Parties and Music

Maybe we should call it the T/F Busking (and Film) Festival. These musicians are T/F's secret weapon to ensure that our festival is the most festive around. They play at parties, lead the March March on Feb. 26 down Broadway, and busk before the films in all of our venues. Tip your hat, give them a high five, and maybe slip them a five if you like them a lot because lord knows we don't pay them enough.

Anand Prahlad: This classically trained musician and esteemed scholar moonlights with his wandering folk songs.
Bill Haight: Up-and-comer Bill Haite returns to our line-up. With his arrestingly sophisticated blues voice and demeanor, he conjures visions of Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf and Captain Beefheart.
Bramble: Bike enthusiasts and merry-makers Bramble will roll in from Salt Lake City with their roadside blackberry-inspired sweet-folk collaborations.
Brody Douglas: This fest favorite is Hank Williams' lesser-known descendant, a savvy hayseed whose voice can carry across the holler.
Bunny & Dade: A neurotic yet tender conversation between two uncomfortable souls, one based in Louisville and one in Visalia, California.
Cabin Sessions: Solo artist Steven Carrel will bring a gaggle of local folksters with him to perform seductive songs of triumph and sorrow.
Capybara: "Capybara won't long be an unknown commodity with its jittery, percussive, freakout folk pop. No xylophone is safe when the foursome takes the stage with at least as much pep as Arcade Fire and with songs that are way more fun than anything on Neon Bible." — The Pitch Weekly, Kansas City
Cooper Crain: Local artist Cooper Crain presents cinematic dreamscape scores from the world of Cave and Warhammer 48K.
David Wax Museum: David Wax gathers an accomplished crew for his brand of feel-good Americana presented with a sly smile.
Eastside Showcase: Start your festival experience taking in the ethereal folk ensemble Spires that in the Sunset Rise and pop freaks Roxy Beach from Chicago with our local psych rockers Jerusalem & the Starbaskets at Eastside Tavern.
Free Agent Brass Band: This New Orleans ensemble combines classic New Orleans brass with gritty funk to make spirits high and feet dance.
Friday Night Showcase: Roots music lovers, this is the showcase for you. Pokey Lafarge of St. Louis, Bramble of Salt Lake City, Robert Sarazin Blake from the Northwest, and the David Wax Museum of Boston bring their energetic modern takes on traditional music of Mexico, Ireland, and the United States.
Hema Srinivasan: This mathematics professor plays traditional Indian music on the veena, accompanied by tabla, violin, and flute.
Hot Commodities DJ Crew: This all-lady DJ crew from DC brings the day-glo heat from cumbia to Kraftwerk, bhangra to Biggie, and reggaeton to the Runaways.
Jeremy Freeze: Our favorite space cowboy returns with delicate and surreal country tunes.
Jerusalem and the Starbaskets: Our beloved drone-country duo take the stage Thursday night, with their distinct brand of spectral guitar tones and stripped-down rhythms.
Jordan Wax: A home-town musical hero missed by many, Jordan will be coming up from his homestead in Southern Missouri to share klezmer with the masses.
Karinne Keithley: Karinne Keithley's ukulele covers are soft, whispery events. Channeling classic rock and folk legends, she coasts in her upper register and attempts to lay her voice existentially bare.
Mahjongg: This Chicago-based outfit returns to Columbia and will bring their African-inspired electronic grooves to Mojo's stage on Saturday night.
Malone: From the middle of the Midwest, these Americana-drenched songwriters have planted themselves waist-deep in the Big Muddy.
Mojo's Party: Stomp out a day's documentaries with the Balkan brass sound of Brooklyn's Raya, Kansas City's indie-popsters Capybara, and Chicago's rhythm-heavy electro rockers Mahjonng.
MU Drumline: Marching Mizzou, who will lead off the March March, is Columbia's rock-steady heartbeat, as channeled by members of the University of Missouri's music department.
Noah Earle: Soulful blues arrangements from classically trained Earle make him another Columbia favorite.
Pokey LaFarge: Delta-meets-Appalachia song-writing with a big, big beat.
Raya: This Brooklyn-based brass band brings the Balkan with their combustible combo of tuba, bass drum, accordion, trumpet, and clarinet, exuberantly delivering a swirling sound that goes down well with ouzo.
Robert Sarazin Blake: Returning for his third T/F, Blake is a modern-day Northwest troubadour whose gruff lullabies are colored by his love of the American folk tradition and his spells in the Irish countryside.
Rum Drum Ramblers: These former "snot-nosed punks" have put their DIY spin on Muddy Waters-style blues, making it clear that St. Louis is still a great blues haven.
Run On Sentence: Ramshackle folksters from Portland, Oregon play like a hoedown between the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Ruth Acuff: Multi-instrumenatalist Ruth Acuff brings sweet sounds and merry anthems to the True/False stage.
Saturday Night Showcase: The omelette flippers at Cafe Berlin flip out on the sweet ukulele covers of Karinne Keithley, Northwest folksters Run on Sentence, the road-worthy blues master Bill Haight, and local country favorites Cabin Sessions.
Satin & Chenille: Heartbreakingly sweet harmonies from our generation's Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, filtered through Marvin and Tammy.
Spires That in the Sunset Rise: Dark, ethereal psych folk from Chicago.
Thursday Box Office Showcase: Our Thursday night kick-off concert will feature fest favorites who will invigorate a great weekend. DIY blues men The Rum Drum Ramblers, the bluegrass folksters the Tough Cats, and classic country singer/yodeler Brody Douglas will treat you right.
Toughcats: Once described as, "...like Tom Waits and Beck with enough bluegrass to make it danceable" , T/F darlings and Indie bluegrass folksters bring the hullabaloo from Maine.
Travis McFarlane: Local piano maestro leads seasoned locals musicians in his Afro-jazz ensemble.