2021 Music Lineup Release
2021 Black Swamp Arts Festival Music Lineup Announced
The Black Swamp Arts Festival is excited and proud to announce its 2021 Main Stage Performing Arts Main Stage lineup. This year’s lineup showcases incredible national, international, regional, and local musical talent at the annual free festival in Bowling Green, Ohio on September 10, 11, and 12. The full lineup is listed below.
Main Stage music starts at 5 pm on Friday September 10. Arkansas native and rising outlaw country singer Ward Davis (www.warddavismusic.com) headlines Friday night. Recently selling out Route 33 Rhythm and Brews in Wapakoneta, OH, Davis is a frequent collaborator with alt-country star Cody Jinks. His 2020 album Black Cats and Crows was 2020 Album of the Year on the alt country publication Saving Country Music, and his original songs have been recorded by legends including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Sammy Kershaw. Past Black Swamp Arts Festival songstress Eilen Jewell (www.eilenjewell.com) and up and coming Americana songwriter and West Virginia native Charles Wesley Godwin (www.charleswgodwin.com) also perform.
Saturday September 11 features roots blues master Cedric Burnside (www.cedricburnside.net). Grandson of blues legend R.L. Burnside, Cedric continues to make a name for himself as a singer, guitarist, and drummer. He is a two-time Grammy nominee, and a recipient of a 2021 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Pittsburgh-based R&B and soul mega group, The Commonheart, co-headline Saturday night (www.thecommonheart.com). Known for their “leave it all on the stage” live show, the band features the incredible lead vocals of Clinton Clegg, who brings a presence and sound that evokes legends like Joe Cocker and James Brown.
Rising Americana songwriter, singer, and Cincinnati native Arlo McKinley (www.arlomckinley.com) takes the Black Swamp Arts Festival Main Stage Saturday evening. Signed to the late John Prine’s label Oh Boy Records, McKinley’s 2020 album Die Midwestern made numerous “best of” lists across many music publications. Saturday afternoon features Chicago-based Latin band Radio Free Honduras (www.radiofreehonduras.com), led by singer/guitarist Charlie Baran, who was a chart-toping musician in Honduras before moving to the United States. Up and coming rocker Suzanne Santo (www.suzannesanto.com) also performs in support of her new album “Yard Sale”, out in late August. The Cleveland Ohio native’s recent collaboration with Gary Clark Jr. was featured on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Sunday’s Main Stage lineup starts off at 11 am and features the return of rockabilly legend Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys (www.bigsandy.net). For more than three decades Big Sandy has continued to breathe new life into the classic rockabilly sounds of the 50s and 60s. Sunday also features Foghorn Stringband (www.foghornstringband.com), one of the seminal groups in the new generation of traditional old time music. Toledo’s own sacred steel group Nikki D & the Sisters of Thunder and Bowling Green-based vocal ensemble Inside Voices Acappella also perform.
2021 Black Swamp Arts Festival Main Stage – Full Lineup
Friday September 10
5:00 pm: Charles Wesley Godwin
6:30 PM: Eilen Jewell
8:10 PM: Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
10:10 PM: Ward Davis
Saturday September 11
11:30 am: La Revancha
1:00 pm: Angela C. Howell & the Happening
2:30 pm: Suzanne Santo
4:10 pm: Radio Free Honduras
5:50 pm: Arlo McKinley
7:50 pm: The Commonheart
10:00 pm: Cedric Burnside
Sunday September 12
11:00 am: Inside Voices Acappella
12:30 pm: Nikki D & the Sisters of Thunder
2:00 pm: Foghorn Stringband
3:40 pm: Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
