Past Bluegrass Related Events

The Zeiterion Theater presents the 23rd Annual New Bedford Folk Festival from Saturday July 7 through Sunday July 8, 2018 with an impressive lineup of the best in contemporary, Americana, traditional, blues and Celtic folk music. This year the festival includes folk legend Tom Rush, singer-songwriters Cheryl Wheeler, Garnet Rogers and John Gorka, Americana-bluegrass band Mile Twelve, the folk-fusion Laura Love Duo, Blues masters Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, Hubbie Jenkins of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the Celtic-Jazz sounds of the Jeremy Kittel Trio and many more. The New Bedford Folk Festival presents over 90 shows on 8 stages. The festival runs from 11 am to 9 pm both days and is located in the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center and throughout the 11 blocks of historic downtown New Bedford and the Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Performers are presented in concerts and in the popular festival “workshops” which feature 3 or 4 performers or groups on stage at the same time in one-time, unique shows. Thousands of people from New England and across the nation attend the festival over the weekend, making it a major destination for this summer weekend. This year’s festival promises an exciting and memorable celebration which shows the city of New Bedford at its best.

The Zeiterion Theater presents the 24th Annual New Bedford Folk Festival from Saturday July 6 through Sunday July 7, 2019 with an impressive lineup of the best in contemporary, Americana, traditional, blues and Celtic folk music. This year the festival includes Grammy Award winning Cajun band  BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Dar Williams called “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters” by The New Yorker, folk, jazz, and pop songstress Susan Werner, blues masters Chris Smither and Guy Davis, old-time and American roots music trio Molsky’s Mountain Drifters featuring Grammy-nominated fiddler Bruce Molsky, cutting edge Celtic band Bua and many more. The festival runs from 11 AM to 9 PM both days and is located in the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center and throughout the 11 blocks of historic downtown New Bedford and the Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

New Bedford, MA –The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center is pleased to present the 25th New Bedford Folk Festival with a special line-up in honor of its silver anniversary on Saturday July 9 and Sunday July 10, 2022. After a two-year delay due to the pandemic, the festival returns with a lineup of the best in contemporary, Americana, traditional, blues and Celtic folk music. To celebrate this musical milestone the festival has invited folk music legend Tom Rush, folk, jazz, and pop songstress Susan Werner, cutting edge Celtic band RUNA, Grammy nominated old time and American roots fiddlers Bruce Molsky and Tony Trischka called ”the father of modern bluegrass" by the New York Times, Native Americana blues master Cary Morin, singer-songwriters Cheryl Wheeler, Garnet Rogers, Catie Curtis and John Gorka called “the preeminent male singer-songwriter of the New Folk Movement” by Rolling Stone, award winning French-Canadian group Musique à bouches and many more