Clearwater Festival tickets on sale, initial lineup announced

Friday January 25, 2013 11:30 AM By Chris Serico

Photo credit: Handout | Antibalas will play the 2013 Clearwater Festival in Croton-on-Hudson.

Tickets went on sale this week for the Clearwater Festival, a music event founded by the Hudson Valley's own Pete Seeger that takes place annually in Croton-on-Hudson.

Announced early last week, the first artists to confirm that they're in for this year's fest include Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Hot Tuna, Son Volt, Patterson Hood, Antibalas, David Bromberg Quartet, Jorma Kaukonen and Steve Kimock, Toshi Reagon and Big Lovely, Keller Williams and the Travelin’ McCourys, and Jason Isbell. Tickets went on sale Monday for the June 15-16 event, with prices and packages ranging from $48 to $200.

The number of acts will eventually number in the dozens. Last year's Clearwater Festival featured performances by Ani DiFranco, Martin Sexton, Bela Fleck, Dawes, Arlo Guthrie, Josh Ritter and Joan Osborne, among many others.

And while Seeger, a longtime Fishkill resident, isn't yet on this year's roster of performers, the folk legend will be actively involved in the country's largest annual environmental celebration, if his body, spirit and voice allow. A few weeks before the June festival kicks off, he'll turn 94.

Seeger founded the festival in 1966 to raise money and awareness for efforts to clean up the Hudson River. Through the years, he's performed for everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Barack Obama, and his activism has aided civil rights movements, peace initiatives and environmental preservation.

Seeger has told Newsday Westchester he is "proud of its success," and added that "I never thought that something that I had anything to do with would ever be so successful as the Clearwater organization."

Which artist or band would you most like to see perform at Clearwater? Tell us, and explain your answer, in the comments section below.

Tags: Croton , Pete Seeger , Clearwater Festival , music , events