Saturdays at 8:00 pm
Put yourself in the room where live folk music thrives
Folkstage is a one-hour concert series featuring the finest traditional and singer-songwriter talent in folk music. Each year, some two dozen concerts come to you live from local venues or WFMT's studio. Previous live performers include Dom Flemons, Connie Kaldor, Bonnie Koloc, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards, Jim & Susie Malcolm, Abby Posner, and many more. Additional episodes feature selections from 45 years of archival performances, including from the Old Town School of Folk Music. Become a Folkstage supporter today.
You might also like The Midnight Special, a thematic mix of folk music and more every Saturday night from 9 pm to midnight after Folkstage.
Folkstage is available for free streaming in two different ways – live during the broadcast and on demand via the rights-compliant 5-hour, non-interactive player below within two weeks of the broadcast.
Ariane Lydon From the Archives
June 6, 2026, 8:00 pm
Music wafts like a summer breeze through a greening garden in a 2005 performance by Ariane Lydon.
Joel Mabus & Bobcat Opossum Live at WFMT
August 30, 2025
It’s the annual Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival preview. Multi-instrumentalist and Midwest folk music stalwart Joel Mabus from Portage, MI, is joined by up-and-comers with strings, Bobcat Opossum from Fort Wayne, IN.
Kora Feder from the Archives
August 23, 2025
California bred, Detroit-based songwriter Kora Feder paid a visit to WFMT in 2019 shortly after her first release, In Sevens. That concert revealed the seeds that became Some Kind of Truth in 2025.
Owen Walsh
August 16, 2025
Live from WFMT’s Levin Performance Studio, Marilyn welcomes up-and-coming singer/songwriter, freelance journalist, and storyteller Owen Walsh, a small-town Pennsylvania native now based in Asheville, NC. He performs recent song plus tracks from his debut album, On My Way.
The Early Risers from the Archives
August 9, 2025
The Early Risers, Putnam Smith and Ashley Storrow, cling to old time sounds while updating Appalachian traditions in a performance from 2020 recorded live at WFMT.
Gamble Rogers from the Archives
August 2, 2025
By turns hilarious, irreverent, and inspiring, the late Gamble Rogers life is now the stuff of legend. He performed an inimitable set at The Earl of Old Town in 1975. Rich Warren captured it on magnetic tape for WFMT. Needless to say, this one is a “don’t miss.”
Elexa Dawson and Jacob Furr LIVE on WFMT
July 26, 2025
A member of the Potawatomi and Cherokee nations, Kansas songwriter Elexa Dawson is a voice for the ages. Jacob Furr from Texas brings his wide open, highly personal songs to Chicago from the Lone Star State.
Woodstock Folk Fest preview LIVE on WFMT
July 19, 2025
Two outstanding songwriters – Mercedes Escobar from Guatemala and Joy Clark from New Orleans – turn up the heat with luminous vocals and boundless energy in a preview of the 40th Annual Woodstock Folk Festival on the eve of the fest in historic Woodstock, Illinois.
Cassie & Maggie From the Archives
July 12, 2025
Sisters from Nova Scotia, Cassie and Maggie, put on a dazzling show of traditional music, contemporary folk songs, and their originals in 2016. Their new album entitled “Gold and Coal” is out now.
Kenny White From the Archives
July 5, 2025
Expansive, imaginative, pyrotechnic, Kenny White’s music filled the Acoustic Renaissance Concerts in Hinsdale in 2021. “A Road Less Traveled” leads to Kenny’s signature tune “In My Recurring Dream.”
Miles & Mafale LIVE on WFMT
June 28, 2025
Catherine Miles and Jay Mafale are husband and wife, co-conspirators, and storytellers who deliver modern folk with a sparkling flair that springs from their theater backgrounds.
Cheryl Wheeler From the Archives
June 21, 2025
Among the first performers to visit Folkstage in 1998, Cheryl Wheeler cast her spell over the audience with self-deprecating humor and songs of deep feeling.
Jason Wilber LIVE on WFMT
June 14, 2025
Long-time lead guitarist for John Prine, Indiana songwriter Jason Wilber crafts extraordinary songs inspired by sources as varied as a spider hunting its prey, Bigfoot, politics, Picasso, and space travel.
Bryan Bowers From the Archives
June 7, 2025
Virginia native Bryan Bowers is an autoharp virtuoso, humorist, and story weaver. He spans generations of music and every human emotion in this performance from 2012.
Jonas Friddle Trio From The Archives
May 31, 2025
Recorded live at St. Tim’s Coffeehouse in Skokie in 2023, Jonas Friddle, Anna Jacobsen, and Andrew Wilkins blended every note with ease on originals and traditional songs and tunes.
Nell Robinson and Jim Nunally with Ramblin’ Jack Elliot from the Archives
May 24, 2025
For Memorial Day, we re-broadcast a moving evening of songs, family stories, and soldiers’ letters from the War of 1812 to WWII. Nell Robinson and Jim Nunally brought their friend Ramblin’ Jack Elliot to Folkstage in 2015.
Scott Cook & Heather Styka LIVE from Acoustic Renaissance
May 17, 2025
Canadian troubadour Scott Cook tours in his campervan Roadetta. He meets up with Chicago singer/songwriter Heather Styka for a double bill at Acoustic Renaissance Concerts in Hinsdale.
Rebecca and Jennifer Armstrong from the Archives
May 10, 2025
Revisit the evening in 2002 when Rebecca and Jennifer Armstrong sang traditional and modern songs with charm and distinctive family harmonies on Folkstage.
Jess Klein and Jenny Reynolds Live from WFMT
May 3, 2025
Two long-time song sisters reunite in the Fay & Daniel Levin Studio. The smart and sultry songwriter Jess Klein from North Carolina and rootsy balladeer Jenny Reynolds from Texas share the evening.
Ernie Hendrickson Duo Live on WFMT
April 26, 2025
Seasoned songwriter Ernie Hendrickson is among Chicago’s elite songwriters. But his down-to-earth demeanor makes a show feel more like a conversation. In-demand Chi-town guitarmaster Brian Wilkie joins him.
Scarlet Confessions from the Archives
April 19, 2025
As our springtime fancy turns to love, enjoy this musical revue with Paul Amandes, Jamie O’Reilly, Anne Hills, and the late Michael Smith performing recitations, standards, folk songs, and originals recorded in 2000 at WFMT.
