson, Leo Kottke, Ry Cooder, Tim O’Brien, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, and Roy Bookbinder, among others. In addition to being an experienced solo performer, Earl has blended his talents with those of others in a variety of duos, trios, and bands. These include the trio Woodrose, an Arizona favorite during the 80’s, the Meighan-Edmonson-McLaughlin Band (Best Band at the 1991 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the same year that Earl won first place for Fingerpicked Guitar at Telluride), and for the last twenty-five years, the Titan Valley Warheads, winners of numerous awards including Best Band at Telluride (1988) and multiple Tammie awards for Best Bluegrass Band. As a member of these last two groups Earl has opened shows for groups such as Alison Krauss and Union Station, Ralph Stanley, Laurie Lewis and Grant Street, and the Subdudes. He has also backed up Tom Paxton on two Arizona tours on vocals, guitar, harmonica and mandolin. He has played numerous venues throughout Arizona and New Mexico, and performed solo at the 2002 Tucson Blues Festival to an enthusiastic audience. In addition to live performances Earl has recorded with a number of Tucson’s most notable artists, including Travis Edmonson, Stefan George, Lisa Otey, Gerry Glombecki, Way Out West, and The Titan Valley Warheads, as well as producing his own solo project, “Nightsounds”.
 

Dolan Ellis

Dolan Ellis is Arizona's Official State Balladeer

Dolan Ellis has been Arizona’s Official State Balladeer since 1966. He has traveled more than a million miles throughout the length and breadth of our state, getting to know the unique people and out-of-the-way places most of us never see, then writing songs about these people and places. Along the way he has taken thousands of professional-quality photographs to illustrate his music. Come and hear just a few of the hundreds of ballads Dolan has written in his career as Arizona’s Balladeer "Arizona is more than a state...it's a state of mind".

Please consider donating to help save the Salt River wild horses.  The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) is a non-profit organization 501(c)3, dedicated to monitor, study and protect the Salt River wild horses in the Tonto National Forest, Arizona. We use all of our resources and connections to prevent harm from coming to the Salt River wild horses and ensure that they will be here for future generations to enjoy.
​There are links to donate on Dolan's website front page.

Click here for a YouTube video of Orphan of the Hills
Click here for a YouTube video of Dolan performing Magic Mountain

Click here to go to the artists website

The Cowboy Way

The Cowboy Way is a trio of award winning musicians from New Mexico. Their family friendly shows feature tight harmonies, high energy and smoking instrumentals. These prolific songwriters take you on the ride of a lifetime as they honor the traditional cowboy songs and bowl you over with a dynamic cover of a southern rock tune. The Cowboy Way presents professional , crowd pleasing entertainment sure to fit right in with your festival, concert, educational or corporate event.

The Cowboy Way is:
JIM JONES: International Western Music Association 2019 Western Song of the Year; Western Writers of America 2013 and 2017 Spur Award for Western Song of the Year; Academy of Western Artists 2016 Western Song of the Year; Western Music Association 2014 Male Performer of the Year.

DOUG FIGGS: Academy of Western Artists 2016 Male Vocalist of the Year; Western Music Association 2015 Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year; Academy of Western Artists Western Song of the Year 2014; Western Writers of America Spur Award 2015 Song of the Year.

MARIAM: International Western Music Association 2015-2019 Finalist Instrumentalist of the Year; Multiinstrumentalist, diverse session player, awardwinning arranger and producer.

Their debut CD, The Cowboy Way, was awarded the 2017 Western Heritage Wrangler Award for Best Traditional Western Album.  Their second CD, Go West, was named the International Western Music Association’s 2019 Traditional Western Album of the Year and they have been named International Western Music Association Group of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Click here for a video of them performing Halfway Down the Devil's Road.
Click here to go to their websites music page to listen to samples of their songs.

Click here to go to the artists website

Jean Prescott, Jon Messenger, and Michael Grande

Jean Prescott	Jon Messenger	Michael Grande