Peter Evangelista: Porchfest is a concept that started in Ithaca, New York in 2007. It has pretty much swept the country. If you were to Google Porchfest you’ll see them in multiple cities across the U.S. It was happening in Somerville, Mass when my daughter lived in Southie. And she would speak of it so often that finally I thought, okay, let’s see if we can bring this to Providence. It is described best, I think, that someone called it a musical bar crawl. There are porches and driveways throughout Providence that will have various musical acts on, and it’s free, it’s family friendly. And people can walk from porch to porch at designated times to listen to local musicians playing their songs.
James Baumgartner: Brendan, why did you want to get involved in this?
Brendan Kinnell: Well, first off, I really love music. And I also love community. I am relatively new to Providence. And I’ve been looking for ways to connect myself to our neighborhood, as well as to have neighbors kind of connect with each other. So when Peter brought this to me as an option, it just sounded like such a perfect match to do those things. So I wanted to jump right in.
Baumgartner: Beth, what do you like about performing outside for a casual group like this instead of performing in a bar or performing in any other indoor venue?
Beth Barron: Oh, there’s definitely more of that feeling of community. And you know, when folks are walking by and just hearing it, and having this like kind of creative, safe place to share that music is like such a nice thing to be grateful for. I mean, I remember during quarantine, I live on the East Bay, and just sitting on my porch steps, just kind of playing. And I think there’s like, some camaraderie that like comes with that. So it’s a really beautiful thing, how we’re still doing that.
Kinnell: Something about the casual nature of it is really appealing. … Folks don’t have to buy a ticket. They can wander down their street and maybe run into a performance that intrigues them. They can plan out their entire day if they want to, going from spot to spot. And I think it’s just a great way for people to experience the arts in a way that is, like I said before, casual and fun.
Baumgartner: Brendan, what did you learn in putting together this festival?
Kinnell: Right, because I’ve never really put together anything like a music festival before. So what I’ve been so encouraged by is just how much music there is, period. The fact that there’s so many people that want to play, so many people that want to express themselves through music, and that there are so many people who are interested in hosting these artists, I think, is a wonderful thing. So my eyes have been opened to the world of music in Providence, and I’m really thrilled to experience it in this event and in ones that are coming on in the future.
Baumgartner: What have I not asked you about that you think is particularly interesting about this Porchfest, or the process that it came to be, or what people can see – anything like that that I haven’t asked you about?
Evangelista: We have a very diverse group of music, in that we have folk singers, we have – just some of the names that are coming, Mark Cutler who is a local musician, well, very well known. Allysen Callery is another great folk singer. Avi Jacob is coming. Lon Plynton, who is considered the godfather of New England reggae, I believe. He started the New England reggae fest. So there’s a wide range. We have barbershop quartets. We have a Hawaiian folk singer. So there’s, to me it seems very organic. You can go out listening to one type of music and then two blocks down, you’re gonna find something you didn’t even expect and stopping on that.
Baumgartner: Can we get a short performance?
Barron: Sure.
Baumgartner: All right.
Barron: Well, here’s an original called “Come Around.”
[Beth Barron plays “Come Around”]
Click here to learn more about Providence Porchfest.
