Urbana restaurants and stages will be filled with tunes of local and national folk musicians. 

The music is part of the C-U Folk and Roots Festival taking place Thursday through Saturday in various venues across Urbana. Music performances will be held in places such as the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and Pizza M restaurant.

Rob Krumm is on the committee for the festival. He has been working with a number of volunteers over the year to organize all aspects of the three-day event.

He said when it began in 2008, the intention was to unite folk musicians in ways events had done in other parts of the United States.

“A lot of us had been going to festivals in the Midwest and around the country, and we thought, why couldn’t we have a festival here in Champaign-Urbana to promote the local music scene and to bring people in,” Krumm said.

The festival attracts a mix of both national and local acts. This year they booked performers such as Chickadee Sermon, an acoustic folk trio from Champaign, and Miss Tess & the Talkbacks, a roots-rock outfit based in Nashville.

Other performers include Chicago-band Henhouse Prowlers, duo Joel Paterson and Oscar Wilson and gypsy-jazz band, Swing Chevron.

Krumm himself is looking forward to seeing Chicago Farmer, who he said is popular in town, and singer-songwriter Steve Poltz.

Beyond being just an excuse to put on live music, the festival carries with it underlying elements that can make it important for the C-U community.

Morgan Orion is the leader of the band Morgan Orion & the Afterburners, who are performing at the festival Saturday evening at the Independent Media Center in Urbana.

Orion, who now lives in New Orleans, grew up in Urbana. He believes the C-U Folk & Roots Festival is important for bringing the Champaign-Urbana community together.

“I think that any sort of festival in this town is a nice time for co-mingling between Champaign, Urbana and campustown,” Orion said.

Audience and community members are invited to become involved in ways that extend beyond listening. Krumm said the C-U Folk & Roots Festival is a participatory event.

“It’s a hands-on festival. On Saturday, there are a number of workshops that are going to be happening that happen every year. Part of our philosophy is that we want people to participate,” Krumm said. “We have workshops, there are jam sessions, we have dances … we get people involved, we get people engaged.”

Children 12 and under have no admittance fee for the entire weekend while workshops, jams, sing-alongs and all events before 5 p.m. Saturday evening are free for the general public. Workshops are on an array of music-related topics like singer self-care, songwriting and the clawhammer technique used for banjo playing.

Quin Cunningham is part of the Chicago-based traditional Irish band, Far Too Close, performing Saturday evening at Pizza M in Urbana. He said these types of festivals are vital in our society.

Cunningham said festivals such as the C-U Folk & Roots are important to musicians because they keep aspects of the American musical folk tradition alive.

“We believe festivals like the C-U Folk & Roots Festival, and others around the country, are the pump that circulates the tradition of acoustic music and storytelling to every corner of America,” Cunningham said. “They make true, real music and musicians accessible to just about everyone in every walk of life, and they inspire younger musicians and artists to keep at it.

Ben Wright, Henhouse Prowlers banjo player, agreed festivals like this one have an importance beyond just music.

“Not to sound grandiose, but folk festivals like the C-U Folk & Roots Festival are a part of our human heritage,” Wright said. “We work during the work week and use music and community to bounce back on the weekends. If you can learn a few things and dance a little at the same time, how is that not a win-win.”

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