The Kate Wolf Memorial Festival embodies the politics and community of the deceased west coast folk star. This year's festival includes performances by Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, Keb Mo', Greg Brown, and 'surprise guest artists,' the Ani DiFranco Band.

Kate Wolf embodied a dedicated, honest approach to folk music. She was a skilled musician who developed her sound in restaurants, and community singing circles. Outspoken and organized, Kate Wolf helped to found folk festivals, played benefit concerts, and crafted protest anthems. After years of making music and organizing, she had a wide circle of friends and musical collaborators who continue to create joyous rebellious music even after her passage.

This is the 13th incarnation of this festival and it is a good chance to see some of those connections -- the musical and political threads of Kate Wolf's passionate life -- come in to being. Expect expansive musical boogie, tasty food, family atmosphere, and revelry among old friends. Here is a preview of some of the musical guests who will be busting loose in Laytonville this weekend.

Taj Mahal Trio

I saw Taj Mahal a few years ago in an New England community center. It was a stately spot and before the concert began we were strenuously instructed not to dance by the manager. The first rebellious dancer was a retirement-age woman who was quickly joined by her entire section (including myself). Consider this evidence of the capacity of Taj Mahal to motivate any crowd to dance and to break the rules.

He himself has been breaking musical rules for more than 40 years. Rooted in the blues, he developed a wonderful country-and-western style that patiently re-instates African music and people into the prairie scenery.

On his 1977 album “Music Fuh Ya,” he meshes freight tunes with steel drums on one song and quickly jumps to hipper-than-thou rhythm and blues on the next. On “Giant Step,”” (1969) he out-twangs most country music and out-rocks most rock stars.

With a giant catalogue to draw from Taj Mahal will please any audience. With his blues-oriented trio, the focus will be roots music be it country, blues, or folk.

Los Lobos

For more than 20 years Los Lobos have been making distinctive rock n' roll. Drawing on blues, Mexican, Latin, soul, and a wellspring of other influences, they have created a fantastic sound. With members steeped in various East Los Angeles bar bands, it was a collective interest in acoustic traditional music that congealed the band into Los Lobos.

They recorded a few albums including the T-Bone Burnett produced “How Will the Wolf Survive,” in 1984. Their musical output focused on their own talented song writing and the expansive people-centered themes in their recordings.

Los Lobos hit mainstream fame with the soundtrack and title song for “La Bamba,” the Richie Valens biographic film. Boosted by their album sales and recognition, the group recorded an album of traditional Mexican tunes, “La Pistola y El Corazón.” Fame seemed to offer a chance for the band to encourage listeners to think more broadly.

Stunning musicianship, coupled with a driving curiosity about music, created a definitive sound for Los Lobos, whose use of accordion, violin, funky percussion, and plaintive guitars became a kind of sonic trademark.

In a digital Interview, multi-instrumentalist band member David Hildago explained the band's commitment to pay respect to the musicians who came before them.

”If we can say something, or pay tribute to someone, we will, because we have a lot of respect for the people that we listened to growing up, and the people that taught us how to play,” Hildago stated

Expect acoustic acknowledgment of those who came before Los Lobos, electrified with the experience of a wonderful band whose tribute flies off frets and drum heads.

Ani DiFranco Band

Ani DiFranco is perhaps the clearest extension of Kate Wolf's ideas. As a 16-year-old folk music rebel, she pressed up 500 cassette copies of her recordings and went on the road. Nineteen albums later, she is an underground phenomenon - financially successful with 4 million records sold through her independent Righteous Babe Records.

A passionate community activist, Ani DiFranco has supported independent musicians (including releasing two albums with Utah Phillips) built relationships with activists around the globe, and put her money where her mouth is. In her hometown of Buffalo, New York, she has revitalized a soon-to-be demolished church as a community center and performance space.

As for her music, DiFranco is far from simple. She has some of the best slam poetry-style folk songs, such as “My I.Q.” from “Puddle Dive.” As has been noted by anyone who has seen her live show, she can certainly rock out. But perhaps the most important component to Ani's sound (especially live), is that she is eminently funky.

”Cradle and All” on “So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter,” or the title song from “Little Plastic Castles,” are good examples of just how much boogie capacity is in this petite folk singer.

It is easy to describe Ani's relationship with her fans. They absolutely adore her. At a concert in Poughkeepsie, New York, someone in the crowd yelled “Ani, I love you” for more than 90 minutes during her set. This is one big component of the live event -- few songs will go without heavy audience participation.

It might be the eloquent verses that describe lives in transition, crisis and celebration with vibrancy. It might be the living-room-close sound of Ani's voice, or even the bad-ass instrumentation, but Ani DiFranco touches people's musical souls.

Keb Mo'

Keb Mo' is a modern blues musician. This means that he keeps the story-telling skills and rhythmic transitions of Robert Johnson while speaking 2008t. This isn't easy in the mass-media universe pervasively built around a desire for the new sound.

Keb Mo' succeeds because of his infectiously warm voice and head-nodding musical chops. How successful? Three Grammy's and world tours successful, and all while putting forward authentic people's music. Don't forget his political work, including the 2004 album of protest tunes, “Peace: Back by popular demand.”

His most recent album is called “Suitcase” offers walking stride blues about love, life and people's struggles. “Remain Silent” is a poignant tale of legal woe, and the title track is about as old-timey as you can get.

More music

There are so many musical stars at the festival, it is hard to point out the so-called headliners. Almost any of these musicians will bust out a set that might change your life.

Don't forget about Greg Brown, the gravely Midwestern singer/songwriter whose coffeehouse cadence will arrive on the Laytonville stage Sunday. Australian roots band the Waifs bring their soulful folk out on Saturday. Jackson Browne accompanist David Lindley will bring his plugged in world music posse.

Remember to check out Radical singer Cris Williamson, whose feminist woman-owned music label pre-dated Ani DiFranco's by 20 years. Celebrated folk maven Rosalie Sorrels offers history through her songs. The twang-tastic Wailin' Jenny's will bring their voices and talent. Texas songwriter Ruthie Foster will shake the timbers with her timbre. And, of course, the clever sarcastic Todd Snider, whose “Beer Run” may be a theme song for some festivalgoers.

There are even more musicians who deserve note. Check out the Cumulus Presents web site (http://www.cumuluspresents.com/kate/) for information on camping, full festival schedule, workshops, kid zone, yoga circles, tai-chi times, and information about food.

This year's Kate Wolf Memorial Festival is dedicated to hobo-activist-musician Utah Phillips who passed away last month. Utah made beautiful independent music and exhibited many of the community ideals of the musicians and organizers of this festival. Kate Wolf and Utah Phillips were on the side of people and the environment, and they knew that music was a way to help communicate ideas of dissent. More importantly, they built networks of care and threads of music with collaborators. All that is needed for you to join that network is to add your voice to theirs; this festival is an amazing opportunity to do just that.