Reviewed by: Cindy Hatcher
FREE Birmingham Folk Festival returns to Avondale Park Saturday, May 16: make plans now
Reading time: 4 minutes
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Birmingham Folk Festival returns to Avondale Park on Saturday, May 16, from 10 AM to 8 PM, bringing a FREE day of independent music, arts and fun to celebrate the city’s diverse cultures and musical styles.
Many of Birmingham’s cultural organizations collaborate to curate the lineup, so you’ll hear music spanning jazz, blues, zydeco, hip hop, bluegrass, gospel and even a Celtic-jazz hybrid.
As festival founding member and musician Stephen Collins puts it: “It really looks and feels like our city.”
Read on for who’s playing, what to expect and why this festival is so unique to the Magic City.
What makes Birmingham Folk Festival worth your Saturday
The lineup for this festival is an all-love endeavor from many of the folks setting the beat for Birmingham’s music scene year-round.
Curators include:
- Magic City Blues Society
- Southern Music Research Center
- Mason Music Foundation
- Birmingham Zydeco Cajun Club
- The Flourish
- The Shed Series
- Alabama Folk School
- + many more
Think of it like getting a playlist full of new-to-you music from a thoughtful friend who runs a record shop.
This year’s event includes a lineup where a local high school history teacher who happens to be an award-winning bluegrass vocalist shares a bill with an Alabama Jazz Hall of Famer, a New Orleans zydeco band and a local hip-hop duo that teaches kids DJing and breakdancing.
“We’re really trying to listen to the community, what’s here already and what makes Birmingham unique.”
BFF Founding Member Stephen Collins
What to expect at Birmingham Folk Festival
While the festival music runs all day, more activities fill the whole park, including:
- Dance lessons + performances all day, including salsa, Birmingham FOOTMAD (Friends of Old Time Music + Dance), UAB Line Dancing Club
- Music classes including African diaspora drumming + sacred harp singing
- Immersive arts experiences with Bare Hands + ArtPlay, poured coin art with Sloss Metal Arts + mural painting with InToto Creative Arts + free printmaking
- Quilters from Bessemer at Avondale Public Library
- Iron Hills Folk School maker activities
Who’s playing Birmingham Folk Festival 2026
Collins filled us in with some details about the lineup this year:
🎵 Willis Alan Ramsey: Birmingham-born songwriter who has had songs performed by Allman Brothers, Jimmy Buffett + Widespread Panic + hasn’t played locally for decades
🎵 The Little Mercies: Three women, three-part harmonies, sharp songwriting + multi-instrumental chops
🎵Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys: Real-deal zydeco out of New Orleans
🎵 Banditos: Birmingham-bred, now Nashville-based garage-country-rock
🎵 Jimmy “Guitar” Allen: 50+ years of excellent soul + blues
🎵 Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir: Includes members of the original Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Choir/Freedom Choir
🎵 José Carr: Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame trumpeter + band leader
🎵 Shaheed + DJ Supreme: Community-rooted, family-friendly hip-hop
🎵 Wax Monkey: Energetic young jam band formed by five childhood friends from Mountain Brook
🎵 Shannon Slaughter: Award-winning bluegrass songwriter + vocalist (+Springville High School teacher)
🎵Astronauts of Albania: Albania-born frontman + flutist Geni Skendo built this Celtic jazz hybrid group with local musicians
🎵 Allen Tolbert: Flat-picking guitarist who leads the bluegrass jam in the Rose Garden—bring an instrument to join.
How to go to Birmingham Folk Festival
Attendance last year came in between 4,000 and 5,000 people, so get there early to stake your spot.
📍Where: Avondale Park, 4101 5th Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35222
🕙 When: Saturday, May 16, 10AM-8PM
🤩 Cost: FREE! If you can put money toward something, the festival’s first ask is that you give to local nonprofits, which are designated on the program at the front entrance.
Get the full schedule, more artist details + volunteer sign-up at birminghamfolkfest.org.
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