Here’s our jam-packed 2023 Old Songs Festival Schedule of over 150 workshops, sessions, and performances! Time to study up and plan your festival. Some hard choices ahead for you, we know. The program is always subject to change. We’ll updating it if the schedule changes, a little here or there.
A printable full-schedule GRID is now available!
New this year: Start your Old Songs weekend early with our expanded lineup on Friday Afternoon, featuring performances, classes, a jam, and a dance.
Also, Check out the new Hands-On! area. Learn about Maritime history, including the music of the sea, and try out different skills with Dirty Blue Shirts!
Open Mic
4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
with Kate Blain - Where the applause is for you!
Rope Making
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn how to twist fibers into ropes.
Maritime Skills
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & more!
Rope Making
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn how to twist fibers into ropes.
Friday Evening Main Stage Concert
June 23, 2023, 6:30 pm – 11:00 pm
with MCs John Kirk & Trish Miller
Forty Degrees South, Matt & Kim Watroba, Andy Cohen, Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen, Tret Fure, Grosse Isle, Anne Hills & Al Power, Scott Ainslie, and Jim Gaudet & the Railroad Boys
Late Night Contra Dance
11:00 pm – 1:00 am
with Gaslight Tinkers and caller Ben Sachs-Hamilton
Celtic Jam
11:00 pm – 1:00 am
Sheep Barn
with Cantrip
Earth Songs
10:00 am – 11:00 am
with Magpie*, Tret Fure, Geoff Kaufman, and Anne Hills
Discovering Traditions
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
with The Vox Hunters* & Flannery Brown, Jake Blount, and Alex Cumming
55 is No Limit
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
with Steve Gillette, Anne Hills, and Magpie
Open Mic
4:15 pm – 6:00 pm
with Kate Blain
Maritime
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
with Geoff Kaufman*, Chris Koldewey, and Forty Degrees South
String Traditions
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
with Jake Blount*, Evie Ladin, Guy Davis, Bruce Molsky, and Scott Ainslie
Newfoundland
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
with Anita Best* & Pamela Morgan, and Rum Ragged
Advancing Trad
11:15 am – 12:15 pm
with Sara Milonovich* & Daisycutter, and The Gawler Sisters with Ethan Tischler & Bennett Konesni
Celtic Diaspora
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
with Grosse Isle*, Cantrip, and John Kirk & Trish Miller
Voices in Harmony
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
with Windborne*, and The Gawler Sisters with Ethan Tischler & Bennett Konesni
Norma Waterson Tribute
4:15 pm – 5:30 pm
with Heather Wood*, John Roberts, Anita Best & Pamela Morgan, Windborne, Forty Degrees South, Low Lily, Martin Carthy
Sláinte!
10:00 am – 11:00 am
with Cantrip*, Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman
Uplifiting Voices
11:15 am – 11:15 am
with Matt Watroba*, Tret Fure, Windborne, and Magpie
Smokin’ Guitar
12:30 pm – 12:30 pm
with Scott Ainslie*, Beppe Gambetta, Chris Newman, and Martin Carthy
Women in Song
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
with Tret Fure*, Sara Grey & Kieron Means, Anita Best & Pamela Morgan,and Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter
Dead Horse Ceremony
10:00 am – 10:30 am
Dirty Blue Shirts — Not a real dead horse but a ceremony sailors held when their debts to the ship's company were paid off.
Maritime Skills
10:30 am – 12:15 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & more!
Rope Making
12:15 pm – 12:45 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn how to twist fibers into ropes.
Maritime Skills
12:45 pm – 2:30 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & more!
Rope Making
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn how to twist fibers into ropes.
Maritime Skills
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & more!
Dogwatch
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — how did sailors get free time on board ship and what did they do with it?
Fam Jam!
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
with The Gaslight Tinkers
Jug Band
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
with Ron Gordon
Sea Songs
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
with Deirdre & Sean Murtha
Flowing Contras
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
with Cloud Ten and caller Ben Sachs-Hamilton
Blues Jam
10:00 am – 11:00 am
with Andy Cohen & Scott Ainslie
Uke Jam
11:15 am – 12:15 pm
with Ron Gordon
Old Time Jam
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
with Bruce Molsky and George Wilson
This ’n that Jam
4:15 pm – 5:15 pm
with The Vox Hunters & Flannery Brown — all instruments welcome. Hey, we've got a cello!
Open Jam
10:00 am – 12:15 pm
with Curt Osgood & Howard Blumenthal
Sing Along
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
with The Folk Song Society of Greater Boston
Saturday Evening Main Stage Concert
June 24, 2023, 6:30 pm – 11:00 pm
with MC John Roberts
Anita Best & Pamela Morgan, Bruce Molsky, Low Lily, Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman, Guy Davis, Rum Ragged, Jake Blount, Beppe Gambetta, and Cantrip
Late Night Contra Dance
11:00 pm – 1:00 am
with Cloud Ten and caller Alex Cumming
String Jam
11:00 pm – 1:00 am
Sheep Barn
with Sara Grey & Kieron Means
Mixed Tongues
10:45 am – 11:45 am
with Beppe Gambetta*, Anita Best /Pamela Morgan, Armand Aromin
Take Action
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
with Tret Fure*, Geoff Kaufman, Magpie
Banjo in Song
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
with Anne Hills*, Evie Ladin, John Roberts, Sara Grey & Kieron Means
Clawhammer!
10:45 am – 11:45 am
with Evie Ladin*, Scott Ainslie, Sara Grey*& Kieron Means, and Bruce Molsky
Sea & Shore Ballads
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm
with Anita Best & Pamela Morgan, John Roberts, Chris Koldewey, and Geoff Kaufman
Free the Reeds!
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
with Alex Cumming, Dan Houghton of Cantrip, Fiachra O'Regan of Grosse Isle, Sonnich Lydom of Gangspil
Gospel Sing
10:45 am – 10:45 am
with Matt Watroba, Andy Cohen, Guy Davis, Anne Hills
Tribute to Mick Moloney
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
with John Roberts*, Andy Cohen, Heather Wood, Sara Grey & Kieron Means, Low Lily, and Bruce Molsky
Lighten Up
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
with The Vox Hunters* & Flannery Brown, Geoff Kaufman, and Steve Gillette
Down East-ish
9:30 am – 10:30 am
with The Gawler Sisters with Ethan Tischler & Bennett Konesni, and The Vox Hunters & Flannery Brown
A Capella Song
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
with Windborne* and Forty Degrees South
North Country Country
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm
with Jim Gaudet & the Railroad Boys*, Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter
Dead Horse Ceremony
10:30 am – 11:00 am
Dirty Blue Shirts — Not a real dead horse but a ceremony sailors held when their debts to the ship's company were paid off.
Maritime Skills
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & more!
Rope Making
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn how to twist fibers into ropes.
Maritime Skills
1:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & more!
Dogwatch
2:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — how did sailors get free time on board ship and what did they do with it?
Maritime Skills
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Dirty Blue Shirts — learn canvaswork, ropework, netting, knotting, knitting, chantey singing & the Dead Horse Ceremony!
English Country Dance
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
with Pamela Goddard, Cedar Stanistreet, Donal Sheets, and Alan Thomson
Ukulele
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm
with Ron Gordon
Fiddle Jam
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
with John Kirk, George Wilson,
Jammin‘
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
with Low Lily & Magpie,
Open Jam
10:00 am – 11:30 am
with Howard Blumenthal & Curt Osgood
Sunday Afternoon Main Stage Concert
June 25, 2023, 3:45 pm – 7:00 pm
with MC Chris Koldewey
Lost & Found with Roger the Jester
Gangspil, The Vox Hunters & Flannery Brown, The Gawler Sisters with Bennett Konesni & Ethan Tischler, Geoff Kaufman, Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter, and Windborne
