Kerrville Folk Festival

The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival with camping, held for nearly three weeks each year, in late spring/early summer, at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The festival draws around 30,000 people. It aims to present established artists and promote new talent.

History
The Kerrville Folk Festival was founded in 1972 by husband-wife team Rod Kennedy and Nancylee Davis and has been run annually since then.

Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers performed at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1983, notable for it being his last performance before his death. He then boarded Air Canada Flight 797 out of Dallas/Fort Worth, which caught fire over Kentucky and lead to the deaths of half the passengers on board, including Rogers.

In 2002, Kennedy retired and the non-profit Texas Folk Music Foundation took over Festival management. The new board hired Dalis Allen as producer. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired by the Texas Folk Music Foundation, a 501(c)3 Texas Non-profit Corporation.

In 2020, the music festival's events were moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event returned to an in-person festival in its usual location, Quiet Valley Ranch, the following year.

In past years the event has featured well-known artists such as Peter, Paul and Mary, Lyle Lovett (1980), Emmylou Harris (2015), Willie Nelson (1973), Mary Chapin Carpenter, Robert Earl Keen (1983), Lucinda Williams (1974), Bill Davis, David Crosby (2015), and Nanci Griffith (1978).

The Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition
The festival places a strong emphasis on songwriting, and every year there is a New Folk Competition.to discover promising new singer-songwriters. Thirty-two finalists are selected from 800 entries to share two of their own songs in an afternoon appearance on the stage of the Threadgill Theater. From these finalists, six winners are selected, and in addition to receiving cash prizes, they are invited to perform a 20-minute set each on the main stage

A win at Kerrville carries considerable prestige in the singer-songwriter community, which is in part due to the peer-professional judging and the festival's long history of recognizing emerging artists who have later gone on to wider success. There have also been notable performers who have appeared as finalists in the competition without earning a win. Artists who have performed in the competition include:

• Tom Russell & Patricia Hardin (1975 - winner)

• Rick Beresford (1977 - winner)

• Eric Taylor (1977 - winner)

• Nanci Griffith (1978 - finalist)

• Steve Earle (1978 - finalist)

• Vince Bell (1978 - winner)

• Tish Hinojosa (1979 - winner)

• Lyle Lovett (1980, 1982 - finalist)

• Robert Earl Keen (1983 - winner)

• John Gorka (1984 - winner)

• Darden Smith (1985 - winner)

• Hal Ketchum (1986 - winner)

• James McMurtry (1987 - winner)

• Buddy Mondlock (1987 - winner)

• Pierce Pettis (1987 - winner)

• David Wilcox (1988 - winner).

• Anne Feeney (1989 - winner)

• Johnsmith (1990 - winner)

• Slaid Cleaves (1992 - winner)

• Cosy Sheridan (1992 - winner)

• Mark Elliott (1993 - finalist)

• Tom Kimmel (1993 - winner)

• Ellis Paul (1994 - winner)

2013 winners and finalists
The six New Folk Winners for 2013 were among 31 songwriter-finalists who performed during the New Folk Concerts on May 25 & 26, 2013, chosen from up to 800 entrants.

2012 winners and finalists
The six New Folk Winners for 2012 were among 32 songwriter-finalists who performed during the New Folk Concerts on May 26 & 27, 2012 — chosen from 800 submissions.

2011 winners and finalists
The six New Folk Winners for 2011 were among 32 songwriter-finalists who performed during the New Folk Concerts on May 28 & 29, 2011—chosen from 800 submissions.

2010 winners and finalists
The six New Folk Winners for 2010 were among 32 songwriter-finalists who performed during the 2010 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Concerts on May 29 & 30, 2010. Winners received a cash honorarium from the Texas Folk Music Foundation, Vic & Reba Heyman, and the Jim Ross Memorial Fund. They performed at the Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winners Concert on Sunday, June 6, 2010.

2009 winners and finalists
The six New Folk Winners for 2009 were among 32 songwriter-finalists who performed during the 2009 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Concerts on May 23 & 24, 2009. Winners received a cash honorarium from the Texas Folk Music Foundation, Vic & Reba Heyman, and the Jim Ross Memorial Fund. They performed at the Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winners Concert on Sunday, May 31, 2009.

2008 winners and finalists
The six New Folk Winners for 2008 were among 32 songwriter-finalists who performed during the 2008 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Concerts on May 24 & 25, 2008. Winners received a cash honorarium from the Texas Folk Music Foundation, Vic & Reba Heyman, and the Jim Ross Memorial Fund. They performed at the Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winners Concert on Sunday, June 1, 2008.

2007 New Folk Competition
The 2007 New Folk Competition was held May 26 & 27.

2006 New Folk Competition
The 2006 New Folk Competition was held on May 27 and 28.

2005 New Folk Competition
The 2005 New Folk Competition was held on May 28 and 29.

2004 New Folk Competition
The 2004 Competition was held on May 29 and 30.

2003 New Folk Competition
The 2003 Competition was held on May 24 and 25.

Kerrville Wine and Music Festival
The Kerrville Wine & Music Festival, called "Little Folk" is also hosted by the ranch over Labor Day Weekend. Both events share a website.

List of past performers
This list of past performers at the KFF is incomplete.
 * David Amram
 * Matt Andersen
 * David M. Bailey
 * The Belleville Outfit
 * Bobby Bridger
 * Bob Brozman
 * Hamilton Camp
 * Mary Chapin Carpenter
 * Guy Clark
 * Judy Collins
 * Dana Cooper
 * Ronny Cox
 * David Crosby
 * Rodney Crowell
 * Cypress Swamp Stompers
 * Jimmy Driftwood
 * Jonathan Edwards
 * Joe Ely
 * Deirdre Flint
 * disappear fear
 * Dixie Chicks
 * Steven Fromholz
 * Bob Gibson
 * Vance Gilbert
 * Eliza Gilkyson
 * Emmylou Harris
 * Vince Gill (as part of Bluegrass ReVue, in 1975)
 * Jimmie Dale Gilmore
 * Nanci Griffith
 * Grimalkin
 * Butch Hancock
 * Patricia Hardin
 * Carolyn Hester
 * Sara Hickman
 * Tish Hinojosa
 * Ray Wylie Hubbard
 * Janis Ian
 * The Indigo Girls
 * Flaco Jiménez
 * Jitterbug Vipers
 * Robert Earl Keen
 * Tom Kimmel
 * Jimmy LaFave
 * John A. Lomax Jr.
 * Lyle Lovett
 * Mary McCaslin
 * Mercy River Boys
 * Augie Meyers
 * Willie Nelson
 * Gary P. Nunn
 * Odetta
 * Tom Paxton
 * Peter Paul & Mary
 * Shawn Phillips
 * Willis Alan Ramsey
 * Tom Prasada Rao
 * Gamble Rogers
 * Stan Rogers (died on Air Canada Flight 797 after performing in 1983)
 * Peter Rowan
 * Tom Rush
 * Shake Russell
 * Tom Russell
 * Peter Madcat Ruth
 * Don Sanders
 * Mike Seeger
 * Martin Sexton
 * Singing Christians
 * Michael Peter Smith
 * Bill Staines
 * B. W. Stevenson
 * Eric Taylor
 * Trout Fishing in America
 * John Vandiver
 * Townes Van Zandt
 * Jerry Jeff Walker
 * Susan Werner
 * Cheryl Wheeler
 * Rusty Wier
 * Dar Williams
 * Lucinda Williams
 * Peter Yarrow
 * Steve Young
 * The Steel Wheels
 * Tim York and Michael Hawthorne as T & M Express

Archival materials

 * Kerrville Folk Festival records, 1958–2019, at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University
 * Arthur Wood: An Inventory of His Papers, 1988-2004, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library
 * Tom Frost III papers, 2000–2003, at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University
 * Southwest Regional Folk Alliance records, 1989-2017, at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University
 * Texas Heritage Music Foundation records, 1989-2017, at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University