Lineup For New York's Clearwater Festival Set
Arlo Guthrie to Headline Great Hudson River Revival
May 19, 2009
The lineup of performers is ready for this year’s Great Hudson River Revival, better known as the Clearwater Festival. Set for June 20th and 21st, at Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, the Clearwater Festival will be headlined by music legend Arlo Guthrie. Also headlining the show are Richie Havens, Susan Tedeschi, Old Crow Medicine Show, and of course the festival’s founder, Pete Seeger.
Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, and Susan Tedeschi to Perform at Clearwater Festival
It is only fitting that Arlo Guthrie should be headlining the Clearwater Festival the year of Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday. Pete Seeger and Arlo’s father, Woody Guthrie, were good friends for many years and band mates for a time in The Almanac Singers. Pete Seeger even performed at young Arlo’s Bar Mitzvah.
Another cohort of the 60’s, Richie Havens, will also be headlining. Havens is a resident of the Hudson Valley, and is well known in the area. To non-New Yorkers, Richie Havens is better known as the opening act of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where he blew the proverbial doors off the barn with his rendition of “Freedom.”
Susan Tedeschi is one of the finest blues musicians in modern times, known for her incredibly powerful singing voice. While she often performs with her husband, guitarist Derek Trucks (son of deceased Allman Brother Butch Trucks) under the name, Soul Stew Revival, at Clearwater she will be performing on her own.
Many Others To Perform at Clearwater Festival
The two main stages (not including dance tents, the family stage, etc) at the Clearwater Festival (the Hudson Stage and the Rainbow Stage, located on opposite ends of Croton Park) will be packed with talent from many different genres. Some of the notables are:
- Grace Potter and the Nocturnals-- Indie pop rising stars to watch
- Old Crow Medicine Show-- Progressive bluegrass from Ithaca, New York
- The Persuasions-- A cappella group with a 40+ year history
- Allison Moorer-- Americana singer-songwriter, wife of Steve Earle and sister of Shelby Lynne
- Alejandro Escovedo-- Acclaimed singer-songwriter
- Mike and Ruthie-- Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar, formerly of the Mammals
- Tao Rodriguez-Seeger-- Pete’s grandson, formerly of the Mammals
- Dr. Dog-- Unique Indie Pop band.
History of Clearwater: Great Hudson River Revival
The Clearwater Festival began (and still is) a fundraiser first and music festival second. In the mid sixties, Pete Seeger began to collect money through shows “to build a boat to save the river.” The Hudson River, so long a victim of industrialization, had become a river of chemicals and sewage. With the money from these impromptu concerts and hootenannies, Seeger started Clearwater, and bought the namesake sloop to bring environmental awareness to the Hudson Valley.
The first Clearwater Festival at Croton Point Park was held in 1978, and except for a decade break in that time due to pollution issues in 1988, has always been there.
This year’s Clearwater Festival promises to be a special event. Not only is it Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday (actually May, 3rd), it is also the 400th aniversary of Henry Hudson discovering the river that now carries his name-- a river that Clearwater has tried so dutifully to protect.
Works Cited
www. Clearwater.org
The NPR Curious Listeners' Guide to American Folk. Kip Lornell.
Folk Music USA: The Changing Voice of Protest. Ronald D. Lankford Jr.
www. ny400.org
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