Organizers of the Calgary Folk Music Festival have unveiled the full list of artists and bands set to perform at this year’s event.
The four-day festival will see concerts from almost 70 artists, plus food vendors, an arts market and a family zone.
Headliners include Sierra Ferrell, who will close out the mainstage on Thursday night, followed by Patrick Watson on Friday night.
On Saturday, blues rockers Los Lobos and American jazz singer Madeline Peyroux will take the stage for separate performances before Steve Earle performs with Reckless Kelly.
On Sunday night, Cake closes out the festival.
New challenges this year
Calgary Folk Festival artistic director Kerry Clarke says things like the weak Canadian dollar has had an impact on the event this year.
“(it) impacts how I juggle the budget,” Clarke said. “There’s a lot of money that just evaporates in terms of the exchange. We could book all Canadian, and we’re not opposed to that, but there’s a lot of great American artists and others that are (paid) in American dollars.”
Clarke says with a stronger Canadian dollar, there might be the opportunity to book “more artists, or a few more marquee artists.”
“It’s always a reality,” she told CTV News, “but this year, it’s just even more so.”
And it’s not just currency that’s changing things for Folk Fest; certain artists have expressed trepidation about crossing the border in either direction.
It does mean, however, some Canadian artists are more than happy to stick around and play local shows.
“We usually spend a lot of our time in the States, but things are obviously changing,” said musician Laura Hickli. “We’re not planning on renewing (our Visas) this year because of everything that’s happening, so we are going to be doing a lot more Canadian-focused tours.”
The 2025 Calgary Folk Music Festival will be held at Prince’s Island Park on July 24 to 27.
Early bird weekend passes and single-day tickets can be purchased through the Calgary Folk Fest website.
You can also view the complete 2025 lineup on the festival’s website.
