It’s not hard to find accomplished women and femme-identifying performers in the regional scene. That’s why when Kristin Conkright, of Frogpond, started organizing Killith Faire along with Michelle Bacon, it fell into place quickly.
The festival will feature dozens of those performers on February 10th at recordBar. Scores of musicians (listed below) will form small groups of bands, performing each other’s songs. “The whole idea was to make connections with people who don’t usually get to play together,” says Conkright, who came up with the idea when she attended a festival with some other performers, and realized she rarely gets to interact with them outside of a music setting. “I was just having so much fun with them, and I thought man, I never get to play with you guys, so why don’t we just do an event.”
Because women tend to use their power for the greater good, proceeds from the event will benefit Midwest Music Foundation, a local nonprofit that provides health care grants and resources to musicians in our area. There will also be a special tribute to Britt Adair, the guitarist and founding member from the Bad Ideas, who passed away around this time last year. The Bad Ideas’ vocalist Breaka Dawn will be joined by several musicians while they perform tracks from the band. “I really know that she needs to honor Britt a bit more and to process it— and everybody should be aware of the music that she put out,” says Conkright, who will be part of the band backing up Breaka Dawn. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.”
It’ll be easy to see what the scene is able to accomplish at this event, as the lineup features some fairly accomplished artists. “There are people who have had great success and I think that is part of the reason I felt compelled to do this,” says Conkright. “The accomplishment is collective accomplishment, in that there are so many people to choose from that are talented to put something like this together. You’ve got women and femme identifying people doing everything, from performing to sound to designing flyers… it’s just about getting together and getting recognition for putting in hard work and showing it off.”
Killith Faire kicks off on Saturday, February 10th, at recordBar, and features performances from: Alyssa Murray, Breaka Dawn, Hannah Novaria, Heidi Phillips, Hillary Watts, Jade Green, Jessica Harp, Jessica Salley, Jocelyn Nixon, Kandi Kos, Kirsten Paludan, Kristin Conkright, Kristin Hamilton, Leah Sproul, Michelle Bacon, Mikal Shapiro, Miki P, Nan Turner, Spencer Goertz-Giffen and Tracy Flowers. DJ sets by Stephanie Marchesi. Emcee Sarah Bradshaw of 90.9 The Bridge.
General admission ($20) and a limited number of VIP seats ($45) are available at therecordbar.com or purchased at the door.