NATCHITOCHES – Smithfield Fair will perform at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum at 800 Front Street in downtown Natchitoches on Saturday, July 24 at 2 p.m. The performance is part of the 2021 NSU Folklife Concert Series, a series of six Saturday concerts in July and August. The concerts will highlight different folk musical traditions with a 45-minute music set followed by interviews with the musicians and an audience Q&A. Admission is free and open to the general public.
The Yvette Landry Trio will perform Cajun and classic country on July 31. San Antonio, Texas, rock artist Nina Diaz will perform on August 7. Rounding out the series, Blato Zlato (“Swamp Gold” in Bulgarian) will perform Balkan music from New Orleans and Bulgaria on August 14. In addition to the music performances, folk artists will demonstrate and sell traditional crafts on each day of the series.
For over four decades, the focus of Smithfield Fair has been harmony vocals and original songs deftly placed over acoustic instrumentation. Smithfield Fair has presented its heartfelt original music and arrangements of traditional songs across the United States on concert and festival stages; in historic venues and theatres; at large events such as the World’s Fair, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival; as well as in the most intimate coffeehouses, cafes and house concerts. “Flowers In Her Hair,” “Longships,” “James of the Glen,” “God Never Sleeps,” “Flying High” and other Smithfield Fair songs have become popular internationally through constant radio, satellite and internet airplay. Smithfield Fair continues to be a true original, creating hopeful and imaginative songs, and performing them with passion, honesty and humor.
Support for the NSU Folklife Concert Series is provided by grants from the Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc. and the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission.
For more information, call the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332, email folklife@nsula.edu, or go to louisianafolklife.nsula.edu
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Smithfield Fair. Photo by T.J. Shuflin.
