Build it and they will come—hauling guitars, mandolins and fiddles, singing in voices sweet as warm summer rain or scratchy as the wolf at your door on a dark winter night.

In the four scant summers since the Great Waters Folk Festival first launched on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, they’ve increased the performance roster from 10 to more than 30 artists on five stages and upped audience counts to more than 2,500 people over three days. All while maintaining a just-happened-by, small-town feel.

It’s an atmosphere that’s drawing positive reviews from critics and notice from performers. The festival was recently named WBUR’s “Best Bet in Folk Music” and one of the Boston Globe’s “Favorite Upcoming Small Festivals.”

“Things have shifted. Now that we’re established, one thing that’s really neat is that in four years, the performers are now approaching us, saying, ‘We’d love to come and play, could you fit us into your schedule?’ Word is getting out,” executive director Ben Anderson happily reports.

Case in point is 2005 headliner Nanci Griffith, of whom he’s a longtime personal fan and whom he pursued for several years. Hot off the release of her 15th album, “Hearts in Mind,” the Rolling Stone-dubbed Queen of Folkabilly will bring her band, the Blue Moon Orchestra, to the main stage on Friday, July 29 at 7 p.m.

The festival itself runs from Friday through Sunday, featuring more main-stage evening performances, afternoon concerts and workshops, after-hours jam sessions, harbor cruises, a songwriting contest and workshop and a gospel concert. Other artists include Odetta, Chris Smither, Ruthie Foster, The Mammals and Christine Lavin.

All this is orchestrated by a year-round staff of two (Anderson and the office manager), plus a part-time box office manager, interns and a hoard of volunteers in the summer to help manage the summer-long Great Waters Music Festival. The Folk Festival is one of eight concerts held each summer under the auspices of the 11-year-old Music Festival.

Adding afternoon workshops, in which all of the performers play, talk and demonstrate on a stage in small groups, on topics from “Your Folk Fetish” to “Lord Have Mercy!” and “Hurtin’est Song I Ever Heard,” allowed the show to expand without losing intimacy.

Of those coming this year, Anderson names the Grammy-winning Griffith and local pal Bill Morrissey among his personal favorites—“he’s broken my rule of never booking a performer more than two years in a row without a break”—not to mention folks like David Surette, Susie Burke, Peter Mulvey and Ellis Paul. And there are a few folks Anderson looks forward to offering the audience as a surprise.

“David Jacob Strain. He’s 21, he has five CDs, he’s played almost every major festival, and he’s still in school. He’s a new guy, but he’s going to make some very serious waves. Most people in the audience won’t know who he is, and they’re going to be blown away. The same with Ruthie Foster. She came to our winter series. Ninety percent of the people didn’t know who she was, and she broke the CD sales record that night.”

One of the special aspects of the festival, in addition to its idyllic location and starpower, is the quality of the concerts. In 2000, the organization invested in a special tent designed for acoustic concerts, engineered for sound and with no poles to obstruct the view.

“I keep going back to ‘intimate,’” Anderson says. “The festival is about building community, for both the artist and the audience. I feel that if attention is paid to that, they’re going to enjoy it and word is going to spread. I really enjoy a festival where you get to know people, make friends, create traditions and go back year after year.”

Great Waters Folk Festival
featuring Nanci Griffith and the Blue Moon Orchestra, Odetta, Chris Smither, Bill Morrissey, Harry Manx, Christine Lavin, Richard Shindell, Ruthie Foster, April Verch, The Mammals, Redbird, Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault, Peter Mulvey, David Jacobs-Strain, Mark Erelli, High Range, Ellis Paul, Ken Whiteley, and more.
Held at Brewster Academy, Main Street, Wolfeboro. Tickets are $20/$30/$40/$47/$70 at 603-569-7710 or www.greatwaters.org.
Great Waters Music Festival
continues with the Blind Boys of Alabama on Aug. 11, the annual SummerSing on Aug. 20, a jazz festival on Aug. 27 and the Count Basie Orchestra on Sept. 2.