The third annual Seattle Acoustic Festival is happening in the last weekend of August 2016, featuring 3 days of singing, strumming and plucking, filled to the brim with infectious rhythms, passionate songwriting, and rich harmonies. The Seattle Acoustic Festival is returning to the All Pilgrims Christian Church, in the heart of Seattle, and centrally located in Capitol Hill near the new light rail station.
By popular demand, the organizers have expanded their event to a three-day celebration with inspired performances by some of the most talented artists, bands, singers, and musicians in the region.
Some of the featured performers include: Lonely Mountain Lovers, Gabriel Wolfchild, Danny Newcomb, Shelita Burke, Tobias the Owl, Kim Archer, Dark Hip Falls, Aaron English, Debbie Miller, and many more.
Elijah Dhawan, the driving force behind both the Festival and London Tone Music’s lo-fi folk band, Tobias The Owl, says the motivation behind the festival is simple. “We want to provide a bigger, more public event to recognize artists and names from our region that have a more intimate sound,” He explains. “These are also musicians that the organizers love and are inspired by. This is going be a wonderful event.”
Local music application GigTown has joined Seattle Acoustic Festival as a sponsor for 2016 and is allowing fans to “Tip the bands for free” by checking in on the app. GigTown is paying local artists for each check in, a program that has paid out over $60,000 to musicians since starting in late 2015 and has been a “total win-win” according to GigTown CEO Andy Altman.
Dhawan says they originally created SAF to highlight some of the local, more lo-fi, and indie acoustic groups that are duos, trios, etc and play in more intimate settings. “Sometimes it’s hard for musicians who enjoy playing more intimate settings to get attention from some of the bigger festivals”, says Dhawan. He continues, “I think that we’re the biggest festival in the region run entirely by musicians and for musicians, so we’re personally really connected to the message of spreading great music.”
Dhawan says he is a strong believer in the power of music to make the world a more beautiful place, and thinks that SAF is really a way of potentiating that power and exposing a lot of people to really great music in one location. He adds, “I personally listen to every single song that gets submitted, so I can guarantee that it’s a really wonderful collection of musicians.”
Dhawan tells us that All Pilgrims Christian Church has been a really wonderful institution in supporting the mission of the festival, now in it’s third year and expanding to add a third day.
Check out the full alphabetical lineup below. Tickets will be on sale starting on May 1st at seattleacousticfestival.com and you can stay on top of breaking festival new by following the #seaacousticfest hashtag on Twitter.
Aaron English
Aaron Joshua Shay
Allison Preisinger
Amandala
Angie Lynn
Animals of Grace
Anna Gordon
Arthur James
Bear the Weather
Beasley
Brenda Xu
Brendan Regan
Champagne Honeybee
Champagne Sunday
Clint McCune
Cooper Stoulil
Danny Newcomb
Dante and the Mirrors
Dark Hip Falls
David Johnson
Debbie Miller
Devin Sinha
Emily Donohue
Faint Peter
Fysah Sands
Gabriel Wolfchild
Harris Face
Honey Mustard
Ian Jones
Intisaar
Jake Nannery
Jaspar Lepak
Jeff Greer
Jess Lambert
Jim Marcotte and the Breakthrough
Johanna Warren
Jubran
Katie Kuffel
Kelsey Sprague
Kim Archer
Kristin Chambers and the Steady Waters
Kristina Valencia
Lonely Mountain Lovers
Luke Stanton
March to May
Marjorie Nelch
Matt Dalton
Maxwell Williams
Nathaniel Talbot
OurDead Fathers
Patrick Galactic
Paul Jenkins
Paul Mauer
Paula Boggs Band
Raven Zoe
Sea Star
Shades of Static
Shelita Burke
Spencer Carlson
Spencer Glenn
Sue Quigley
Tekla Waterfield
The Secret Sea
The Winterlings
Tiny Messenger
Tobias the Owl
Wes Sp8 & The Apollo Proxy
Willow and the Wolf
Wonder
Watch Science! perform live at the Seattle Acoustic Festival 2015 below.