The Buzz: Folk

Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival : Connecticut may not seem like a bluegrass hive, but this is a beloved festival, known for its deft melding of traditional and modern pickin' and grinnin'. Headliners include Rhonda Vincent, Nickel Creek's Chris Thile, Dry Branch Fire Squad, and the Grascals. There are also up-close workshops, instruction for kids and adults, and a special "picker's lot" for nonstop jamming. May 31-June 3, Preston, Conn., 860-886-1944, www.strawberrypark .net.

New Bedford Summerfest : If not the finest folk festival in New England, this may be the front-parlor friendliest. Its lineup covers the folk waterfront, from urban songwriters to chantey singers, Celtic bands to folk rockers. But the real stars are tantalizing, small-stage workshops, bringing diverse acts together to swap songs on themes such as "You're Shaking My Confidence Daily: Songs for and About Women," "Like an Angel Made of Tin: Songs for and About Men," and the eternally pesky "Is Life Just a Bowl of Cherries?" Headliners include Patty Larkin, the Kennedys, Vance Gilbert, trad treasure Michael Cooney, Irish accordion powerhouse John Whelan, and actor-singer Ronny Cox. July 7-8, downtown New Bedford, 508-999-5231, newbedfordsummerfest.com.

Lowell Folk Festival : This is the most traditional of New England's folk fetes, but it applies a very hip definition of "traditional." It does not present ancient styles, but artists who perform the real music of their communities, ethnic groups, vocations, or faiths. The result is a bopping block party, full of high-gear dance bands, rollicking fiddlers, and get-down boogie bands. Highlights include Irish sensation Eileen Ivers, Brazil's Forro for All, Texas honky-tonker James Hand (inset), the Congolese Wacongo Dance Company, and spellbinding Lakota dancer-flutist Kevin Locke. July 27-29, downtown Lowell, 978-970-5000, lowellfolk festival.org.

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival : The secret to this festival's success is the sameness of its lineup. It trades less on stars du jour than a neighborhood of rotating regulars, who return every year or two. Old friends Dar Williams, Eddie from Ohio, the Nields, Lucy Kaplansky, and Jimmy LeFave hobnob with newer faces Eilen Jewell, Pat Wictor, and fast-rising trio Red Molly, who met at a Falcon Ridge campfire singalong. July 26-29, Dodd s Farm, Hillsdale, N.Y., 866-325-2744, falconridgefolk.com.

Newport Folk Festival : Like its storied '60s incarnations, Newport displays the precise junction where folk substreams meet the pop mainstream. Headliners include Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Alejandro Escovedo, Ralph Stanley, John Butler, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. They always invite one act bound to raise purist eyebrows, and this year it's the Allman Brothers. The question is, are they there because they've always been kind of rootsy, or are they simply old enough to be considered traditional? Aug. 3-5, Newport Casino and Fort Adams State Park, Newport, R.I., 401-847-3700, newportfolk .com.

SCOTT ALARIK