A festival on the lakefront

Evanston Folk Festival returns to Dawes Park for a third year on Sept. 12-13, set right on the lakefront at 1700 Sheridan Rd.

Who is headlining

Indigo Girls and Trampled by Turtles top the bill, with Sierra Hull, Valerie June, Josh Ritter and Kathleen Edwards also playing across the two days.

Kelly Hogan's door-to-door mission

Singer Kelly Hogan describes her Roses for the Roches project as evangelism, going house to house to convert people to a sister trio she loves.

“Once you get the Roches fever, you just want to go ringing doorbells, like ding-dong, have you heard this good s, -?”

Who the Roches were

Terre, Maggie and Suzzy Roche were a harmonizing sister trio from New Jersey, widely treated as heroines of 1970s folk.

A Chicago cast for the tribute

Hogan, based in Wisconsin but long part of the Chicago scene, is joined by Flat Five bandmate Nora O'Connor and Sima Cunningham of the indie rock band Finom.

Hogan's Chicago resume

Her collaborations run through Mavis Staples, Andrew Bird and Neko Case, which is part of why the tribute reads as a local project rather than an import.

Working through the city

Roses for the Roches played its first show at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square in 2017 and the Hideout in West Town last year. Evanston is Sunday.

The case for the harmonies

Hogan points to songs like "Hammond Song" and "Losing True" as proof of what made the sisters matter, both the vocal blend and how complicated the arrangements got.

“the importance of harmony … and had such complexity in the arrangements”

Famous people noticed

Paul Simon, Robert Fripp and Linda Ronstadt all worked with the Roches. The group effectively ended in 2017 when Maggie died of breast cancer.

Suzzy gave her blessing

The tribute group met Suzzy Roche a few years ago through Lucy Wainwright Roche and got her full support. She still sends sheet music when they need it.

“Suzzy's been incredibly supportive … nothing but positive and helpful”

Why the booker said yes

Talent booker Jake Samuels, also music director for SPACE and other 16" on Center venues, had featured all three singers on his stages for years.

“It's such a perfect storm of all of our favorites”

Chicago roots on purpose

Beyond the local acts on stage, Samuels wanted the weekend to explain where this music came from in Chicago, not just book names that sell tickets.

“shine a light on various aspects of Chicago's musical roots and history”

Archive footage on screen

A video featurette pulls from archivist Joe Lauro's footage of John Prine, Steve Goodman, Sam Cooke, Howlin' Wolf and Curtis Mayfield.

Talks in the tent

Saturday's Chicago Public Media tent covers the history of Chicago gospel, plus a "Playing with Prine" panel with harmonica and keys player Howard Levy and drummer Angelo Varias.

The Roches panel

NPR's Ann Powers moderates "The Roches and Their Disciples" on Sunday with Hogan, O'Connor, Cunningham and Lucy Wainwright Roche, who also joins the tribute set.

Prine everywhere you look

A Sunday aftershow at SPACE plays "Bruised Orange" in full with special guests, timed weeks before Prine's 80th birthday shows at the Chicago Theatre and Old Town School.

Why Prine anchors it

Samuels says the festival grew out of a scene that raised Prine, so he turns up somewhere every year, in a banner quote, a cover from the stage, or a panel.

“There's always some element of John Prine in what we do”

Built to feel old

Organizers want a festival that feels like it has always been there, translating nearly 20 years of SPACE's listening room into something that works outdoors at scale.

Catching artists early

Sierra Ferrell played year one in 2023 before her career took off. The team scouts at events like the Folk Alliance International Conference to find the next one.

“creating things that we like, fostering neighborhood places, and hoping other people will like them and join us”