2025 Hudson West Fest to Take Place September 13th
originally published: 06/10/2025
(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- The Hudson West Fest is excited to announce the lineup for its 8th annual roots music festival and is sweetening the pot with the news that all ticket fees will be dropped this year. The event will occur on Saturday, September 13, 2025, and will feature 10 music performers on both indoor and outdoor stages. The expanded street fair will include vendors, artisans, family activities, and dancing. The organizers will also present four music-based workshops (topics to be announced soon) at no cost. An indoor bar and food options will be available to the public.
The day-long festival will feature Americana, bluegrass, folk, and ethnic roots performers. Headlining the event will be Grammy nominee Amythyst Kiah, additional performers include Quadrature from Brooklyn Raga Massive, Dori Freeman, Christina Courtin, Alice Howe with Freebo, Niall Connolly, Elena and Boo's American Family Jamboree, with more artists on the outdoor stage to be announced soon.
Singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah taught herself how to play guitar at 13 and studied bluegrass and roots music at East Tennessee State University. A formidable talent, her breakthrough album Wary + Strange landed her on Rolling Stone’s list of the 25 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2021. Adding to her list of accolades includes earning a Grammy nomination for her powerhouse anthem “Black Myself.”
Her follow-up, Still + Bright, compelled her towards a profound shift in her artistry. “On the last record it felt so cathartic to write about all the pain I was dealing with, but this time the songs came from a place of finding joy in the music,” says Kiah.
The latest turn in her dynamic career includes joining Our Native Daughters, an all-women-of-color supergroup also featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell.
Quadrature from Brooklyn Raga Missive is a musical powerhouse that ventures into uncharted territories at the intersection of raga, rock, jazz and psychedelia. The quartet features the mesmerizing sitar and effects of Neel Murgai, alongside the innovative Firebird trumpet and effects of Indofunk Satish, the rhythmic brilliance of Tripp Dudley on drum set, and the deep grooves of Damon Banks on bass.
Emerging from the legendary Brooklyn Raga Massive jam sessions, Quadrature began their journey with fully improvised sets rooted in ragas, captivating audiences on the streets of Brooklyn. In 2023, they were artists in residence at David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at The Pocantico Center, where they further developed their sound and arrangements. They have performed at Globalfest at Lincoln Center, Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works, Levitt Pavilion, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, DromNYC and more. Inspired by their name, which derives from mathematics and astronomy, Quadrature delves into experimental realms of black hole blues and intricate melodies to create a distinctive sound for this time and space. Look out for their debut album in fall 2025.
Brooklyn Raga Massive is an adventurous nonprofit musicians' collective that creates cross-cultural understanding through the lens of South Asian classical music by providing direct support to artists, fostering collaboration through our iconic concerts and jam sessions, facilitating cultural exchange through educational initiatives, and producing transcendent, and often massive, performances, festivals, and one-of-a-kind albums.
Dori Freeman has sharpened her vision of Appalachian Americana over five studio albums. From the country traditionalism of her self-titled debut to the amplified folk of Ten Thousand Roses, it's a sound that nods to her mountain-town roots even as it reaches beyond them. Freeman continues creating her own musical geography with Do You Recall, the songwriter's most eclectic -- and electric -- record yet.
"I grew up in a family that played a lot of traditional music, but my dad played a lot of other types of music for me, too," says Freeman, who grew up in rural Galax, Virginia. "I'd go to fiddlers’ conventions, but I'd also watch my dad play jazz, swing, country, and rock & roll. He was a big fan of singer-songwriters. I think that variety has a lot to do with the way my own songwriting has developed."
After traveling to New York City to record her first three albums with producer Teddy Thompson (son of folk-rock icons Richard and Linda Thompson), Freeman chose to stay in Virginia to record her next two albums, Ten Thousand Roses and Do You Recall, working out of a small timber-framed recording studio in her backyard, tracking songs during the daytime hours while her daughter attended school. Grounded in sharp songwriting and layered with electric guitar, organ, pedal steel, percussion, and vocal harmonies, Do You Recall finds Freeman delivering tales about motherhood, marriage, and life in modern-day Appalachia in a way that both reaffirms her roots and reaches past them. Freeman does her best work in those gray areas, bringing her own color to a sound that's varied, versatile, and unmistakably her own.
Christina Courtin’s latest release, Situation Station, recorded four years after her critically acclaimed first album, Varsity, can best be described as a tapestry of her musical and life experiences. As she weaves together her dual worlds, the singer-songwriter and classically trained violinist guide listeners through somber plains and heartbreak, all the while surrounding them with warmth, joy, and hope.
“This record is incredibly special to me because it was created by and with so many musicians who are a big part of my life on a daily basis,” she explains. “We recorded the orchestra tracks in Chicago with The Knights” (a group Courtin helped establish back in 2001 during her early days at Juilliard). This celebration of history and community lies at the core of her record, including the title track, which evokes a nostalgia for the comfort of family.
In addition to her solo work, Courtin and Michael LaValle started a band called Pilot Violet that released a record in 2016 called Nite Farm. She has also been a collaborator and side player to many artists and groups, most recently including Bonnie Prince Billy, Planetarium, Doyle Bramhall II, Lee Ann Womack, Nico Muhly, Dr. Dog, Lisa Loeb, Sara Barellies, and the Buffalo Philharmonic.
Christina is a featured soloist for the films Chappaquiddick and Free State of Jones, and occasionally writes music for This American Life. As an educator, she has led a Songwriting Composition Seminar at Dartmouth College for undergraduates as well as an Independent Study for graduate students, and was also a teaching fellow and performer at Sing-Sing Correctional Facility through the Musical Connections Program at Carnegie Hall.
“As a Smith College graduate in Seattle, Alice Howe found herself with a medieval European history degree working in the Dusty Strings Music Store, camping on the weekends and playing local gigs. She was comfortable, but an inner restlessness stirred, and her life took a momentous turn when she moved back to her hometown, broke off a longtime relationship and threw herself into being a musician, releasing a five-track EP which yielded a top song on folk radio.
While attending the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference, she met Freebo, Bonnie Raitt’s bass player and a prolific Los Angeles musician who has accompanied numerous roots music legends including Maria Muldaur, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr and Dr. John. Alice made an impression, and a friendship formed leading to a musical partnership.
Soon thereafter came Alice’s 2019 album, Visions–a “modern love letter to ‘60s and ‘70s folk and timeless blues.” The release featured both originals and her interpretations of songs from the family record collection that shaped her musical consciousness.
Another chance encounter with renowned guitarist Will McFarlane led to a recording session at the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio to lay down tracks for her latest album, Circumstance. Here, Alice’s deeply personal lyrics chronicle a journey of grief, reflection, discovery and renewal.
1977. The year that punk was born. With only hours left to spare it also produced a baby boy in the suburbs of Cork, Ireland, Niall Connolly - born with his ears piqued to the murmurs and clatter around him. As he grew the soundtrack changed. Nirvana on the Walkman. Leonard Cohen on his sister’s stereo. The surge of bands and songwriters emerging from the 1990’s Cork music scene. Later it became snippets of eavesdropped New York conversation. Tales of woe on the radio. The sights and sounds of tours across Europe. All of it gets woven into a tapestry of words. Then melody. Harmonies added in the studio. Electricity, sincerity, and humor on the stage. At the core of every Niall Connolly song is the story, one that unfolds a layer with each listen.
No Depression magazine hails him as “among the most vibrant, poignant, and authentic indie folk artists in New York City," and the Irish Independent calls him “Deeply passionate. Engaging songs that are very much in the vein of early Dylan and showcase the strength of his voice and the potency of his words.” Among other high praise from the press includes this review by Arena, RTÉ Radio 1’s Arts Show: “An absolutely beautiful collection of songs… I was gobsmacked by the quality of the songwriting… accomplished composition and arrangements.”
Hoboken/NYC-based Americana Family Jamboree is fun for kids of all ages, but safe for grown-ups! Often performed with a caller who leads an open square dance, the Jamboree provides an opportunity for Elena Skye and Boo Reiners to connect with a family-friendly audience in a more interactive way after many years paying their dues in the bar scene of the Greater New Jersey and New York City area.
Elena and Boo’s paths first crossed at a bookstore in Hoboken, N.J. Their after-hours jams at nearby pubs led them to form The Demolition String Band, and they soon found themselves part of an emerging bluegrass, country and roots music scene, playing every Monday night as part of The Alphabet City Opry in the East Village and appearing regularly on WKCR’s Moonshine Show. Elena made frequent appearances as guest deejay hosting segments such as Women In Bluegrass and The Roots of Country.
The duo worked on an episode of The Upright Citizen’s Brigade weekly show on Comedy Central, promoting the series on The Conan O’Brien with Amy Poehler. Their original music has been used in the PBS show “History Detectives” and for the documentary film “Burning The Future: Coal In America.” Elena’s co-write with Woody Guthrie, “Go Coney Island Roll On The Sand,” was included in the 2014 Grammy nominated project “My Name Is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town.”
Elena and Boo love connecting with fans everywhere they go. The notoriety and critical acclaim they’ve received for both the Demolition String Band and the Americana Family Jamboree has been earned the honest way — one gig at a time.
Vendor Opportunities: The HWF is seeking vendors to partner for the event. There are no fees to participate. All partners will be considered with music, arts, family, and interactive vendors given priority. Contact HWFvendor@gmail.com for more information.
ADA: Festival venues and bathrooms are wheelchair accessible.
Presented by The Hudson West Fest, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission statement reads, "To grow and maintain a culture of roots music in Hudson County via year-round musical performances, educational, and community programs."
The HWF public programs occur at no cost thanks to support from Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development, the Hudson County Executive & the Hudson County Board of County Commissioners.
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