Your guide to this year’s Folk Alliance International Conference

On Wednesday, February 17, the 28th annual Folk Alliance International Conference kicks off at the Westin Crown Center: hundreds of artists from around the world, here to conquer Kansas City, one hotel meeting room, ballroom and foyer at a time.

It’s an insider’s industry event, for sure, but the general public is not without strong entertainment options. There’s the opening awards gala on Wednesday, for instance, and there’s Music Camp, which offers some pro schooling. But at the heart of the event are the nightly official showcases, which, at $25 apiece, are also a good value. My must-see list look something like this.

Wednesday, February 17

Aoife O’Donovan

One of the most promising up-and-coming voices in American folk music, Massachusetts-born Aoife O’Donovan can seemingly do it all. In January, the singer released her latest album, In the Magic Hour, a bewitching collection of 10 Americana tracks that shows off O’Donovan’s warm, silky voice. Wednesday night, let yourself fall under her spell.

Thursday, February 18

Prateek Kuhad

Prateek Kuhad is a rising star in his native India, and it’s no wonder. His recent debut, In Tokens & Charms, is a study in the sort of delicate, wistful folk that powered Fleet Foxes up the charts.

Grant-Lee Phillips

Grant-Lee Phillips has been quiet since 2012’s gorgeous Walking in the Green Corn, but in March he releases a new album, The Narrow. There’s no shortage of possible subject matter: In 2013, Phillips’ father died; that same year, he and his family moved from Los Angeles — where they’d lived for 30 years — to Nashville. Phillips has said in interviews that The Narrow will touch on these change in his life, but it could be filled with nursery rhymes, and that’d be fine, too.

Friday, February 19

Mia Dyson

Mia Dyson’s presence at the Folk Alliance International is a testament to the conference’s universal appeal. The Australian’s latest album, 2014’s Idyllwild, with its sprightly electric guitars, propulsive drumbeats and her just-recovered-from-a-cold voice, isn’t textbook folk. And Dyson actually has deep roots in the blues: Her father, Jim Dyson, is a famous blues guitarist in Australia, and Dyson herself got her big break in 2003, with her first record, the bluesy Cold Water. She’s perhaps the Aussie answer to Lucinda Williams, both tonally and in her songwriting.

Shantanu Pandit

There is something so sweet, so pure, about the way lovelorn artist Shantanu Pandit bends his lyrics to fit the curve of his guitar chords. His style recalls British sensation Jake Bugg, who found international success just a few years ago; perhaps its Pandit’s turn. The New Dehli native’s first and only release, Skunk in the Cellar, came out in 2014, which suggests the possibility that this bleeding-heart troubadour has some new material to bust out.

Saturday, February 20

Lee Harvey Osmond

Last year, Tom Wilson — who performs as Lee Harvey Osmond — released Beautiful Scars, proving again just how fruitful the union between folk and psychedelic music can be. That album burned with tremendous emotion, one of Wilson’s most affecting and personal works to date — but one that was not without his signature groove. In Wilson’s native Canada, the album is up for a Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year.

Ben Caplan and the Casual Smokers
Everything about Ben Caplan suggests a showman, from his magnanimous beard to his whiskey-barrel voice. His latest album, last year’s Birds With Broken Wings, finds the charismatic frontman stomping through a vaguely Gogol Bordello-like collection of songs, chock full of spry mandolin chords and red-cheeked choruses. If you’re looking for the dancing on Saturday, this is the gig for you.

The Gentle Good

If you yearn for glistening shores and scenes of untamed, undisturbed nature, Cardiff artist Gareth Bonello might be your man. As the Gentle Good, he creates strong, fluid songs that are largely instrumental; what lyrics are included on his most recent full-length, 2013’s Y Bardd Anfarwol, are sung entirely in Welsh. With a single song, Bonello can evoke the serenity of a misty sunrise. You don’t need to know what he’s singing about to be at peace.

Pirates Canoe

At first glance, Pirates Canoe may look unconvincing: a female trio (or, sometimes, a mixed-gender sextet) from Kyoto, Japan, playing original music that bridges Irish folk and Nashville twang. But hearing is believing. Guitars, mandolin and fiddle are deftly handled here, but perhaps most impressive is lead singer Reika Hunt. Her voice glides like a feather in the wind.

Sunday, February 21

Music Fair

If you want a bite-sized FAI Conference, pop in on Sunday, when $30 buys you a whole day’s mini-folk festival: a morning gospel session, folk sing-alongs, music and instrument workshops with local and international artists, a folk dance, a marketplace and a closing concert with one of the official FAI artists. Think of this as an easy-playing greatest-hits version of the weeklong blowout.