Wanda Degen's song continues

Roots music nourishes tall trees. This year, longtime Lansing-area folk musician and educator Wanda Degen notches her 25th year as music coordinator at the East Lansing Art Festival.

Small wonder she’s in a reflective mood. Not long ago, she thumbed through all 25 programs.

“A lot of magic has happened on the stage,” Degen said.

The festival’s music, like its art, keeps edging outward, with New York indie folk-rockers Spring Standard topping a varied roster of national, regional and local acts this year.

For Degen’s first few years, she drew from the “Prairie Home Companion” bag of performers.

The festival’s first national performer, jazz piano man Butch Thompson, was booked in 1990, followed by Peter Ostroushko and Dean Magraw in 1993, and Robin and Linda Williams in 1995.

“We’ve had people from Canada, California, Texas, Scotland and Ireland,” she said. “I’m really proud of the roster.” 

The festival has a national reach, but it’s also a prime venue for local talent. Some of Degen’s most memorable moments were performances by local favorites like the Chenille Sisters, Three Men and a Tenor, and (bop) Harvey.

“The whole festival could be local bands, because we have such good ones,” Degen said.

This year, Degen booked nine bands for the festival’s main stage, keeping her usual formula in mind. About one-third of the musicians are favorites from the previous year, one-third are from past years, and one-third are new to the festival.

One of the new acts is The Spring Standards, a group of energetic young folk-rockers from New York that will close the Main Stage on Saturday night.Their songs have wicked hooks, they’re known for playing more than one instrument at a time and they move all over the stage — just the qualities Degen looks for.

“Just watching them is entertaining,” Degen said. “People may not know them around here, but once they hear the music, they’ll be drawn to the stage.”

Two other new acts are a Klezmer-gypsy-jazz-Celtic mashup from Kalamazoo called the Red Sea Pedestrians and Grand Rapids singer/songwriter Drew Nelson & Highway 2.

The chamber folk duo of Vienna Teng and Alex Wong will follow up a memorable 2009 performance at the East Lansing Art Festival to close the Main Stage Sunday.

Detroit-based jazz artist Sheila Landis, specializing in bossa nova and samba, and bluesman Freddie Cunningham and Root Doctor sweeten the deck.

The East Lansing High School Jazz Band is among the art fair’s most venerable traditions. Depending who you ask, the band has been playing the festival 30 or 31 years — longer than Degen has been with the festival.

“People who played the festival years ago are watching their kids and grandkids on the same stage,” East Lansing Art Festival coordinator Corinn Van Wyck said.

Another festival favorite, singer/songwriter duo Seth Bernard & Daisy May Erlewine, from Lake City, Michigan, will fall right in with the folksy, socially conscious tone Degen set back in the 1990s.

After 25 years, Degen still enjoys watching new blooms on the festival tree.

“There are still a lot of things I’d like to do with the festival,” she said. “I’m grateful that the community has been so appreciative.”