No Private Showcases For This Singer
Almost every year I attend either the main Folk Alliance conference in Memphis or one of the five Folk Alliance regional conferences. In all of these conferences, there are two places to showcase; the formal showcases where you submit a demo and application to a jury who then judges your music and you are awarded a slot in front of many industry professionals. This is an extremely desired arena and the competition for the slots is pretty intense. I was fortunate enough to be awarded one of these at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference in 2002 and have performed in two of these at the main conference in Memphis.
Then there are the private or “guerilla” showcases that take place in designated areas of the conference hotel. These are going on after the formal showcases and run into the wee hours of morning. Many of the hosts turn the beds up in the hotel rooms and make a very small performance space for an artist to play and one can usually fit about 10 people in as audience.