The Fair Lawn Community Center will once again be filled with the sound of folk music, singing, clapping and stomping of feet Saturday, when the Hurdy Gurdy Music Club presents bluegrass band Bearfoot and opening act Loretta Hagen, of West Milford.

Bearfoot, a Nashville quintet by way of Alaska, recently added former Ridgewood resident Nora Jane Struthers to their line-up. 

“This is a bit if of a homecoming for me,” Struthers said in a telephone interview. “I am really looking forward to it, as is the rest of the band.”

When Struthers is not performing with Bearfoot, she fronts her own band, Nora Jane Struthers and the Bootleggers.

She explained that being the lead singer of an established band has a different feel than being the lead singer of a band based around her musical persona.

“When I joined Bearfoot, I was able to keep the traditions of the previous singers going, while at the same time I was able to bring over some of my music,” Struthers said.

She said it helps that two of Bearfoot’s founding members -- Angela Oudean and Jason Norris -- can keep the tradition going while Struthers’s Bootlegger bandmate P.J. George plays, and – new member Todd Grebe (also from Alaska) keeps the “Alaska” vibe going.

“I think we are a great fit and I love the music we are playing together,” Struthers said.

The band recently released a new album, "American Story," which Struthers said they would be playing tracks from on Saturday. 

Fans will also be able to hear Hagen, who grew up in Rutherford, but lived in Nashville with her husband for many years before moving back North six years ago.

She and her husband Gary worked with Johnny Winter and the Gin Blossoms while living in Nashville and now regularly perform all over New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. 

Much of Hagen’s recent music, as well as personal activism, has been dedicated to funding and finding a cure for Alzheimer’s, a disease that recently claimed her mother’s life. 

“My mother had the disease for nine years and it was difficult,” she said. “I wrote music about the experiences about what I went through and I have many people come up to me afterwards and thank me for the music because they too lost someone to Alzheimer’s.” 

Hagen said she hopes her music inspires others to get involved in the upcoming Alzheimer’s Walk set for Liberty State Park in Jersey City on Oct. 29.

For now, though, she is focusing on her first Hurdy Gurdy Concert appearance.