Editor's pick: Milford Music Festival features one of our own

Grammy-nominated Milford native Vanessa Carlton headlines

WHEN: Saturday, June 6 starting at 11:00 a.m. and Sunday, June 7 starting at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: The Ann Street main stage.

COST: Free.

CONTACT: www.milfordmusic.org.

MILFORD, PA — One of the most appealing features of the summer season in our area is the multitude of open-air music festivals that fill our town’s streets with song, and this weekend it is the Milford Music Festival’s turn to come alive with a broad range of musical acts that mine both local and national talent. Headlining the event will be singer, songwriter, pianist and Milford native Vanessa Carlton, who will perform a program specially produced for the event on Saturday evening.

Saturday’s festivities will start at 11:00 a.m. at the Ann Street main stage with the Delaware Valley Jazz Band. Other performances scheduled for the festival include Traveling Man, a high-energy blues band featuring front man SaRon Crenshaw. The percussion-driven act Roots N Rhythm features Bashiri Johnson, a nationally acclaimed recording artist and another Grammy nominee, recognized for his work with Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, The Rolling Stones and Jay Z as well as the soundtracks of “Mission Impossible” and “The Bodyguard.” Woodstock area’s drinkinbuddy, “A Tribute to Noel Coward” (as performed at The National Arts Club in NYC), and performances by the Delaware Valley High School (DV) Jazz Band (with vocals by noted singer Natasha Green), DV orchestra and the DV choir round out the list of Saturdays main stage program.

Carlton will perform at 7:00 p.m. Best known for her 2003 Grammy-nominated Song of the Year “A Thousand Miles,” she will take center stage behind a Yahama baby grand piano, backed vocally by select students from Delaware Valley High School.

Sunday will mark the debut of Milford’s annual summer music series “Music in the Park,” from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., with a jazz program including performances by the Gypsy Jazz Quintet, which plays late-1930s style jazz, and modern jazz by the Robert Kopec Quartet. Best of all, when the weekend is over, music lovers will still have plenty of al fresco concerts to look forward to, as Music in the Park will continue on Sundays through September 6.