The lineup for the two-day festival at Hill Auditorium features big name indie artists, including Josh Ritter, The Milk Carton Kids, Jobi Riccio and Joy Clark, with Old Crow’s Ketch Secor emceeing.

Headlining Friday Night at the 2025 Folk Fest: Waxahatchee (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
When assembling the lineup for The Ark’s iconic Ann Arbor Folk Festival, it’s all about balancing “a whole lot of elements in a concise collection of artists.”
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“We need to showcase many different musical styles, while also crafting a cohesive whole,” said Barb Chaffer Auther, marketing director for The Ark, which hosts the 48th Ann Arbor Folk Festival at Hill Auditorium Jan. 24-25.
Consider it mission accomplished for the upcoming edition of this much-beloved event.
Indie-rock/folk’s acclaimed Waxahatchee, ’90s alt-rock/pop mainstay Toad the Wet Sprocket, alt-folk singer-songwriter Josh Ritter and legendary Canadian tunesmith Bruce Cockburn lead the charge for the two-day, 2025 festival, with plenty of variety and virtuosic talent filling out the bill during this annual fundraiser for The Ark.

Saturday Closer: Glen Phillips and Toad the Wet Sprocket. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
Emceed both nights by Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder and Grammy Award winner Ketch Secor, the lineup also includes country artist Jobi Riccio, California folk duo The Milk Carton Kids, New Orleans singer-songwriter Joy Clark, Americana singer Adeem the Artist, folk tunesmith Willi Carlisle and Latin fusion band Afro Dominicano.
“We’ve got Waxahatchee topping the bill on Friday night and she stands to draw in some audience that maybe haven’t heard of the Ann Arbor Folk Fest before,” Chaffer Auther said. “I think we’re going to see her latest album, ‘Tiger’s Blood,’ on a lot of people’s Top 10 lists this year. And we have an absolute legend in Bruce Cockburn on the Saturday night bill.”
The festival also spotlights artists who might be unfamiliar to some concertgoers.
“Every year, you’re going to hear from some people that say, ‘I don’t know these artists’ about a lot of the lineup, but I say, ‘Isn’t that really the point?’ The Folk Fest, in addition to being a vital fundraiser for The Ark, has always been about artist discovery,” Chaffer Auther insisted.

Bruce Cockburn (Photo/Kendra Petersen-Kamp)
“We have performers like Jobi Riccio (nominated for Americana Association Awards as Emerging Artist of the Year), Joy Clark (the absolute buzz of this year’s Folk Alliance International awards show and a standout performer at Ann Arbor’s Sonic Lunch this summer), and Willi Carlisle (you might notice he is in the lineup in a spot once held by our friend Billy Strings back when nnobody had heard of him, and we all know where Billy is now).
“All of these artists are on the rise and ones to watch. A lot of people will have bragging rights, saying they saw them first at Folk Fest.”
Presented by Bank of Ann Arbor, pre-sale tickets are available to Ark members starting at 10 a.m. Monday (Oct. 21). Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Nov. 1 online here.
Single-night ticket prices range from $47.50 for upper balcony seating to $70 for mezzanine and lower balcony seating to $120 for “gold circle” main floor seating. Platinum circle seats (within the first 10 rows) are $250 and include a pre-glow party and parking pass.
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