Coonridge Folk Festival
2007 · Jacksonville Theatre Guild
Coonridge Folk Festival (2007) carried Ken Bradbury's beloved fictional Illinois town of Coonridge onto the Jacksonville Theatre Guild stage as a full-blown folk-music festival. The Coonridge Players hosted an evening of bluegrass and old-time gospel, square dancing, and front-porch storytelling, threading the music together with the warm, plainspoken humor that made the Coonridge world a fixture of Ken's writing for two decades.
The program ranged across traditional and contemporary roots music — Flatt & Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," the gospel standards "Where Could I Go but to the Lord?" and "Angel Band," Hank Williams' "Lonesome Whippoorwill," Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone," a square-dance set to "Ragtime Annie," and Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell" — alongside a children's sermon drawn from Smoke on the Mountain. Ken Bradbury directed the festival and also appeared on stage as one of the Coonridge Players. The program was presented courtesy of the Ken Bradbury Foundation.
Cast
Coonridge Players
- Ken Bradbury
- Sylvia Burke
- Bob Large
- Judith Beiderbecke
- Katie Phelps
- David Zink
Master of Ceremonies — Jim Nevins
Instrumentalists
- Jack Christian — guitar
- Harvey Mack — banjo
- Dan McLaughlin — guitar
- Beth Rogers — bass fiddle
- Rick Rogers — bass
- Stephanie Smith-Jarratt — autoharp
- Stephanie Soltermann — guitar
- John Wilkey — mandolin & piano
Square Dancers
- Laurie & Rich McCoy
- Stephanie Smith-Jarratt & Roger Deem
- Carole Robertson & Dan McLaughlin
- Patsy Kelly Mack & Henry Reynolds
- John Wilkey, Caller
Musical Program
- "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" — The "Smoke" Folk Band
- "Where Could I Go but to the Lord?" — Jack Christian, lead vocal
- "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow" by Ira Stanphill — Stephanie Smith-Jarratt, vocalist
- "Parson's Duck" by Tony Trischka — featuring Harvey Mack on banjo
- "Angel Band" by Jefferson Hascall and Wm. Bradbury — Stephanie Soltermann, lead vocal
- "Lonesome Whippoorwill" by Hank Williams, Sr. — Dan McLaughlin, vocal and guitar
- "Ragtime Annie" — Square Dancers
- "One Beautiful Day" by Front Range — Rick Rogers, lead vocal
- "No Hiding Place Down Here" (traditional) — featuring Jon Wilkey on mandolin
- "I Still Miss Someone" by Johnny Cash — Stephanie Smith-Jarratt & Laurie McCoy, vocalists
- Children's Sermon from Smoke on the Mountain (written by Connie Ray) — Carole Robertson as Vera Sanders
- "The Ashokan Farewell" by Jay Ungar — featuring Beth Rogers on fiddle
Production Staff
- Director — Ken Bradbury
See the full production record at JTG Memories.