From the fears and concerns of a young girl, to the hopelessness of unrelenting poverty, to the laissez-faire attitude of a woman in the twilight of her life, Gretchen Peters creates characters that everyone can relate to. That’s a gift and it’s one displayed most prominently on her new album, Dancing with the Beast. She shared thoughts about the record and music from it during her exclusive session at this year’s 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida.

Lilly Winwood describes her 2017 debut EP, ‘Silver Stage' as her “coming of age album,” and tells us about it in an exclusive Folk Alley Session performance recorded at the 2018 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida.

Mary Gauthier joined Folk Alley for an exclusive session at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida. Here she talks about working alongside combat veterans and with the SongwritingWith: Soldiers organization to share their experiences. Listen to the interview and watch performances of songs from her latest release, Rifles and Rosary Beads.

In August 2018, we traveled to the Tønder Festival in the southern region of Denmark to film live session videos in collaboration with Folk Spot Denmark. Folk Spot is a support organization whose mission is to promote Danish roots, folk, and traditional music to the rest of the world. These six acts (of the eight selected by Folk Spot) reflect the unique variety of styles and cultural influences within the genre of Danish Folk and Roots music.

Kaia Kater was born into the folk music scene. Her mother is a festival director and she learned to play clawhammer banjo at age 11 from Mitch Podolak (founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival). Now, the Canadian native is studying the Appalachian folk traditions in West Virginia and connecting with the work of a range of artists - from old-time musician Dom Flemons to hitmaker Kendrick Lemar. A star in the making, Kaia stopped by the studios of Beehive Productions in Saranac Lake, New York to play a few songs from her debut release, 'Sorrow Bound.'

Sarah Lee Guthrie has been on stage almost since birth. But she has never been up there alone. She started (and still performs) with her father, Arlo, and the rest of her talented family. Sarah Lee partnered with her husband, Johnny Irion, and even though they had great success, there was a folky voice that wanted to be heard. Now, she's out solo for the first time, giving full and glorious attention to the folk music that is her birthright. She sat down with Folk Alley at the 2017 30A Songwriters Festival to play some songs and talk about this exciting new turn in her life.

John Gorka is one of folk music's most respected and beloved singer/songwriters, representing the bridge generation between the Folk Revival and the rise of Americana. Finding his footing at the venerable Godfrey Daniels coffeehouse while a student at Moravian College, Gorka quickly drew attention with his quiet stage presence and deeply personal songs. Folk Alley caught up with John at the 2017 30A Songwriters Festival for an exclusive Folk Alley Session.

The rain was coming down hard one day in April in Upper Jay, New York. And that’s the day Ana Egge, along with Alec Spiegelman (keyboards, bass clarinet) and Dave Cole (drums) showed up to play songs from her album, White Tiger, at the pop-up studio our friends at Beehive Productions Studio set up at The Recovery Lounge.

The duo Anna and Elizabeth (Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle) came to Beehive Productions studio in Saranac Lake, New York ready to share thoughts about and music from their new album, The Invisible Comes to Us. But maybe even more importantly, Anna and Elizabeth talked about the importance of preserving musical traditions from the past, bringing them into the present, and working hard to ensure that they’ll still be around in the future.

The Mastersons (Eleanor Whitmore and Chris Masterson) shared some of the influences and stories behind their 2017 release, Transient Lullaby during their exclusive Folk Alley Session at this year’s 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida.