YORK'S free acoustic music jamboree, the City of York Folk Weekend, is ready to take over the Black Swan Inn from Friday to Sunday.

Live entertainment will fill almost every corner of the historic inn on Peasholme Green, where a marquee stage with full PA will be erected in the car park and three rooms will host music-making indoors. "With concerts, a ceilidh, sessions, singarounds, workshops, themed events and more, there should be something to suit all tastes," says lead organiser Roland Walls.

"For our 13th annual event, 50 singers and bands are giving us their time and talent, alongside dozens of informal participants. All the billed performers come from York or neighbouring parts and the weekend is designed to unite, showcase and celebrate our flourishing local folk, roots and acoustic scene."

The main concerts will take place under canvas. Look out for such favourites as Duncan McFarlane, Leather’o and The A-Rhythmics appearing on Saturday between 1pm and 10.30pm, followed by Rakish, The Gerry McNeice Band, Soundsphere and Root 64 on Sunday between 1pm and 10pm.

Folk Weekend debuts this year will include Yorkshire Irish band Roisin Ban, Leeds outfit The Durbervilles, York’s own pop-folksters Pelico, and the city's ukulele orchestra, The Grand Old Uke Of York. World music from Chechelele and the thrilling Japanese drummers of Kaminari Taiko will add to the variety, along with American traditional folk from Phil Cerny and modern bluegrass from Union Central.

Among the singer-songwriters will be Stan Graham, Sarah Dean, Dan Webster, David Ward Maclean, David Swann and The Bronze. Morris Dance interludes will come from York sides Acorn, Ebor and Minster Strays, while those wanting to dance themselves can attend the opening night's ceilidh under canvas with FiddlersWreck.

Concerts in the upstairs function room, home of the weekly Black Swan Folk Club, will showcase acts ranging from a cappella vocalists The Lennanshees and Two Black Sheep & A Stallion, to instrumental trio Over The Yardarm and old-style country music duo Rio Bravo. On the bill too will be Welsh music from the new group Bendigedig, global folk sounds from Melthem and Caramba!, Phil Pipe's folk brand of humour and original songwriting from John Storey, Paula Ryan, Martin Heaton and Fred Ring.

"Participation is just as important as concert performances at a folk festival and there'll be multiple opportunities for anyone to have a go at singing or playing," says Roland. Among these will be all-day musicians’ sessions in the dining room, “open mic” club events, singarounds and “free & easy” jams. New this year will an Irish Night on Friday, hosted in the function room by York’s lively new Irish Association and open to anyone wanting to share Irish songs, music and craic.

Participants are invited for three workshop sessions on Sunday: singing, with vocal harmonisers Soundsphere; ukulele, with Steve Morrison of Red Cow Music; and musical saw, with Charles Hindmarsh, the “Yorkshire Musical Saw Man” from Harrogate, who says special toothless saws will be provided.

Poets and storytellers will have their say too at a “poems and pints” open reading on Saturday lunchtime, hosted by York writer John Gilham, while an off-site Festival Fringe will involve two regular weekly gatherings, the Friday night open house session at the Victoria Vaults, in Nunnery Lane, and the Sunday night Old Time music session at The Golden Ball, Bishophill.

"Thanks to the generosity of the performers, all these events are entirely free of charge, although there are of course some unavoidable costs in staging any festival and we'll be rattling collection tins from time to time," says Roland. "The Black Swan pub will have plenty of good food on sale, which you can enjoy in the re-built beer garden, and it offers a fine choice of real ales and other drinks.

"A large marquee and plenty of chairs have again been hired this year, and there'll be extra mobile toilet facilities. For safety reasons, the car park will be closed to vehicles, but there are alternative city centre parking or park-and-ride options, and don’t forget that the Black Swan Inn sits on several main bus routes."

The full festival programme can be found at blackswanfolkclub.org.uk or by emailing blackswanfolkclub@yahoo.co.uk for more details. "Then come along and join in the festivities, whether for just a few hours or for all three days," says Roland.