The Ballad Tree

Songwriters from the festival audience have a chance to share their original songs with an appreciative crowd of listeners under the BALLAD TREE on Chapel Hill every weekend during the Kerrville Folk Festival. Chapel Hill is located at the north end of the ranch. The Ballad Tree is held from 3 – 5 pm on all Main Stage Performance days. Suggested by Bobby Bridger and Tom Paxton, the Ballad Tree has become an important aspect of the song sharing that makes Kerrville so unique.

You bring your guitar, fill out a slip and put it in the hat to be drawn by the guest host, as time permits, who will introduce you and others until time runs out.

Each day of the Ballad Tree, the guest host will sing a song or tow to get things going and then begin to draw the names of participants from the hat. On the first two days, Dalis will choose some regional writers from that year’s New Folk competition who will be introduced to share one of the songs they entered in the competition.

If you are not a singer or songwriter, the Ballad Tree is also a good spot to hear two or three dozen original songs each of the 11 Main Stage performance days.