The Montana Folk Festival returns Friday to Uptown Butte, offering a weekend of free music performances across six stages and much more.
The free event traces its origins to the storied National Folk Festival.
Audience members dance to a performance during the Montana Folk Festival at the Granite Street stage on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
JOSEPH SCHELLER The Montana Standard
In 1938, W. C. Handy, known as the “Father of the Blues,” made his first appearance on a desegregated stage at a National Folk Festival held in Washington, D.C.
A history of the National Folk Festival reports, “The festival presented black and white performers every year — and got away with it. How the festival managed this remains unclear to this day, but its organizers seem to have simply ignored the prohibition and the Daughters of