Acoustic soul rocker Buggy Jive debuts with official showcase at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA)
Soul rocker Buggy Jive has been selected to perform an official showcase on the main stage of the annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference, taking place Nov. 21-24 at the Holiday Inn in Portland, Maine.
"This year, we received a record number of applications, with 190 talented acts vying for a spot," said NERFA in a press statement. “Our dedicated team of judges: Marissa Levy Lerer (The Listening Booth), Emily Read (One Longfellow Sq), Elena See (Folk Alley), Don Sheldon (Valley Stage Productions), and Lisa Schwartz (Cambridge Folk Festival), worked tirelessly to review each submission and select 20 standout Official Showcase Artists.... Please join us in celebrating and congratulating the exceptional artists who will be gracing our stage this year."
This will be Buggy Jive’s first time at the NERFA conference; the songwriter is also set to perform a DJ curated showcase at the Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM) at the behest of folk radio legend Wanda Fischer of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
The full listing of NERFA’s official showcase artists follows:
In addition to the official showcase, Buggy Jive is looking forward to performing at late-night private showcases, including Mehuman Ernst’s “Wish I Wrote It” showcase on Friday (where he’ll perform a cover of Prince’s funky Joni Mitchell tribute, “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker”) and a set for Ron Olseko’s live streamed “Folk Music Notebook” showcase Saturday.
ABOUT NERFA
NERFA (Northeast Regional Folk Alliance) focuses on serving, strengthening, and engaging the Northeast regional folk music community. Our mission is to provide professional development and advocacy for artists, venues, and music professionals within the umbrella genres of folk, roots, and Americana to ensure the vitality of the community and the sustainable pursuit of a life in the arts. More than 700 performing artists, presenters, promoters, agents, managers, folk DJs, and others actively engaged in contemporary and traditional folk music attend NERFA’s annual music business conference each November. NERFA is governed by a volunteer board of directors that has been engaged in ongoing efforts to make it more of a year-round organization in order to best meet the needs and serve the interests of Folk Alliance International members from the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC to the provinces of eastern Canada. The NERFA conference features several jam-packed days and nights of music showcases, song swaps and jam sessions; informative workshops and panel discussions (most pertaining to the business of performing or presenting folk music); one-on-one mentoring and peer group sessions; an exhibit hall; open mics; communal meals, and lots of informal conversation and networking.
ABOUT BUGGY JIVE
BUGGY JIVE is a soul rock singer-songwriter quietly uploading music from a basement somewhere in Upstate New York. Equal parts Zeppelin and D’Angelo and Prince and Joni in sound and sensibility, his lyrics often mine the literature of the past to make sense of the present – from Ellison to Morrison to Eliot to Didion – delicately balancing the heaviness with humor.
Set for a Fall 2025 release, his forthcoming album Icarus Ascending promises 13 new acoustic soul rock songs contemplating songwriting and storytelling, love and literature, and the festering fears of a divided nation.
Recent accomplishments include:
opening slots for Macy Gray’s “Reset” tour and Ben Folds' New Year's Eve show;
a feature as a “Top Shelf” entry for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest; and
Album of the Year and Music Video of the Year wins for Upstate New York’s “Eddie” Awards.
The artist is a graduate of Niskayuna High School in Schenectady, New York and Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. He may or may not have quit his most recent day job in digital communications at an educational non-profit headquartered in New York's Capital Region. He lives in Delmar, NY, with his wife and two daughters.
-30-
