Three beloved hometown Roots bands coming together for “pop up” mini festival drawing on the Harry Smith canon! Harry Smith was a visionary artist, filmmaker, provocateur, mystic, and collector of all things — including pre-war 78 rpm recordings of American rural country and blues music that was compiled into the 1950s Anthology of American Folk Music which proved a profound influence on American country, rock and roll and popular music. Join us as three great Americana bands play individual sets featuring songs off of the Anthology. The Harry Smith “Pop-up” Festival – a cool opportunity for three cool bands to come together and give thanks for some amazing roots and Americana music.
The Chicken Tractor Deluxe has been playing for twenty years all over Central Pennsylvania and New York. Organizers of the previous Harry Smith Festivals at Elk Creek, their sound is deeply rooted in American rural and roots music of the last 100 years, and especially the Harry Smith Anthology.
The Wild Shoats is made of of Millheim phenoms, Gus and Huck Tritsch plus compatriots for Morgantown West Virginia, Mary Linscheid and Alex Heflin, the Wild Shoats call on their collective background of Appalachian old-time fiddling, folk songs, and the high-lonesome to reimagine the songs and sounds of their home. The Wild Shoats won the Appalachian String Band Music Festival’s Neo-Traditional Band Competition in 2023, just a few months after the band’s formation, and they released their stunning debut album, Yell In The Shoats, in early 2025.
Ma’am is high energy rotating cast of central Pennsylvanian honky-tonkers playing their own style of outlaw alt-country, greasy garage rock and country junk. Led by primary cat herders, Araelia Lopatic and Tiger Cabus, Ma’am blurs the transect between country and punk creating their own unique sound and sensibility — and they have been the driving force behind the annual Burning Ma’am festival in Woodward.
This will be a unique and not-to-be-missed event. All three bands have worked and played together, have influenced each other, and draw deep from the same musical well. Expect some amazing music and unpredictable cross-pollination as these bands hit the stage.
$15