Boiling down Folk Alliance International’s overwhelming lineup to the choicest bites

The Folk Alliance International Conference is what it sounds like: a trade convention that’s not designed to draw crowds of outsiders. An all-access badge for the event and its multitude of private showcases, held in numerous rooms in the Westin Crown Center Hotel, is priced outside the budget of all but the most devoted folkie.

But since FAI started holding its annual confab here, in 2014, it also has made sure that the nightly showcases offer a broad and affordable overview of folk, country, bluegrass and other performers who otherwise might not book into this market. And then there’s the Kansas City Folk Festival, on the conference’s last day — Sunday, February 19, in this case — which gathers a diverse cross-section of the week’s artists.

The obvious highlight of the latter this time around is a headline set by activist English troubadour Billy Bragg (4 p.m. Sunday). His latest album is a collaboration with Joe Henry, called Shine a Light: Field Recordings From the Great American Railroad (which, naturally, includes “KC Moan”). Bragg is also the keynote speaker on Saturday, February 18. Given the conference’s theme this year — “Forbidden Folk” — recent political developments in the United States won’t be far from anyone’s mind.

Before Bragg ties off the conference, though, you have six stages to navigate across five hours Sunday, with a couple of dozen performers to choose from. The Pitch and Mize Houser are sponsoring a tribute stage, featuring artists playing the music of Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, each a folk icon and each altogether relevant right now. Taken collectively, “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” “This Land Is Your Land” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” represent the pinnacle of socially conscious 20th-century music, and the messages remain potent.

Get to the Westin Crown Center Sunday morning and you’ll start the day with Rise Up Singing, an all-faiths sing-along. If adding your voice to some good-time gospel leaves you amped up, head for the Irish céilí — a sort of combination dance, group sing and party — at 1 p.m. Those with energy to spare also have a 3 p.m. Drum Safari to look forward to; it’s the sort of thing built for kids, but there’s no reason you couldn’t grab a percussion instrument yourself and join in the big group “jungle jam.” 

At noon is a must: St. Joseph’s the Center State, a quartet that proved itself at last year’s Boulevardia. Its harmonious folk is likely to sound familiar to fans of the Head and the Heart or the Avett Brothers, but the way the group melds traditional bluegrass with newer alt-folk bridges the old and the new better than most bands aiming for the same amalgam. It’s been two years since the release of the Center State’s debut full-length, Close Enough to Miss, so anyone who makes it to this lunchtime performance might well hear some new songs. The band’s Jeremy Sharp promises that you’ll definitely hear “Wilderness,” the title track to its upcoming sophomore album.

Kansas City’s Making Movies hasn’t performed here since November and will be on tour opening for Hooray for the Riff Raff this summer, so chances to see it will be in short supply for the next few months. Take advantage of the quartet’s 1 p.m. set and hear Afro-Latino rhythms and infectious songs. Enrique Chi’s song are always worth hearing, but given the band’s strong defense of immigrant rights and political involvement — gotta love that cover of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” — this set should yield strong engagement.

At 2 p.m., there’s an opportunity to hear the excellent Ensemble Ibérica. The group’s shows touch on a wide range of musical styles from Spain and Portugal, but Sunday’s set also features singer Nathalie Pires — meaning it will be heavy on the fado, a particularly mournful strain frequently referred to as “the blues of Portugal.” 

Bluesman Bobby Rush has been making music for more than 60 years but has come to more prominence in the past decade, with scene-stealing performances in the documentary The Road to Memphis and a viral video featuring rapper Q-Tip doing a needle drop on Rush’s “Chicken Heads.” Even at 82, Rush knows how to electrify, and he usually plays with a pair of dancers and a crackerjack band, making his set a can’t-miss. His 3 p.m. slot will make the afternoon feel like Saturday night.

All told, Sunday might be a long day even if you’ve stored your energy all week. (And that’s before you factor in the artisan market, with cigar-box guitars, soap, jewelry, leather goods and even Mills Record Company.) So it’s worth considering a pass to the ballroom showcases throughout the week. Given the hundreds of performers, and the expense of $20 to $30 a night for several nights, it’s a value proposition for the bulk-minded.

If you had to pick just one night, you’d be hard-pressed not to give the edge to Friday. Between 8 and 10 p.m., the bill includes storyteller musician John McCutcheon, singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock and fiddler Sara Watkins — close to perfection.

I also recommend Radio Free Honduras (shown here) at 10 p.m. Friday. The band’s frontman, Charlie Baran, evokes Los Lobos and Seu Jorge, and his music is a one-stop buffet of Folk Alliance’s winning diversity.  

The Kansas City Folk Festival

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday, February 19, at the Westin Crown Center Hotel