The 28th annual Briggs Farm Blues Festival will bring national acts, performers with youthful appeal and a regional favorite to Nescopeck from Thursday through Saturday for Pennsylvania’s largest blues festival.
With two stages and more than 20 acts, the festival draws several thousand people, with options for camping.
“I think we are in a good location for people to make it like a family reunion,” said promoter Dena Briggs. “We have a lot of people coming down from New Hampshire, Maine, meeting up with friends from Florida. They kind of make it a meeting point.”
The festival culminates on the main stage Saturday with Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, Victor Wainwright & the Train, Australian performer Lachy Doley and the Taylor Scott Band.
Arleigh Kincheloe, who performs as Sister Sparrow. (Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds)
Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds will perform at the Briggs Farm Blues Festival. (Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds)
Victor Wainwright & the Train are one of the headliners of the upcoming Briggs Farm Blues Festival. (Victor Wainwright)
Nikki Hill (Alexander Thompson)
Arleigh Kincheloe, who performs as Sister Sparrow, said the festival “will be a fun, special one for us.” After several years, she and her band are working on a new album and will include some of those songs in their set. Some written during the pandemic “are a little more emotional,” and others are “just more in the spirit of fun,” Kincheloe said.
Kincheloe is “a big, big singer and she’s beautiful,” Briggs said.
Grammy-nominated act Victor Wainwright & the Train are “a real experience,” Briggs said. “You kind of have to see him to believe him. He has a keyboard, and the keyboard spins. He’s into boogie-woogie and he has this huge voice and the crowd kind of zones right on him. He’s a lot of fun. l would go see him anywhere,” Briggs said.
A previous Briggs Farm performer, singer Nikki Hill, is the Friday night headliner. The Minnesota Star Tribune described her as “if Tina Turner and Little Richard had a daughter and raised her with the help of uncles James Brown and Chuck Berry.”
Another of Friday’s acts is Scott Pemberton and his band. “He’s definitely bringing the party,” Briggs said.
Thursday night features the Hayley Jane Band, a multigenre jam band that “definitely the younger crowd would be really into,” Briggs said. “She’s young and she’s beautiful and she’s a lot of fun. It is definitely a party.”
Guitar Zack is also on the bill Thursday. “He’s also really young as well,” Briggs said. “So if younger people are wondering if they would enjoy themselves at a blues festival, oh, they would,” she said. His guitar playing is “so good, I can’t even explain to you how good he is.”
A regional favorite rounds out Thursday’s set: Bret Alexander, a member of The Badlees, inductees in the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
There are several single and multiday ticket packages, with or without camping. Prices begin at $30 for Thursday’s performances. A three-day camping and music package is $190.
The farm has showers and offers a novel amenity for both day trippers and campers: Upgrade the portable toilets by renting one with a lock and key, delivered to your location, for $135. Briggs expects to rent about 80.
If you go
What: 28th annual Briggs Farm Blues Festival
When: Thursday through Saturday, rain or shine
Where: Briggs Farm, 56 Hobbie Road, Nescopeck
Details: For the complete schedule and tickets, go to briggsfarm.com. The website is the only approved online point of purchase.