Mean Mary press photo.
Audio By Carbonatix
Like the folk music it celebrates, the South Florida Folk & Acoustic Music Festival is a living and breathing entity, constantly evolving and growing with each edition. This year’s 36th annual festival will feature 60 performers over three days on two different stages. “This is among the widest variety of musical styles we’ve ever had,” Jeff Jacob, president of The South Florida Folk and Acoustic Music Club that puts on the event, told New Times. “Music fans of all kinds will have something to dig into.”
Among the headliners are Mean Mary, who Jacob hypes up as a “bad ass banjo player.” Saturday night will feature Livingston Taylor, younger brother of James Taylor, but with plenty of his own folk music bona fides. Finally, Sunday night will be closed out with John McCutcheon, who Jacob describes as “Southeast musical royalty”.
But throughout the days and nights, there will be plenty of other music and activities to keep festivalgoers busy. Arlene Boumel, who is the music director of the festival, named a couple of must-sees. Nigel Wearne, who plays Sunday night at 6 p.m., came all the way from Australia to showcase his amazing guitar playing. He’ll be followed by The Janzen Boys, who she described as, “a Canadian father with two sons who sing the most amazing folk harmonies I’ve ever heard.”
Plenty of local artists will also be represented. A bluegrass act composed of University of Miami students, known as the Wire Jays, will perform at 4:45 p.m. on Sunday. A bit earlier at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, The Luna Stars, a collection of local artists who regularly play at North Miami’s Luna Star Cafe, will play in the round, meaning each performer will have their chance to shine.
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One local singer-songwriter, Sarah McCulloch, is hoping to earn her way on the stage. She’s one of the contestants of the 2026 Songwriting competition. One of the perks of winning is a slot at the main festival, which McCulloch grew up attending. “I was born into Florida Folk,” McCulloch told New Times. “Florida has a deep and rich folk music history with songs about the state’s rivers, birds, fauna, the people, and legends. Florida has such a colorful history of pioneers, Natives, and adventurous people who came down to the swamp.”
Among the Florida folk legends that McCulloch said influenced her songwriting was Will McLean, who has a stage named after him at the festival. “Will McLean is the main persona of Florida folk. ‘Hold Back the Waters’ is one of his great songs about a hurricane in the 1920s”.
Beyond the music, the festival has workshops on songwriting and playing. They’ve also incorporated programming for children on Sunday. “Kids will have the chance to make shakers that they can play with the music. There’s an hour of songwriting that children can do with Grant Livingston. We’re also going to have puppet karaoke where children can make their own puppets and sing along,” Boumel explained.
Jeff Jacob thinks there’s something for everyone at this year’s Festival. “We have so many subgenres of folk and Americana. We made sure to have as many parts of the country and age groups represented as we could. We expect the weather to be nice, but the Grounds have a huge shelter to keep us all dry if it does rain.”
South Florida Folk and Acoustic Music Festival. 5 p.m. Friday, January 30; 10 a.m. Saturday, January 30, at 11 a.m. Sunday, February 1; at Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, 4201 SW 65th Way, Davie; sffolk.org. Tickets cost $18 to $120 via sffolk.org.
