Photos by Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Musician Joyann Parker led off the 18th annual Porcupine Mountains Music Festival, which continues Saturday. The lineup boasts 24 performers, plus an additional 20-plus acts in the Busking Barn.

PORCUPINE MOUNTAINS — When pressed, Ellen Lord will admit she didn’t actually go to Woodstock. But she sees commonalities in spirit between that festival and what goes on at Porcupine Mountains Music Festival every year.

“I think the camaraderie and the tribal feel is really important … we’re more excited than we have been in a while about the energy of the country, but the energy here is always good,” said Lord, who comes to the festival each year from Charlevoix.

The music festival, held every year on the slopes of the Porcupine Mountains ski hill, returned Friday for its 18th edition. Festival director Cheryl Sundberg said after 18 years of tweaking, “we finally got it where we want it.” That includes the 2022 decision to trim the festival from three to two days.

Festival organizers look for acts in the blues, folk, bluegrass and Americana through listening to public radio, watching PBS and reading magazines like No Depression. And as much as possible, they try to book acts they’ve been able to see live.

Sundberg found Friday night’s headliners, The Brevet, at the Mile of Music Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she marveled at their dynamism and the way they had a crowd of all ages “bouncing.” At the same festival, she spotted Joy Clark, who performed at Porcupine Mountains Friday afternoon.

“I caught her there last year, and I knew we needed to get her here,” Sundberg said.

It was the first trip to the Upper Peninsula for the New Orleans singer-songwriter. She interspersed solo performances of songs off her upcoming album “Tell It to the Wind” with stories about her life and childhood.

She described the album as “sort of coming full circle of who I am as an artist and a queer woman.” She grew up playing music in her dad’s church, and has since gone on to play with acts like the famed New Orleans funk musician Cyril Neville.

“I feel like I’m in the seat of my power,” she said. “I think it’s what Americana is. It’s got flavor, it’s got roots and it’s also singer-songwriter.”

As an artist, she said, the goal is to be able to play for people who haven’t heard you before and share your experience.

“You need to tell your story to a new group of people and hopefully they can take something with them that they hear or that they feel and to have an experience,” she said. “It’s great. Being on stage, it always feels like home. And when it’s people that I’ve never met before, I hope I get to meet them again.”

Photos by Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette
Musician Joy Clark led off the 18th annual Porcupine Mountains Music Festival, which continues Saturday. The lineup boasts 24 performers, plus an additional 20-plus acts in the Busking Barn.

She cheered the Porkies’ “Louisiana winter” weather, and drew enthusiastic crowd participation with backing vocals on her album song “Shimmer.”

“That was pretty doggone good,” Clark said. “Thank you for singing with me.”

The festival drew 1,654 people last year, close to its record of 1,750. That number, from the festival’s three-day era, was driven by excitement over Buckwheat Zydeco, Sundberg said.

It was early, but Sundberg hoped 2024 could be the year to top it.

“We’ll see where we’re at when the dust settles,” she said. “But we’re coming for you, Buckwheat.”

Sundberg said the crowd appreciates the diversity in musical styles, and has come to believe in the taste of the bookers.

“When we have our advance sales, we haven’t even booked one name, and we’ll sell a good bulk of our tickets before anyone even knows who’s playing,” she said. “And so they’ve come to trust us that they’re not going to come here and get a bad experience.”

Lord and Edd Tury of Charlevoix, who provided the Woodstock fact-checking, have been coming to the festival since 2014. They hadn’t recognized any names on the bill this year. But they were already enjoying themselves after hearing festival opener Joyann Parker, who they said echoed Janis Joplin and Etta James.

“We love the area, and the music is typically wonderful,” Tury said.

“Everybody’s so friendly here,” Lord said. “I think anything that happens on Lake Superior is a joy.”