Last year, the festival went hybrid, with a handful of socially distanced in-person concerts at the MSA Annex and a drive-in stage at Park Place mall, and livestreamed events.
A singer performs on the Plaza Stage in El Presidio Park during the annual Tucson Folk Festival, held downtown.
“We were the first music festival that I was aware of to come back post-COVID,” said Matt Rolland, who oversees the festival as president of the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association. “This year we’re excited to be back downtown, returning to this familiar location. It will definitely have a familiar feel.”
The songwriting competition showcase kicks off the 2022 festival at 6:30 p.m. Friday on the Hotel Congress outdoor plaza stage, featuring performances by the finalists of the annual songwriting competition named after longtime Tucson singer-songwriter Stefan George. George died in 2015 at age 62.
“We’re excited. I think it’s going to be a big year for the festival,” Rolland said. “We’ve just got an amazing variety that really represents” the genre.
National acts from all over the country including Curley Taylor from Louisiana, New York City singer-songwriter Brett Altman and California singer-songwriter Simon Lunche are sprinkled in with a heavy dose of Tucson acts of all shades of acoustic music: