Get ready to get down: Lowell Folk Festival musicians bring diverse sounds - Lowell Sun
July 25, 2024
LOWELL — Twenty-two unique performers from different corners of the world will be converging at the 37th annual Lowell Folk Festival this weekend, bringing an immense variety of sounds, genres and personalities to the event.
Many of these performers are the musicians who will provide the main source of entertainment for the festival, with the closest group coming from Boston and the furthest coming from São Paulo, Brazil, to play during the three-day affair.
“We really love the atmosphere and the camaraderie of bringing so many different types of music together and so many different generations of people,” said Sugaray Rayford, a blues musician from Los Angeles.
Rayford’s band, a seven-piece group, aims to celebrate that diversity by bringing a wide range of musical styles to the event. Rayford seeks to turn the blues into a celebration, aided by the addition of a horn section and a Hammond B3 organ. Rayford said they additionally plan on incorporating elements of gospel, soul, funk, R&B, jazz and even country music into their act.
Rayford’s band, while certainly ambitious, is not alone in that mission. Texas country musician Jesse Daniel cannot help but emphasize the variety of influences he will be bringing to the festival stage.
“We’ll be able to kind of pick and choose and do something different for every set with slight variations,” said Daniel. “We’re going to try to work out some things that are more centered on the Bakersfield stuff, some sets that are a little bit more focused on some of that Texas dancehall stuff, even going into western swing and blues stuff. And we’ll throw in a little bit of bluegrass here and there.”
READ MORE:
