I'll be MCing the Friday night mainstage concert at Champlain Valley and on Saturday afternoon I'll be hosting a songwriters' workshop with Utah Phillips, Kim & Reggie Harris, Magpie, Pete Sutherland and Larry Penn.

This will be the sixth annual edition of this songwriters' workshop. I conceived the workshop in 2000 as a way to really look at the creative process and the consequences (how songs effect people when they're out in the world) of songwriting. In past years, we've had some wonderfully insightful sessions with the likes of Tom Paxton, Tom Russell, Bill Staines, Bob Franke, Anne Hills, Steve Gillette, Michael Smith and others. I'm looking forward to this year's workshop with the very fine writers involved.

Please say hi if you're at the festival.

Mike Regenstreif