2025 Folk Hero online.
Click on the links to open each video. (please note that youtube links often have advertisements which you can often but occasionally you have to sit through them).
Please rank #1 for your favorite, #6 for your least favorite
When you have decided please send your vote and select “reply all” in your outgoing email to include all board members. No later than July 25, by noon.
1-Julia Kasdorf
After 45 years of diverse musical experiences, from a host of genres and various venues, I've found my greatest joy and learning come from performing my original songs. There's nothing more exciting than sharing my music and knowing it has resonated with an audience. While based in Virginia, you'll often find me traveling and performing throughout Delmarva.
https://youtu.be/unencyaEtAM?si=BcnnniJaj-7qt1qc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vHQ5NyRvoE
https://youtu.be/DovM-9fSb2A?si=eL4MU3KH4PDVV-dV
If viewing this one, you have to scroll to the 34 miute mark to see Julias performace. https://youtu.be/uCawbrKQz5g? list=PLIu8uYBvmws9N5eWwfjBagkN1JAOcUb6k&t=2068
1-Chris Honeman
Hello! I’m Chris Honeman, from Cambridge, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. As a dedicated musician, I’ve spent the last five years honing my craft in songwriting and original music. My songs are crafted like old photographs—worn and intimate, emphasizing storytelling in a way that reflects influences from artists such as Noah Gundersen, Ben Harper, and Ray LaMontagne. Through a blend of fingerpicked guitar and heartfelt vocals, I delve into themes of longing, grief, hope, and resilience.
Performing live is one of my greatest joys, and I strive to create meaningful connections with my audience through vulnerability and storytelling. As I continue to share new music, I aim to inspire listeners to reflect on their own experiences and discover beauty in the quieter moments of life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Hp0K05LYY
2-Allie Donovan
I am a 20-year-old singer and guitarist from Salisbury, Maryland. My musical influences include folk, rock, pop, and musical theater. I have been writing songs for about eight years, but it was only two years ago that I truly committed to performing them live. For the past year, I have been doing gigs, and I hope that the opportunity to perform at the Delaware Folk Festival will help me establish a name for myself in the music world. Thank you.
https://youtube.com/shorts/DYfzPczUXoU?feature=shared
3-Dark River Darling
The alter ego of former classical performer Erin Royer, Dark River Darling digs up deep rooted vocals with mountain style banjo to create a fresh water sound straight out of the Susquehanna Valley.
Dark River Darling writes of love, loss, dogs, and life on the road. Inspired by her upbringing, travels and experiences, she brings those stories to life in song. Her combination of banjo and vocal melodies deliver a water worn, organic flow to soothe or stir the soul. Her work pulls no punches on the harsh reality of day to day living and the struggles women face to love freely and live freely. Clever, thoughtful, and witty lyrics show her ability to present a uniquely woven story in each song.
From the salty tangled tides of Delmarva, fellow musicians Nick Stultz (guitar)and Darlene McKinney (bass) join Dark River Darling in a tidepool tapestry of folky grassy bluesy waves, rich in tradition, unafraid to drift or wander.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSrWYT0HtjM
4-Treefolk
Treefolk is a one man-folk punk band, currently living in Milford, Delaware. With a plethora of original music, I am known for the energy I bring to the stage as well as my powerful lyricism. Heaviley themed around environmentalism, activism, and making your community a better place, I really try and convey a sense of emotion through my words and topics on stage. My fiction folklore songs often tend to be very fairy-tale coded and have many fantasy elements. I have over 100 performances under my belt and do regular open mic performances around the lower slower Delaware region, as well as multiple Philadelphia DIY shows over the last year. Being intertwined with the Delaware music scene and the Xtreme Folk Scene of Pennsylvania, I bring the genre of folk punk which is a very under looked subgenre in the folk world. With an acoustic guitar and a kazoo, I truly believe I deserve to be on that stage as the 2025 Folk Hero Winner!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irTzpye18K0&t=2s
5-Josh Brokaw
Roadside Rhythms - that's the name of Josh Brokaw's act and it's how he lives his life, as a wandering bard living out of a DIY tour bus. Writing, playing, and singing from Florida to Arizona, California and back to the East Coast. Wielding guitar & harmonica, Josh plays offbeat originals and timeless classics for audiences coast to coast. When the compass turns east, he’s guided back to the green hills, meandering waterways, and golden fields of Delmarva. Visit his world of sonic wonder at roadsiderhythms.com.
https://youtu.be/EUZO0Twbn4E?si=sM0GLZ9OCo-sbjQo
6- Ami Yares
Ami Yares is the still small voice emerging from the shores of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, bearing his soul to make it sound for you to do the same. Called, “one of Woody’s children” by Peter Yarrow, Ami brings a bit of Richie Havens, Cat Stevens & Robbie Robertson into his universe. With the past at his back and the future calling, Ami is more than just present. Hear/feel/see/experience his songs of relentless perseverance and hope. “Yares wields his 12-string guitar as if it were an entire orchestra, backing his vocals with a dense, rich cascade of sound " (AXS).
7-Road Trip Poets
We have been writing songs and making music with the other primary songwriter for over thirty years. We have always stuck with folk instruments, including guitars, banjos, upright bass, and various percussion for songwriting, and the music can fit into many genres. In the last five years, we have released music online that includes stories about growing up in Baltimore, philosophical observations, and stales of relationships either fizzling out or staying strong. We perform at breweries, wineries, and festivals around Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Delaware as a 3-piece (Guitars, percussion, and the world's one and only wireless electric washboard), and look for any opportunity to share the gift of music with everyone around us.
https://youtu.be/sB59cXs3dnU?si=JONLKSm4nu1fxPQP