Apparently, Boston and environs are considered the folk music capital of the country. Noteworthy is Club Passim in Cambridge (our fair city) MA and the Mee & Thee Coffeehouse at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Marblehead, and there are numerous other folk clubs in the Boston suburbs (Fleming-Tamulevich & Associates estimates that there are over 200, mostly in the suburbs).
If you want rural, Mountain View, Arkansas is called "the folk music capital of the world", and there's a huge international folk festival there every year, plus several other smaller festivals, weekly shows, and weekly "Pickin' on the Square" events every weekend during spring, summer, and fall. My suspicion is that folk music in Mountain View is much more bluegrass oriented than it is in suburban Boston, where it's probably much more Celtic-oriented. I know of several Irish musicians based in the Boston area, including Eugene Byrne and Sean Fleming.
Dover, New Hampshire also seems to be a mini-haven for Irish folk music, centered around Biddy Mulligan's Irish Pub. Tommy Makem and a number of "name" Irish folk musicians live in Dover...but it sounds like that's where you're coming from, so it's probably over-hyped.
If you want to leave the country, Woodford, Australia is supposed to be the folk-music capital of that country. Falun is the folk-music capital of Sweden. Doolin is the folk-music capital of Ireland.
The Greater Washington area - and especially Maryland (including Columbia, Annapolis, and Baltimore) is good for folk music and bluegrass. The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA) is our preeminent folk music club. The House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD, is a leading music shop which is also a hub of folk activities. There's also the Institute of Musical Traditions in Silver Spring, Baldwin's Station in Sykesville, the Folkal Point in Columbia, Vic's Music Corner in Rockville, the Avalon in Easton, and concerts frequently at Wolf Trap (Vienna, VA), various folk festivals (Glen Echo, in DC, for example); and the Shenandoah Concert Series (Shepherdstown, WV and Reston, VA). The DC area is also home to a number of Irish pubs that feature live folk - particularly Celtic - folk music virtually every night of the week (unfortunately, women performers still don't seem to have broken through the "Irish pub performer" barrier in this area, if anywhere, though there are a lot of female Irish performers on the Ceidligh (sp) scene, including a band with the evocative name The Hags).
KM ............................ NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + I sing hymns with my spirit, + + but I also sing hymns with my mind. + + - 1 Corinthians 14:15 + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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