“Beyond A Simple Folk Song” Concert 2025
The Hudson Valley Folk Guild will presenting its annual “Beyond a Simple Folk Song” concert on Saturday, July 19, 2025, 7:30pm, at the Unitarian Universalist , 67 S. Randolph Avenue, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
This year we are excited to feature David Roth and Pat Wictor! This will be the first time these well seasoned, touring artists have collaborated on a show playing together! This promises to be a great adventure in creativity as they develop genre-bending possibilities for each of their songs. These collaborations will most certainly be memorable and go well beyond the scope of a simple folk song!
We are also very pleased to present Pat Lamanna who will be dedicating her set to the memory of Lyn Burnstine. Lyn was an accomplished and much-loved Hudson Valley folk singer and concert presenter. She was also a stalwart member of the Folk Guild. Pat will present many songs they have performed together, as well as a couple of songs that Pat wrote about Lyn.
Tickets are $15, general admission. For more information, call 845-229-0170.
“Beyond a Simple Folk Song” was conceived in 2009 to be an annual concert of music that challenges the more experienced and advanced singer/songwriters and musicians to venture out of their comfort zones and stretch their craft beyond the typical constructs and scope of a song. Some examples of how past performers have embraced the “Beyond” concept include “The Hudson River Folk Symphony” for chamber orchestra and folk group, a set dedicated to the Piedmont Blues, a “Folk” String Quartet, various narrated vignettes with accompanying songs, various song cycles dedicated to particular subjects, and an arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue” for solo guitar.
David Roth strikes many chords, hearts, and minds with his unique songs, offbeat observations, moving stories, sense of the hilarious, and powerful singing and subject matter. As singer, songwriter, recording artist, keynote speaker, workshop leader, and instructor, David has earned top honors at premier songwriter competitions – Kerrville (TX) and Falcon Ridge (NY) – and taken his music, experience, and expertise to a wide variety of venues in this and other countries full-time for three decades.
Pat Wictor is a contemporary songwriter and interpreter drawing on the rural country, gospel, and blues traditions of our nation. Steeped in American “roots” music, Pat first burst on the folk and acoustic scene as an innovative slide guitarist known for fresh and memorable interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs. He has since made his mark as a singer-songwriter penning lean and poetic songs that honor – and subvert – rural blues and gospel traditions.
Pat Lamanna has been writing and performing songs all her adult life. Her songs have a strong folk influence, and cover issues such as peace, religion and the environment. One of her songs, “Peace Pilgrim,” is featured in part on Pete Seeger’s Grammy-nominated album, “The Storm King.” She has three solo albums: “Full Circle”, “Do I Know My Song Well Enough to Start Singing Yet?”, and “Something Beautiful”. Pat was the 2019 winner of the South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Contest.